THE Echo's Southend United's fan panel have their say.
GARRY SMITH: There’s something slightly uncomfortable about being a Southend United fan and actually enjoying looking at the league table.
After nine games we have 20 points – almost exactly on Kieron Dyer’s pre-season target of 100 points over 46 games. And following Saturday’s 6-1 demolition of Gateshead, we’ve scored 23 goals, so we’re ahead of his 100-goal target too.
READ MORE: Shrimpers keeper set to make his debut, at last!
Of course, we Shrimpers know how this works. We’ve seen Southend start seasons brightly before, only for everything to unravel spectacularly somewhere down the line. So I’m certainly not booking the open-top bus just yet.
But we should enjoy this while we can. Dyer has rebuilt the squad as a rookie manager and, so far, has exceeded expectations. We’re ahead of Scunthorpe – who knocked us out of last season’s play-offs – as well as Forest Green, Carlisle and Hartlepool, who many would have expected to be challenging at the top.
There is, however, a little complication. Joe Duncan and Dan Cox have earned international call-ups, meaning we’ll be without two important players for the next three games: Barrow and Fylde at Roots Hall, with Eastleigh away in between.
It’s a marathon, not a sprint, and we know better than most that things can change quickly in football.
But after nine games, 20 points and 23 goals, perhaps we’re allowed a little optimism.
Just don’t tell anyone.
MARK EDWARDS: So for the next few weeks Blues go into vital games depleted due to international call ups .
In our pyramid you need three players called up to have a game postponed .
I genuinely believe it’s time to look into this as I think the depth of non league squads as opposed to football league ones means that the loss of players is far more significant at Blues level . Maybe it’s time to reduce Conference level call ups to two.
I’d like to wish Jack Sims the best of luck for his upcoming debut . We are blessed with two outstanding keepers at Roots Hall .
JULIE HARDY: Nine games into the season and I wanted to reflect on Leadership.
It’s a tough gig being a leader – in KD and Oli Coker we have two individuals who are relatively new to senior leadership.
Starting with KD – I feel he’s growing into his leadership shoes; earlier in the season I think he made some questionable comments, the most significant one being when he said there are some players he can’t trust.
Maybe it was an unfortunate choice of words – but the impact on players would have been significant, especially if they were left out of the squad for the following game, as that particular comment started a social media frenzy of speculating who might be next to leave the club!
In Captain Coker I think he’s doing a good job, certainly on the pitch he displays the qualities of a leader – directing the game, congratulating the scorers while running miles!
I don’t know what goes on off the pitch, but he does seem to have the respect of the squad which is the most important thing for a captain.
I’m looking forward to seeing what KD and Captain Coker do for the rest of the season.
Share