Blues boss Paul Sturrock is expecting an entertaining game against Aldershot Town on Saturday.
Sturrock is hoping to pick up his first three points of the season fresh from Tuesday's excellent Carling Cup victory against Championship side Bristol City.
And with the Shots having finished in League Two play-offs last season he is anticipating a competitive fixture.
"Aldershot did very well last season although I don't think they have started as well as they would have liked to this year," Paul told Blues Player.
"They played a very good Watford side midweek in the Cup so it is difficult to gauge them but we have to be on top of our game.
"With the amount of minutes we played against Bristol City the other night I have to decide whether to freshen things up or not and that is something that will be mulling over my mind.
"90 minutes would have been bad enough but another 30 on top has made it more difficult so I have got to make a decision on who plays and who doesn't.
"At the moment we are bedding ourselves in and finding our feet. We have to go to Aldershot and be miserly in defence and hope the strikers who have some confidence now get us some goals.
"I am led to believe that Aldershot pass the ball for fun. We like to pass it a wee bit as well so it should make for a decent game."
Sturrock is also hopeful that centre-half Bilel Mohsni will be registered in time for Saturday's clash with Aldershot.
United are still waiting on the 22-year-old's paperwork to arrive from the French Football Federation.
Southend are also waiting on midfielder Adam Bouzid's international clearance from Morocco.
Paul added: "I don't know what's happened with the Moroccans but Bouzid's father talking to them.
"The French FA have been inundated and I think that's been the problem there. We're led to believe that Thursday is the day we get sent the stuff."
The pair were the only players the Blues were unable to register before the new season as they had yet to receive international clearance.
"It's important for them because their season's at a stand-still," Sturrock continued.
"They've got an awful lot of learning of the British game to do so the quicker they can get in the better."
Boss Sturrock has also not ruled out adding more names to his squad, but will not be rushing back into the transfer market.
He said: "We'll take the full length of August and make a decision on how we're doing at the time.
"We've got to decide whether some of our young players will benefit from loan spells and also decide if there's an area of the team we need to strengthen."
