Grant and Hall

[Frankie the half breed]

Got yellow cards today and am I right that they will miss the game at Rotherham now? If they are were screwed.

 

[alsufc]

yes they will

 

[CyrilSneer]

Johnson in for Hall but on the left, Timlin in the middle, Leonard on the right. Sorted

 

[WightShrimper]

Although we will miss them both, it does give others an opportunity to show what they are made of, and at least this year we do have other options; last year we would have been really screwed.

 

[Sandbach Shrimper]

Makes next week's trip to Rotherham even tougher but at least we've got 2 wins under our belt before that. Won't be too devastated if we lost there. Hall's booking on Tuesday night was outrageous though. And Grant was poor today anyway, didn't look at the races.

 

[Magnum PI]

Nobodies expecting that much at Rotherham... Get these two out the way now.
Grant didnt do much today anyway.. there are other options. We will miss the deliveries of Hall though

Chance for JJ?

 

[silentshrimper]

Nobodies expecting that much at Rotherham... Get these two out the way now.
Grant didnt do much today anyway.. there are other options. We will miss the deliveries of Hall though

Chance for JJ?

I agree, and definitely gives a chance to JJ, all depends on who gets fit before the game. I have a feeling that JJ might not fit into the shape of the team and end up like another Soares.

 

[DTS]

There had got to be more from JJ than we have seen so far so it will be a good chance to come in and impress I think.

 

[leeblue]

few people above claiming we will miss grant, IMO we wont miss him at all, he has been garbage, I would have hauled him straight off at half time, he didnt win a tackle, his passing was awful, slow on the ball getting caught out. He has needed to be dropped for a while now even if its just as a kick up the ar5e. Hall will be a big miss obviously.

 

[jarvisyeh]

Personally I feel we are relying on Hall far too much to be our attacking player... Like others have said, this will give JJ a chance, and hopefully he takes it, because with him and Hall playing to their potential together, we will be better for it!

Bring Sawyer back in to that as well, and we will play completely different football to that we have seen the last few games!

 

[Frankie the half breed]

True but if playing amazing football doesn't always win you games, we didn't play brilliantly against Gillingham or Plymouth today and we won them both. But I think we might do a good job at Rotherham actually, would like to see a line up something like this....

Morris

Clohessy Phillips Barker Prosser/Gilbert

Leonard Ferdinand Timlin JJ

Dickinson Harris/Sturrock

 

[Smiffy]

Hall will be a loss. Grant however will not in my opinion. Chance for JJ, JP (who i'd pick ahead of Kane) and Leonard to get more game time.

 

[OldBlueLady]

What's going on with Kalala though, not even on bench today? Don't see an issue personally, Timlin either plays central with Ferdinand or Kalala (depending on fitness, hopefully the other on bench), Leonard on one side, JJ on the other. The midfield has been pretty shocking the last few games, all playing as separate entities so these will have a week to get some understanding going. I also think we've been poorer without Leonard in the side, I don't think today's turnaround was just down to Harris coming on making a nuisance of himself, and at least Leonard can take a pretty decent free kick, not to mention that long throw (how did we ever think Herd's was any good?).

 

[B1ueb0y]

Don't think we'll miss Grant much. Spent whole game today waiting for a challenge then throwing himself to the floor.

 

[OldBlueLady]

Don't think we'll miss Grant much. Spent whole game today waiting for a challenge then throwing himself to the floor.

That's always been Grant's game - invite the foul.

 

[Bromley Blue]

That's always been Grant's game - invite the foul.

Yeah me and my mate have a running joke about Grant winning freekicks. He knows exactly what he's doing and if he wasn't a Southend player he'd definitely be the opposition player I'd hate.

 

[jarvisyeh]

Yeah me and my mate have a running joke about Grant winning freekicks. He knows exactly what he's doing and if he wasn't a Southend player he'd definitely be the opposition player I'd hate.

According to the match day programs he won more freekicks then any other player in league two last season!

 

[Bromley Blue]

According to the match day programs he won more freekicks then any other player in league two last season!

Ha ha thanks for letting me know that. To be honest I can totally see why some of our own fans get frustrated with him for going down so early. The problem for the referees though is that he isn't diving so they can't book him or warn him about it. Every time he goes down he is actually being impeded but only because he draws the defender in to make contact before falling to the floor. He also has a great knack of doing this just outside the box and with a couple of players in the 2 Ryans capable from that range it can be considered another weapon in our armoury. As shameful as that is!

 

[Kent Shrimper]

This will go some way in showing our strength in depth, we have had our main strike force out and now 2 key midfielders, good time for the players coming in to step up

 

[Bromley Blue]

Yeah I think this year we do actually have players that can come in and we're not significantly weaker. The same can be said all over the pitch really with the exception of up front and in goal IMO.

I'd expect a midfield of Timlin and JPK (if fit) at Rotherham and perhaps JJ to come in for Hall. As others have said, Grant has been quite ineffective for most of the season so the more interesting aspect is who will replace Hall and how they perform. JJ hasn't started the season well but as we've seen from the YouTube videos, etc there is a good player in there somewhere. I think he's just very low on confidence right now and the trouble with the Roots Hall crowd is that there are a number of idiots who find a scapegoat very early in a season and then are very unforgiving from that moment on.

If he could hit the ground running at Rotherham perhaps by scoring an early goal which would boost confidence we could see a much improved player. An in-form Jemal Johnson would greatly improve the side and with him and Hall we would look much more threatening. It would also encourage us to play football more along the ground as both players are at their best with the ball at their feet running in behind the fullbacks.

Whoever plays, Rotherham away was always going to be one of the tougher fixtures this season and I'd see anything we take from there as a bonus. But I expected heavy defeat at Port Vale and the lads put in a performance so anything is possible. Playing a bottom of the league side before you face those around the top isn't the best preparation but it's something we'll have to deal with if we're to do well this season.