Sunderland Away - The Shrimper Truth

[Rayleigh boy]

The Shrimpr Truth - Sunderland away -

Hundreds of Shrimpers made the long, arduous and expensive
journey into one of the most historic traditional football heartlands
and from before the kick-off in the beautiful Stadium of Light the
pride and passion of Southend United FC was truly represented
in the stands.

Below, on the pitch, something was wrong. The players warmed
up without a trainer or manager in sight and from the start gave the
ball away in midfield leaving a confident Sunderland running at a
back-pedalling Southend back four.

It was hard not to think that the very presence of Roy Keane had turned
a few heads inside out and upside down and with the finger pointing and
arguing after the first half goals would have been just what the Black Cats
boss wanted to see. Thoroughly prepared, Sunderland smothered JCR and
waited for Bradburys layoffs. By the second-half the wheels were coming off
and at one point the Southend skipper surrendered possession, again, and
then simply walked back hands on hips giving only his gob a work out.

Tilson wanted to walk away with a post match "hands up" but the real lesson
from the Stadium of Light was about winning and what it takes. There was far too much of a hands up all over this one and something lacking in the mental preparation. Certain players were completely and utterly all over the shop. The Sunderland crowd deserved to see a better SUFC than this.

Fortunately a few north east lasses were lucky enough to meet an Essex boy or three and the average Sunderland fan seemed friendly and knowledgeable and alright when translated. The Blues support impressed in a football hotspot but the management need to have a long hard look at themselves. This was another go at competing at a top level and "hands up" is never ever good enough for Southend United FC.

 

[maldon_blue]

Didnt make the game but agree with most of that.

What sort of message does Tilson send out sometimes??
Why should we just hold our hands up and say Sunderland are a better team than us. Bigger? Yes. Better? Not if we play the way we know we can and the right players are sent out in the right frame of mind!

 

[Jam_Man]

Bigger? Yes. Better? Not if we play the way we know we can and the right players are sent out in the right frame of mind!

Right frame of mind only takes you so far, look at the value of their players and ours, they have players with Premiership experience, we have League Two!

Sometimes you have to accept that to beat teams like Sunderland we have to play well above our ability and we cant do that every game.

 

[mattytheshrimper]

Didnt make the game but agree with most of that.

What sort of message does Tilson send out sometimes??
Why should we just hold our hands up and say Sunderland are a better team than us. Bigger? Yes. Better? Not if we play the way we know we can and the right players are sent out in the right frame of mind!

agreed. if we actually played the way we all know we can they aren't better than us. i don't mean to pick on hunt but he just really ****ed me off. massive ego and he cost us! he had a terrible game. the amount of time tilly has held his hands is something i wouldn't expect him to do as on the day anyone and beat anyone if you try hard enough. we've proved that enough times the last few seasons havn't we!

 

[Jam_Man]

. we've proved that enough times the last few seasons havn't we!

Sure have. Against Bury etc.

Sunderland are a slightly different kettle of fish!

We got 6 points from Sunderland and Birmingham, thats not a bad result but it seems people expect too much.

 

[The Watermill Wino]

I don't know about the lack of preparation before the game, or the fact that no Boss or coach warmed them up but they did look totally out of their depth. It pains me to say that but we really weren't at the races at all and we all know the lads can do a lot better than they did.
Did anyone else notice we didn't have a group hug before the kick off although Sunderland did? Has the team spirit began to fizzle out? I hope not.

 

[Shrimper2thecore]

Good report, fairly put

 

[mattytheshrimper]

anyone see eastwood shots at the pre-match warm up. when i say that i was filled with dread! haha

 

[ESG]

anyone see eastwood shots at the pre-match warm up. when i say that i was filled with dread! haha

Yes, row Z most of them. That said nobody else except Foran hit the target either.

 

[mattytheshrimper]

saying that, foran did doing pretty good. as i've said before id like to see him play up front with freddy

 

[stickyboy]

Yes, row Z most of them. That said nobody else except Foran hit the target either.

Do like that "shooting" practise before the away games - pure comical value as we are utterly awful. You have to keep alert in the crowd even if you are in row Z

 

[mattytheshrimper]

i was back row and nearly got hit!

 

[Blues Trader]

I thought our tactics were niave. We should have kept it tight the first twenty mins until our boys had settled down to the atmosphere. I'm afraid to say we looked like we bottled it and twenty mins into the game we were 2-0 down and the game was virtually over. We certainly missed Barret at the back, the pitch seemed really wide and we appeared to have massive gaps in our back four. Sunderland fans must have wondered why we had been doing so well up to this match as we never gave them anything to worry about all match.

 

[The Watermill Wino]

the pitch seemed really wide and we appeared to have massive gaps in our back four.

I thought that aswell but was shocked when I did a saddo stat attack and felt quite uneasy about the space they had.

Roots Hall pitch size 110 x 74 yards
SoLight pitch size 105m x 68m which converts to 114.82 yards by 74.36 yards.

In English their pitch is a Ford Mondeo longer and a size 12 trainer wider.

Source Internet Football Ground Guide
http://www.footballgroundguide.co.uk/

 

[fredheim_holm]

Do like that "shooting" practise before the away games - pure comical value as we are utterly awful. You have to keep alert in the crowd even if you are in row Z

Me and Ljubjana went down the front because we were bored. One came straight at me, but I managed to stick out my leg.

I thought the shooting practice was bad, but there were a few signs that we are a football team, ie. We can shoot. Wasn't good though, not by any standards.

 

[colonelnutter]

nob

tilson in failure to tie players boot laces horror story!!!! whyowhyowhy does tilly not realise that he has to tucking in their shirts, cleaning their boots and pointing them in the right direction to gain results! as any one who reads the sun or watches trisha will tell you, psikology is essential (I fink that is how you spell it, i will check when i get my o-level results.)

 

[Angell Delight]

What sort of message does Tilson send out sometimes??
Why should we just hold our hands up and say Sunderland are a better team than us. Bigger? Yes. Better? Not if we play the way we know we can and the right players are sent out in the right frame of mind!

Sorry but I can't agree with this at all - look at the Sunderland squad, and look at the amount of money they spent in the January window alone!! People need to realise that (although the new stadium looks set to be rubber-stamped which will help us compete financially in the future) we are still at this moment in time one of 2 or 3 clubs that are easily the smallest in the Championship and are punching above our weight just to be in this division at the moment. Yes we won at Birmingham and Cardiff and they were tremendous results but you can't expect to go to places like Sunderland and think "well if we've got the right attitude we'll get something" cos it doesn't always work like that. Attitude will only go so far if you're playing a side packed with millions of pounds worth of talent who (more importantly) are playing at the top of their game. If they do that against sides like Southend United they will (probably) take the points, people need to understand the massive gulf in class between this division and the one we left behind last season - in this division (depending on who you're playing and how they play) sometimes going out with the best attitude and mindset in the world isn't enough to get anything from the game. Half of this side were L2 players 2 years ago and while IMHO we're a decent side and easily the best in the bottom 6 the fact remains that in terms of quality there are certain sides in this division who on their day can rip us apart with the side we have now and some people need to accept that.

 

[Rayleigh boy]

being realistic about the BIG clubs is fine - but I can never forget how far Wimbledon FC went (FA Cup winners) and we are a bigger club than they ever were.

also I just hate losing - and do think you have got to learn from every defeat - and no point in covering it up and somethings didn't seem right -

still another great day for the club as the turn out of SUFC supporters showed how strong our tradition is and how strong football culture is in Essex .
our

 

[Leighite]

Sorry but I can't agree with this at all - look at the Sunderland squad, and look at the amount of money they spent in the January window alone!! People need to realise that (although the new stadium looks set to be rubber-stamped which will help us compete financially in the future) we are still at this moment in time one of 2 or 3 clubs that are easily the smallest in the Championship and are punching above our weight just to be in this division at the moment. Yes we won at Birmingham and Cardiff and they were tremendous results but you can't expect to go to places like Sunderland and think "well if we've got the right attitude we'll get something" cos it doesn't always work like that. Attitude will only go so far if you're playing a side packed with millions of pounds worth of talent who (more importantly) are playing at the top of their game. If they do that against sides like Southend United they will (probably) take the points, people need to understand the massive gulf in class between this division and the one we left behind last season - in this division (depending on who you're playing and how they play) sometimes going out with the best attitude and mindset in the world isn't enough to get anything from the game. Half of this side were L2 players 2 years ago and while IMHO we're a decent side and easily the best in the bottom 6 the fact remains that in terms of quality there are certain sides in this division who on their day can rip us apart with the side we have now and some people need to accept that.

No-one can argue that their players are better quality than ours bearing in mind the money they have to spend. However, there is no excuse for not giving 100% even if you may spend half the time on your backside trying to keep up with the opposition. The body language was all wrong. After half-time, four players came out on their own, Hunt strolled out as if he was going down the shop for the sunday papers and it looked as if they had resigned themselves to defeat. Too many players need to have a good look at themselves about how they played. After having a good chat with the Sunderland fans in the pub before the game, this was just embarrassing.