Call me mad, but I thought we were bloody good tonight

[champion7]

I saw about 10 mins late in the second half and i thought the team played very well,the encouragement from the fans was a joy to see and hear.I'm starting to feel positive that we can stay in league 1.

 

[Twinkle Toes]

I think if borrowdale had not gone off injured we would of won the game...when el abd went to left back the balance of the team suffered

Totally agree with you, Borrowdale really impressed me last night. As somebody else has already stated: what is it with our (quality) Left Backs getting crocked? The position has turned into the Albion equivalent of the Spinal Tap drummer!

 

[The Merry Prankster]

He must drop Jarrett. Any hope of flowing forward play judders to a halt when the ball reaches him. He stops, thinks, turns around and lays off a bad backwards pass. You can almost hear his brain slowly, grinding half way up the stand. Please, please, please.

 

[Mendoza]

We were good for about 30 minutes max of that game

The first half we were terrible, created nothing and they could have been 2 or 3 up before they scored.

We scored against the run of play. The second half we started well, but did not create a clear cut chance. The energy was there, even Carole put in a challenge. Unfortunatley it is a 90 minute game, and playing well for one third of a game doesnt get you a win.

We then decided to switch off and not tackle after being on top and quite rightly we conceeded two goals. We were backing off and backing off, and let them attack us, I guess that has happened all season and thats why we find ourselves 6 points from safety.

 

[Withdean Wanderer]

Sign of how low things have got when conceding 3 at home and having two shots on target is considered a bloody good performance.

 

[Twinkle Toes]

I personally think that Jarrett would be a damn-sight more effective if he had players moving & giving him options in front of him.

 

[Common as Mook]

In fact, I would go as far as saying that was easily the best home performance since Millwall on November 2nd!

After 80 minutes a scoreline of 2-1 or even 3-1 to us wouldn't have been unfair at all. I thought we bossed the midfield (Bangura is CLASS) and Lloyd and Forster were looking dangerous upfront. Certainly in those two departments we were far superior to Southend. In the second half there was only one team in it!

What struck me was just what a massive impact Russell has had in just a couple of days. Tonight there was one thing showing in abundance that has been missing all season: FIGHT. I've criticised the team this season for looking like they could be putting more in (and I stick by that), but tonight I can't praise them enough. Every man on that pitch in blue wanted to win every ball, make every pass, and to come out on top. Tonight is the blueprint for the passion and determination those players should show for the club, and if they do that every week I for one wouldn't have a bad word to say about them.

Unbelievably, I of all people am actually appalled at the criticism on here of tonight's game. That was an encouraging performance if ever I saw one, and once Elphick/Virgo are back the main weakness (ie central defence) will be significantly improved. By all means moan when there is a lack of fight or quality, but tonight I think we showed both and, at times, battered an in-form side.

After the Crewe defeat I resigned myself to relegation, but tonight I will say that if we put in 12 more performances like we did this evening we will NOT go down. That's the challenge, but with Russell at the helm tonight has given me a glimmer of hope that it's possible. Anyone else daring to dream?!

Well done. Seriously, it would have been very easy for you to be a total c***. It's a shame others can't follow your lead.

It was a good performance. For people to say we are going down with a whimper is frankly ridiculous.

 

[Brighton Breezy]

Vast improvement definitely.

But, still not enough quality crosses into the box or creativity from midfield.

How many times did we REALLY test either of their keepers?

 

[bristolseagull]

Well done. Seriously, it would have been very easy for you to be a total c***. It's a shame others can't follow your lead.

It was a good performance. For people to say we are going down with a whimper is frankly ridiculous.

I can't actually believe you're saying that, we have been toilet all season, we are incapable of scoring more than one goal and the defence is a shambles, toss season- one of the worst I can remember- and I started going in '87.

 

[theonesmith]

In fact, I would go as far as saying that was easily the best home performance since Millwall on November 2nd!

After 80 minutes a scoreline of 2-1 or even 3-1 to us wouldn't have been unfair at all. I thought we bossed the midfield (Bangura is CLASS) and Lloyd and Forster were looking dangerous upfront. Certainly in those two departments we were far superior to Southend. In the second half there was only one team in it!

What struck me was just what a massive impact Russell has had in just a couple of days. Tonight there was one thing showing in abundance that has been missing all season: FIGHT. I've criticised the team this season for looking like they could be putting more in (and I stick by that), but tonight I can't praise them enough. Every man on that pitch in blue wanted to win every ball, make every pass, and to come out on top. Tonight is the blueprint for the passion and determination those players should show for the club, and if they do that every week I for one wouldn't have a bad word to say about them.

Unbelievably, I of all people am actually appalled at the criticism on here of tonight's game. That was an encouraging performance if ever I saw one, and once Elphick/Virgo are back the main weakness (ie central defence) will be significantly improved. By all means moan when there is a lack of fight or quality, but tonight I think we showed both and, at times, battered an in-form side.

After the Crewe defeat I resigned myself to relegation, but tonight I will say that if we put in 12 more performances like we did this evening we will NOT go down. That's the challenge, but with Russell at the helm tonight has given me a glimmer of hope that it's possible. Anyone else daring to dream?!

 

[Brighton Breezy]

If we put in another 12 performances demonstrating such little goal threat we WILL go down...

 

[Mendoza]

I agree with you that we improved last night, BUT the most important things we didnt improve on

1)Tightening up the defence

2)Creating Chances

To be fair we scored with our only proper chance, but created next to nothing, apart from a couple of long rangers and Davies dribbling the ball straight off the pitch

We lost our last home game 0-4, so 1-3 is IMPROVEMENT

We cannot win games if dont create chances, and we know we cannot hold on to a slim lead. I believe he can turn it around just, but he has a monumental job doing it. He should have been allowed to bring in his own staff too, as we are relying on White, Booker and Oatway to help him out

 

[SJ's Love Monkey]

To all those who have said something along the lines of "results are results, we lost again and it's too late for Russell to save us," it's NOT. Not if we play like we did last night. After Crewe I actually decided anything that happened this season wouldn't bother me because I was genuinely convinced we were down. And playing like we did against Crewe and Orient, we were. But even if you didn't rate the quality of our football last night (which, for me, was actually very very good for long parts of that match) you have to be happy that for the first time all year there were eleven men out there giving their absolute all. Even people like Cox and Jarrett, not usually tough players at all, were getting stuck in and putting their body on the line for the cause. If we can replicate that for 12 more games then we will get 18 points. Southend are a good side in good form, but they were lucky not to lose last night, let alone win. Our performance would have beaten Yeovil, Hereford, Bristol Rovers, Swindon, Walsall and more - and the good news is we have all them to play!

If we beat Yeovil on Saturday, and let's be honest if there's one man you want in charge who knows how to beat Yeovil then we've got him, then we're only 3 points from safety. I reckon if Russell can continue to improve the team, the football, and instill passion like he has done in his first few days in the job, then we'll have a good chance of doing it.

Hello mate, good to see you are keeping the faith buddy

 

[Common as Mook]

I can't actually believe you're saying that, we have been toilet all season, we are incapable of scoring more than one goal and the defence is a shambles, toss season- one of the worst I can remember- and I started going in '87.

Why's that then?

Yes we didn't offer much going forward, but we were better and we at least showed some fight.

For me, that does not constitue going down with a whimper and if we play like that with a bit more quality in final third we will stay up. Especially as though the loanees are going to have had another 90 mins playing together.

 

[Notters]

Let's also remembev that this improvement came after ONE, or perhaps two days on the training field with slade. Let's see what he can do with another three!

 

[Mendoza]

Whing said on the radio prior to last night's game that Russell had identified a number of things that were wrong with the team after just one match and he'd spent time on the training pitch trying to sort them out. As you say Notters, if that's the effect after a couple of days I can't wait to see what he can do with a few more days and week underh is belt.

I hope he can turn it around quick, it usually takes a couple of weeks, but in 2 weeks time we would have played maybe 5 more games, leaving us with just 7 games to steer our season away from division 4

I think Slade is the man to do this and I believe in his matchday filofax

 

[drew]

Vast improvement definitely.

But, still not enough quality crosses into the box or creativity from midfield.

How many times did we REALLY test either of their keepers?

Have to agree. One of the biggest disappointments is Carole. Player with an abundance of ability but how many times last night did he get around the back of the full back. In fact, how many times did he try! Virtually everytime he got the ball he laid it back. Perhaps Birchall on for him and use Carole as the impact player of the bench.