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Chris Proctor

v southend

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just got back and we were terrible! Francis walked around the whole game and didnt look to care. Mckenzie was just clumsy all afternoon. My surprise was Doherty looked quite good in centre back. Charlton in central midfield was a strange one!!! Nothing from Peter Thorne.

We didnt deserve to lose cos all they had were 3 shots all day and we had all the possession but overall i was dissapointed. Need Ashton back ASAP

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Sounds a bit worrying, and i''m sure i''m not the only one concerned. The fact that it seems Ashton - or should i say the lackof - made the difference, is a bit worrying. We need other players to perform. Can''t be seen as a ''one man team'' and i''m sure we won''t be, but all the players need to have the right attitude, or we are going to be in for a very hard season.

Losing to Southend - a team who were in league 2 last season - is not good enough for a team with promotion aspirations.

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I don''t know why people try to form opinions on the season to come based on pre-season results/performances. Anyone who has kept tabs on our past few pre-seasons will know how little they can indicate.

Take for example the 2000/01 pre-season, we beat every team like Southend we played out of sight, and found ourselves at the bottom before christmas with 6 losses on the trot.

The year after that Marc Libbra scored 4 goals in 1 game and numerous others, and then turned out to be a huge disapointment.

At the end of the day our squad is far better than the one that we had available Vs Bradford at the start of 03/04. Think of some of the players we had Briggs, Nielsen, Easton, & Abbey. Just compare some of the players we now have to those we had, Deano way better than Iwan Saffri way better than Holt, Colin/MLJ must be better than Briggs.

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It''s a friendly, they have no bearing on how the season will pan out. I don''t bother going to thinem as they''re nothing more than glorified kick-a-bouts

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i don''t think francis put any less effort than the rest of them (as per usual in friendlies).

we need to get off his back if we want him stay (and i do).

as for Doherty he was pushed off the ball by an oopa-loompa for the first goal. Sorry if this is NW''s first-choice partnership I despair (I would much prefer Shackell + 1 other)

it was odd to see Charlton in midfield (goal goal though) but why didn''t Brennan get a kick ?

of the new players thought hughes and colin looked promising but Thorne never got in the game.

 

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Got the impression that all you had to do was "turn up" and you would win!

 Yes it was only a friendly but we were up for the challenge, gave away a soft goal, then more than matched you for commitment which lead to our 2 goals.

 You have now seen what Fredy Eastwood can do!

2nd half you upped the pace but still thought you could walk the ball into the net!

Come May next year I hope you are promoted (Norwich deserve another crack at the "uneven league") and Southend continue to build towards another step up the ladder.

 

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Thanks for the report Chris. Although I''m not too fussed about pre season games, I''m sure it makes a difference confidence wise.  As for Damo, he is going to feel the wrath of the fans of he performs like he did in the tail end of last year

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Heard Worthington on the radio and he was raging. Went as far as to say if we dont improve our attitude we will be relegated. Singled out 4 for praise, the 4 being Colin and Hughes, Charlton and Jarrett. He slated the midfield, so i assume Francis is up to his old tricks. The match report stated Mckenzie missed several chances. With inter cancelling, our pre season is turning into a bit of a nightmare.

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Yes, one shouldn''t judge too harshly on friendlies but I''m still very disappointed we couldn''t beat Southend. Shouldn''t the club''s reputation count for something. The other thing that worries me is that Eastwood seems to be a natural and scores at every level at which he plays. Didn''t we look at him? I wonder why in our opinion he didn''t match up. I believe we once looked at a chap called Ted Phillips, then playing in local senior football. Probably thought he wasn''t quite what we wanted but he did rather well south of here. I worry about our professional judgement sometimes.

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Well, frankly I am also a bit worried. Yes, I know these are "only" pre-season friendlies but that is three games played against (with respect to the other clubs) supposedly inferior opposition and we have only scored one goal. And yes I know Ashton was missing again yesterday but he may well miss games during the season and that forward line could be our best available at times. Many of the players on show yesterday must know that they have to impress to get into the starting line up against Coventry and I wonder how many of them did have good games and/or showed the desire to force their way into the team.  

I am sure I read earlier this week that NW wanted us to start winning and he is correct to think that way. Winning IS a habit and we need to get into it (no nun jokes here please) as soon as possible. I can only hope that things improve when Safri and Ashton return to the team. I will try and remain positive and believe we will improve before the start of the season but if we don''t get a result at Colchester I will be very worried.

BTW, after yesterday, if we can''t get Marney what are the odds now on us trying for Eastwood - he seemed to have a good game judging by the report on the club website.

 

Mark .Y.

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Come on Southend are still on a high from getting promoted so to say that they are a average team is a bit disrespectful as we were below average last season!!!!!!.

Yes i agree they only had 3 shots at goal 2 went in 2 good finishes past a green who looked like he didn''t want to be there(strange that????????????NOT).

As i have said on other threads and people disagreed with me we looked wanting in the middle of the park there was no one to put there foot on the ball look up and pick out that killer ball,it was all huff and puff.

I agree that you can''t get too carried away about these games but on that showing i know that it''s going to be hard this season and not a walk in the park as some people think!!!!!!!.

There was some good points some of the youngsters got a game and we found a pub where the beer was £1.50 a pint which made one of our party very happy.

It could of been worse we could of travelled 2 hrs and spent £10 on a ticket!!!!!!!!!!!OH S##T WE DID,never mind roll on coventry then we can make a judgement on our chances then.

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My Ratings:

Green - 6: Nothing special and let in 2 goals against a League 1 side

Colin - 8: Fast, comfortable, looks great for the future!

Doherty - 7: Looks a new man after losing all the weight - will look good alongside Shacks.

Shacks - 7: Him and the Doc look the part.

Drury - 7: Same old Drury, did nothing wrong.

Huckerby - 9: Looked excellent throughout pre-season, that didn''t change and his runs and crosses will be vital for Leon and Ashton.

Jarrett - 8: Nice player. Sharp and has some pace on him.

Francis - 6: Lazy. Looked the player he did against Fulham.

Hughes - 7: Good player who is good at making chances from nowhere.

McKenzie - 6: Wasn''t interested.

Thorne - 6: See above.  

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Pathetic game!! some players body language, said they did''nt want to be there!!  If we ca''nt turn out as a team that is keen to win every match then we do''nt deserve to be called professionals. 

As a practice game, or playing exercise; call it what you will. What is the point of playing if your''e not prepared to break sweat.  After all, with our previous showing in the prem we''ve nothing to be cocky or complacent about. There are many aspects of our game that needs improvement.  All of those departments have been well aired on these boards.

Too many times in many of our games we''ve been shown as lacking backbone. Playing with a will to win should be the habit instilled in NCFC players, after all they are keen for the supporters to back them up to the hilt, and we as supporters have the right to expect maximum effort from them, in whatever senario.

Any reason given by players or supporters to justify giving less is just childish disreguard of their responsibilities

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[quote]Pathetic game!! some players body language, said they did''nt want to be there!! If we ca''nt turn out as a team that is keen to win every match then we do''nt deserve to be called professionals. As a...[/quote]

Couldn''t agree more. It amazes me when some people say they are not bothered about the friendlies - yes, the real action starts on August 6th, but these are games we should be winning and turning over teams who, no disrespect, are inferior to us, to get the confidence levels up and back to winning ways. So far, we''ve score one goal since beating Dereham Town! And that came from Simon Charlton. Says a lot.

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[quote]Pathetic game!! some players body language, said they did''nt want to be there!! If we ca''nt turn out as a team that is keen to win every match then we do''nt deserve to be called professionals. As a...[/quote]

I''m sorry, but no player is going to bust a gut to play against lower league opposition in a friendly two weeks before the full season kicks off, be it Green, Francis, McKenzie or any of the new players. They aren''t going to kill themselves for it and risk ending up with an injury, which is the last thing we or they want.

Let''s not worry about this - friendlies are all about fitness, the results matter not.

Nice to see that some have used it as an excuse to get on the backs of Greeno/Francis/et al... with the lack of any real evidence for their want-away antics, nice to see people now using their imaginations.....

Seriously, though, have we nowt better to talk about?????

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i really enjoyed our game at rooys hall, surprisingly a decent standard of football.

we looked good but struggled to create. doc is looking fit and drury and fleming are looking sharp as ever. this new colin bloke looked great in the air as well.

however i do worry bout thorne, i no it was a friendly but it seemed we would give the ball to hucks every time, he would beat his man and then cross for thorne to connect once out of about 20 balls. leon was never near a crossed ball. we needed a winger like mcveigh or hendo from the start as hucks was marked by 2 men all game. 

hughes looks like he likes to get involved and francis toke half the game to get involved.

my final problem is WHY DOESNT ANYONE EVER SHOOT!!! we were running it around in the box looking to pass?

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[quote]My Ratings: Green - 6: Nothing special and let in 2 goals against a League 1 side Colin - 8: Fast, comfortable, looks great for the future! Doherty - 7: Looks a new man after losing all the weight ...[/quote]

Interested to see that you rated Shackell 7 out of 10 for 4 minutes yet Flem played the other 86 minutes but didnt even warrant a mark out of 10.Is he so bad now that you guys wont even acknowledge that he exists ??

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It may be just me but just who the **** is Ted Phillips?

Those who did not show the required appetite against Southend will not start against Inter Milan - this might show them that City will not carry players (and although I like Green I feel he is one of those that Worthy was referring to).

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was it one of those preseason matches where our lads did a training session in the morning before the match ?

Or did we prepare for this match in a proper manor ?

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Hi breaker. I suppose you''d have to be classed as an "old-timer" to remember but Ted Phillips and Ray Crawford were the dynamic one-two scoring punch for Ipswich in the late 1950''2 and 1960''s. They scored approximately 400 goals between them.

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Some very interesting/worrying posts

Who is actually responsible for ensuring motivation and commitment within the team?

Who is responsible for setting the required standards?

Is it the players, or does the lead come from the management?

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Like most I am not that fussed about results in pre season matches and refuse to pay to see a kick about on principle, hence I will not be there on Friday. 

However my big worry is about the lack of respect for our opponents.  It seems that the fans (as Norwich Shrimpers points out) and worse still the players expected a comfortable win just by turning up.   If the application is not there we could have had chelseas or Arsenals squadand lose against Southend.

West Ham showed two seasons ago what happend to teams who EXPECT to get promoted.  Worthy is right to be frustrated and angry at the lack of application from players who should be looking to ensure their starting place in a squad where most can be first choice players (the only exceptionhee is Thorne who has no chance of ousting Deano) 

The attitude has to be right from day one this season; if we waste 6 games recalling justhow competetive this league is we will start being mid table or relegation threatened despite the apparent strength of the squad.   The consequences of this will be a second season in the fizzy pop with the loss of our star players for transfer fees well below our current aspirations and a subsequent rebuilding that will further hinder our promotions bids.

Sort them out worthy.

OTBC

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[quote]was it one of those preseason matches where our lads did a training session in the morning before the match ? Or did we prepare for this match in a proper manor ?[/quote]

Given the lording attitude of the players in the way they approached the game [erhaps they thought they were to the manor born? 

Not sure if Southend is a proper manor or not - I suspect not!

 

OTBC

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I was very disappointed to read about the lack of effort from some players, and very pleased to see Worthy laying into the players as a result. However good our squad is, this is a VERY tough league to get out of and if we prance around saying we are too good for this league and will walk it, we will finish outside the playoff places.

We can''t expect to go to a club like Southend and win, we have to earn the win. Whilst there are no points on offer in preseason games, its key we get back into the habit of winning. These games are not just about fitness, its also about building confidence, and staking a place in the starting 11 against Coventry. If players can''t be bothered, they should be dropped.

We can''t let arrogance come into the club, for both players and fans. Remember how we view arrogance in other clubs like West Ham and Man U, lets not get like them. We are exactly where we deserve to be, and must work damn hard to get promotion again.

I''m confident Worthy will sort the player''s attitudes out, as I am confident that we can get promoted again (we aren''t favourites for no reason). Lets not let confidence turn into arrogance though!

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