Post-Match Thread and Ratings Dagenham & Redbridge 0-2 Southend United

[Smiffy]

The first goal yesterday was brilliant to watch back.

All three of our strikers pressed perfectly. Bonne first which unsettled Justham and forced him to play a silly ball to the CB. Kendall then pressed that CB who in turn played an even more stupid ball which was pressed excellently by Walker. The rest is history.

Absolutely spot on execution that was. More of the same please.

 

[blues exile]

Good to see a change of formation and tactics which brought about a win. So much better to watch as well. We might have been in with a stronger chance of the playoffs had we played this way throughout the season.

 

[Medway Blue]

Maher started with 343 when he first came in
We bought players like Mooney to play wide in the 3 up front.
Teams started working this out so we played 532 to ensure we still played 3 at the back and had 3 in midfield
Don't need to outline what's happened since
The excitement around 433 is that we press well upfront, have width, less defensive players, 3 in midfield and still can play defensively solid at the back with 4 defensive players.
Regardless a great result with a much improved formation - albeit an approach that D&R eventually worked out
Let's hope we continue with a front foot approach - however we've been here before.
Maher is still the same person with the same mentality.
One game does not mean change - we were really excited about FGR for example.... Then look what happened.

Yours,
Carefully optimistic

Quite right, best not outline that we, by rights, finished 5th last season with those tactics.

You're spot on about the qualities on show yesterday, although it was a 3-4-3, not a 4-3-3. I've wanted us to have 3-4-3 in the back pocket as a Plan B for some time, but I don't think we had the right players to fit it until recently, and it won't always work like it did yesterday (again - see the start of the second half).

The second bit of your post I've bolded - we've shown those qualities in a 3-5-2 countless times in the not-too-distant past when we had a good balance and mix of players for it. The football department is looking to address that, and some good additions to the squad will, imo, make the 3-5-2 effective again.

 

[kentblues]

Excellent result, and a good performance from what I saw on DAZN.


It was a 3-4-3. I think you'll very, very rarely see us go 4 at the back, because our build-up play, structure and pressing patterns are all built around 3 at the back. Not sure we even have the right players for 2 at the back.

@ShrimperStats is the man to answer this properly really, but yes, I think there's an element of the Daggers shape allowing us to go 3-4-3.

Football is different in 2024, and long gone are the days when anybody other than the absolute best teams in a division can just do their own thing without worrying about what the opposition are doing.

Yesterday was a good example of this. When Daggers brought on a 3rd midfielder at the start of the second half, our midfield 2 started to be overrun by their extra man in there, and we were in danger of losing control. That's why he brought on KAF for CK, to match them up, and suddenly Daggers ascendancy was halted.

If another opponent starts with 3 in midfield, would we necessarily be able to play 3-4-3 against them without getting steamrolled through the middle? I'm not so sure.

You also have the option of Ralph at LM to solidify a midfield 4, and have the left and right of the front 3 drop back when we don’t have the ball, or even have one of the front 3 play like more of a 10.

It’s easy to get fixation on formations but there are numerous tweaks/adaptions

 

[* ORM *]

The idea that Maher changed the players/formation because fans have been telling him to do so is frankly ridiculous. Kev, Benno, Daz and JS have lived and breathed football all their lives and have many decades of experience between them at a professional level. Does anyone here really believe their own decisions would be wiser than the collective football wisdom SUFC is fortunate enough to benefit from? Perhaps we've had a little glimpse of how that would pan out from those thinking we played 4-3-3 yesterday.

If some people had their way, we'd be playing four at the back, which @Medway Blue and others have pointed out we probably don't have the players to carry out, with Wood and Waldron up front. I wonder how well that would go...

It's also a bit worrying to read @shrimperjon's story about his meeting with Maher. Kev has repeatedly stated the importance of management, team and fans sticking together. If the players are underperforming, getting on their backs is absolutely the last thing the team needs. Bonne's interview yesterday clearly shows the critical role confidence plays in football. Could the hard core support away from home partly explain why performances are better than at Roots Hall?

I do hope Maher doesn't get fed up with the short memories/ingratitude for the management's and team's loyalty and efforts. His walking away would be a disaster. Where else will we find someone with his experience and loyalty to the club? The only comparable figure this century was Tilly. And that went pretty well, if memory serves.

I’ve barely posted over this past week because of some of the complete and utter nonsense being spouted on here. Even in victory I sense some of the posts being created with gritted teeth. Love this post!

 

[Medway Blue]

For me, this is the problem in a nutshell though MB. If another team play with one up top, we still have 3 at the back. If we are adapting to keep with the opposition we can’t always do it at the expense of out attack. In that case, why not say to Golding to make the number in midfield?

Some fair points mate, but I just don't think the management see it this way. They want to build from the back, and they see 3 at the back as crucial to this.

Besides, we actually pretty fluid, to be honest.. whatever formation we're in. Kensdale/Golding often step up into midfield, and Ralph and Taylor are supposed to be wide centre backs who pull wide when Bridge and GSM are pushing up high.

Again, @ShrimperStats is the man here, he can probably demonstrate how it works against an opposition playing one up top.

 

[Che's Left Foot]

Even after decent victory, ShrimperZone is a bit grumpy. I dread to think how miserable we'll all be if we win on Tuesday. Obviously if we stay with three up front it will be because our head coach took his instructions from our SZ tactical geniuses.

Really? Seems very positive especially so given Kev rolled the dice with new tactics.

 

[Maroon Blue]

What a difference a week makes. Kev plays 3 up top and completely baffled D&R, who probably watching last Saturday expected to pick us off like Barnet. No we were in their faces on the front foot from the off, Bonne was magnificent and on another day would be my MOTM. Eclipsed just for me by our quarterback Morton. Second half especially when we had to revert to 3 in the midfield after D&R started to overrun us after their half time adjustments, Watching Morton always moving side to side to find space to receive the ball of our back 3 and then spraying it forward really made us tick. Feel sorry for Collin who has no luck with injuries but Harness proved his worth. The passion and commitment which was missing was etched in the faces of Bonne & Harness at their game winning moments. Credit to Kev for putting KAF on in front of Husin which was the right call. Certainly yesterday Kev has quietened the moaners on here and social media who think he has not got the intelligence to see what the fans have seen on the pitch and what needs rectifying. Also not all sides we beat are poor, they are made to look poor by superior tactics. Our second goal came at just the right time as we were being pinned back. I think that was just reward for the chalking off of Bonne’s tight offside goal. A brace would have been just reward for our number nine.

Andeng-Ndi 6
Taylor 7
Golding 7
Ralph 7.5
GSM 7.5
Coker 7
Morton 8.5 MOTM
Bridge 6.5
Walker 7
Bonne 8.5
Kendall 7.5

Harness 7.5
KAF 6
Goodliffe 6.5
Waldron 5.5
Husin 5.5

Consistency is key now if we are to challenge for a play off place. A quick turnaround to Fylde at home maybe just what we need. Any drop off and we know what Fylde did last season at the Hall. They have just won and are battling to get out the relegation places so we must be at it from the off. UTB

 

[Blues4LifeDan]

Fantastic day. The weather was beautiful, the away end was packed and we saw Bonne score. What more could you want?!

The front three certainly caused problems and it certainly unsettled Dagenham. We had to get that goal in the first half though as daggers did get to grips with it the later it went on.

As others have said, and many won't like it, we won't play 3-4-3 every week. Daggers had the extra man in midfield in the second half and he started to dictate play. Well done to Kev and Co for noticing that and bringing on Keenan to nullify it. People see it as negative but it's just good management.

With that in mind, going into the game on Tuesday and knowing that they have a spare man in Nick Haughton, we may see an extra midfielder in our lineup at the expense of one of the forwards. Each game is different and we have to respect that.

Did anyone else wonder that with all this talk of Hopper, it made Bonne work even harder? He seemed so fired up! We definitely need another player to rival Bonne for his position and whether that is Hopper or someone else, it's needed.

Fantastic 3 points and onto Tuesday. Let's all stay with the team and management and try and secure another 3 points together. Utb!

 

[Maldon Shrimper]

After last weeks poor performance against Barnet and the lack of signings leading up to the game i wasnt looking forward to the Daggers game .It then got worse for me as struggled to park at Upminster then we all had to walk via the park to get entry into the ground. Then i started to question as to why i was bothering to struggle to attend the game .Most fans around me were very dissapointed with the whole situation.

BUT come kick off my oh my did the players give there all didnt give Daggers any chance to settle felt the worse when Colin went off injured but we continued to press at every chance and took a deserved lead through Bonne and did he deserved it much shown in his delight he works so hard for himself and his organising of the players around him.

A great day out for all Shrimpers in attendance who were loud and clear, only spoilt by Colins injury.

We must continue in the same way and not revert back to the old ways

 

[Shrimp and two veg]

I agree mate,I found the stewards most welcoming and spot on at their job just a good bunch.

I noticed one or two of the same stewards being at previous matches, deffo Wealdstone

 

[Ayrshire Blue]

Really pleased for Bonne. You can tell that meant a lot to him as well. In previous years we’ve had a fair few players come and drop down the ladder to just pick up a payday on their way to retirement and Bonne certainly isn’t one of them. It’s not been for the want of trying that goal and hopefully now that’s a big monkey off his back and a few more can follow.

 

[Bratislava Blue]

I’d watch Bonne’s goal again if I were you

Having watched it live and on the highlights, Walker gets close to the defender and the defender has to make the only pass inside and across the goal that was available to him. He hardly forced an error. Kendall should get the plaudits for his efforts during the time that he was on the pitch, not Walker. Can you bring to my attention any other moment that deserved him staying on the pitch ahead of Kendall?

 

[Leeboy]

I’ve barely posted over this past week because of some of the complete and utter nonsense being spouted on here.

keep spouting nonsense guys maybe he’ll stay away for good

 

[PIERS]

If we are playing 3 centre backs and want to counter a Barnet type one up top, Taylor can move up into midfield easily leaving 4 4 2 or 4 3 3. Without having to make a sub straight away.
Alternatively we could make that switch proactively rather than reacting

 

[Tangled up in Blue]

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We should be OK on Tues as we proved against Daggers that we can beat teams lower than us in the table.

 

[shrimperjon]

Do you think his frustrations are with COSU then? And him trying to get signings in? I'm guessing it takes time as they may all have to agree? If it's with the fans after last week, then surely he must understand, we were very very poor and he made no changes to the way we was playing. He can see the fans still have his back as was shown yesterday, yes it's easier after a win and a better performance, but fans are entitled to voice frustrations.

We didn’t really talk about Cosu, he was really asking me about the general feeling amongst the fans. I’d said in my tweet that if things went wrong then it could get toxic. I explained that some fans have found watching this season difficult at times and especially after last week. He accepted that last week wasn’t good enough. But he knows a huge % are still behind him and the team. He said that we are closing in on new signings and TBF I like the look of the new lad from Colchester.

 

[lreed567]

Fantastic day. The weather was beautiful, the away end was packed and we saw Bonne score. What more could you want?!

The front three certainly caused problems and it certainly unsettled Dagenham. We had to get that goal in the first half though as daggers did get to grips with it the later it went on.

As others have said, and many won't like it, we won't play 3-4-3 every week. Daggers had the extra man in midfield in the second half and he started to dictate play. Well done to Kev and Co for noticing that and bringing on Keenan to nullify it. People see it as negative but it's just good management.

With that in mind, going into the game on Tuesday and knowing that they have a spare man in Nick Haughton, we may see an extra midfielder in our lineup at the expense of one of the forwards. Each game is different and we have to respect that.

Did anyone else wonder that with all this talk of Hopper, it made Bonne work even harder? He seemed so fired up! We definitely need another player to rival Bonne for his position and whether that is Hopper or someone else, it's needed.

Fantastic 3 points and onto Tuesday. Let's all stay with the team and management and try and secure another 3 points together. Utb!

I can completely live with in game management it's what football should be ,and the right change tactically was needed yesterday in the second half as dagenham were starting to get on top, last week however and also times Kev doesn't always seem to do this, we won't play that formation every week because against better sides we will probably lose. In hindsight you was last week a dig from Kev to say we need players? Alot of mangers have tendencies to do this, it's also good to know we have other ways of playing, just hopefully going forward Barnet won't happen again

 

[leeblue]

Having watched it live and on the highlights, Walker gets close to the defender and the defender has to make the only pass inside and across the goal that was available to him. He hardly forced an error. Kendall should get the plaudits for his efforts during the time that he was on the pitch, not Walker. Can you bring to my attention any other moment that deserved him staying on the pitch ahead of Kendall?

Why does it have to be about 'deserving' to stay on. Kendall is all about relentless workrate, press etc who not conserve some of that energy for the upcoming game on Tuesday.

 

[in the know]

When bonne first signed, from what I understand, he wasn't given an easy welcome. Sounder like 50\50 him being a diva and our guys being sceptical.
He's not only won over his team mates but the outside doubters too. Including me. I'm Really happy he's got a goal and can see him going on to scoring quite a few. I like the guy now. Gets the crowd going, niggles the opposition, and inspires team mates.