Just got back

[OlvisIII]

Living in Tiverton it was the game I've been looking forward to, only an hour away.

Got off to the worst start - Clarkey very guilty of not clearing his lines and we gifted them a goal. For the next half an hour we were more than competitive and thoroughly deserved the equaliser and glad that Clarkey had a chance to make amends for his error. Last ten in the first half we were hanging on a bit - but deserved at least the draw at half time.

2nd half we came out of the blocks well for first five minutes and that was that. To be honest we could have played for another hour and we wouldn't have scored in the 2nd half. We stopped passing the ball and just hammered it long to Bradbury and Eastwood. Plymouth's defence must have had one of the easier halves of football.

I don't know why Freddy was taken off - I can only assume he was injured. If he wasn't I don't understand why he was chosen over Bradbury.

Flahavan - made a couple of great saves. Couldn't do anything about the goals from my view.

Francis - I thought he played very well. Looked to get forward and defended well. He could be a very good player for us.

Hammell - Had an aboslute stinker defensively - in short he didn't defend. His clearances kept us in danger and he just didn't mark his man. This coaused countless problems in both halves. A couple of good corners delivered - is this enough from a left back?

Clarke and Barrett - Both these guys had solid games. Clarkey was at fault as said earlier but they handled the two lively strikers fairly well. They will be a very good partnership in league 1.

McCormack - Had a decent game but didn't get involved enough further forward. A few key interceptions.

Maher - Didn't do what he does best - keeping the team flowing with the ball on the carpet. Persisted with the little dink over the full back - a great ball if your striker is quick - sadly Bradbury is not. Ended up playing far too many desperate long balls to the Plymouth back four.

JCR - scared them when he had the ball - just didn't have the ball.

Gower - went off early - missed badly.

Foran - Gower replacement. I remember Clarke being panned for bad performances earlier this season and he is now a key player for us. I'm hoping Foran is the same - a slow starter. He wasn't involved at all. I can honestly say I cannot think of a positive about his play today. He looked low on confidence practising shooting before the match. Hopefully the summer wull see a turn around in his confidence.

Bradbury - he's just not championship class. He doesn't have any threatening feature to opposition defenders. He won a few headers but nothing else. He got in behind the back four two or three times, held it up and laid it back thirty yards to our own centre back - who would then thump back to Darryl. Toothless.

Freddy - had a couple of dangerous breaks in the first half but can do nothing when the ball is constantly pumped long to him time and time again.


To summarize - a pretty disappointing afternoon. We just don't look like scoring at the moment. Myself, brother and Dad had a conversation how we wished that Southend had offered Wayne Gray a two year deal. Hindsight is a wonderful thing - we just don't have any pace.

It is very diappointing that we lost to a very average team. They showed that you don't have to be packed with quality to hold your own in this league. We are going to be relegated from a league that our team are more than capable of staying in. We just lack quality in the final third.

 

[steveo]

We stopped passing the ball and just hammered it long

Been the all too familair story this season. I cant understand that a team who has built success from passing the ball, should suddenly think hoofing it long will work as soon as things are not going well.

Lets get back to what we are good at.

 

[Jam_Man]

Unfortunately what we are good at is not the same in the Championship as it was in League One.

We could pass it around more then because we had the ball more. Just dont have the quality of players to do it at this level really.

 

[CC51DAS]

Unfortunately what we are good at is not the same in the Championship as it was in League One.

We could pass it around more then because we had the ball more. Just dont have the quality of players to do it at this level really.

Was just thinking the same thing - then the trailer for the Man U game came on the tele -- then I'm thinking , well he played against us and he played against us .......

 

[steveo]

We could pass it around more then because we had the ball more. Just dont have the quality of players to do it at this level really.

But the long ball doesnt work, especially with Fred and Bradders up top.

Its the players thought process thats important, and one that should make them think keep the ball. Watch arsenal and they may make 20 passes and be in a blind alley, but they dont hoof it they keep passing until an opening arrives. The Chelsea longer ball game can only work if you have power and pace up front, which we dont have.

 

[fredheim_holm]

Just got back too. Would like to thank Ron for putting up the coaches a very nice gesture.

I can't comment on much of the game, as I only saw the first hour, but I thought we gave it a good go and put in a performance that satisfied me on the journey home.

Another point, the support was tremendous. Party atmosphere, fantastic, enjoyed every minute.

Its a shame but we are going down, there's no 2 ways about it, is my opinion.

 

[ashingdon-shrimper]

i love you fred, you did us proud mate! f@kin stewards! we can do this fred, not over till the fat lady sings

 

[Tilly hates yellow boots]

F*ck them stewarts... they can shove the bits of paper up there **** that they gave me.... the thing is...they only had the guts to give these bits of sh!te to the younger fans.

(8) Stick you bits of paper up your a*ss(8)
(8) You were bullied in the playground, bullied in the playgrouuud(8)
(8) Stand up for the sake of it, stand up for the sake of it, stand up (8)

Have to say despite to result i really enjoyed the day and really glad i went. crowd was fantastic.....loved the shower of paper cutting everyone made on the coach.

I don't get how we lost to them, they were worse then us !


I love SUFC, who cares if we go down, we will be southend united forevermore

 

[Mr. Benedict]

I don't get how we lost to them, they were worse then us !

Erm, no they weren't. I could have counted the number of clear cut chances we had on one hand, Darryl was very much the busier 'keeper yesterday. Our strikers never looked like creating anything, yet Ebans-Blake was running the defence ragged in the first half and they could have been two or three up by half time. It was the same old story - worked our socks off yet had zero cutting edge up front.

 

[Tilly hates yellow boots]

Erm, no they weren't. I could have counted the number of clear cut chances we had on one hand, Darryl was very much the busier 'keeper yesterday. Our strikers never looked like creating anything, yet Ebans-Blake was running the defence ragged in the first half and they could have been two or three up by half time. It was the same old story - worked our socks off yet had zero cutting edge up front.

I really believed we were, it thought it was a game of 2 very adverage teams, but i think we had about 70 minutes of the game to there 20. But like you said it we had naff all cutting Edge, but does that make us worse....Yeah i guess your right.


O well always next year :rolleyes:

 

[C'mon you Shrimpers]

To summarize - a pretty disappointing afternoon. We just don't look like scoring at the moment. Myself, brother and Dad had a conversation how we wished that Southend had offered Wayne Gray a two year deal. Hindsight is a wonderful thing - we just don't have any pace.


I hope you all concluded this was collective madness and came back down to earth.

By the way what did the bits of paper from the stewards say?

 

[Tilly hates yellow boots]

To summarize - a pretty disappointing afternoon. We just don't look like scoring at the moment. Myself, brother and Dad had a conversation how we wished that Southend had offered Wayne Gray a two year deal. Hindsight is a wonderful thing - we just don't have any pace.


I hope you all concluded this was collective madness and came back down to earth.

By the way what did the bits of paper from the stewards say?

They had the ground regs. on..... gave everyone a laugh feck knows what they were spos to do !


Stick ya bits of paper up your A*s

 

[THE SEVENTIES NORTH BANK]

I really believed we were, it thought it was a game of 2 very adverage teams, but i think we had about 70 minutes of the game to there 20. But like you said it we had naff all cutting Edge, but does that make us worse....Yeah i guess your right.


O well always next year :rolleyes:

What Game was you possibly watching ? jcrcr .Thats not how I saw it ,not only did Darryl have to make many saves but we didn't test their Keeper .
The OS says in the detailed match stats that we had a miserly 6 Shots to Plymouths whopping 20 Shots .

 

[Tilly hates yellow boots]

What Game was you possibly watching ? jcrcr .Thats not how I saw it ,not only did Darryl have to make many saves but we didn't test their Keeper .
The OS says in the detailed match stats that we had a miserly 6 Shots to Plymouths whopping 20 Shots .

Jesus....sorry everyone, ignore me i must be going a bit mental, didn't realise the game was that one sidded, don't remember 20 shots from the Plymouth though :thump:


I think i should go back to bed :D

 

[Sherif H]

From what I saw, we simply did not look like scoring from open play, even if we had played for another 2 hours in the second half. What mystifies me is Tilly's tactical genius in subbing Freddy for Prince Harry. Now I like Harrold (for my sins) and I am sure Tilly wouldn't have taken Fred off unless his back was playing up, but we needed enthusiastic attacking impetus, and surely it would have been more adventurous bringing on Moussa. I think this lad has some of the elements we are crying out for and it is a chance that could have paid off. Who knows, with Maher out, he may get a chance somewhere on the pitch, but he just looks desperate to play!

On the subject of our impending relegation, try not to feel too downbeat. Yes, I know this is very very difficult, and it has taken a lot for me to write this, but as the last vestige of hope ebbed away yesterday as Hull scored that last minute equaliser, my thoughts turned to next season, and in actual fact, with the exception of the inevitable departure of Fred, we should be able to hold on to the same team for League 1.
We undoubtedly have the best GK in L1, the best wing backs and in Clarke, probably the best CB. JCR will frighten the life out of defenders, and in Mark Gower we have a player who has scored 10 goals from midfield in a strong Championship. Maher and McCormack are probably the best defensive midfielders in L1, but for me, we just look suspect up top. How do we solve our indecision in the final third? Do we bring in an attacking midfielder who can link up the play, and in which case, do we change to 3-5-2 or do we drop one of Macca or King Kev? Who plays up front? Paynter and Hooper? Many questions to be asked over the summer break, but to put this into perspective, we will probably go down with 95% of our playing staff in tact, and most likely only be relegated by a couple of points. Whilst that may hurt so much more in the short term (and god only knows there have been so many if's and but's this season!) this should make us contenders for a swift return to the Champ in time for our first season at FF.

 

[stickyboy]

I really believed we were, it thought it was a game of 2 very adverage teams, but i think we had about 70 minutes of the game to there 20. But like you said it we had naff all cutting Edge, but does that make us worse....Yeah i guess your right.


O well always next year :rolleyes:

An interesting viewpoint if slightly biased. Thought had it not been for Daryl could have been 4 or 5-1 . We were lucky to get one with absolutely zero threat on their goal at all. I would even say had they played without keeper doubt the score would have been different. We now play hoofball over the top for Bradbury the slowest player in the football league to run on to who then gets eaten up every time. Bring on Carlisle

 

[THE SEVENTIES NORTH BANK]

Jesus....sorry everyone, ignore me i must be going a bit mental, didn't realise the game was that one sidded, don't remember 20 shots from the Plymouth though :thump:


I think i should go back to bed :D

Just to add to that ,12 of those 20 Shots were on Target .

How refreshing jcrcr to find a poster on here that makes a mistake and then holds his hands up to it .We've all done this but not so many have the guts to admit it and in such a nice way as well ,Top Man .

 

[Tilly hates yellow boots]

Just to add to that ,12 of those 20 Shots were on Target .

How refreshing jcrcr to find a poster on here that makes a mistake and then holds his hands up to it .We've all done this but not so many have the guts to admit it and in such a nice way as well ,Top Man .

Thanks you....All better has some sleep.... Plymouth were far better then us :D

Have some positive rep kind sir.

 

[Beefy]

From what I saw, we simply did not look like scoring from open play, even if we had played for another 2 hours in the second half. What mystifies me is Tilly's tactical genius in subbing Freddy for Prince Harry. Now I like Harrold (for my sins) and I am sure Tilly wouldn't have taken Fred off unless his back was playing up, but we needed enthusiastic attacking impetus, and surely it would have been more adventurous bringing on Moussa. I think this lad has some of the elements we are crying out for and it is a chance that could have paid off. Who knows, with Maher out, he may get a chance somewhere on the pitch, but he just looks desperate to play!

On the subject of our impending relegation, try not to feel too downbeat. Yes, I know this is very very difficult, and it has taken a lot for me to write this, but as the last vestige of hope ebbed away yesterday as Hull scored that last minute equaliser, my thoughts turned to next season, and in actual fact, with the exception of the inevitable departure of Fred, we should be able to hold on to the same team for League 1.
We undoubtedly have the best GK in L1, the best wing backs and in Clarke, probably the best CB. JCR will frighten the life out of defenders, and in Mark Gower we have a player who has scored 10 goals from midfield in a strong Championship. Maher and McCormack are probably the best defensive midfielders in L1, but for me, we just look suspect up top. How do we solve our indecision in the final third? Do we bring in an attacking midfielder who can link up the play, and in which case, do we change to 3-5-2 or do we drop one of Macca or King Kev? Who plays up front? Paynter and Hooper? Many questions to be asked over the summer break, but to put this into perspective, we will probably go down with 95% of our playing staff in tact, and most likely only be relegated by a couple of points. Whilst that may hurt so much more in the short term (and god only knows there have been so many if's and but's this season!) this should make us contenders for a swift return to the Champ in time for our first season at FF.

Hopefully there won't be a mass exodus, but I'd have thought that it wouldn't be beyond the realms of possibility that Flavs, Hammell, Clarke, JCR and maybe even Gower could follow Eastwood out of the exit door. Flavs and Gower have shown enough to possibly get themselves offers as squad players at a mid-level Championship side and I don't think that Hammell, Clarke and JCR moved to Southend to play League One football.

 

[The Late One]

Just got back too. Would like to thank Ron for putting up the coaches a very nice gesture.
QUOTE]

I second that it was a very nice gesture of Ron putting on the free coaches


However it is a shame that two of the coaches were left like sh!t holes after our supporters had been on them, to the extent that one of the companies involved is unlikely to be transporting our fans again. Sandwiches were mashed into the carpets, chewing gum stuck on seats, burst ballons chucked around the floor, sweet fights during the journey and newspapers ripped up and chucked on the floor, supporters sitting on arms of chairs and not moving when asked by the drivers to sit on the seats - I just wonder what sort of state these people live in, there were carrier bags for rubbish on the arms of the seats but obviously the people involved are used to a pig sty.

I have only spoken to two of the coach organisers so far and they said that it was NOT everybody on the their coaches but if you were involved in any of the above hang your head in shame, if Ron gets a bill for the mess and never offers this service again I hope you will be happy.


Rant Over