Reality at last, relief..and maybe greater urgency?

[Kevin Hogg]

At last!! After what seems like several season of not winning but clinging onto a false position (false because we had played more games) in a Play-Off position - the league finally has a more realistic look and feel about it. Is almost a relief. Plymouth Argyle currently deserve to be in 7th position and we do not.

HOWEVER, it would seem that over the season to date ..we do deserve to be just two points off a Play-Off position with nine games remaining. On current form - of course we cannot hope to get near a trip to Wembley in May. Maybe, just maybe the fact that there is no cushion, we are chasing and not leading...may galvanise the team to dig deeper and sweat blood to make up the deficit, clinch a top seven spot and go on to a glorious promotion?!!

Whatever happens - the fools paradise is over. Good!

 

[dannypav]

At last!! After what seems like several season of not winning but clinging onto a false position (false because we had played more games) in a Play-Off position - the league finally has a more realistic look and feel about it. Is almost a relief. Plymouth Argyle currently deserve to be in 7th position and we do not.

HOWEVER, it would seem that over the season to date ..we do deserve to be just two points off a Play-Off position with nine games remaining. On current form - of course we cannot hope to get near a trip to Wembley in May. Maybe, just maybe the fact that there is no cushion, we are chasing and not leading...may galvanise the team to dig deeper and sweat blood to make up the deficit, clinch a top seven spot and go on to a glorious promotion?!!

Whatever happens - the fools paradise is over. Good!

I shouldn't really agree with what you've written , but somehow I do.
I don't subscribe to them trying more now that we've fallen out of a play off place.
To me it should not make a scrap of difference and they should have been given the same amount of effort in every game.
I actually think they have , but as happens in football , form and confidence do disappear.
The question for us now is whether we can find some again and push on.
Like you , I do feel a certain sense of relief and the lifting of a bit of pressure.
Plymouth are on a great run , but now lets see if they can cope with the expectation they will now have from fans - nerves can be a funny thing.
The team we should be targeting is Oxford IMO.
They are also not in the greatest form and if we can beat Bristol Rovers ( big ask right now ) , next Monday is massive.
On current form , we have little chance of play offs , but let's see how they react from here.
Come on Mr Brown , earn your money.

 

[yogi bear up the cagire]

I shouldn't really agree with what you've written , but somehow I do.
I don't subscribe to them trying more now that we've fallen out of a play off place.
To me it should not make a scrap of difference and they should have been given the same amount of effort in every game.
I actually think they have , but as happens in football , form and confidence do disappear.
The question for us now is whether we can find some again and push on.
Like you , I do feel a certain sense of relief and the lifting of a bit of pressure.
Plymouth are on a great run , but now lets see if they can cope with the expectation they will now have from fans - nerves can be a funny thing.
The team we should be targeting is Oxford IMO.
They are also not in the greatest form and if we can beat Bristol Rovers ( big ask right now ) , next Monday is massive.
On current form , we have little chance of play offs , but let's see how they react from here.
Come on Mr Brown , earn your money.

I'm afraid that EVEN if we overhaul Oxford, it doesn't look as though that will be enough. I think in citing Plymouth, you are rather forgetting York, who are a breath away from overtaking us and light years away from us in form, as the below table of the last 12 games show.

W D L

SOUTHEND 1 7 4 (10 points out of 36)

PLYMOUTH 6 2 4 ( 20 points out of 36)

YORK 7 3 2 (24 points out of 36)

I think that perfectly illustrates the hole we have dug ourselves into. Catching Burton (9 points ahead) is virtually impossible with nine games left. To hold off Plymouth and York would require such a change around in our form, that it is probably easier to believe in Father Christmas. Sorry to ruin your day! I think we need to get the 'clutching at straws' belief in play-offs or promotion over with as soon as possible so that we can concentrate on next season.......this one is all but dead and buried.

 

[dannypav]

I'm afraid that EVEN if we overhaul Oxford, it doesn't look as though that will be enough. I think in citing Plymouth, you are rather forgetting York, who are a breath away from overtaking us and light years away from us in form, as the below table of the last 12 games show.

W D L

SOUTHEND 1 7 4 (10 points out of 36)

PLYMOUTH 6 2 4 ( 20 points out of 36)

YORK 7 3 2 (24 points out of 36)

I think that perfectly illustrates the hole we have dug ourselves into. Catching Burton (9 points ahead) is virtually impossible with nine games left. To hold off Plymouth and York would require such a change around in our form, that it is probably easier to believe in Father Christmas. Sorry to ruin your day! I think we need to get the 'clutching at straws' belief in play-offs or promotion over with as soon as possible so that we can concentrate on next season.......this one is all but dead and buried.

I've now dropped the straws I was clutching thanks to your large shot of reality - spoilsport !
Yeah I get what you mean and unless our form changes very quickly then it doesn't matter who we target.
But..........but...........BUT...........If we do manage to pick up , then stranger things have happened.
Yes 9 points to Burton is a long way off right now , but we do have to play them at home still and from memory ( please check ) , they have some really tough games still to come.
So in conclusion , whilst I admit that I have dropped my straws , rather than 'bin them' I am going to leave them close by just in case.

By the way , what do you mean about believing in Father Christmas ?

 

[Jam_Man]

I'm afraid that EVEN if we overhaul Oxford, it doesn't look as though that will be enough. I think in citing Plymouth, you are rather forgetting York, who are a breath away from overtaking us and light years away from us in form, as the below table of the last 12 games show.

W D L

SOUTHEND 1 7 4 (10 points out of 36)

PLYMOUTH 6 2 4 ( 20 points out of 36)

YORK 7 3 2 (24 points out of 36)

I think that perfectly illustrates the hole we have dug ourselves into. Catching Burton (9 points ahead) is virtually impossible with nine games left. To hold off Plymouth and York would require such a change around in our form, that it is probably easier to believe in Father Christmas. Sorry to ruin your day! I think we need to get the 'clutching at straws' belief in play-offs or promotion over with as soon as possible so that we can concentrate on next season.......this one is all but dead and buried.

Sorry but we are 2 points behind. Thats it.

Yes form is terrible and based on that we have a very big hill to climb and I too l lack any confidence, but to write the season off with 9 games to go. !??!?!

This is surely what makes football exciting, a couple of games down the line the picture may well look different.

 

[yogi bear up the cagire]

Sorry but we are 2 points behind. Thats it.

Yes form is terrible and based on that we have a very big hill to climb and I too l lack any confidence, but to write the season off with 9 games to go. !??!?!

This is surely what makes football exciting, a couple of games down the line the picture may well look different.

Yeah, of course, it's not over until the fat lady sings and I'm just a bit p****d off and frustrated about our situation. I 'would love it, just love it!' if you could rub my nose in my words come the start of May. There's something wrong here and unfortunately, I don't think it's just about a lack of confidence. Don't tell me that coming back from 2-0 down to draw against the league leaders, didn't do something to boost the confidence.........then we follow it with a performance like that against Bury. Problems that have been evident for a while haven't been addressed and I fear bringing in a striker for the last games (IF IT HAPPENS) won't change much. It seems to me that the urgency for a striker only seems to have happened because of the suspension to Corr. If he was available I'd presume that we would have relied on the present squad to turn things around?

 

[Kevin Hogg]

Agreeing with Jam Man here. Past form is past. there are nine games to go and we are 2 points adrift - they are the ONLY stats that count. the other calculations are interesting but mean nothing. A ball hits a post instead of going in and a form team loses two points. Is as basic as that.

 

[Jam_Man]

Things arent good and I dont have any confidence in the side.

Unlike others have said, and as Ive said for many weeks we arent just one pacy striker away from being a winning side but are indeed lacking in belief and confidence. There is something just not clicking at the moment which is much harder to turn around, but whilst we are only a win away from getting back into the playoffs there is still plenty of hope.

A loss against Bristol with a win for Plymouth and the gap is 5 points with 8 games left, that then starts looking like a much more worrying deficit, but we aren't there yet.

 

[* ORM *]

I go into every game with optimism and nothing changes this week

 

[marlow17101032]

Now that other Essex team are breathing down our necks