Praise indeed

[shrimpereeee]

Click here

Seems like we have the perfect blueprint!

 

[KrustyTheKray]

Superb assessment of us, fair play to this poster...

Quote[/b] ]Two promotions in two years, solid start in the championship, took us apart last night (Happy clappers - forget the ref and remember the game)

Now, shouldn't we be looking at them as some sort of blueprint:

1) Young previously unheard of hungry and strong character manager.

2) Wingers

3) Good blend of lower league players and non league hunger (as they have no money too)

4) Tough tackling physical presence in midfield

5) No nonsense defending

6) Mixing football with the ability to battle.

Southend might like to think they have stumbled on an amazing plan, but in reality it is no different to Col******r, Plymouth, Luton and all the other sides that have done it with no money. Yes they have Freddy Eastwood but they gambled on him from non-league - just as the lad that made his debut for them last night up front also came from non-league. This is an area we don't exploit because we are too busy hanging around premiership reserve games looking for perenially injured play-makers.

In all other industries people study successful companies for their own blue-print. But we have Sean saying that tall players that play his style of football are snapped up by other clubs so he has to make do with small ones.

No width, no fight, no pace - these things as many other clubs have proved don't cost money.

Out of the cup, one win in five. Maybe its time for the board to look at Southend a bit closer when they make their decision on who the next manager should be and when.

 

[silentshrimper]

Yes a good read. What has happened here at southend is something that rarely happens to a so called small team like us.

I cant see us going back to the basement under Ron Tilly and Brush!

 

[Hong Kong Blue]

A very interesting thread.

I think the first poster is pretty much spot on other than the fact that we generally played with only one winger for most of our two promotion campaigns and that local heart (Tilson, Brush, Barrett, Prior and Edwards) and a bit of experience (Prior and Goater) played crucial roles in our success.

It also reminds me how grateful we should be for the Webby III era, which provided the relative financial stability we now enjoy after years of racking up debts.

I wouldn't however describe Tilly as a tactical mastermind. He's a very good manager, but I think his trick has been to assemble good players and encourage them to play, rather than tactically taking apart teams.

Finally, if there is a blue-print for our success, I don't think Tilly is the author, he has merely adapted the one that he was a part of as a player under Webb II. I commented during our first promotion season at the number of similiarities between 1990 and 2005: a long serving keeper (Sammy and Darryl), a forever over-lapping right-back (Austin and Jupp), an experienced centre-half back in his second spell at his home club (Clark and Prior) organising the defence alongside a young local lad (Prior and Barrett), a tall hard-working midfielder with a touch of a baby elephant who could chip in with a few goals (Martin and Bentley) alongside a defensive lynchpin (Butler and Maher) who'd sit in front of the defence and pass it simple, a wide midfielder who could make us more compact when necessary by getting stuck in and tucking into central midfield (Tilson and Pettefer), and a more attacking, creative, winger on the other side who'd score a few (Ansah and Gower).

Only differences were left-back, the left-back in 2005 wasn't fit to tie the laces of the 1990 left-back and up front where Eastwood and Gray were a different partnership to Angell and Benjamin, and even then the Goat came the following season to play the Benji role.

 

[Hambone]

Quote[/b] ]Only differences were left-back, the left-back in 2005 wasn't fit to tie the laces of the 1990 left-back

Why are you laying into Che? He played an integral role in the team last year.

 

[Hong Kong Blue]

Maybe, but he is hardly comparable to Chris Powell though!

 

[sufcintheprem]

I do find it quite funny how he's one of the few people that have actually bothered to look at anything more than the goalscorers chart and the management before making assumptions about the rest of the team.

Good to see pretty much everyone who responds says the usual "Rest of the team aren't great" line of argument even though Eastwood was pretty anonymous in the first half. He certainly seemed to improve after the penalty so hopefully the confidence and performances will improve. Obviously, this is no complaint on his current form as he's scored 4 in 5 but we have all seen him play better.

Another interesting point that he makes is about picking up Premiership cast-offs. I think the aspect he overlooks is that where the player comes from is irrelevant. They have to have the hunger and desire to prove that they can either bounce back to the Premiership or rise through the leagues.

 

[Badger74]

A very good read

 

[sufcintheprem]

thanks