Southend United opened their home League One campaign with a disappointing 3-1 defeat to Blackpool on Saturday, and one player, in particular, came in for savage criticism on social media.
Former Premier League defender Liam Ridgewell made his Shrimpers debut on the left side of a back three, but he was replaced after fifty-two minutes with Kevin Bond’s men already 3-0 down.
It was hardly the dream debut for the thirty-five-year-old who was at fault for two of the goals in a Southend display all too familiar for Blues fans who witnessed thirteen teams celebrate maximum points at Roots Hall last season.
Manager Kevin Blond leapt to the defence of his under-fire defender whose early substitution was greeted by ironic cheers from some of the home faithful. He told the Southend Echo he probably made a mistake in playing the veteran, who joined late in the summer without a proper pre-season, calling the selection ‘unfair.’
This comment didn’t seem to wash with many Shrimpers fans when they took to social media to comment on the performance of the former Birmingham, West Brom and Aston Villa man.
Some Blues fans are also starting to question whether Bond is the right man for the job after playing the half-fit defender and the poor start his side have had to the season.
After just avoiding relegation last season, it looks like it could be another season of struggle for Southend and many frustrated fans were definitely not impressed with the debut of their former top-flight defender.
Here is a selection of comments on Twitter about Ridgewell’s debut to forget.
Liam Ridgewell is producing the worst debut I’ve ever witnessed.
— Andrew Soul (@Andrew_Shrimper) August 10, 2019
Liam Ridgewell has definitely set a benchmark though… Surely he can’t get worse.
— James (@_JamesWood_) August 10, 2019
Sleepless night thinking about Liam ridgewell 🤮😫
— Luke (@RourkeLuke) August 11, 2019
The fastest I see him run was to get off the pitch, fans didn’t take to him very well
— sufc till i die (@Sufc_Evans) August 10, 2019
Southend 1-3 Blackpool. We (Southend) are destined for the drop based on the evidence so far. Liam Ridgewell at fault for 2 of Blackpool’s goals on debut. Blackpool didn’t have to get out of 2nd gear to win this although Kaikai and Delfounso were deadly for them
— Pel (@P_Rourke) August 11, 2019
https://twitter.com/andyoung77/status/1160228041295106048?s=20
Liam Ridgewell dropping the worst performance I have ever seen from a professional football absolute farce
— Alex (@Alex_Footman) August 10, 2019
https://twitter.com/andyoung77/status/1160200617694040070?s=20
We defended relatively well last week. I am not sure why a half fit Liam Ridgewell is in ahead of White, but we do need some consistency of lineup
— All At Sea fanzine (@AllAtSeaFanzine) August 10, 2019
Followed Southend for 21 seasons. Kevin Bond been Manager for 8 games.3 of those 8 probably rank in the top 10 of the worst Southend performances I’ve ever seen. Bond isn’t capable. He’s actually made us progressively worse & taken away a lot of the enthusiasm I have for the club
— Calum Randall (@CMRandall92) August 11, 2019
Poor comment from Kevin Bond singling out the front two, especially after admitting he probably shouldn't have started Ridgewell at the back anyway
Thought Hutchinson was a positive, and really grew into the game, Elvis and Ralph tried their hardest to get something going— SteveG (@steveg671) August 10, 2019
Have delayed holiday so can go to Stevenage away probably worst mistake this year could of had extra week in the sun?