Despite poor results, Im not sure I'd call our football dross. 3 seasons of Sturrocks football was far poorer to watch than what we see now, its the results that arent as pleasing.
I totally disagree. The football was superior under Sturrock. Yes there were too many awful games when the ball didn't stick but if we got the ball down in the opposition half we attacked with purpose, with pace and with incision. Three things decidedly missing from the Brown era. We had a cutting edge and plenty of flair with the likes of Hall and Mohsni in the side.
Sure, it wasn't pretty when the ball didn't stick or even when the ball was initially played long, but at least there was the comfort that if it did stick that there was something then worth watching.
The current football, the first half against Exeter aside, is insipid. Which players in the current side can get you out of your seat?
There's no aesthetic beauty whatsoever in Atkinson, who plays in blinkers, playing a poorly weighted pass backwards to Williams' wrong foot meaning that he has to shuffle it towards Prosser who panics as there is an attacker 10 yards away meaning he has to rush a backpass to Bentley.
There's no superiority of football when Bentley rolls it out to White, who just plays it square in the vague direction of Prosser who has never played an aesthetically appealing pass in his life. Yet it's Prosser who sees most of the ball in our current system.
We played two pieces of good football the entire 90 minutes, one when Timlin played a first time 5 yard angled forward(!) pass and surged forward to pick up the return ball; the other was some Timlin instigated one touch play down the left, although I think Williams failed to put in a decent cross. The rest of it was complete dross which didn't open up the defence of a very poor side.
Back in the Sturrock era if we got the ball down in the opposition half we had Clohessy linking up with Tomlin and the season before that Blair and even Josh Simpson, working little triangles down the right. That's football. Incisive, passes bisecting opposition defenders and getting Clohessy to the bye-line to put in a cross for Corr peeling off his man or Kane Ferdinand making a late unnoticed dart into the area. How often did we get anyone overlapping, getting ahead of the ball Saturday? How often was there that movement to open up defences? Where was the geometry, the opening up of angles? That's passing football and we played far more of it under Sturrock far all the long hoofs we undoubtedly also played.
Who's making the late runs forward like Kane Ferdinand? Who can beat a man like Ryan Hall, like Mohsni and open up space? Who plays the pretty one-twos? Only Timlin changes the angle of the attack or injects any pace into a move.
Our "passing" along the backline is inane. It doesn't achieve anything except maybe wasting time. It doesn't probe, it's too laboured to stretch the opposition. It's utterly predictable. This adds up to it being dire. In fact I don't even think it is passing, we're nervously shuffling the ball in the vague direction of someone in the same colour shirt. There's no artistry. You are completely deluding yourself if you think otherwise.
Get Timlin on the ball in midfield, let Corr come short and link up play, get Leonard in midfield surging forward, let's see more of Worrall running into gaps.
We are close , very close , to being a team that gains promotion this season. We are capable, i think we all know that , its just finishing that is missing. The 1st half against Exeter was awesome , with a strong midfield bombing forward and creating lots of chances , just the luck wasnt with us added to a bit of composure in front of goal.
When our strikers bang in a hatful tonight against Harlow they will be brimming with confidence and i'm certain our results will start to flourish. Top 7 ? I'm still looking at top 3 .... theres nothing ive seen that we can say are any better than us. Have a bit of faith and if the doom merchants are jeering at Roots Hall next match , out sing them and get the cheers ringing around + give our players the confidence to express themselves ( rather than hiding from the boo boys abuse )
:loyalsupporter::clap::loyalsupporter::clap::loyalsupporter::clap::loyalsupporter:
Going forward first half against Exeter was good attacking football, but we were open as anything and a half decent team would have punished us for the acres of space. Admittedly we're League Two so there aren't many half decent teams but whilst I'd much rather watch that type of football than the dross we've endured most of this season, I'm not fully convinced that if we play like that we'll make the top 3.
Whilst I agree with most of your post, I pull you up on this. I preferred Sturrock's football. I have never been precious about pretty passing stuff, I like goals, and a lot of people are the same. I remember well however that home performances under Sturrock were just as poor, and I think the split amongst fans on his methods generally can be put down those who go away and those who don't. Watching Southend away from home under Sturrock was really enjoyable.
I'm not happy with the way we're playing and few are, but I think the bigger picture needs to be looked at - Brown has improved us off the pitch and has increased the value of our team. With us out of two cups already, we may need to sell a player or two to break even.
How has he improved us off the pitch - is this the doing up the canteen? I do think the medical side of the club seems to have improved (although we don't appear as fit as last season).
I don't see how he has increased the value of the team.
I have no sympathy if we need to sell a player or two because we are out of the cup before we budgeted. Brown picked weakened teams. I argued against it at the time and pointed out the financial ramifications.
