S-Clarke

The first half did worry me a little. We looked a little unsure of what we were actually doing, players were playing passes too short and down blind allys. We did have a lot of possesion and (bar the goal) Wigan barley threatened, but then neither did we. It was a pretty hideous first half to watch. The 2nd half was positive though, the reaction of the players was what you want to see when you're down at the bottom. Don't lie down, jump up to the plate and fight till the end. We gave it a good go, and in the end threw it away which will grate me for a good few days yet. Plenty of positives from the 2nd half, but bits to be worried about based on that first half.

I was on about Forren...

I thought that was the case. About time too, as the first one was awful.

£3.5m actually, and he's injured at the moment. If you bothered to read the pre-match stuff, you'll read that in reality he's under-going a mini pre-season with us, as his season ended back in December and has done no training since then. Makes sense. Once he's fit though and gets his chance, I don't think we'll see him out of the team. I've heard lots about him, and not one negative.

This gets the thumbs up for me, every week I've used a stream from here. No pop ups, no adds, it just plays instantly. No buffering, no skipping...HD Quality. Looked fine on my 42" TV. Looks like there are streams of every PL game up on that site. Def. worth bookmarking! Not worth trying anything else IMO.

That's why people liked him.... Run around a lot, throw yourself into a few tackles - great player. When in fact, technically, he is utter dog ****e.

Exactly this, really. If we give up on him this season, we'll be looking on in 18months time thinking ''what if?''. He's genuine class, but not exactly the sort of player we need at this moment in time. For a club like us in our current position, we can't really sign the ''full article''. Our model is to buy young, potential and slowly build the team around it. Over time that will be rewarding to the extreme, but staying up this year is critical to it being a success. I still think we'll be ok, but today is still very disappointing as we were within touching distance of breaking away into the mid-table pack.

Good post.

No surprise, although Bolton isn't exactly a club to get your career going. And Bolton, Blackburn and Wolves are fine examples of why getting relegated, no matter how strong your squad remains, doesn't equal an instant return.

wtf @ this thread. weird

The problem we have with Mayuka is that his confidence is on the floor. An awful AFCON as well as a non-eventful season for us, where he's played more for the reserves than the first team. It'll be hard for him to get into a head of steam this year, but his pace off the bench will still be helpful, although don't expect him to tear up any tree's just yet.

He's miles better than that level, thought he was at least worth a championship loan. Massive coup for Southend to have a player of his ability.

Don't think we can. What we have now is what we have to run with through to the end of the season.

One of the best CM's in the PL. Love his energy, and it's becoming a regular occurrence to see him bursting into the box - that was a terrifically well timed run today. Only a few years ago the guy looked like he'd never get into the final third to take a shot, now he's scoring in the PL!

QPR would pay £30m and £200k p/w

To be fair, we are due a big result against one of the big boys. We haven't had one yet, bar a draw against Arsenal. See no reason why we can't cause them all sorts of problems, especially with Kompany and Toure missing. Slightly nervous of Tevez/Auguro up against Jos though!

To be fair, Man City paid £28m for Silva. Chelsea paid 20m for Mata. Both of those 2 eased into life in the PL, and didn't really get going until their 2nd full season with the club. That's why staying up this year is massive. I dread to think what will happen if we don't. The fall out doesn't bear thinking about, which is why i'm trying not to think about it!

Wouldn't expect too much different from today, maybe just Lallana in for Puncheon. Forren has an injury.

2nd half was great, and we had more much about us in the final third. You'd pay to watch us like that But posession football bugs the hell out of me when you don't go anywhere with it, or try to make an extra pass when it's easier to shoot etc like we did in the first half. Puncheon was guilty of that today, and is quite often tbh.

He's clearly a very talented player, but doesn't really turn up away from home. Away he seems to float around the pitch like a feather, being knocked over by anyone who blows at him. Good player, but at the moment very lightweight.

He was written off by some way too early. Always rated him, ability wise he has what it takes to play for England and I still stand by that. I think he's a classy player.

Sounded great on the stream. Only fans I could hear. Wigan predictably un-supported.

Totally, I'm optimistic with the way we're playing but this was Wigan tbh, we were 2-1 up with 4 mins to go, we didn't win the others around us did and we now have Man City and Newcastle up next.

We didn't lose. 3 games is no time to judge if he's good, or crap. Nothing has really changed.

I did, we played bloody brilliantly and scored a great goal to go 2-1 up on 85 mins. We still didn't win. That's why this is a very bad result. Not a bad performance, but a bad result. That's not going to do the players confidence much cop either.