Aimless...

[EastStandBlue]

Thats the word to sum up todays performance... Nothing came out of any attack produced and all attacking play failed to reach any of the two frontmen with enough creativity to give Eastwood or Gray any time to produce an end product...

If we're expected to wins omething soon i suggest we throw caution to the wind and attack from the back, instead of the useless Hoofball were currently playing.

 

[moneypit23]

Unfortunately we've been playing hoolball an awful lot in recent weeks, which is fine if you have a front two who will win it and create something. Sadly we don't and the few that Gray did win always seemed to find a white shirt.

 

[Southendsleeper]

Trying to play the long ball. Against (former) Wimbledon.

Anyone else see the irony there?

 

[Guest]

Do we actually have a midfield? Saying this though, i think that having Gutts in the squad is great, and although it doesnt come off all the time, i think that Mitchel Cole is a great addition 2!

 

[EastStandBlue]

Guttridge, sometimes i feel, is the only attackingly creative player on the pitch... Can collect the ball and play intelligent passes towards the front pair that sometimes come off and sometimes dont.
I just hope Maher can overcome his fear of placing an attacking through ball, Sod this "Im a Celebrity..." nonsense to overcome fears, we need "I'm Kevin Maher Get me some creativity"

 

[keefmoon]

Guttridge was sadly lacking an edge today. I thought he looked quite off the pace, and - dare I say it - unfit. But, hey, we don't have many options.
From an all round perspective (i.e. being entertained by the other team aswell) I thought that was possibly the worst game of the season. There was creativity there sometimes, mainly on the wings, but there was something missing. There was no drive or enthusiasm, and our play has gone from being some of the most attractive I've ever seen down there to becoming quite negative, all of a sudden. I have said before we have a squad of confidence players, and this is coming across in their play. The full backs don't overlap, the widemen find themselves in poor positions, and the midfield in turn find they have to sit deeper than we need, thus giving the front 2 scraps to feed off. We need to be more positive and take the risks we were taking earlier on the season. It may lose more games, for sure, but it'll definitely win more games than we are winning at the moment too. Something that needs to be rectified to stop our slide down the table.
Can't believe we rose a place after a performance like that!!
I will not sit here and slag anyone off for what went on, particularly Tilly, as we are still in a position I would have given my right arm for in August, but if I travel to Hartlepool to see that again, I ain't gonna be too happy.

 

[stickyboy]

aimless was a good description, We are started to play like Lincoln did last year. Our last 6 homes games have yielded just 3 goals (1 of those a pen). Hardly had a shot on goal today, was pathetic. MK Dons were far superior and deserved a win. We are currently going nowhere but amazing we went up to 5th place today .The transfer window will be interesting to see who we get as we badly need some new blood

 

[Sandbach Shrimper]

We were sh*t today. We had about as much creativity or imagination as the writers of Eastenders. There was no movement, no creativity and it was just too easy for the MK Dons defence. We didn't create one good chance and MK Dons deserved to win. They missed a penalty and had 2 clear cut chances in the 2nd half, which if McLeod had been playing would've probably ended up in the back of the net. The problems were again in the midfield. Gower was diabolical. He's been in good form lately but today everything he touched turned into cr*p. Maher was awful again, all he does is pass the ball sideways or loft the ball first time so it hangs up in the air for about 5 minutes. Guttridge and Cole never really got into the game and the strikers were starved of service. Saying that, Eastwood was still below par again. Gray couldn't be knocked too much. The subs were too late and the atmosphere was flippin' awful.

On the plus side, we're above C*l U again. Normal service has been resumed.

 

[shrimper4life]

Quote[/b] (shrimpboy @ Dec. 26 2005,22:11)]The subs were too late and the atmosphere was flippin' awful.

Yep, even though i was in the box, all i could hear was the MK dons fans singing which was proabably 100 of them

 

[blue sky]

MK Dons' number 7 was the best player on view today - everything went through him and we made no effort to snuff him out. We resorted far to much to aimless hoof-ball.
Too many players had a poor game today. We have a slow back four without Hunt and we will get exposed and punished. Pointless playing 2 wide players if we arent going to use them more and Sadly Eastwood went missing again today.
Memo to Kevin Maher: Dont play over-hit or aimless passes and then berate your team-mates - its YOUR fault. And PLEASE let other players take the set-pieces, Cole's and Gower's delivery is far better.
Memo to Tilly: Why, Why, Why make substitutions 5 minutes from time? - far too late. And we need a pacy centre-back and a striker in January.

 

[andrew_sthnd]

there is a lot of talk on these boards of being positive, but why should I?! Yes, it is true that we are fifth in league 1 after only being promoted last season but the football game that i saw today was awful! I did not see a southend player on the pitch (apart from the very odd moments from gutts or juppy) that deserved their place. The back four was off the pace, we didnt seem to have a midfield, grays situation was not helped by the fact that we were determined to play long balls at him the whole time and as for eastwood - he was in dreamland!

 

[sufcinwhistler]

I'm actually quite glad I'm missing these games from the sound of it. It sort of hides the truth about what's going on because each time I look at the league, we're in the playoff zones within touching distance of the top. I've noticed in recent weeks that Swansea and Huddersfield, sorry, 'Uddersfield as I'm told they should be called, are missing out on points too. What upsets me a little is that we've won one game since I left and that was against Barnet in the cup. Today really could have been a springboard.

To compound matters even the Canucks have gone on a three game losing streak after their awesome start to the season at home.

 

[shrimper4life]

Quote[/b] (andrew_sthnd @ Dec. 27 2005,00:32)]there is a lot of talk on these boards of being positive, but why should I?! Yes, it is true that we are fifth in league 1 after only being promoted last season but the football game that i saw today was awful! I did not see a southend player on the pitch (apart from the very odd moments from gutts or juppy) that deserved their place. The back four was off the pace, we didnt seem to have a midfield, grays situation was not helped by the fact that we were determined to play long balls at him the whole time and as for eastwood - he was in dreamland!

I agree with you. The last few games have been utter sh!t. The football we are playing is rubbish and no one seems to be able to get a shot on target let alone score.

 

[Sandbach Shrimper]

Here's a worrying stat - we haven't won at home since October 9th.

 

[Andy_S]

Heck we haven't won at all since November 5th!

We haven't scored more than 1 in a game since October 29th.

 

[Shrimpersarmy]

Looks like i saw a different game. The midfield had the ball at their feet, they look up and the only people moving and looking for the ball are the back 4 so the ball ends up going backwards.

Our strikers just didn't move at all for the whole game. Eastwood is either very lazy, doesn't care, or is unfit. I don't think it's poor fitness, he was only out for a week or 2. Gray never once sprinted as fast as he possibly could.

I don't see how a team has gone from being so hungry to seemingly not really caring.

 

[Thenewblue]

The reason the hunger has gone is because of the negative mindset throughout the team. I feel if we had beaten Swansea and gone top we would still be flying. But losing to Swansea knocked us for 6 and set our target back to staying up, which is effectively done, so I feel the team have nothing left to play for especially with Tilson reminding anyone who will listen that staying up is our aim this season. The players say they believe they can go up, but do they really? They certainly don't look like they have any self belief. just playing aimless football in a seemingly aimless season, with our 'goal' as good as achieved wheres the inspiration to do more? If Tilly re-adjust his sights on playoffs and instilled that into the team, then maybe we would see a return of the drive and desire to do well. This team would walk through walls for eachother in previous times. We need that togetherness back, though I feel us the fans are included in that. Booing at the end of matches is not acceptable, our support was terrible but they still applauded us, we owe them the same decency. If we the fans set the example then maybe the players will follow?

 

[Hong Kong Blue]

Quote[/b] (Thenewblue @ Dec. 28 2005,00:53)]The reason the hunger has gone is because of the negative mindset throughout the team. I feel if we had beaten Swansea and gone top we would still be flying. But losing to Swansea knocked us for 6 and set our target back to staying up, which is effectively done, so I feel the team have nothing left to play for especially with Tilson reminding anyone who will listen that staying up is our aim this season. The players say they believe they can go up, but do they really? They certainly don't look like they have any self belief. just playing aimless football in a seemingly aimless season, with our 'goal' as good as achieved wheres the inspiration to do more? If Tilly re-adjust his sights on playoffs and instilled that into the team, then maybe we would see a return of the drive and desire to do well. This team would walk through walls for eachother in previous times. We need that togetherness back, though I feel us the fans are included in that. Booing at the end of matches is not acceptable, our support was terrible but they still applauded us, we owe them the same decency. If we the fans set the example then maybe the players will follow?

Good post. I agree with every word.

The twin cup defeats really hurt us.

 

[Streaky]

Earlier someone mentioned that our full backs didn't get forward enough. This is true, when Juppy did overlap Gower he put in a quality ball which was probably our best chance of the game. So many times wilson and jippy are happy to pass at the first oppotunity to Gower or Cole and sit back. GET FORWARD

 

[stickyboy]

I agree Tilly saying the priority was to stay up when you top of the league a third into the season was too negative - gives the impression to the player that they have done enough now for the year so we cant start playing as though we dont give a sh!t.

By the way I am quite happy to boo at the end of matches as is anyone who has paid good money to watch aload of sh!te. None of this kiss the players arses bollox when they cant even manage to get a decent shot on goal all day, they need a kick up the backside