Post-Match Thread and Ratings Crewe Alexandra 2, Southend United 0

[usa_shrimper]

Don't get to see any games so good to watch a live game (online), Best team won we put them under pressure at times without ever looking like we were gonna score.

Smith.... 7 couple of good stops
Clohessy. 6 understand very consistent this season today very ordinary
Baker..... 5 struggled against a decent winger
Straker.. 3 shocking...
Cresswell 6 same as Clohessy
Prosser ...7 Taken a lot of stick in the past, looked the best defender we had today
Bilel.........4 poor, never a CM
Hurst.......5 struggled to make any impact
Mkandawire 5 on his own with no help in the middle, should have scored with a free header
Assombalonga 6 didn't show much, when he did looked good, should have won a penalty
Tomlin..........7 got into second half and created a couple of half chances

Subs
BBBC.......... 6 made little impact
Reeves....... 6 midfield looked stronger when he came on
Eastwood.... 6 showed a couple of good touches

Ref
Miller....3 had as good a game as Straker

 

[MK Shrimper]

The game was dreadful. The ref was dreadful. Our "support" was woeful and Brown was clueless in his team selection and tactics.

What a wasted opportunity.

 

[ozzy-shrimper]

Cannot understand how Lund doesn't even make the bench but Mohsni starts in centre mid. Cost us dearly.

Mohsni - 1
Tomlin - 8

 

[galvatron1983]

Really frustrating as the team really needed to raise the crowd and not the other way round. Conceding so early made our end sound more like a wake than a football final. Not sure if its the roomy armchair feel of the place or the fact that so many of our 30,000 have probably never been to a game in their lives that made it seem like we were in library not the national football stadium. Small pockets of supporters were trying to lift things but gave up after a short while at the complete apathy of the following. I know people go to watch games for different reasons and the two guys sitting behind me who never stopped talking probably had their own agenda but unless the side on the pitch gives the crowd something to shout about, people are going to get distracted on other things. Was the drum there?. Never heard it once.

Agree, was great to see 30,000 in the blues end of Wembley, but I can count the chants on one hand.

Most of the convos around me were usually one bloke telling everyone else he dragged with him who Southend were...

 

[Austin the Shrimper]

Agree with Tomlin..Thought he looked a class above the rest of his team mates. I could see us losing him. Moshni...I don't wanna ever see him in the side again. We looked alot better once the changes were made..why wasn't this the team that started?? All I can think is in training Moshni is amazing in CM. Please don't put us through that again. Passing was some of the worst I've seen, not one real threatening strike on target. real shame because I feel the 30000 plus deserve better than what we got today.

 

[Austin the Shrimper]

I was sat in block 141 and it was pretty quite, a few of us stood up at times and gave rallying cries..yet it never seemed to travel. Looked the same problem throughout. Even the singing section was pretty quiet..or maybe the sound just didnt travel over

 

[Bobby dazzler]

Sadly team selection was woeful. At half time it cried out for change and it was left too late.

Mohsni was lost as he was the last game.

Straker, where do I start , awful all season. Didn't think he could get worse but he did.

Barker, off the pace but coming in for more criticism than I thought

Hurst, not great

Ill stop there to be honest.

Why oh why do we play high ball to our front couple of midgets.

Not a promising start by brown

 

[Neil 24]

Still a bit ****ed me and my dad had a really good day best team won shame we didint really perform no one really stood out but i thankyou southend utd for a great day.

 

[Richard_Cadette]

For me, the game was a bit of a contradiction really.

I thought the team selection was incredibly defensive before we'd even started, and by playing both Straker and Barker on the left, along with the midfield paring of Tam and Mohsni, we handed the initiative to Crewe immediately. Whilst it would have been foolish to go there and try and out football them, we ought to have had at least some kind of threat from midfield!!

That said, whilst Crewe did keep possession well, as expected, they didn't cause us that many problems, and the majority of the second half, we spent on the front foot. I think Crewe edged it, but there really wasn't that much in it, just two different styles of football.

There were two key tactical errors IMO by Brown...

1. Straker is not, never has been, a left sided midfielder, regardless of your opinion of him as a LB. PS tried him there on a couple of occasions, and it never looked natural. I'd have kept him at left back personally, as Barker was clearly not ready for this game. Surely Reeves had to start to give balance to the midfield?

2. Mohsni in central midfield - As has been said, I am genuinely worried that Brown thinks this works... It doesn't, at all. Whilst we did apply pressure in the second half, it was in spite of him, not because. The other problem it is causing is that Tam looks a shadow of the player he was first time around as he is not being allowed to do his job of sitting in front of the back four, as he doesn't have Laird and Yimlin who can operate further up the field. Lund HAD to have been the choice today, if for no other reason than he is a central midfielder and has done OK with us.

Our only way to win the game today was to get in to Crewe and try and disrupt their passing game, and from that, try and create pressure, which we didn't do enough. when we did do it, our midfield had nobody capable of holding on to the ball, or pass it to a team mate.

The other alarming point is the complete loss of form of Kevan Hurst - He again looks a shadow of the player he was, and today, he was completely ineffective - even the dead ball deliveries were poor.

We got it wrong big time today, and yet we really did have enough of the ball in the right areas to have caused more problems than we did.

Would the team, under PS, have fared better today?.... Hmm, not sure, but maybe!

 

[Rob1920]

To put a different perspective on it, also having just scanned the main incidents of the game on TV, I think some are being a bit harsh. Firstly this was Crewe, Barcelona of the lower divisions. We were never going to dominate posession. Secondly, we had a nailed on pen not given. Off-side goal was off side, but by inches. They also cleared one off the line. We conceded two goals from stupid errors but give the boys a break, it's wembley, a huge crowd, playing a higher ranked team etc. I honestly didn't think we looked that bad at times. Yes Hurst & Clohessy (& mohsni) had bad games but I thought straker was ok, certainly not awful. At least give brown time to build his own team before judging him..

Right, I'm off for a curry & too many beers.

 

[Lord Football]

I think I'll agree with pretty much what everyone is saying.

Mohsni, a good a player as he might be on his day, looked out of his depth for most of the game.
Straker, I'm not quite sure how he made the starting line up, let alone play the full 90 mins.

That said, if I were picking the team, I'd have started with Mohsni, but would have had Reeves starting.

Tomlin and Britt were our best players on the day. I think the occassion got to some of them early on.

As for the two penalty shouts, having seen them both on the tv, I wouldn't have given either - even with the luxury of slow mo, but a clear foul on Mohsni for the second goal. But them the breaks.

I'm more gutted that our day is over. It was a wonderful feeling leading up to it, and a fantastic day all in all. We didn't deserve to win; but to sit up in the Gods at Wembley and see 31000 of us is something I'll remember for ever.

 

[Shrimper 62]

Just to echo the thoughts of others. Playing barker and straker down the left was never going to work and Bilel as centre mid looking completely clueless. We only started to play once changes were made. Of more worry is that all the quality players are unlikely to be here next year. Tam, Reeves,Tomlin will be long gone. Mr Brown plenty to think about over the summer me thinks.

 

[FarmdogSUFC]

Obviously gutted about the result, as a win at Wembley would have made it something special. But I will add this.

I thank every single Southend United player that helped us get to Wembley. The day I've had today will certainly be one to talk about in a few years time, and without their efforts in the previous rounds, wouldn't have happened. This was my first trip to Wembley and I was quite simply gob smacked at how big that stadium is. I'm more gutted for the players about losing than I am myself. I feel that the team selection was all wrong and so were the tactics, but also on the day were beaten by a much better footballing team.

 

[Shrimper 62]

Having now watched the game on tv the ref did us no favours!!!

 

[jaffa1]

Agree with most of the markings, I think Clohessey has been great this season, but he is knackered having played nigh on all 60 games this season. Tomlin was a livewire and Bongo showed early glimpses, if we'd fed the front two more early on (rather than trying to work out where everyone was supposed to be playing) we would have troubled their shaky looking back four. I think we lost it (Mr Brown) rather than they won it - did they really have 14 shots on target BBC stats man? We knew we were done for when we heard the team up Wembley Way, basically we only fielded one natural midfielder at any one time, and their impressive black guy had a field day. The team, after Corr (who was outstanding) and Reeves came on, is probably the team we should have started with. People rueful about no Lund but I feel more for the lad Leonard missing out. Had a great day and saw lots of old faces, but I agree that the support was poor, it was a classic case of 30,000 excited and disjointed strangers. We have always needed a goal us get is going, yet I did expect more from the Terraccota army in the middle.

 

[davewebbsbrain]

Don't get to see any games so good to watch a live game (online), Best team won we put them under pressure at times without ever looking like we were gonna score.

Smith.... 7 couple of good stops
Clohessy. 6 understand very consistent this season today very ordinary
Baker..... 5 struggled against a decent winger
Straker.. 3 shocking...
Cresswell 6 same as Clohessy
Prosser ...7 Taken a lot of stick in the past, looked the best defender we had today
Bilel.........4 poor, never a CM
Hurst.......5 struggled to make any impact
Mkandawire 5 on his own with no help in the middle, should have scored with a free header
Assombalonga 6 didn't show much, when he did looked good, should have won a penalty
Tomlin..........7 got into second half and created a couple of half chances

Subs
BBBC.......... 6 made little impact
Reeves....... 6 midfield looked stronger when he came on
Eastwood.... 6 showed a couple of good touches

Ref
Miller....3 had as good a game as Straker

Pretty much agree with this. Corr won some headers when he came on and Eastwood looked like he was interested. Prosser MOM for me too.

Over 31,00 fans turned up at Wembley but sadly not a full Southend team turned up. They were just not good enough, lacked invention.

I like Mohsni but at CB or up front. Brown made a few odd decisions today. Leaving Lund and Leonard out altogether were two of them. Spicer would have also been a good bet in the centre of the park today to give it some bite.

Straker needs kicking out, he is an embarrassment.

Great work by TZ today as usual though a warning alarm going off when we are only 100 yards out of Wembley was a worry.

Well planned at The Green Man too meant a very good day was had.


And - Paul Sturrock is a legend. At The Green Man in his kilt mingling with us mere mortals and getting his picture taken with everyone that asked. RM made a massive mistake sacking him

 

[shrimperton]

Diabolical performance. Poor tactics. Well beaten.

I agree it's not an over reaction as some put it, we couldn't pass the ball over 5 yards today, looked overawed by Wembley, Crewe beat us today by simply passing the ball around us, they didn't have to beat us with dribbling etc, they beat us by passing into space then moving into that space & it looked like we didn't have a clue what was happening!

we only got better when footballers came on ie Reeves & Eastwood, should have started IMO, Brown said he went with Monshi for 'experience', well Eastwood has more experience than the entire side of 'big occasions'

We looked exactly what we are today League 2 & I'm glad we missed the play offs cos we would get murdered every week, we need to learn to control the ball first, Crewe had the ball under control with every touch & then passed in front of teammates, our players it seem to bobble & struggle to play a simple pass & our intelligence & decision making is woeful, bring it down & play don't just hump back up field giving possession away time & time again, Crewe had 67% of the ball & we gave it back to easy under no pressure!! Ie Mohsni for goal 2

 

[billy best was god]

10 out of 10 for Paul Sturrock who showed what a real man he is, was at the green man pub all morning with the fans having a drink a chat and photos with all.A real man well donePaul

 

[jaffa1]

Experience !!! Mosser hails from French amateur football and hardly 40/50 English League games under his belt (IIRC)

 

[Crabby Shrimper]

I agree it's not an over reaction as some put it, we couldn't pass the ball over 5 yards today, looked overawed by Wembley, Crewe beat us today by simply passing the ball around us, they didn't have to beat us with dribbling etc, they beat us by passing into space then moving into that space & it looked like we didn't have a clue what was happening!

we only got better when footballers came on ie Reeves & Eastwood, should have started IMO, Brown said he went with Monshi for 'experience', well Eastwood has more experience than the entire side of 'big occasions'

We looked exactly what we are today League 2 & I'm glad we missed the play offs cos we would get murdered every week, we need to learn to control the ball first, Crewe had the ball under control with every touch & then passed in front of teammates, our players it seem to bobble & struggle to play a simple pass & our intelligence & decision making is woeful, bring it down & play don't just hump back up field giving possession away time & time again, Crewe had 67% of the ball & we gave it back to easy under no pressure!! Ie Mohsni for goal 2

To be fair, and not defending Mohsni's performance, I'd hardly say he was under no pressure. In fact, it looked a foul to me!