Browns Comments

[IloveShrimp]

Southend United manager Phil Brown: "The season is petering out into nothing. I’m very disappointed at today’s performance without the ball.
“The second, third and fourth goal were just unacceptable defending.
“Harsh words have been said in there.
“We lacked fight. We were a soft touch and that’s very rare for a team coming out of my dressing room.“As far as I’m concerned the play-offs are gone.
"The goal we conceded last week also came from a left wing cross. A pre-requisite for a defender of mine is to stop crosses.
“When they hit the bar it was a warning sign but then we conceded two goals in exactly the same way which is disappointing
“I’m not criticising one player, I’m criticising our defending collectively.”

Bla Bla Bla! heard it all before.

"The goal we conceded last week also came from a left wing cross. A pre-requisite for a defender of mine is to stop crosses.
Their left wing or ours? John White has been poor at closing down and preventing crosses all season as I have pointed out many times before.[/I]

 

[manor15]

"The second, third and fourth goal were just unacceptable defending."

Good job he's alienated and shipped out two centre backs then.

"The goal we conceded last week also came from a left wing cross. A pre-requisite for a defender of mine is to stop crosses.
Their left wing or ours? John White has been poor at closing down and preventing crosses all season as I have pointed out many times before.

Theirs, as has been said many times before, John White is a decent and reliable right back at this level, but he is certainly nothing special and if we are serious about pushing for a play-off spot next season then that may be an area worth looking at.

 

[amsemp]

Good job he's alienated and shipped out two centre backs then.


Theirs, as has been said many times before, John White is a decent and reliable right back at this level, but he is certainly nothing special and if we are serious about pushing for a play-off spot next season then that may be an area worth looking at.

I agree. I like White but I think he, along with a few others, who have held down regular starting spots this season would be decent squad players in League One, but not really good enough to be playing week in week out for a promotion chasing side.

We've got a good squad together, but if you compare this squad with the one that won League One in 2005-2006, very few from today's squad would make it into that 05/06 squad. That needs to change next season if we're serious about promotion. Players like Moussa (if we can get him fit and keep him fit) are definitely the types of players we need next season.

 

[Ricey]

I agree. I like White but I think he, along with a few others, who have held down regular starting spots this season would be decent squad players in League One, but not really good enough to be playing week in week out for a promotion chasing side.

We've got a good squad together, but if you compare this squad with the one that won League One in 2005-2006, very few from today's squad would make it into that 05/06 squad. That needs to change next season if we're serious about promotion. Players like Moussa (if we can get him fit and keep him fit) are definitely the types of players we need next season.

Obviously Colchester thought the same when they released him and he signed for us. Suppose out of the two White should have the last laugh if they get relegated.

 

[Silencer]

Brown seems to have lost the changing room, constant tinkering, fall outs and dropping off former important regulars like Worrall, Timlin amongst others.

Just jog on to Bolton now as all parties know it's inevitable, give a new manager half a dozen games to asses the squad.

 

[Massimo Giovanni]

I can't make my mind up if Brown is issuing a challenge to the players to get it right OR signalling that he might as well sling his hook now and move on himself.
With PB things seem either good or bad, with little in between; AND again, his subs policy and timings? game after game I have seen that things need changing and aren't working BUT he doesn't make the changes - AND WTF happens at half time? do the players have a smoke of weed? as they come out (more often than not) half asleep and doped.:angry:
AND don't get me going about attacking and shooting - basics - you shoot you have a go, you have a chance, you don't and you don't BUT then as said before none of our coaches are/have been forwards.:angry:

 

[rhrussell]

I bet Prosser and Bolger must have the biggest smiles tonight, especially Prosser who will be playing division one next season with a manager that wants him and believes in him, unlike PB, good luck Bolton players your going to need it.

 

[TheGoat]

I agree. I like White but I think he, along with a few others, who have held down regular starting spots this season would be decent squad players in League One, but not really good enough to be playing week in week out for a promotion chasing side.

We've got a good squad together, but if you compare this squad with the one that won League One in 2005-2006, very few from today's squad would make it into that 05/06 squad. That needs to change next season if we're serious about promotion. Players like Moussa (if we can get him fit and keep him fit) are definitely the types of players we need next season.

I like White but agree that we need a player with a little bit more for next season. Will have to disagree that our squad in 05-06 was better though, Tilson massively over-achieved with that team, so much so it was crazy. Our full backs were Duncan Jupp and Che Wilson with Lewis Hunt as backup, Cokes and White would walk into that team! Oh well, at least we're staying up. Desperately need to sign Payne up as Bentley and Brown are surely off in May.

 

[shrimperjon]

I bet Prosser and Bolger must have the biggest smiles tonight, especially Prosser who will be playing division one next season with a manager that wants him and believes in him, unlike PB, good luck Bolton players your going to need it.

Isnt Prosser picking up splinters on the bench or is he actually playing now?

 

[Massimo Giovanni]

There are a couple of sub plots on this thread:-
Which players are decent L1 and which would make a prom pushing 11; AND then there are some that think Luke and Cain would be suitable for a Championship pushing side?:nope:
Ok you might have a bit of man love for some of these guys but surely that love isn't SO blind?:unsure:

 

[Ricey]

Isnt Prosser picking up splinters on the bench or is he actually playing now?

They had an injury and he has slotted in and has played the past few games.

Cresswell is the one picking up splinters which I find odd as I would rather have him than Prosser.

 

[mattitouk]

I've never read into anything Phil says, 99% of the time he ends up doing the opposite of what comes out of his mouth anyway.

 

[Maidstone Shrimper]

It seems as though after a defeat Brown chooses to single out one player to blame. Prosser and Bolger have suffered in the past. Today he seems to be pointing the finger at John White. No doubt his solution will be to move Thompson to right back and play our new centre back ... oh and make four other random changes. Looking at the highlights there were a number of players guilty of woeful defending today, some of them playing in midfield, some in the back four. Maybe the manager should take some responsibilty for the team he put out.

 

[united we stand]

Isnt Prosser picking up splinters on the bench or is he actually playing now?

he has started the last 5 matches, 3 wins and 2 draws. Northampton are now effectively promoted-He must be really regretting leaving

 

[Fairport]

I don't think today's back four apart from Coker are good enough if you are serious about making the play offs. The worry is that our four best players. Bentley, Payne, Leonard and Coker will attract interest from other clubs which would make it difficult next season. Interesting times ahead.

 

[Sammy Shrimper]

Brown seems to have lost the changing room, constant tinkering, fall outs and dropping off former important regulars like Worrall, Timlin amongst others.

Just jog on to Bolton now as all parties know it's inevitable, give a new manager half a dozen games to asses the squad.

On the way to Spotland heard Brown interviewed by BBC Manchester. All about Bolton, and sounded as though he's on his way in the summer. There was a good number of Shrimpers today at Rochdale and at the end Brown didnt even bother to show any appreciation to the travelling fans. Adios tango !

 

[Supershrimper]

Didn't Brown write off our chances last year shortly after a defeat by Burton. Perhaps trying to take some pressure off the players. Only a week ago he was bugging up our chances and wanting 4 points from the next 2 games.

If he has truly written off our chances he'll start playing some of the kids in the next games.
I guess we will find out how Brown truly thinks in his next squad for the next game against Sheffield

 

[OldBlueLady]

Far too much finger pointing at individual players this season, resulting in some having now moved on. The root of the problem for me is that defence is constantly having to cope with a midfield without the steel of Timlin and Leonard and, as a result, being left exposed.

 

[bazzashrimper]

If you don't play with any width in midfield the full backs will be exposed and more crosses will come into the box

 

[rlb999]

Not massively complaining about a 4-1 defeat on a day when we clearly didn't play well. Not complaining about mid table either - we did flirt with the play off places for a while but I'd have taken mid table at the start of the season every day.

I am complaining about the manager's comments though. Never mind all this "I'm not talking about individual players" nonsense. He is talking about individuals - today it's John White but before it's been others. These sort of conversations should be had of course, but it should stay in the dressing room if you ask me. Equally I was at the game today. I couldn't figure out how that midfield was supposed to be lining up and it was apparent from very early on that their left back was quite good at pinging in an early ball. But White was far too frequently 2 on 1 - where the covering midfielder was I don't know and to be fair I don't think they knew either as they were being swapped round so much.

This brings me onto another point - the size of our squad is too large - and I've gone on about this before. We had 3 left sided midfielders on the bench today as an example. Surely loans that come in should be adding something extra to the team rather than providing more of the same. McQueen, Kamara and Loza for me add NOTHING to what we've got already. You could swap them for McLaughlin, Atkinson, and Weston or Hunt and you'd have pretty much the same. The centre half from Ipswich is the only one we arguably need as we don't have cover. The rest should be sent back. Players like McLaughlin and Weston would get more playing time rather than being sat on the bench just costing the club money.

We also need to take a call on the manager. Ron must know whether he's staying or going to Bolton in the summer. If it's the latter, and by all accounts we're not play off bound now, we should pension him off and bring in someone new (or let Coughlan run with it for the season). Use it as time to plan for next season and use it as time to see if some of the fringe players do actually have anything to add. We assume that if Brown goes he'll take some with him, and any change of manager usually means a shake up of the playing staff so it's an opportunity to see if players like Ted Smith or Jack Bridge are anywhere nearer the level.

And one final thing to antagonise you all - why the hell have we extended Adam Barratt by 12 months? If that's the extent of our ambition I rather suspect that we'll fight a relegation battle before we fight another promotion battle.