PHIL Brown admitted he was to blame for Southend United’s desperately disappointing 2-0 defeat against Fleetwood Town on Saturday.

Blues were well below par at Roots Hall as they suffered their fourth setback in six games at the start of the season.

And Brown felt the Shrimpers fully deserved to be booed off at the final whistle.

“The fans were right to vent their anger at the performance, the team selection, tactics, substitutions, everything really and I hold myself fully responsible for that,” said the Blues boss.

“It was a lacklustre performance devoid of ideas and confidence and you can criticise me any way you want.

“We huffed and puffed but there weren’t enough people stepping up and this is certainly not the way we would have wanted to start the season.”

Blues have now taken four points from their first five league games.

And their cause was not helped on Saturday by starting Simon Cox as a lone striker against Fleetwood’s commanding centre-backs.

“Coxy couldn’t handle playing up front against two tall centre-halves and I empathised with that,” said the 57-year-old.

“I tried to get Jack Bridge closer to him but we’re talking about men against boys.

“In the end I brought David Mooney on to play alongside him.

“It’s probably against what the supporters want to see but we want to win a game.

“If we win the next game the confidence will be higher.

“Nobody wants to win more than me and the players but when you lose your confidence you take a backward step and that’s what you’re seeing at the moment.”

However, Brown believes Blues will only be able to improve if they bolster their squad before the closure of the transfer window on Wednesday.

The Shrimpers have now completed the signing of defender Anton Ferdinand until the end of the season.

But Brown knows Southend must bring in more players to avoid a season of struggle.

“We have to bring more players in and if we don’t then it’s going to be a long hard season,” said the former Hull City chief.

“I want to be able to make changes and freshen things up.

“We need players with pressure on their places and at the moment we don’t have that.

“Nobody is downing tools, we just don’t have that edge you get with added competition for places and I again ask supporters to judge me when I have my stock in place.”