If 'the Goat' was still a Southend player.....

[Shrimpersunited]

.... where would we be now?

Would he have made a difference?

 

[BlueBeard]

We would be safe in mid table, because fredy would have scored ar least another 10 goals as the goat could play with Fred compared to the forwards we have tried to pair him with this year Goater . was different class. Could hold the ball up and had so many little tricks to out fox defenders he often had two marking him giving Fred much more space

 

[Cricko2]

We would be safe in mid table, because fredy would have scored ar least another 10 goals as the goat could play with Fred compared to the forwards we have tried to pair him with this year Goater . was different class. Could hold the ball up and had so many little tricks to out fox defenders he often had two marking him giving Fred much more space

Its the defence that have let us down certianly in the early part of the season anway. The GOAT was a wonderful "foil" for Fredy last year and I admit he misses a target man to play of this year. That being said ..we are in a different league from last year, up against Championship sides who don't generally give the space to forwards that league 1 sides do.

 

[canveyshrimper]

.... where would we be now?

Would he have made a difference?

If I could tell you that, I would make sure I have the lottery numbers first.

 

[The Flying Scotsman]

I think Freddy would be a lot less arrogant for starters.

 

[Shrimper2thecore]

He is too old now me thinks

 

[callan]

.... where would we be now?

Would he have made a difference?

As a player no, but certainly I think he should have been kept on in some sort of role.

 

[southend_united_fan]

I was a big fan of the goat - some never seemed to appreciate his footballing intelligence.

The answer to the original question....NO

...and that is coming from one of the goat's biggest supporters.

He is missed, or rather, his role is missed. We are yet to see a better partnership and his clever flick and trick are deeply missed...he helped freddy so much.

but, to be frank, the goat was past it in terms of his physical condition. He's mind was there, but he didn't have the legs. He wouldn't be able to compete with these great big lumps we seem to lay against each week. Same really.

BUT... I do agree that we are yet to find a replacement for him...as they say... you don't realise how good something is until its gone....He was much much more important to us than others thought.

Oh well, in my eyes he's a legend...for ALL sorts of reasons. Lets hope one day we can form the same sort of parnership with freddy or no freddy.

 

[andrew_sthnd]

tbh i think the question to be asking is 'where we would be if ricketts had fulfilled his potential?' i think tilly realised that fred needed a bid strong partner to play alongside and ricketts was to be that person. unfortunately things didnt work out with that scenario as we all know and i really believe we have suffered because of it.

 

[shrimptank]

Mid table respectability.

 

[Dustybin]

We would be in the same place. The Goat wouldn't have made it into the team as he was too old and wouldn't be able to keep up with the pace. That is why he retired. He would no doubt have kept morale high within the dressing room and training pitch but would be impossible to think what impact that would have had. However that doesn't take away the fantastic season he had with us last year.

 

[Uncle Leo]

because fredy would have scored ar least another 10 goals as the goat could play with Fred

At least another ten? That's a pretty bold claim! :confused:

 

[silentshrimper]

Doubt it would have helped us much, the defence was the problem for most of this season, maybe wed have a few more points.

 

[Jam_Man]

No I dont think it would have made much difference, Goater is too old for this level and the nostalgia is clouding the fact a lot of people were slating Goater for parts of last season. (Remember Brentford away!)

 

[Westcliff Shrimper]

As already said above - the Goat's role is missed, as we are crying out for someone to hold the ball up and bring the midfield into play (like Bradders) but still get onto the scoresheet on a regular basis (unlike Bradders). The only player I think could do that in the current squad would be Foran based on the amount of times he won the ball in the air on Tuesday night against Palace, but Tilly seems to see him more as a wide player...