On way home...

[Bielzibubz]

Quote[/b] (wiggy @ Oct. 29 2006,01:36)]

Quote[/b] (bertiebigbanana @ Oct. 28 2006,18:56)]

Quote[/b] (Clarky_Blues @ Oct. 28 2006,18:51)]

Quote[/b] (jamessufc88 @ Oct. 28 2006,17:40)]...well, only just out of Elland Road car park actually. Oh, the joy of having a wireless network card!

Where do I start? We were unbelievable. I don't know how the f@ck we lost that and it was quite possibly the most unjust defeat I've seen in nearly 11 years of watching Southend.

Dennis Wise got exactly what he wanted when publicly saying that he wanted the Leeds team to play how they always did in their 'glory days'. They kicked bloody lumps out of us. Shirt pulling, diving, kicking our legs out from underneath us...you name it, they tried it and got away with it (what's new there?) We knocked the ball around sublimly. Short passes, great movement with or without the ball, dangerous running through the middle and down the flanks. Leeds had no answer for us and, quite frankly, were quite diabolical - I'd hate to be a Leeds fan right now, 'cause if they play like that, there's only one place they're going.

The first goal was a complete fluke. Typically, for the only time during the game, Barrett and Sodj went walkabout (they were superb for the rest of the game) and their little bloke powered through with all the space in the world. Counter attack and sucker punch. As for the second goal, well. I haven't seen many more blatant dives. Just threw himself on the floor in front of Sodj near the edge of the area. And sure enough, the referee gave it. Great shot by Blake but he should never have gotten the chanc in the first place. UNBELIEVABLE.

Once again, we were superb. Our passing and movement was an absolute delight to watch. We just lack that killer bloody ball - so, as I've been saying for weeks, get that elusive bloody creative, aggressive central midfielder we need on loan!

I'm not one for sour grapes. I always give sides their due when they beat us if they deserve it. QPR - murdered us in the first half. Cardiff - better than us all over the pitch. Coventry - thought we had more of the ball and looked better going forward but they looked much more dangerous in the penalty box. But Leeds? Jesus. Absolutely shocking. Very lucky and had simply no answer for our attacking nous and passing skill. A group of Leeds fans came up to my mate after the game when he was lagging behind me a bit and said they couldn't believe that we are where we are in the table. He said that Leeds had two fluke goals and that we outplayed them in every department.

Quite frankly, at the moment, I'm in utter disbelief and really quite upset. I just don't know what we have to do to get a win at the moment

Just got home and absolutely gutted. I think what James has said above is totally right.

We dominated the game from start to finish with only one team in it. Leeds are a very poor side and Wise has a very tough job ahead of him.

Our build up play up to the edge of the box was a different class, some of the best I have seen Southend produce, but we are lacking that final killer pass or the diminuitive attacking central midfielder á la someone in Paul Scholes mode who can pull the trigger.

I really thought we were going to score when we had the succession of four corners.

Proud to be a Southend fan after seeing the away performances at Burnley and Leeds.

Fair play to you mate, for making the trip. However, how many more times are we gonna hear that "we were by far the better team" & "i think they will be in trouble this season" etc etc. Bottom line is, if we are as superior as often told but still lose these games...we aint going nowhere but south!

God aint it boring. Tilson's side only ever gets going when they have to, i.e when they are behind, most weeks lately, crap defence and no killer instinct in front of goal. He will tell you that we are unlucky most weeks, poppycock, bottle is missing i am afraid!

God aint you boring. Every post, without fail I've ever read of yours is either running a player down or generally getting on the teams back. Give it a rest Wiggy please. There was no bottle missing yesterday, none whatsoever. The second half we were more or less camped in their half and you don't do that by not having the bottle to win the ball back and chase down what seem like lost causes and yes we were unlucky yesterday. A point black save from Stack which quite frankly he knew bugger all about.
A ball from Hoops that bobbled across the front of goal and JUST clipped the upright and a defence that threw everything in front of the ball no matter where it was.

A big CM in the Bently mould but with speed and a few of the players to realise there is no harm in shooting once in a while and we'll be ok.

There are problems in certain areas but don't ever accuse the players from lacking bottle and fighting spirit. They don't!

Just for a change Wiggy, despite the result, how about looking for the positives in a performance instead of continually looking for the negatives and berating the players, Tilly and the team as a whole.

By the way, did you make the trip yesterday?

Oh, and just as a side note. Gower had what IMO was his best performance for a considerable time in a Blues shirt. Especially the second half.

 

[jamessufc88]

Quote[/b] (keefmoon @ Oct. 29 2006,02:21)]Agree with most posts on here. Glad someone mentioned about Leeds defence. Whether they were kicking lumps out of us or not, they did restrict us to pretty much half chances from the edge of the box. Having said that, they were possibly the weakest team I've seen this season (other than Ashford Town at Billericay!).
Sadly, we are losing games to good teams and we are also losing games to bad teams. Despite what Radiohead say, 2+2 does not = 5, and that normally amounts to the trapdoor. Our edge infront of goal has gone, despite all the good play that we had today. I mean, we head into November on Wednesday and we've scored 2 goals away from home. It's not rocket science.
2 personal things that may improve what we are doing.
Absolutely right about the central midfielder role. I can't really remember one occasion when a midfielder has made a burst forward and overlapped our strikers. Those runs can result in goals sometimes, but playing infront of their back four doesn't always work. These said runs were something Bentley used to do for fun incidentally. Remember? I'm not saying he was good enough for this level but that style of play is something we have lacked this year from the midfield.
Secondly, let's get Mitch back from Northampton and give that right hand side the shake up that it needs. Quite frankly if we had 2 Gowers out on the flanks today in the 2nd half we'd have probably won.
Finally, on the positive side, I can honestly say that every one of that team that started today tried their absolute hardest and I am convinced they feel as bad as we do. Laziness, and half-heartedness is something that will DEFINITELY send us down. And I don't see that from our side. Yet.
Right. Time for bed.

Abso-f'in-lutely. That's what I said ages ago. The qualities I described earlier, that I feel we need in a new midfielder, are exactly the qualities that Mark Bentley had. You're right, he probably wouldn't have been good enough for this level (although I wonder whether his aggression, bottle, box-to-box work-rate and flukey luck would have disguised that, even in this division

). That is the type of CM who will carve open defences with long range shots, overlapping of strikers and threading through-balls. Also agree about Cole. Get him back and kick him square in the arse and he'd probably be a revelation on the left, as both he and Gower have the ability to get in behind the defence on the wings and make them panic and backtrack.

I can't stress enough how close I think we are to getting the right formula. Two wingers like that and the described CM, and I think the team would be solid enough.

I also agree with those who have been commenting on Col******r's loan signings, especially their most recent one. If they can get a Man Utd youngster on loan, then so can we, and there will be LOADS of players of similar qualities sitting in the reserves/youth teams of some of the bigger London clubs, who would be delighted to join a Championship side for first team football. I know Tilly says that he only looks for players who he thinks could improve the team, but the lack of activity in the market on Tilly's behalf at the moment is quite startling. And furthermore, if he doesn't think that players like Ritchie Jones in the reserve teams of some of these Prem clubs are going to be good enough, then he's wrong.