Who would you rather keep?

[Angell Delight]

It's quite simple, there's not a hope in hell that Bentley is staying here. With Payne there is the possibility that he will re-sign so we need to make that a certainty. The question is pretty irrelevant as Bentley is leaving anyway. Who would I rather keep if they both had the possibility of re-signing? Payne. But I'm extremely grateful for what Dan has done for this club. He's a big reason we're even in L1.

 

[duncan bulgaria]

RE my last post - Bentley does have flaws but if he gets a chance at a bigger club he will learn and improve on these flaws but unfortunately for him he will be sitting on a bench a lot of the time until he does improve.

 

[slapheadsteve]

I think Payne has shown much more mussle in the last dozen or so games, and now is one of three who must start.
Dan is the second one and he is the reason we are in this league.
Both are valuable assets and will go far.
However i think the player we have who is better than both Jack and Dan. Is Ryan Leonard, Since Gilbey put him out for a long while, we have been no where near the same side, we are open to team's running at us, which Ryan usualy stops.
Ryan seems to have been at Southend a long while but is still very young. I think he will go further than both Jack an Dan.

 

[Angell Delight]

I think Payne has shown much more mussle in the last dozen or so games, and now is one of three who must start.
Dan is the second one and he is the reason we are in this league.
Both are valuable assets and will go far.
However i think the player we have who is better than both Jack and Dan. Is Ryan Leonard, Since Gilbey put him out for a long while, we have been no where near the same side, we are open to team's running at us, which Ryan usualy stops.
Ryan seems to have been at Southend a long while but is still very young. I think he will go further than both Jack an Dan.

Agree on Leonard. Those 3 are our best players, with Coker not too far behind. Lenny's absence has effectively cost us a play-off place IMHO.

 

[Shrimpers are Magic]

I'm not an expert on soccer players so when I hear someone who knows the game inside out at our level describe Dan Bentley as the reason his team lost then I tend to take notice (Neil Harris after we beat Millwall away)
He is a top top keeper at this level and the likely hood is, we won't have anything near as good for possibly a generation. The defence keeps getting changed around which suggests the issue is the outfield players and not the keeper.
Jack Payne looks a great prospect but so have so many before him. If he really has talent then he will leave for bigger things sooner rather than later. Leonard I think would have been picked up by now if he was destined for the top. Coker won't play above this level.

 

[Yorkshire Blue]

I'm not an expert on soccer players so when I hear someone who knows the game inside out at our level describe Dan Bentley as the reason his team lost then I tend to take notice (Neil Harris after we beat Millwall away)
He is a top top keeper at this level and the likely hood is, we won't have anything near as good for possibly a generation. The defence keeps getting changed around which suggests the issue is the outfield players and not the keeper.
Jack Payne looks a great prospect but so have so many before him. If he really has talent then he will leave for bigger things sooner rather than later. Leonard I think would have been picked up by now if he was destined for the top. Coker won't play above this level.

When people talk about why their team lost I tend to switch off as they aren't very objective.

 

[Shrimpers are Magic]

When people talk about why their team lost I tend to switch off as they aren't very objective.

Agreed, I tend to avoid this forum as well when we get turned over.

 

[manor15]

Don't think this will ever really be a fair poll, as most are resigned to losing Dan, accepted it a long time ago and are not expecting him to stay, whereas the thought of Jack moving on to a bigger club hasn't seemed that likely until the last couple of months.

That said, Ted is a promising prospect which would ease the pain of Dan going ever so slightly, and it's a fact of life that watching a player score goals is (almost) always more entertaining than watching someone stop them.

 

[southendkid]

I'm not an expert on soccer players so when I hear someone who knows the game inside out at our level describe Dan Bentley as the reason his team lost then I tend to take notice (Neil Harris after we beat Millwall away)
He is a top top keeper at this level and the likely hood is, we won't have anything near as good for possibly a generation. The defence keeps getting changed around which suggests the issue is the outfield players and not the keeper.
Jack Payne looks a great prospect but so have so many before him. If he really has talent then he will leave for bigger things sooner rather than later. Leonard I think would have been picked up by now if he was destined for the top. Coker won't play above this level.

Leonard's only 23 I wouldn't write him off yet (especially since he switched from an attacking midfield role to holding midfielder and so took some time to get used to his new position), Coker I agree is over hyped but Payne looks good now and is only 21, clubs will be interested for the potential alone, even in this season he's improved massively, his passing was suspect at the start of the season but he picked plenty of great passes out against Sheffield.

 

[rayleigh dan]

Whilst I would hate to lose either it will be easier to replace Bentley than Payne IMO. We already have Smith to compete with whoever the replacement will be. We've also had many good goalkeepers over the years, but an attacking midfielder with the ability of Payne? I'm struggling to think of one as exciting to watch, Ricky Otto was perhaps the last and that was over 20 years ago.

 

[Angell Delight]

Whilst I would hate to lose either it will be easier to replace Bentley than Payne IMO. We already have Smith to compete with whoever the replacement will be. We've also had many good goalkeepers over the years, but an attacking midfielder with the ability of Payne? I'm struggling to think of one as exciting to watch, Ricky Otto was perhaps the last and that was over 20 years ago.

Agreed. :thumbsup: