Steady Fredy

[fbm]

Hold on, hold on, lets keep our feet on the ground here.

Fredy has made a blinding debut, but he didn't dominate the match in the same way that Stan did v Notts County all those years ago.

I think we should sign him, but one game does not a great player make.

Jason Lee, Tony Richards and Sada N'Diaye are living proof of that.

 

[RobM.]

...after all he's only scored 42 in a season and a bit!

 

[palexander]

I doubt if anyone will believe you (but you ask my mates etc!!) - during Jason Lee's debut (hat-trick v Cape Town Spurs), I said he was pony. All my mates shouted me down saying he has got a hat-trick etc, but you could tell he wasnt much cop.

I would certainly say Fredy did at least as much as Stan did. Aside from the goals, Eastwood showed great touch, a willingness to work hard, plenty of skill and bags of determination... I'd take that from a player every game!

 

[RobM.]

I wonder if he's the new penalty taker?!

 

[Technician]

But the question was... can he cut the mustard at league level and on the evidence of yesterday's game I reckon he has more than proved he can.

His movement [off the ball] from the edge of the Swansea box resulting in his first two outrageously full length diving headers, is my point in question. Whilst his hattrick goal apparently took a deflection and was therefore fortuitous, the fact remains that he had 3 shots, 3 on target and 3 goals... even Alan Shearer would say he'd only get that many opportunities in a typical match and you can't do any more than score from them.

Not only that, but his wide distribution was fair to good too. I accept that having seen him only the once, may imply that we've not paused for thought, but some of us instinctively believe he is the next Stan Collymore and as such real talent is a rarity at this level, I think we should take a chance [gamble? risk? I don't know, but in our present position, we have nothing to lose and everything to gain].

Someone posted earlier, that clubs would wise up to Eastwood very quickly... I disagree! as I mentioned earlier, his off the ball movement was astonishing and he knows where the goal is. It is difficult to defend against players like that.

SIGN HIM UP, UNCLE RON... YOU KNOW IT MAKES SENSE

 

[Kent Shrimper]

and you know what, maybe Fredys the final part of the promotion jigsaw (heres hoping anyway)

 

[bas blue]

he does look good, after all how long did it take drew to score 3 goals ?

 

[Sandbach Shrimper]

Quote[/b] (fbm @ Oct. 17 2004,17:35)]Hold on, hold on, lets keep our feet on the ground here.

Fredy has made a blinding debut, but he didn't dominate the match in the same way that Stan did v Notts County all those years ago.

I think we should sign him, but one game does not a great player make.

Jason Lee, Tony Richards and Sada N'Diaye are living proof of that.

There's always one person that has to be negative

 

[Benfleetshrimp]

I dont think its being negative more realistic.
Clint will not score a hatrick in every game he plays for us.
Much like Wayne Rooney's first game for Man Utd played a blinder a bagged three goals. Everyone then is dissapointed that he didnt score in his next game and the one after.
I think we need to keep our feet on the ground which maybe in turn will keep Eastwoods head from getting too large.
Sure there has been alot of interest in him from bigger clubs, sure he has scored 42 goals in one and a quarter seasons. Without a doubt the lad knows where the goal is and is an exciting prospect. But lets not get too dissapointed if he doesnt score on Tuesday.

 

[fbm]

Nothing negative intended... just realistic.

He may well go and and play for England one day.

But can I refer back to Michael Kightly's full debut in the LDV against Bristol Rovers last year.  He was awesome and everyone labelled him as the wonder kid.  Two games later we realised why he was a fringe player.

Steven Clark the same.  Debut against Plymouth - fantastic.  It had people pleading - me included - for Southend to sign him.  And he plays for who now?

I agree with absolutely everything written about Eastwood in what was an unbelievable debut.  BUT... lets bear in mind that things may not go so well in the next few games for him.  After all, he was playing for Grays, and not Arsenal...

Personally I hope he does do the business, we sign him on a 2 year and then sell him on to a top club for a seven figure fee.  The lad certainly seems to know where the goal is.

 

[Technician]

FBM... without wishing to be too argumentative, let's consider his ability which is proven without doubt at non-league level.

37 goals for a non-league club is a pretty good statistic and compares favourably to Lee Boylan's [40+ last season], who Steve Tilson has shown some interest in. Sure, a lot of these goals will have been against very poor teams, but if Fredy can achieve those sorts of numbers at non-league level and you cut that figure in half at League level [reasonable?], you are approaching 20 goals.

Coming to a League club, IMHO is not such a huge step for Fredy. Now whilst we have only seen him once, let's look at yesterday's game very closely so there is no doubting where I am going with this!

For his first goal from the kickoff, he ran into the Swansea penalty area [route one] to score with a stooping header from Wayne Gray's assist... now, not only was his positioning important to meet the cross, but he had to race half the length of the pitch, judge the flight of the ball and guide it past the helpless Swansea GK... fluke?

For his second goal which was a virtual carbon copy of the first, again it was down to positioning and the flight of the ball, but again the finish with a diving header was again emphatic, leaving the keeper helpless and the defence scratching their heads [more of which, in a minute...]. Just goes to prove that the first was neither poor Swansea defending, nor a fluke if you ask me.

Now, his third goal resulted from a firm tackle by Fredy, which was collected by Corbett [I think?] and passed back to Fredy, who pushed forward and sent an angled shot from around 25yds, which took a slight deflection along the way into the net.

Going into yesterday's game, Swansea had the best defensive record in League 2 conceding only 6 goals in 12 games, so my question has to be "how can a young lad who plays for Grays Athletic in Conference South, come to Southend, make his full league debut against Swansea with their exemplory defensive record and score a hattrick of such quality and not get peoples attention!?!"

I am not surprised at some people's caution! of course we should be... who is this young whippersnapper? he has no right to make such an impact... does he? I agree that he may not get another goal for a game or two but he could just as easily prove us wrong and I would sooner have this young man on a contract before another club pulls the rug from underneath us!

Realistically! as I have said before... we have nothing to lose and everything to gain! so let's get him on board now!

 

[fbm]

Quote[/b] (Technician @ Oct. 17 2004,23:42)]FBM... without wishing to be too argumentative, let's consider his ability which is proven without doubt at non-league level.

37 goals for a non-league club is a pretty good statistic and compares favourably to Lee Boylan's [40+ last season], who Steve Tilson has shown some interest in. Sure, a lot of these goals will have been against very poor teams, but if Fredy can achieve those sorts of numbers at non-league level and you cut that figure in half at League level [reasonable?], you are approaching 20 goals.

Coming to a League club, IMHO is not such a huge step for Fredy. Now whilst we have only seen him once, let's look at yesterday's game very closely so there is no doubting where I am going with this!

For his first goal from the kickoff, he ran into the Swansea penalty area [route one] to score with a stooping header from Wayne Gray's assist... now, not only was his positioning important to meet the cross, but he had to race half the length of the pitch, judge the flight of the ball and guide it past the helpless Swansea GK... fluke?

For his second goal which was a virtual carbon copy of the first, again it was down to positioning and the flight of the ball, but again the finish with a diving header was again emphatic, leaving the keeper helpless and the defence scratching their heads [more of which, in a minute...]. Just goes to prove that the first was neither poor Swansea defending, nor a fluke if you ask me.

Now, his third goal resulted from a firm tackle by Fredy, which was collected by Corbett [I think?] and passed back to Fredy, who pushed forward and sent an angled shot from around 25yds, which took a slight deflection along the way into the net.

Going into yesterday's game, Swansea had the best defensive record in League 2 conceding only 6 goals in 12 games, so my question has to be "how can a young lad who plays for Grays Athletic in Conference South, come to Southend, make his full league debut against Swansea with their exemplory defensive record and score a hattrick of such quality and not get peoples attention!?!"

I am not surprised at some people's caution! of course we should be... who is this young whippersnapper? he has no right to make such an impact... does he? I agree that he may not get another goal for a game or two but he could just as easily prove us wrong and I would sooner have this young man on a contract before another club pulls the rug from underneath us!

Realistically! as I have said before... we have nothing to lose and everything to gain! so let's get him on board now!

Nothing to argue about Tech... I agree with everything.

I just don't want the lad to be built up by everyone so that the fee triples...

 

[overseas shrimper]

Quote[/b] (Benfleetshrimp @ Oct. 17 2004,20:37)]Clint will not score a hatrick in every game he plays for us.

He's not much cop then! I say drop the loser.

 

[one flew over the cockles nest]

From what i know he is from a Traveller family, that live in the large Gypsie community thats based in Crays Hill. I don't think he will be reading to much of the hype on his internet!!!

 

[Hong Kong Blue]

Quote[/b] (Technician @ Oct. 17 2004,18:10)]the fact remains that he had 3 shots, 3 on target and 3 goals...

Actually he had 4 chances. Second half he got half a yard ahead of his marker and was bearing down on goal but fluffed his shot. We'll let him off that.

Like Tilly said I'm trying not to get too excited. He still hasn't signed permanently, and even if he does we've seen enough players look world beaters on their debuts only to fade into obscurity. If I remember correctly Sada N'Diaye scored twice on his debut v Plymouth and he will normally pop up in any conversation about worse strikers. Likewise Jason Lee, Steven Clark, Neville Roach, Ben Lewis were all man of the match on their debuts and we soon found out that they were crap.

Personally I don't think Eastwood will sink to that kind of depth. He appeared to have a football brain - his first touch in professional football was brilliant. Instead of laying the ball back to Maher to kick it out for a throw in as normal, he played an intelligent forward pass to Gower which started off the move for the first goal.

I was also impressed by the fact that 2 of his goals were headers despite the fact that he isn't particularly tall. That again suggests he gets in the right place at the right time, something we haven't seen too much of over the years.

However if I had to compare him to a Southend striker from the last 15 years, I'd say he reminds me most of Lawrie Dudfield, ominously someone who sparkled on his initial month on loan but whose career hasn't since quite hit the same heights. Fortunately Eastwood hit such heights that even if he's only 1/3 as good for the rest of his Southend career that'll do for me....

Sign him up!

 

[Technician]

I'm taking the various comments "jumping the gun, steady... he's only played one game" and so on, quite well and agree with most. Don't forget though, I have seen a lot of the "so-called" new blood [Jason Lee, Steven Clark etc.] on their debut's and agree that there could be a huge misconception here, but I feel that something Fredy has, is different from the aforementioned and I am confident, he will make a huge impact at our club.

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