So, Is there a blame?

[Smiffy]

It really is getting quite desperate now. 18 points from the last 48 is very worrying indeed. If this continues for the next 14 games, we will struggle to make the top 7, let alone top 3.

So, is it:

The tactics/selections/leadership skills of the manager that are lacking?
The inability of the players to carry out instructions/perform consistently to the required level?
A problem at boardroom level, filtering down?

 

[Pubey]

Luggy said the players haven't been listening, so I blame the players.

 

[Beefy]

Why does anything need to be to blame? We're off form. It happens.

 

[Smiffy]

Why does anything need to be to blame? We're off form. It happens.

Off form? We have picked up 18 points from 48!...That isn't off form, that is telling us there is a serious, serious problem somewhere and something needs to be done about it. ASAP.

Where there is a problem, there is a blame and there is a solution.

 

[Kevin Hogg]

Here we go again. The Chairman????

Please, what the hell has the Chairman got to do with players being unable to trap a ball, to pass a ball, to head a ball, to save a ball???

If you have problems with the wife, debt, work..whatever - would it stop you trapping a ball in a Sunday afternoon kick about? Either you can or do trap a ball or you don't.
Why has that got the slightest thing to do with any boadroom issues or club issues that may or may not be going on??

If a player is not mentally focussed, I would suggest the manager is the person responsible.

Lets always blame the Chairman. I did not read many congratulating the chairman when the club was on a record unbeaten run. Rightly so, was the responsibility of the manager!!!!!

If we go bust..blame the Chairman. If we lose a game..blame players and manager!!!

 

[Beefy]

Well something has gone wrong and something needs to be done about it. ASAP.

Where there is a problem, there is a blame and there is a solution.

But it's the Manager's job to get things going right again and I'm sure he's on it. I don't see the point in people wallowing in the misery of a defeat or demanding a scapegoat.

We're going to lose a lot more matches this season, next season and all the seasons to follow. We're not the best side in this division. We're a solid and usually organised team with a manager who has gone up from this level before. We haven't got Swindon's players or Crawley's money. Our best player by a mile has missed the entire season. We're going to go through good runs and bad runs.

 

[Beefy]

Of course Smiffy if you know something (which you may well do) then fair enough. And I wasn't there last night so have no idea how bad we were.

 

[bucket&spade.f.c]

For me its the Manager - talks a good game lately and no end product

 

[Clinton Baptiste]

Mr Paul Luggy Cluenimore Sturrock.

 

[Smiffy]

Of course Smiffy if you know something (which you may well do) then fair enough. And I wasn't there last night so have no idea how bad we were.

All I know is we have gone down the pan since before Xmas.

There must be a reason for it. Considering we were 16 unbeaten previous to that?

This is not a loss of form/blip/bad run etc. There must be something more cancerous eating away in the background. This needs to be found and remedied asap, before this promising start to the season really ends on a sour note.

Am I the only one that feels the Tara departure, has contributed massively to this downturn in form?

 

[Badger74]

It was bloody awful

 

[Blue_Shrimper1959]

I personally believe it's a combination of all three but in this order:

1. Manager
2. Players
3. Chairman

 

[Ayrshire Blue]

The players. They're the ones on the pitch.

 

[the_forgotten_man]

League 2 is filled with barely professional footballers. Every team tries to get the best players for as little money as possible. There are a few who have a slightly higher budget than others, and a few with slightly smaller than others.

But nearly every player in this division was given away for free because they weren't wanted elsewhere. That should tell us two things about the standard of the division: a) it's pretty poor and b) it's pretty standardised across teams. Teams at the bottom really aren't that much worse than those at the top - Bradford's performance at RH was one of the best I've seen this year.

What this should indicate is that, with roughly equal pretty poor players, teams rely on momentum, belief and team spirit in a way that those higher up the football pyramid don't. When we won 13 in 16 or whatever crazy run it was, it wasn't because our team was easily better than those we played. It was because we had huge momentum and a great sense of belief that we'd beat anyone who turned up.

Obviously we are at the other end of that spectrum at the moment. The players need belief; a last minute winner with 10 men kick-started our season against Gillingham, something similar could push us on to promotion. What they need is support from the stands, support on message boards like this (because you better believe that PS isn't the only one reading), and a home crowd that isn't suffocating, tense and nervous.

Our form is no-one's fault, it's just that: form.

 

[Kevin Hogg]

"Obviously we are at the other end of that spectrum at the moment. The players need belief; a last minute winner with 10 men kick-started our season against Gillingham, something similar could push us on to promotion. What they need is support from the stands, support on message boards like this (because you better believe that PS isn't the only one reading), and a home crowd that isn't suffocating, tense and nervous".

Top shout!!!!

 

[yogi bear up the cagire]

AUTOMATIC DEFENCE SYSTEM : ACTIVATED
I don't know whether this is cowardly on my part or whether others have adopted a similar position. I have ridden the emotional roller-coaster this season. The joy of that long unbeaten run, when the only question appeared to be whether we would be promoted as Champions, or not. That awful December, when the wheels started to wobble.......the brief return to form after Christmas..........and the return to total inconsistency since then. Last night was the last straw, it wasn't the actual result but the nature of the defeat that worried and upset me the most. For my own protection, I'm getting off the ride. It doesn't mean that I'm giving up on the team but it does mean that I'm giving up on expectation.
I do have the feeling that something has happened over the last couple of months but I really am not going to do my nut in trying to speculate whether this is at player, managerial or director level. I'm certainly in the minority here, as one who sees little point in spending hours in futile debate when the facts are not fully known........and perhaps never will be.
I shall be on BP Saturday, to listen to the Morecambe game and indeed every game this season, so long as there is something to play for. However, I shall be expecting nothing and even the occasional victory won't lull me into another false sense of security................that would need a run of six matches without defeat (including at least four victories)...
.......sadly I just don't see it. I have placed myself in a state of immunisation, I'll be delighted when we win but I will be expecting defeat and will hopefully be rather less depressed when it arrives. Don't know what is going to happen during the rest of the season..........what will be, will be.

 

[onceknownasrab]

All I know is we have gone down the pan since before Xmas.

There must be a reason for it. Considering we were 16 unbeaten previous to that?

This is not a loss of form/blip/bad run etc. There must be something more cancerous eating away in the background. This needs to be found and remedied asap, before this promising start to the season really ends on a sour note.

Am I the only one that feels the Tara departure, has contributed massively to this downturn in form?

I can certainly see how events have coincided but surely everyone can see that the unbeaten run was bound to end whether TB stayed or not. The standard of football was so poor at times it was only a miracle that gave us the points we have. I firmly believe if TB were still onboard we would still be in the position we are, which to my mind is higher than we deserve on the performances we have produced. I think the team has the ability to go up but it so rarely shows it.

 

[BrettieAngell]

We are Southend we never do it the bloody easy way! Did people expect us to be promoted by March or something?

 

[Its Only A Game]

I don't post on here too much due to the massive over reactions to everything but............

Have we really only got 18 points from the last 16 games? Really????

I'd be very surprised if Crawley or Cheltenham have taken more than 6 points more than us over the last 16 games but why let that get in the way of a bit of Ron Martin bashing? (or sturrock or Brady or Phillips or whoever else the bad boy is this week)

 

[Kevin Hogg]

Again, I am lost here..help me out.

Was TB the CEO? He was in effect in charge of the off-field activity, the running of the club. By all accounts he was a popular figure among both players and supporters. He did well in that regard.

He is however, a clever businessman. He came to do a job at Roots Hall in tandem with being an investor. He does not support Southend United and was honest enough to admit supporting Pompey. Good for him.

The point is. He is a businessman who felt the position at Southend United was a good move. He then decided he wanted a different challenge and left. Great.

What the hell does any of that have to do with the players alarming dip in performance? If Mr Brady had any effect on the ups and downs of team performance ..then the manager should take a long, hard look at himself.

I do not believe that to be the case. PS has done a good job and we are still in with a shout. Is about form..we need to find some and fast!