I'm losing faith in Chris Powell. Are you?

[THE SEVENTIES NORTH BANK]

I havent lost faith in CP, I think people forget who we are. Mid-table L1 is not bad by our standards. However I must confess that rather strangely, I've lost a little bit of interest lately. Not sure why, anyone else feel the same?

I think it's a lack of exciting attacking players. Kightly and McLaughlin can't go past a man out wide, unusual for wingers. Theo can only score tap ins or open goals. Bunn is exciting now and again. Cox as we all know plays too deep, apart from somehow being asked to play as the target man against Crawley. The only one that excites me is Dru, when he is driving forward.

 

[Kevin Hogg]

In truth, I do not think Chris and the club managed to recruit enough quality last Summer.
The transfer window will pretty much define any club's season - and I never got the impression that CP was satisfied as it closed.
From that moment until January..you have to make do.
We are making do.. thus we are average.

 

[Jai]

In truth, I do not think Chris and the club managed to recruit enough quality last Summer.
The transfer window will pretty much define any club's season - and I never got the impression that CP was satisfied as it closed.
From that moment until January..you have to make do.
We are making do.. thus we are average.

In truth, I do not think Chris and the club managed to recruit enough quality last Summer.
The transfer window will pretty much define any club's season - and I never got the impression that CP was satisfied as it closed.
From that moment until January..you have to make do.
We are making do.. thus we are average.

Element of truth in this I think. Powell was unable to reform the squad the way he would have liked and he made this clear in the recent Q&A. This is mainly for budget reasons. Brown (and Ron) stuck a lot of high-earning players on big contracts in the months and years before his demise. Powell is finding it tough to move those players on. He managed to get Ferdinand off the wage bill but there are still players on big money who are not contributing for us.

Once Powell has some wriggle room in the budget to bring in the players he wants, we should judge him. He has had horrendous luck - of his six or seven new signings, four are now or have been out long-term injured. We are largely still playing with the same team that Brown had, minus a few we have managed to ship out. Fortunately, the centre of midfield is vastly improved and that should mean we will be ok and avoid the drop. We desperately need a new striker, but unfortunately we will have to wait until January which means plenty more chances going begging and points lost.

I'm as peeved at the second half on Saturday as anyone (although the first, bar the finishing, was superb which everyone has forgotten about). But the idea he should lose his job with a 48% win percentage and given the luck he has had, is utterly laughable.

 

[Yorkshire Blue]

Element of truth in this I think. Powell was unable to reform the squad the way he would have liked and he made this clear in the recent Q&A. This is mainly for budget reasons. Brown (and Ron) stuck a lot of high-earning players on big contracts in the months and years before his demise. Powell is finding it tough to move those players on. He managed to get Ferdinand off the wage bill but there are still players on big money who are not contributing for us.

Once Powell has some wriggle room in the budget to bring in the players he wants, we should judge him. He has had horrendous luck - of his six or seven new signings, four are now or have been out long-term injured. We are largely still playing with the same team that Brown had, minus a few we have managed to ship out. Fortunately, the centre of midfield is vastly improved and that should mean we will be ok and avoid the drop. We desperately need a new striker, but unfortunately we will have to wait until January which means plenty more chances going begging and points lost.

I'm as peeved at the second half on Saturday as anyone (although the first, bar the finishing, was superb which everyone has forgotten about). But the idea he should lose his job with a 48% win percentage and given the luck he has had, is utterly laughable.

I agree with much of that but which players did Powell want to move on that he didn't?

Obviously Anton, who we paid off and that would have ate into his budget, but otherwise the only non-youngsters he hasn't extended or signed are Demetriou, Kiernan, Kightly, McLaughlin and Robinson.

So we're probably only talking the crocked Kiernan, Kightly and Robinson. Alas they are all under contract for next season as well so Brown may well be into his third job post-Southend by the time their contracts end.

(FWIW I think we'll see more of Brown's old boys go in the summer - Turner, White, Cox etc but CP could have let them go this year.)

 

[mfurok]

I agree with much of that but which players did Powell want to move on that he didn't?

Obviously Anton, who we paid off and that would have ate into his budget, but otherwise the only non-youngsters he hasn't extended or signed are Demetriou, Kiernan, Kightly, McLaughlin and Robinson.

So we're probably only talking the crocked Kiernan, Kightly and Robinson. Alas they are all under contract for next season as well so Brown may well be into his third job post-Southend by the time their contracts end.

(FWIW I think we'll see more of Brown's old boys go in the summer - Turner, White, Cox etc but CP could have let them go this year.)

You can very likely add McLaughlin to that list and I doubt that SCP would have given such a lengthy contract to JD at his age (JD's not SCP's).

 

[Bearded Shrimper]

For me the annoying thing is how good we looked last season under Powell and how that hasn't continued. At the end of the day we need to give the bloke time. Given enough time i'm sure he'll come good as he has a decent record as a manager. Not outstanding, but probably as good as anyone we'll get. That's not to say we couldn't get a better manager, Tilson didn't have any kind of record, but the experience and proven quality that Powell has won't be beaten by too many who'd take this job on.
I don't remember ever seeing Powell play for us so I've never gone weak at the knees for him because of the returning hero.

This season looks a bit of a write off, so let's enjoy the ride and hope a young player or two establishes themselves

 

[Stan33]

Element of truth in this I think. Powell was unable to reform the squad the way he would have liked and he made this clear in the recent Q&A. This is mainly for budget reasons. Brown (and Ron) stuck a lot of high-earning players on big contracts in the months and years before his demise. Powell is finding it tough to move those players on. He managed to get Ferdinand off the wage bill but there are still players on big money who are not contributing for us.

Once Powell has some wriggle room in the budget to bring in the players he wants, we should judge him. He has had horrendous luck - of his six or seven new signings, four are now or have been out long-term injured. We are largely still playing with the same team that Brown had, minus a few we have managed to ship out. Fortunately, the centre of midfield is vastly improved and that should mean we will be ok and avoid the drop. We desperately need a new striker, but unfortunately we will have to wait until January which means plenty more chances going begging and points lost.

I'm as peeved at the second half on Saturday as anyone (although the first, bar the finishing, was superb which everyone has forgotten about). But the idea he should lose his job with a 48% win percentage and given the luck he has had, is utterly laughable.

How u can say the first half was su

 

[Stan33]

How u can say the first half was superb is beyond me ,they made hardly any effort after the first goal ,which I think was after 8 mins or so ,their body language was awful which told me they had turned up ,weVe scored so we will win

 

[Stan33]

I agree with much of that but which players did Powell want to move on that he didn't?

Obviously Anton, who we paid off and that would have ate into his budget, but otherwise the only non-youngsters he hasn't extended or signed are Demetriou, Kiernan, Kightly, McLaughlin and Robinson.

So we're probably only talking the crocked Kiernan, Kightly and Robinson. Alas they are all under contract for next season as well so Brown may well be into his third job post-Southend by the time their contracts end.

(FWIW I think we'll see more of Brown's old boys go in the summer - Turner, White, Cox etc but CP could have let them go this year.)

Cox ,u sure ?

 

[MisterStubbs]

We’re all going on a league two tour.

 

[SHRIMPERPETER]

Yes?

 

[Shrimper]

My issues right now are with the players, not Powell.

 

[Spaceman Spiff]

Still no, in answer to the question. Emphatically no.

 

[RHB]

It's a case now of surviving as best we can until the January window opens. When I look at what Powell now has available to him it's painfully obvious that those still fit are collectively not up to the mark. Am I losing faith? Not at all, but that still doesn't make some of our performances enjoyable watching. No doubt Powell and his lieutenants know what/who they want come Jan, but as with all things Southend getting them is never easy.

Nevertheless, Tuesday and Scunthorpe calls and we'll be there to see who makes the starting 11.

 

[Brian Meyers]

You can very likely add McLaughlin to that list and I doubt that SCP would have given such a lengthy contract to JD at his age (JD's not SCP's).

Where are these players we've been told there's no money I think the problem is he plays loan players who are not that good in font of our own players and I don't see it getting any better

 

[Massimo Giovanni]

Same old same old, Why have a squad (or 2 players for every position) covering positions and then play others in those positions and play players who are less than 100%. What manager was it that said "football is a simple game" because he had it right and playing out of position, new /untried formations etc is asking for what it gets us - Nil Points!

 

[AndyT]

Clarky always has it right in these scenarios.

He said recently in a pre-match interview and said it before under Brown that players need to know their roles.

Play a system, stick to it, then players will know each other's games and there would be a fluidity to what we do when we have the ball.

Change the personnel, not the system.

 

[Kris]

For me the annoying thing is how good we looked last season under Powell and how that hasn't continued. At the end of the day we need to give the bloke time. Given enough time i'm sure he'll come good as he has a decent record as a manager. Not outstanding, but probably as good as anyone we'll get. That's not to say we couldn't get a better manager, Tilson didn't have any kind of record, but the experience and proven quality that Powell has won't be beaten by too many who'd take this job on.
I don't remember ever seeing Powell play for us so I've never gone weak at the knees for him because of the returning hero.

This season looks a bit of a write off, so let's enjoy the ride and hope a young player or two establishes themselves

Indeed. Although SCP isn't blameless, he must be scratching his head as to how and why the likes of Kightly, McLaughlin, Turner and to an extent Robinson, who were all in superb form and delivering the goods at the back end of last season, have deteriorated so quickly. I think he's been let down badly by some of the senior players, especially in terms of discipline.

I'm still confident we'll be OK. This is largely still Brown's squad and we'll be better placed to see where we are after the next transfer window. Shrewd changes needed, though.

 

[Floval Flyer]

I hope CP rides the storm, despite our recent dip I am 100% behind him.

He’s a really nice guy, if any of you have had the pleasure to speak with him you’ll soon realise how passionate he is about SUFC and what an approachable and honest bloke he is.

Maybe this is the chink in his armour, he’s just too nice to be a manager? Whatever way I still think he’ll pull through, just hope the injury crisis heals before things turn bad.

In CP we trust. He just needs a bit of luck and we’ll be back on course.

Next season though...

 

[Chairman Trigg]

The players just seem to have all lost motivation from last season .We seem to have no game plan recently and a starting line ups and substitutions are baffling .Hoping to some how magically pick up good players in Jan when we might be involved in a relegation fight will be very difficult.The style of play is not nice to watch recently. Wasn't really behind the appointment last season but was proved wrong .This season as a unit I think we have taken a step back ...just hope I am proved wrong again