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southend_aussies

I come from a land down under
Joined
Jul 9, 2008
Messages
1,432
Because of the tough draw we had at the start.

In our first 12 games we played 7 of the top 9 sides that cureently occupy those positions.

Four of those were away which we gained 1 point - v Bolton.

In our first 18 overall that increased to 9 as we played Bradford twice, for four points.

Now I'm not trying to sugar coat what happened, I too thought Brown was done and dusted.

But it makes you think just how tough we got it early.

Now, in the final 23 rounds, we face just Peterborough, Fleetwood and Bristol Rovers away from home.

The top five minus Bradford have to come here.

If this team is good enough, it has the right draw to do well.

The hard work begins now though as we falted about a month from now this time this year.
 
and that's also the trouble with reading the table too early. After 5-6 games you may have played all the playoff contenders or you might have played the divisions whipping boys.

As you get towards 15 games it starts to takes shape.

With the poor start added to the poor end of last year I personally thought that would be enough for RM to pull the trigger. Full marks to him for either being brave or not having enough cash to sack PB
 
No. We sucked early because....

a. we played one up front
b. we didn't have a settled back four
c. we didn't know who our first choice keeper was
d. Ranger was injured
e. Wordsworth was injured
f. We hadn't signed Ferdinand
g. there was uncertainty about the manager's immediate short term future


I am fairly sure the current team, playing the current tactics would have done better in those early games. Certainly we wouldn't have been as dreadful as we were on the road when we conceded 11 goals without reply in three games or as painfully dreadful as we were at home to Gills and Fleetwood.
 
No. We sucked early because....

a. we played one up front
b. we didn't have a settled back four
c. we didn't know who our first choice keeper was
d. Ranger was injured
e. Wordsworth was injured
f. We hadn't signed Ferdinand
g. there was uncertainty about the manager's immediate short term future


I am fairly sure the current team, playing the current tactics would have done better in those early games. Certainly we wouldn't have been as dreadful as we were on the road when we conceded 11 goals without reply in three games or as painfully dreadful as we were at home to Gills and Fleetwood.

Personally I think its a mixture of both the original poster's view and this.

Most teams go through a dodgy spell at some point in the season and lets hope that we've already had ours.
 
No. We sucked early because....

a. we played one up front
b. we didn't have a settled back four
c. we didn't know who our first choice keeper was
d. Ranger was injured
e. Wordsworth was injured
f. We hadn't signed Ferdinand
g. there was uncertainty about the manager's immediate short term future


I am fairly sure the current team, playing the current tactics would have done better in those early games. Certainly we wouldn't have been as dreadful as we were on the road when we conceded 11 goals without reply in three games or as painfully dreadful as we were at home to Gills and Fleetwood.


I agree with most of the above. It also takes time for new players to settle. Oxley certainly took a few games and to less extent Demetriou. Even if we had started the season with Ferdinand and Ranger as well it may have taken a couple of games or so although I do think we would turned it around quicker.

It does show though the value of a chairman giving his manager a chance and not pulling the trigger too soon.
 
I agree with most of the above. It also takes time for new players to settle. Oxley certainly took a few games and to less extent Demetriou. Even if we had started the season with Ferdinand and Ranger as well it may have taken a couple of games or so although I do think we would turned it around quicker.

It does show though the value of a chairman giving his manager a chance and not pulling the trigger too soon.

Spot on, goes to show all those "no coming back from this", "He couldn't possibly turn it around" and my personal favorite "Why can't Ron see what we all can"
 
No. We sucked early because....

a. we played one up front
b. we didn't have a settled back four
c. we didn't know who our first choice keeper was
d. Ranger was injured
e. Wordsworth was injured
f. We hadn't signed Ferdinand
g. there was uncertainty about the manager's immediate short term future


I am fairly sure the current team, playing the current tactics would have done better in those early games. Certainly we wouldn't have been as dreadful as we were on the road when we conceded 11 goals without reply in three games or as painfully dreadful as we were at home to Gills and Fleetwood.

In one of the early games, we played 4-4-2 and destroyed Sheffield United, so PB was fully aware that it was the system of choice.

Point (d) early season was the crucial one.

We tried Cox & Mooney upfront in the same formation, but it didn't gel and then we started leaking sloppy goals and plan B was to go with three centre-halves to counteract this and that then left one upfront, which was a disaster.

Best thing that happened to us was being thrashed at Rochdale.

From there, the system and mindset began to change and with Wordy, Ferdinand and Ranger all starting the settle and stay fit, the rest has just moved forward from there.
 
I forget to add, Barrett playing a level too far for his leg, with him in defence, we look likely to leak goals in!
 
In one of the early games, we played 4-4-2 and destroyed Sheffield United, so PB was fully aware that it was the system of choice.

Point (d) early season was the crucial one.

We tried Cox & Mooney upfront in the same formation, but it didn't gel and then we started leaking sloppy goals and plan B was to go with three centre-halves to counteract this and that then left one upfront, which was a disaster.

Best thing that happened to us was being thrashed at Rochdale.

From there, the system and mindset began to change and with Wordy, Ferdinand and Ranger all starting the settle and stay fit, the rest has just moved forward from there.


And let us not forget for 28 minutes of that Sheffield game we were unplayable. Then Ranger went off. Its no co-incidence. Any of us who were there that night knew that a fit Ranger would make a huge difference and so it was proven.
 
Not just a fit Ranger,but also a fit Wordsworth,plus allowing Atkinson to really show us what he can do on a regular basis and Leonard being able to play the defensive midfielder role.Forgot Ferdinand being fit and Thompson finally finding his feet.
 
No. We sucked early because....

a. we played one up front
b. we didn't have a settled back four
c. we didn't know who our first choice keeper was
d. Ranger was injured
e. Wordsworth was injured
f. We hadn't signed Ferdinand
g. there was uncertainty about the manager's immediate short term future


I am fairly sure the current team, playing the current tactics would have done better in those early games. Certainly we wouldn't have been as dreadful as we were on the road when we conceded 11 goals without reply in three games or as painfully dreadful as we were at home to Gills and Fleetwood.

We started off playing 2 up front with Cox and Mooney? We only reverted to one when we were getting spanked weekly.

d,e and f are the major factors there but I thought overall our midfield was a mess and provided little protection and zero attacking ability.

And let us not forget for 28 minutes of that Sheffield game we were unplayable. Then Ranger went off. Its no co-incidence. Any of us who were there that night knew that a fit Ranger would make a huge difference and so it was proven.

No coincidence it was Sheff Utd either, they were terrible beginning of the season, even worse than us. Odd to see both teams up where there are now!
 
We started off playing 2 up front with Cox and Mooney? We only reverted to one when we were getting spanked weekly.

d,e and f are the major factors there but I thought overall our midfield was a mess and provided little protection and zero attacking ability.



No coincidence it was Sheff Utd either, they were terrible beginning of the season, even worse than us. Odd to see both teams up where there are now!

Indeed we did. But lets not spoil the greatest zone myth, which is of course we often play with one up front. Cox and Mooney played up top for 3 games before we played Sheffield and Mooney came back in for the Bristol game after Ranger was injured.

Even when Cox was dropped after his lack of effort at Scunthorpe, McL and McG played higher up the pitch to support Mooney, as they did in other games. Look at our first goal v Millwall and see where McG is, certainly not playing as a right winger.

Even when we went 2-0 down with 10 men at Northampton, Woody came on for McL and McG went up top as an out and out forward alongside Mooney.
 
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