Post-Match Thread and Ratings Doncaster Rovers 4-1 Southend United

[manor15]

Absolutely woeful. Ferdinand sent off after the final whistle.

First half was fairly even though they can count themselves lucky with their goal, can only have been onside if Lenny was down in the corner and even then would be close.

Second half we simply collapsed. Referee was poor and gave them everything but you can't defend set pieces as poorly as we did and Ferdinand simply can't cope with anyone running at him.

Take off Cox and we lost all link up between midfield and attack and just resorted to hoofing long balls over the top to Ranger. Didn't play to the strengths of anyone in this team, Ranger had the ball at his feet twice and won a free-kick and a corner, the rest of the time it was hoofed 50 yards onto his head.

Never looked like scoring after that, no one ever in the right place in the box when we did deliver a ball. Really really poor, and Ferdinand getting sent off alongside Kyprianou's injury is a nightmare. There's no plan B and when three players have scored hat-tricks against you away from home by October then you aren't doing your homework properly.

Oxley 7 Not at fault for any of the goals, made some great stops first half
Bwomono 7 The only one who moved forward with the ball at his feet, naive tackle for the yellow
Ferdinand 4 Hoofed it every time and can't cope with anyone running at him as we saw for the penalty
Kyprianou 7 Looked as solid as he has of late, a huge blow to lose him
Timlin 6 Left Ferdinand exposed for the penalty, a few sloppy passes
Wright 5 Couldn't make up his mind whether he was in the middle or on the right and ended up not really doing either, played them in for their first
Leonard 6 Whole game was played over his head, brilliant tackle at 0-0 stopped them taking the lead
Wordsworth 6 Good awareness for the goal, asking for trouble with the incident which saw him booked, anonymous for most
McLaughlin 4 Added nothing, partly because every ball was on his head from 40 yards away
Cox 6 Dropped and helped out and did link midfield and attack
Ranger 6 We don't play to his strengths, when we did he caused problems, instead we left him fighting for scraps in the air

Subs
White 5 Looked more like a right-back playing out of position, lacked the composure and positioning of August but tough circumstances for him
McGlashan 4 Like McLaughlin, never got the ball to him
Robinson 5 Hoofball on to his head which isn't his game, could have scored from a yard out but couldn't get enough on it to take it past the keeper

Long ball just didn't work. Main concerns will be who plays centre back next weekend and the fact that we don't have any plan B and keep having woeful 5-10 minute spells where we throw the game away.

 

[Sunnyshrimper]

Moron, supposed to be our Captain. You really have to question the intelligence of some of them (Oxley another getting booked for dissent today) The game's gone, shut your mouth and walk down the tunnel, especially after another crap personal performance. Anton missing for 3 games may be a blessing but we desperately need Turner / Kiernan back asap

 

[bess30]

Yea who's the centre backs next week!! We are ****ed

 

[Southend schoolboy]

Absolutely awful performance, no heart, no desire, no ability.
constant Long balls to the hopeless Ranger who didn’t win a header today.

Oxley 6, could’ve been worse, good save for their first goal but looked shaky at times.
Timlin 4, showed desire but was generally useless on the ball.
Ferdinand 1, slow, immobile and struggled to be in a header, shown a red card at full time so hopefully he won’t be back in the side for a while
White 3, constant Long balls, won a few headers and showed some commitment.
Elvis 7.5, best player for us by a mile, very comfortable on the ball, got forward well and his crossing was very good.
Mclaughlin 1, absolutely woeful, corners didn’t clear the first man, didn’t look interested.
leonard 4, he tried, that’s as much as I can say
Wordsworth 5, neat touches, clearly on his own wavelength at times, good finish for the goal.
Wright 6, very neat touches, maybe to blame for the equaliser but he shouldn’t have been replaced, McLaughlin was awful
cox 5, missed a good chance but looked more like the old coxy
ranger 3- didn’t win a header, few nice touches but nothing like he was last season

Phil Brown 2- wring substituons, clearly at half time he didn’t inspire the players, dreadful second half against a dreadful Doncaster team

 

[Tangled up in Blue]

Absolutely woeful. Ferdinand sent off after the final whistle.

First half was fairly even though they can count themselves lucky with their goal, can only have been onside if Lenny was down in the corner and even then would be close.

Second half we simply collapsed. Referee was poor and gave them everything but you can't defend set pieces as poorly as we did and Ferdinand simply can't cope with anyone running at him.

Take off Cox and we lost all link up between midfield and attack and just resorted to hoofing long balls over the top to Ranger. Didn't play to the strengths of anyone in this team, Ranger had the ball at his feet twice and won a free-kick and a corner, the rest of the time it was hoofed 50 yards onto his head.

Never looked like scoring after that, no one ever in the right place in the box when we did deliver a ball. Really really poor, and Ferdinand getting sent off alongside Kyprianou's injury is a nightmare. There's no plan B and when four players have scored hat-tricks against you away from home by October then you aren't doing your homework properly.

Thought it was only 3 players? But your point remains a fair one.

 

[Zeuss]

Moron, supposed to be our Captain. You really have to question the intelligence of some of them (Oxley another getting booked for dissent today) The game's gone, shut your mouth and walk down the tunnel, especially after another crap personal performance. Anton missing for 3 games may be a blessing but we desperately need Turner / Kiernan back asap

Without Turner and Kiernan we could still have fielded a decent back four BUT
Demi-away
Ferdinand-needs a reasonably quick partner
Kyp-went off injured
Hendrie-not chosen.

 

[Floval Flyer]

Oh dear, this thread is going to be a barrel of laughs !!

 

[manor15]

Thought it was only 3 players? But your point remains a fair one.

You're right, now changed.

 

[THE SEVENTIES NORTH BANK]

Oh dear, this thread is going to be a barrel of laughs !!

Yep. Just waiting for the 'Brown out' posters now.

 

[southendkid]

Yea who's the centre backs next week!! We are ****ed

Leonard and White would be my choice, obviously we lose something in midfield by doing it but we can put Wright into the middle and then bring McGlashan into the starting line up. Leonard is good defensively and he's quick, which should help make up for some of White's pace issues. A big part of why Ferdinand and White together is such a disaster is because they are both slow, 1 slow centre back is fine, 2 is suicidal.

 

[Floval Flyer]

Yep. Just waiting for the 'Brown out' posters now.

Brown Out !!! LOL!

 

[Tommy2holes]

Brown out. Big budget mismanaged. Good squad mismanaged. Favourite players are woeful and not dropped.

Not enough game plan and then subs cox for Robinson.

See ya!

 

[Tommy2holes]

Brown Out !!! LOL!

And why not?

**** poor and very very lucky in the last two games

 

[Tampa Blue]

Leonard and White would be my choice, obviously we lose something in midfield by doing it but we can put Wright into the middle and then bring McGlashan into the starting line up. Leonard is good defensively and he's quick, which should help make up for some of White's pace issues. A big part of why Ferdinand and White together is such a disaster is because they are both slow, 1 slow centre back is fine, 2 is suicidal.

shock horror when, as PB would describe the supporters as 'average punter on the street', speaks more sense than the person being paid to do the job - only my opinion of course as an 'average punter'

 

[Ayrshire Blue]

I hope Ferdinand never plays for us again

 

[Tommy2holes]

We are worse than last season. So slow and predictable

 

[Tommy2holes]

I hope Ferdinand never plays for us again

Got a two year contract and is huge drain on our budget.

 

[Tangled up in Blue]

Got a two year contract and is huge drain on our budget.

We're lucky to have him at SUFC.

 

[blues exile]

Having watched every league game on iFollow so far it is pretty obvious after 12 games that we are about where we should be, lower mid table. Not nearly good enough to be serious promotion challengers and more likely to be in danger of sliding into the relegation zone. Weaknesses in defence, most notably carrying a player, Ferdinand who is not worth his place and has become a liability. Lack of craft or intelligence in midfield, apart from Wordsworth and occasionally Leonard and up front a lack of goals only to be expected from a lineup, who despite being 'names' have an unimpressive combined career ratio of goals to games. Recruitment of veterans and/or crocks will never build long term success and has backfired badly this season. We have some promising youngsters who hopefully will make the grade given time but let's be realistic, survival is the best we can hope for this season.

 

[southendkid]

Brown out. Big budget mismanaged. Good squad mismanaged. Favourite players are woeful and not dropped.

Not enough game plan and then subs cox for Robinson.

See ya!

I agree he needs to drop his favourite player Anton Ferdinand but I don't think his transfer policy has been that bad. Oxley, Coker, Cox, Ranger and Wordsworth are all big players for us that Brown signed (although Cox and Ranger are out of form we're having to sit back to protect the awful defence at the moment so their chances are limited). Whilst he's been awful this season signing Ferdinand last season was a great move that stabilised a poor defence that looked destined for relegation as well. Kiernan will hopefully be a big player when fit and we've seen glimpses of quality from Kightly so it'll be a big boost when he returns. Wright looks a decent signing as well so far.

We could probably do with another striker but that's the toughest position to recruit for because the good ones are obvious to the big clubs like Bradford, so we have to take punts on less impressive options.