Southend vs League-One's-Coming-to-an-End - Southend vs Crewe

[TrinidadsNumberOne]

Many happy memories of Roots Hall, especially that night in 2012! However there will be no repeats of this.

He can put any team out for all I care, we're down and will contribute 3 points to Southend's playoff charge.

3-0 Southend.

 

[TimeyWimey]

I refuse to go and have memories of 2012 destroyed.

We'll get soundly beaten 'cos the team has no fight left in it. We'll get another point or two off safety. Some fans will insist we still have a chance.

 

[Crewealexfan123]

Right, then Crewe fans- let's have a sweepstake. What game are we finally going to be put out of our misery and have our relegation confirmed?

I'm calling Vale on April the 9th.

 

[TrinidadsNumberOne]

Right, then Crewe fans- let's have a sweepstake. What game are we finally going to be put out of our misery and have our relegation confirmed?

I'm calling Vale on April the 9th.

Colchester at home, we'll hand them their first win in 25 games or so in the process.

 

[SRNP]

It'll be Vale away. Its about time we had a miserable time at vale park. Well overdue

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[TimeyWimey]

For it to be Vale I think we'll have to lose every game this month, which is entirely possible Tbf. I reckon Colchester too, miserable Tuesday night on front of a sub-3k gate.

 

[JJ1532]

I'm hoping for the Posh game. Will take all the sting out of the Vale game, it won't happen infront of home fans, just a hardy bunch of 150-200 fools. Ideal spot for me.

 

[SRNP]

We won't take 1k to vale this year.

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[TrinidadsNumberOne]

Completely unrelated but just saw Notts County are in talks with a Danish billionaire who may prospectively own the club in the near future.

Could you imagine what Bowler would say if he approached Crewe...

"An outsider? Taking over the unique and special club we've built over 30 years? Prioritising the first team over the Academy? I'm afraid that model just isn't as sustainable as the current one."

 

[Shrimpurh]

Hope we can get an early goal here if we do 2-0 if we don't can see a draw happening.

 

[TimeyWimey]

Completely unrelated but just saw Notts County are in talks with a Danish billionaire who may prospectively own the club in the near future.

Could you imagine what Bowler would say if he approached Crewe...

"An outsider? Taking over the unique and special club we've built over 30 years? Prioritising the first team over the Academy? I'm afraid that model just isn't as sustainable as the current one."

 

[Football Purist]

I fancy an away win by the seaside tomorrow night.
COYR!
We are stayin' up!

 

[TimeyWimey]

80 mins gone and Southend have had 1 shot on target. Presumably their missed penalty.

How shit must you be...

Edit: Wooo, we're winning.

Edit 2: Nugent is shit.

 

[Crewealexfan123]

Just the small margin of 43 points thrown away from winning positions now then.

Ladies and Gentleman Crewe Alexandra

 

[Shrimpurh]

Lool we are shit how the fuck are we one point off the playoffs everyone at the top is shit

 

[JJ1532]

That was a bloody atrocious game. First half was terrible from both sides, scrappy, no chances, nothing in it. Well, bar Haber missing with a free header from a few yards out, terrible miss. Oh and Turton giving away a penalty. Players were strongly appealing for offside in the build up, hard to judge from behind the goal mind. Poor penalty by Barnett, easy save for Garratt but he did well to hold it.

2nd half was another shocking display from both sides, both keepers had nothing to do really. You'd have taken a 0-0 with 4 minutes to go, neither team deserved to score. But Cooper wins a free kick and bends a beauty into the top corner, cracking finish. First bit of quality in the game.

But as per, board goes up and we panic. But instead of many mistakes, it was just Nugent this time. Comes charging across and barges over Loza. Another stonewaller and another mistake that leads to a goal from Nugent. Garratt gets a hand on it and maybe should save it, but it squeaks in. Point was a fair result, but yet again we go ahead and collapse late on. You can almost set your watch by it, it's that predictable.

We are going down for many reasons, but one of the big ones is because we have no mental strength at all. Can't see games out the few times we do get ahead. That's 20 points we've dropped from winning positions. If that amount is even halved, we'd be outside the relegation zone now. Gutless and spineless from top to bottom. Can't blame the manager or other players aside from Nugent for tonight though, his mistake aside they did well(by our low standards) tonight. He needs to be dropped, he's been making mistakes that have been leading to goals for the last few weeks.

As for Southemd, they were awful(we were just as bad, but at least we have an excuse for it!). Created nothing of any danger and they only got a point because of Nugents brainless actions. League One is so so bad this season.

12 games to go and nothing to play for now, wonderful.

 

[SRNP]

 

[TrinidadsNumberOne]

That was a bloody atrocious game. First half was terrible from both sides, scrappy, no chances, nothing in it. Well, bar Haber missing with a free header from a few yards out, terrible miss. Oh and Turton giving away a penalty. Players were strongly appealing for offside in the build up, hard to judge from behind the goal mind. Poor penalty by Barnett, easy save for Garratt but he did well to hold it.

2nd half was another shocking display from both sides, both keepers had nothing to do really. You'd have taken a 0-0 with 4 minutes to go, neither team deserved to score. But Cooper wins a free kick and bends a beauty into the top corner, cracking finish. First bit of quality in the game.

But as per, board goes up and we panic. But instead of many mistakes, it was just Nugent this time. Comes charging across and barges over Loza. Another stonewaller and another mistake that leads to a goal from Nugent. Garratt gets a hand on it and maybe should save it, but it squeaks in. Point was a fair result, but yet again we go ahead and collapse late on. You can almost set your watch by it, it's that predictable.

We are going down for many reasons, but one of the big ones is because we have no mental strength at all. Can't see games out the few times we do get ahead. That's 20 points we've dropped from winning positions. If that amount is even halved, we'd be outside the relegation zone now. Gutless and spineless from top to bottom. Can't blame the manager or other players aside from Nugent for tonight though, his mistake aside they did well(by our low standards) tonight. He needs to be dropped, he's been making mistakes that have been leading to goals for the last few weeks.

As for Southemd, they were awful(we were just as bad, but at least we have an excuse for it!). Created nothing of any danger and they only got a point because of Nugents brainless actions. League One is so so bad this season.

12 games to go and nothing to play for now, wonderful.

You do realise the alternative to Ben Nugent is a lanky and brainless player whose made more individual mistakes during his time at this club that we've all had hot dinners combined. Whenever I see George Ray defend I regularly anticipate a failure of spectacular proportions e.g Rochdale in August 2014. Even if Harry replaces him, we all know it'll be a 4 game cameo then our highest paid player goes back to the treatment table yet again, not that he's good enough anyway.

I don't think Nugent is bad, for the majority of the time he does the dark arts effectively which none of the other defenders can do because they're far too soft and he's the best defender at this club (although that means nothing given his lousy injury prone, weak and brainless competition). He's had two poor games but I'm sorry to drop Nugent would be a disgrace when Turton is committing a mistake a game and still on the teamsheet.

 

[TimeyWimey]

Let's face it, all our defenders are shit. Bald men fighting over a comb etc to pick the best one. As unpopular of an opinion it is, I think a fit Harry D. is the only one who would get close to another League One side. As for Turton, said it all a long, he will drop down the leagues faster than Clayton Donaldson in the Vale penalty area once he leaves here (not sure that day will ever come though).

 

[JJ1532]

You do realise the alternative to Ben Nugent is a lanky and brainless player whose made more individual mistakes during his time at this club that we've all had hot dinners combined. Whenever I see George Ray defend I regularly anticipate a failure of spectacular proportions e.g Rochdale in August 2014. Even if Harry replaces him, we all know it'll be a 4 game cameo then our highest paid player goes back to the treatment table yet again, not that he's good enough anyway.

I don't think Nugent is bad, for the majority of the time he does the dark arts effectively which none of the other defenders can do because they're far too soft and he's the best defender at this club (although that means nothing given his lousy injury prone, weak and brainless competition). He's had two poor games but I'm sorry to drop Nugent would be a disgrace when Turton is committing a mistake a game and still on the teamsheet.

Yes, I realise what the alternative is. But what I want to see is players who make mistakes dropped and punished for their errors. We saw how damaging it was keeping Ray in the team for disaster after disaster last season. But what I will say is, I think he's improved since last season, which weirdly happened when he didn't get his place in the team back straight away and had to earn it. I can't remember sitting there very often this season lambasting him for a terrible error. He's made some mistakes, but I think he's been better this season. Believe me, I was one of his biggest and harshest critics last season, for me to want to see him in the team is saying something I think.

What annoys me with Nugent isn't the errors, its the fact he isn't learning from them. And he hasn't had 2 poor games, you could keep going back. Back in November, he totally misjudged the long ball that led to Donny's winner. Was terrible against Swindon and gave away a shocking OG because he wasn't even looking at the ball. Whether you think it was a penalty or not, he gave away a similar penalty to last nights at Millwall where he appeared to barge Byron Webster over. He was directly involved in all 3 goals conceded against Chesterfield as well, gave away the free kick for Barnsley's winner on Saturday and then he gives away a stupid, moronic, idiotic penalty last night. I mean, there was literally no reason why he had to make that challenge. It was never going to end well. We needed him to come up big in these last few weeks, but all he's done is cost us goals.

As for the best defender at the club, its Jon Guthrie this season and its not even close. He's been solid and consistent pretty much every week. He beat out Swansea's starting LB tonight for that role, even though it isn't his natural position and he's barely put a foot wrong. He's now switched to RCB, again not his natural position and he's been good again. He'll win our player of the season award(although Garratt is making a late charge) at this rate and he fully deserves it. He's been far better and more consistent than Nugent. Nugent for me is a crowd pleaser. Charges around all over the place, does things fans get irrationally excited about like carrying the ball for more than a few yards. Don't get me wrong, I think he's done ok this season given the pressure he's been under, but the lack of accountability(and yes, you can definitely chuck Turton in that camp as well) is disgraceful from SD. Throws players under the bus on a weekly basis, yet they continue to start and make mistakes and he wonders why. I'd happily see Baillie brought in for Turton, the season is over now so may as well give some of the out of contract players a chance to impress. I don't think it would be a disgrace to drop Nugent. He's been poor and has been making mistakes for a few weeks now. Maybe he's tired from the non-stop defending he's had to do. Dunno, but I think he needs to get rested for a game.

Let's face it, all our defenders are shit. Bald men fighting over a comb etc to pick the best one. As unpopular of an opinion it is, I think a fit Harry D. is the only one who would get close to another League One side. As for Turton, said it all a long, he will drop down the leagues faster than Clayton Donaldson in the Vale penalty area once he leaves here (not sure that day will ever come though).

I don't think our defenders are shit. I think the issue is is that they are coached and organised tactically by a pair of morons who wouldn't know effective League One football if it slapped them in the face. Hard for any Crewe defenders to look decent when you have tweedle-dum and tweedle-dee telling them to back off, to shadow, to close off the passing lanes. All this PL bollocks that doesn't work in L1, quell surprise. I think Nugent, for all my criticism, has done alright up until recently. Had a dodgy start to the season, but has done alright all things considered. Guthrie I think has been very good. Nothing outstanding, but he's been so consistent despite not playing in his favoured position once this season. Rarely has he had a truly terrible game.

And besides, we could have a back 4 of the best defenders in the world, they'd still look like a shambles working for our management and being protected by our midfield. Think back to the promotion season. When Dario was in charge, our attackers and midfielders were a shambles, which meant Artell and Duggy got exposed constantly. They looked worse for it. But when things took off under Davis, they defended less and looked better for it. McGleish's Birmingham is a perfect example. Dann and Johnson were touted for England call ups under him, but he played a tight defensive system. But when they went into more open teams, they looked like a shambles. I'm not saying our defenders would be like that, but an effective management who didn't have them defending for the majority of games would, I think, see them look better.

I honestly think that trying to appraise players under the management of idiots is the definition of futility. I remember Luke Murphy looking like a pub player under Dario in the 11/12 season. Was immense under SD. Same happening again perhaps?

 

[Crewelad87]

Heard one of our coaches didn't get there til the 40th minute, then we conceed a last minute equaliser. And the same coach broke down on the way home and the fans didn't get home til nearly 4am.

Don't think it gets much worse as an away fan.