Southend - Torquay

[ferrarilover]

I wasn't at the game, so I'm basing the following post on what I have heard from Ma n Pa and a few other who were at the game, as well as what I've seen on TV and what I have read on the Southend forum.

It seems to me (she lived her life, like a candle in the wind.) that Southend had to play their best football for two years (according to about 40 seperate fans on their board), score two unstoppable goals, catch us on a really bad day (long away trips x3 probably to blame) and have the woodwork come to their rescue 5 (yes, FIVE) times to beat us 2-1. Now, had they beaten us 6-0, I'd feel differently, but it doesn't take too much of a change in any one of the aforementioned departments (scoring three goals and hitting the post three times is not exactly a stretch from what really happened) to get us the three points.

All credit to Southend for playing as well as they did, by all accounts they were really very, very good and they contributed to our downfall in at least equal measure to our own team, but unless we come across strikers every week who are going to find the tiny parts of the goal which Scotty cannot reach, and we manage ourselves to hit the woodwork 5 times, we should run out winners regardless of how well the opposition play.

Well, that's what I think about it, anyway.

Matt.

[JamieE]

Just how bad was he? (on a scale of 1-10 with 5 being average).

Haha! Classic.

[Sunny]

Listening to Gulls World yesterday I was struck by Dave Thomas s groan as Danny Stevens lost possession for what appeared to be the umpteenth time.

A question to those of the 386. Just how bad was he? (on a scale of 1-10 with 5 being average).

He wasn't that bad, to be fair there was a few players who seemed to be struggling.

Benyon was pretty awful and Wroe was his normal self, rubbish.

IMO Carlisle should have been taken off at half time instead of Danny. He was clearly struggling and didn't seem able to run for the ball. He did run for goal ONCE but on the whole was pretty awful and clearly not match fit.

To single Danny out is very unfair and to indicate that he lost possession "for what appeared to be the umpteenth time" is inaccurate.

Ellis played well and Zebs' goal was good.

On the whole, Southend on the day was the better team.

[chippygull]

They were two cracking goals tho'. No shame in letting them in!

[diamondgirl]

Yellow, Danny did not have his best game on Sat. (maybe a 4 on your point system) To be honest, neither did Eliot. Zebs. imo, was our best forward player. They may have been tired, last week was a busy week for us. No excuses, just one of those games. Having said that, I think we deserved to come away with a point, but it was not to be.

[Fulham Gull]

Everything written so far is spot on but what we must not overlook is that Paul Sturrock has obviously had us watched and chose a sytem that completely neutralised Zebs and Benyon in the first half. Change palyers and change system in the seconfd half and we dominated and were unlucky not to come away with at least a point.

[ferrarilover]

Haha! Classic.

Not only me who thinks Mr Bean might have inadvertantely registered with us then?

Matt.

[brucie]

I am not sure how Southend had alot of luck as everybody seems to think they were by far the better team for the best part of the game - if tiredness was an excuse, and perhaps a reasonable one, in the circumstances you have got to query why a few players were not rested on Tuesday night. For me I would have been more happy with a loss at Bournemouth.

[ferrarilover]

I am not sure how Southend had alot of luck as everybody seems to think they were by far the better team for the best part of the game - if tiredness was an excuse, and perhaps a reasonable one, in the circumstances you have got to query why a few players were not rested on Tuesday night. For me I would have been more happy with a loss at Bournemouth.

Lose the Ballmouth game, and we are out of the cup for a whole year. Lose the league match, and we have the whole year to make up those three points.

Matt.

[yellow]

He wasn't that bad, to be fair there was a few players who seemed to be struggling.

Benyon was pretty awful and Wroe was his normal self, rubbish.

IMO Carlisle should have been taken off at half time instead of Danny. He was clearly struggling and didn't seem able to run for the ball. He did run for goal ONCE but on the whole was pretty awful and clearly not match fit.

To single Danny out is very unfair and to indicate that he lost possession "for what appeared to be the umpteenth time" is inaccurate.

Ellis played well and Zebs' goal was good.

On the whole, Southend on the day was the better team.

It wasn t my intention to single DS out. But it was he that lead to the groan.

I happen to place great store by Dave Thomas s opinions and when he summarises for BBC RD you can sometimes tell what he thinks as a fan, despite what he says as a politician.

[Fonda]

Lose the Ballmouth game, and we are out of the cup for a whole year. Lose the league match, and we have the whole year to make up those three points.

Matt.

League points are more important than the JPT surely? I'd certainly much rather we were top with 5 wins out of 5, than where we are with a trip to Swindon in the JPT to look forward to.

[brucie]

Exactly - maybe the Buckle arrogance coming out again. You cannot hardly have it both ways - he was quick to trot out the line about the number of miles travelled and games played after Saturdays defeat but he chose the option not to rest some of the squad on Tuesday night, so really if tiredness was an excuse then he should have done something to address it.

[Fonda]

But there is a further consideration. The importance, in terms of morale, of maintaining that winning run at Bournemouth was probably a factor in his thinking. Perhaps he didn't envisage the tiredness, and was most concerned about keeping the winning mentality.

[JamieE]

But there is a further consideration. The importance, in terms of morale, of maintaining that winning run at Bournemouth was probably a factor in his thinking. Perhaps he didn't envisage the tiredness, and was most concerned about keeping the winning mentality.

I'm sure that was Bucks' thinking but the loss to Reading didn't seem to affect our league form against Lincoln, Bradford and Port Vale. We've seen in the past our manager doesn't like to rest players in the cups and I hope the performance at Southend may have made him think a little more about it. You can have all the winning mentality you like but if you're not 100% fit then you struggle.

[happytorq]

Not sure why you're all trying to analyse and find reasons for the defeat. Some are not surprisingly blaming the manager for playing a 'full strength' team at Bournemouth. We should just accept that we got beaten by a team who played really well on the day, and ultimately deserved the win. This is in spite of the fact that we could have grabbed a draw in the last few minutes, which itself should show you that we should still be encouraged by the positive start to the season.

I mean...there's 41 games left! I'll be pretty happy if we win 80% of those games. 120 points should be enough