ECHOSPORT talks to Sutton United fan Alex Tresadern ahead of Satruday's match at Roots Hall.

What have you made of the start to the season?

"If I was speaking to you after the first few games, I'd have answered this much more positively!

"A gutsy 1-1 draw on the opening day of the season away to Tamworth (91st minute equaliser) was followed by a fantastic 5-0 home win against Altrincham and a solid 1-0 win away to Wealdstone, leaving us with seven points from the opening nine on offer.

"In particular, the Altrincham game showed the team playing with confidence, flair and real cohesion - attributes we did not see during our dismal League Two relegation campaign last season.

"However, since then we have struggled.

"We got ourselves into winning positions against York (H) and Eastleigh (A), but ended up with draws in both of those fixtures, and we are currently on a run of three straight defeats.

"We had a shocker against Forest Green at home where we equalised in the 86th minute before conceding again in the 89th, followed by consecutive 3-0 losses to Boston (H) and Dagenham & Redbridge (A).

"The spark has gone from the attacking players, leading us to suspect that the Altrincham game was a one-off and we are conceding a lot of goals.

"There is an acceptance that we will concede some goals because of the style of football we are attempting to play which is passing out from the back in the first time in our history, really!

"But frankly most of the recent goals conceded have been through individual errors and an apparent lack of organisation.

"It is a good time for Southend to play us!

Has the team changed much since last season's relegation from League Two?

"Massively and unfortunately that seems to be part of the problem.

"We only retained a handful of players from last season.

"Some chose to leave, others were not offered contracts and initially, given the positive start across the first three games, we thought this might be a good thing as Steve Morison had been able to recruit players under 'his' image and who were capable of playing the style of football that he wishes to play.

"He certainly put his stamp on the squad!

"However, the recent fixtures have demonstrated that there is a lot to do with this side, both in terms of gelling them together and establishing if they have the talent to get us back up towards the Football League.

"This is somewhat inevitable when there is a big overhaul of any squad, but it's safe to say that the initial optimism has been significantly tempered.

What are the hopes for this season?

"The club have been running a social media campaign centred around "a day in the life of a club trying to get back into the EFL"...so I think that tells you what the ambitions are!

"I think a more realistic answer is that we are hoping for this to be a consolidation campaign - avoid consecutive relegations, giving the squad a chance to gel together, getting some stability back within the club and then looking to push on next season.

"However, with the National League, anything can happen!"

How have ex Shrimpers Steve Arnold and Matt Rush been doing for you?

"Steve came into the side during the course of last season, as our other goalkeepers suffered from injury and lack of form.

"He was a bright spark in a pretty dismal campaign, which has earned him the number one shirt (not literally - he wears 25!) throughout this season so far.

"He's a good shot stopper, as I'm sure you know, but in recent fixtures has struggled with the manager's desire to play out from the back, leading to a couple of goal-inducing / heart-stopping errors.

"Clearly a decent keeper and a sound lad, but it wouldn't shock me if he was replaced by Jack Sims (one of Morison's summer signings) at some point.

"As for Matt Rush, he's only started once (played 50 minutes) and made two fleeting substitute appearances so far, meaning it's tricky to comment on him too much - however, I will say that we've not lost any of the matches that he's been involved in!"

Who is the dangerman?

"Lewis Simper is our central midfield maestro with a wand of a left foot.

"He can pick a pass and is a danger from set pieces - watch out for him, he's a quality player."

 What's the team news?

"Steve Morison doesn't give much away in his pre-match press conferences!

"I'd expect a few changes from the Dagenham game, particularly as we come off the back of two consecutive 3-0 defeats.

"Hayden Muller went off injured on Tuesday so I would expect him to be ruled out, whilst we may see returns to the starting XI for Jayden Harris and one of Jeremy Sivi or Eduino Vaz."