Giving two very sloppy goals away inside the opening 7 minutes at home certainly burst the feel good bubble at Vale Park on Saturday.
Whilst Southend were sharp up front with the experienced Neil Harris and the Vastly underrated Liam Dickenson, they were no great shakes at the back as evidenced by the amount of times they panicked when we got the ball in there box.
Unfortunately we just didnt have the know how to take advantage despite the best efforts of midfielder Doug Loft whose deep run earnt us our goal to get back in at 1-2 but almost immediately we failed to close down Southend and a 25yrd shot fizzed in, deflected off Yates and went in.
Which brings me to problem number 1- our goalkeeper is out of form, last season he was dominate of anything in his 18yrd box. this season hes hesitant and looks shaky to say the least.
2- our defence is short of organisation , particularly at set pieces where we were at 6s and 7s yesterday.
3- finally the midfield, lacked real direct pace, lacked creativity and as a result we were left lumping long ball after long ball.
The solutions to me are simple, the defence has to get back to basics and this would be helped by the loaning of an experienced keeper who can steady the ship.
The midfield at home we should have Rob Taylor in for his directness and a position has to be found for Louis Dodds and i would like to see the inclusion of Ryan Burge. At home we need to be on the front foot and these players are the type who will create and score.
We of course could have had just a bad day at the office, however warning signs have been around since day 1 v Crawley.
We have a chance to put it right on tuesday night in the JPT against Tranmere, but its the next two league games that give me most concern, even at this early stage they are crucial and anything less than 4 out of 6 points will be disapointing.
The bright spot is the return to training this week of Marc Richards who if fit should in my opinion be immediatrly restored to the team, his link play, hold up play and crucially goals have been sorely missed.
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