Post-Match Thread and Ratings Hartlepool United 0-0 Southend United

[Mr Browns Ghost]

All ways remember Southend United was nearly no more.Need time Come on you Blues.

Is this the new get out clause ? How many seasons shall we indorse this kind of mentality ??

 

[Mr Browns Ghost]

Hopefully Adam Crowther will soon be given a start. He is a capable centre back and crucially scores goals from set peices, his record at King's Lynn was good and is way better than Taylor and Kensdale who scored just one between them last season. These possible extra goals can be crucial in the long term. Obviously as most agree we also desperately need midfielders who can contribute to the goals tally.

Yes I agree with this , although I love the energy commitment and desire from Kendall and he’s clearly an asset to us I’m not sure he is as good as people seem to think , we now have Crowther and Gubbins one of them should be looking to replace him, the majority of our goals conceded seem to be based around Kensdale loosing a marker or falling asleep

I’m not sure why gubbins was signed ? He surely wants and deserves first team football but I feel we are playing him in a system that doesn’t suit him or our style of play theoretically making us play without any attacking threat, he’s been subbed both games because it’s simply not working

Attacking wise I decided not to go to about 6-7 games at home last year because it just depressed me it was boring lethargic null of any attacking flair or even, and this year is this plus some, after doing 580 miles yesterday I’ve already decided I’m not going to Barnet I simply just don’t enjoy it. Yesterday was criminal that we didn’t get the win and again I genuinely can’t remember the keeper saving anything if we did get an attempt all our efforts were off target, half arsed and tentative .

I just want to go to football with hope and excitement and not leave with dispear and disappointment

 

[Mr Browns Ghost]

Maybe Kev did have a plan to tire them out before bringing on Husin and Bridge and i guess it nearly worked when they went down to 10 men. Nevertheless we were shocking first half with that team set up and the only player that had any spark was Walker.

In the end we should of won the game but for the same old story of missed chances. I guess a point is a point but we have to do much better. I am not sure what Morton is all about and Gubbins is an accident waiting to happen. Stop trying to put square pegs in round holes please Kev.

MOTM for me was Walker with Husin a close second.

Yep walkers strength is phenomenal

 

[Holy Joe]

Attacking wise I decided not to go to about 6-7 games at home last year because it just depressed me it was boring lethargic null of any attacking flair

Really? Last season we scored 46 goals at home - only 5 teams scored more home goals in the NL. We won 13 games out of 23.

 

[hlane17]

Yep walkers strength is phenomenal

Walker clearly a level above his peers at the moment. Plays like a football league forward with the use of his body, manipulation of space, touches, etc.

If he got the right service we'd be laughing.

 

[in the know]

Yep walkers strength is phenomenal

reminds me of a slightly less polished version of Antoine Fortune. Holds the ball up well and makes clever runs. Probably faster than the ageing fortune but with less experience.
Really hope he and cards click because I think they could be a league leading duo.

 

[bluethroughandthrough]

Did you actually ever see Maher play?

Yes

 

[Thundersley Blue]

Hopefully Adam Crowther will soon be given a start. He is a capable centre back and crucially scores goals from set peices, his record at King's Lynn was good and is way better than Taylor and Kensdale who scored just one between them last season. These possible extra goals can be crucial in the long term. Obviously as most agree we also desperately need midfielders who can contribute to the goals tally.

Agree to an extent, but you must pick the best combination of defenders. Any goals are a bonus.

 

[Blues4LifeDan]

Walker clearly a level above his peers at the moment. Plays like a football league forward with the use of his body, manipulation of space, touches, etc.

If he got the right service we'd be laughing.

Let's not also gloss over his fantastic run and show of strength to tee up Coker. That's where the FL part (lack of) comes into play when finishing off such a good piece of play. Fair play to Coker, he was on the end of it, which meant he made the run. It's just that crucial last part we are missing. Unfortunately, that's what costs the big money.

Wood had several of those opportunities last season that he missed yesterday. He gets into to right positions, he just lacks the conviction. I remember Bromley away, he did exactly the same. Hit it straight at the keeper. Not his fault, I just don't think finishing is an asset to his game.

 

[rigsby]

Yes it was 0-0 but claims of 10 men behind the ball, not going for the win, subs that can't change a game etc is total nonsense. If you claim tat then you couldn't have been watching live, watching on TV or listening on the radio. Either that or you haven't got clue what you were looking at.

 

[Maroon Blue]

Note to self, give this game a miss next season. That is twice in 5 months made the long journey for a 0-0 draw. Of course we should have won this, but we did come for a point with the starting line up. We could have been one down at ht with the free kick off the inside of the post. I would have taken a point myself at the start against another potential play off contender.
I have never seen so many apparent injuries in one game. Their physio must have run a few miles, he was on the pitch so often. The usual Sarll style tactic of gk goes down after sending-off, so he can speak to his players to regroup particularly narks as ref casually let them do it. The physio then looking over to make sure team talk finished before getting off his knee.
I thought Hartlepool shaded the first half 55/45 and we battered them second half 85/15. I can only remember really testing their keeper once though, Wood in injury time. Sarll was fist pumping three sides of the stand for a good five minutes after the game as if they had won promotion. He then spoke glowingly after about his side’s character, no it was our poor finishing which gained you that point, you ****. He will get found out in 6 months after a few poor results like he was at Woking & Yeovil.
Their captain should be ashamed also for letting Hartlepool down, booked for dissent just on HT. It then takes him 4 minutes to pull Walker back by the shirt right in front of a card happy ref. But we let them off the hook by not capitalising.

Andeng-Ndi 7
Taylor 6.5
Kensdale 6.5
Gubbins 6
Scott-Morriss 7
Coker 5.5
Miley 6.5
Morton 5
Ralph 7
Cardwell 6.5
Walker 7.5 MOTM

Bridge 7
Husin 7
Waldron 5
Wood 5

Josh Walker gets my MOTM, he never stopped running trying to make something happen. Of course he should have buried that header and knew it.
Right game next against 0-7 Boston on Tuesday at home to find our shooting boots and keep tabs with the early leaders. Bridge & Husin must start as we looked so much more creative with their introduction albeit against 10 men. UTB

 

[NYPOOLIE]

I watched the game via the National League stream and was again more than satisfied with the quality of the product.

I thought we were much better than last week if no other reason that, unlike seven days ago, this time we finished the game much stronger than our opponents.

Did anyone think we were guaranteed three points on our visit to Hartlepool? Obviously we could have won yesterday's game but I would predict some of our rivals will leave there pointless. I was expecting Hartlepool to be well organised, physical and to take no prisoners and the first half showed they were all of that.

The commitment and physicality displayed by both sides made the first half a less than compelling spectacle but the game was sufficently competitive to hold my interest despite the many moments of huff and puff. In the first forty five minuted I thought we put in a good defensive shift, and, that if we were going to concede, it would be through one of the too many misplaced passes we were guilty of.

We were under pressure and just about coping at the end of the first half and were probably glad to see it it end but the second half was a different matter altogether. Even before the sending off we seemed to have more space and time on the ball but after the dismissal we dominated the game and often looked good.

The introduction of Husin and Bridge made an immediate impact with the former looking to me by far the best player on the pitch. Bridge was also lively but I suspect both substitutes benefited from being fresh legs facing a team who were not only a man down but were also unable to maintain the very high tempo that characterised their first half performance. Although spending much less time on the pitch than he did seven days ago Bridge was way more influential. Would he have been as involved had he started? We can never know but it seems to me that the way the first half unfolded he would not have seen the ball anything near as much as he did once he came on.

Was the way we were able to play in the second half a result of what we did in the first? Is Bridge likely to be a more effective player for us if he is on the field in the final thirty minutes (especially away from home)?
Using Bridge mostly as a sub for the final thirty minutes is unlikely to advance KM in the popularity stakes but it is a course of action that would tempt me.

While he was on Husin reminded us of what we were missing. Hopefully he will be soon starting games for us again as in this team he is a difference maker. Last night (Perth time) I took a slight time out while watching the second half to allow myself to dream and saw a future starting midfield of Miley, Husin and Moncur. Pretty good they looked too!

Good and bad news for those who saw yesterday's result as some kind of disaster. The bad news is that during the course of this season we will surely play worse than yesterday and we will lose. The good news is that to qualify for the play offs or even win this league it will not be necessary to go through the season unbeaten. Some days we will play badly and I am sure we will lose more than at least five games during the season but that need not disqualify us from contending, or, even achieving promotion.

Final word on yesterday's match: not an easy game to officiate as both sides were 'at it' but in the circumstances I thought the ref did a decent job. Firm without being fussy I can say without fear of contradiction we have all seen worse at a higher level than this.

Whilst it wasn’t a great spectacle before the sending off the referee spoiled the match when he sent Waterfall off. The ref admitted to our coach at half time that he had made a mistake in booking him for dissent when as captain he was entitled to talk to the ref. Before Luke fouled your lad for the second yellow the ref should have called a foul seconds prior on one of your players. You can see Mancini remonstrating with the ref asking him why he didn’t call for a foul on him before as he was brandishing the red card. With 40 minutes left playing with 10 men I would have taken a point & was pleased with the way the lads dug in to achieve that.

As I said, not a great match but it’s just great to be back, seeing the same old faces standing in the same spot on the terraces. Your fans were fantastic yesterday, getting behind your team non stop, good luck for the season.

 

[Tommy2holes]

View attachment 33477

Interesting that both last weeks and this weeks match rating was 2 out 5

 

[rigsby]

Whilst it wasn’t a great spectacle before the sending off the referee spoiled the match when he sent Waterfall off. The ref admitted to our coach at half time that he had made a mistake in booking him for dissent when as captain he was entitled to talk to the ref. Before Luke fouled your lad for the second yellow the ref should have called a foul seconds prior on one of your players. You can see Mancini remonstrating with the ref asking him why he didn’t call for a foul on him before as he was brandishing the red card. With 40 minutes left playing with 10 men I would have taken a point & was pleased with the way the lads dug in to achieve that.

As I said, not a great match but it’s just great to be back, seeing the same old faces standing in the same spot on the terraces. Your fans were fantastic yesterday, getting behind your team non stop, good luck for the season.

Sorry mate but Walker was clearly pulled back so Waterfall deserved his second yellow and only has himself to blame. Our lad Miley, who loves tackle, was booked very early. He is very disciplined on yellow, even when teams are desperate to con the ref for second.

 

[NYPOOLIE]

Sorry mate but Walker was clearly pulled back so Waterfall deserved his second yellow and only has himself to blame. Our lad Miley, who loves tackle, was booked very early. He is very disciplined on yellow, even when teams are desperate to con the ref for second.

I understand that mate, my point is that he shouldn’t have been on his first yellow card as the ref admitted he got that decision wrong, so the shirt pulling incident should have been his first yellow.

 

[Mr Browns Ghost]

reminds me of a slightly less polished version of Antoine Fortune. Holds the ball up well and makes clever runs. Probably faster than the ageing fortune but with less experience.
Really hope he and cards click because I think they could be a league leading duo.

Agree with all that. ,cards actually looks the best we have seen him but so far completely void of service

 

[Yorkshire Blue]

Had this one down as a 0-0 two weeks ago (I also had us losing 2-0 last week so we’re up a point from both what I expected and what we got in the same fixtures last year). Darren Sarll will have Hartlepool difficult to beat, particularly at home. His teams aren’t the most attractive to watch but they’re organised and press well. Our fixtures are very front loaded. Home to York, away to Hartlepool, Barnet on Saturday is a very tough start. Dagenham (h) and Fylde (a) will probably be a better gauge of how we’ll go this season - I expect Boston to struggle so cue full meltdown when Dan Mooney scores the winner Tuesday.

My impression from pre-season was that it’ll take time to find our strongest XI. Still it was a bit surprising to see Bridge rather than Gubbins make way for Morton. It was clear a change from Saturday was needed but then this was the only fixture Bridge didn’t start last season. It’s obvious that Bridge needs to come in for Gubbins. Another move that needs to happen is the return of Noor - his return from injury was much welcome.

First half was a non-event with multiple stoppages resulting in an insane 11 minutes of first half injury time. The second turned on the sending off - a clear pull back as Walker beat him for a second yellow, having got away with one previously.

After that we took the game to them, bringing on Noor and Bridge. Bridge was so much more of an attacking threat at LWB than Ralph (and Ralph is perhaps also a greater attacking threat coming from LCB than LWB) and he created the space for Noor to run the game. Noor out on the left went agonisingly close with a thumping half-volley from 25 yards out after chesting it down that didn’t quite swing in enough. Gus then narrowly missed from the exact same angle but half the range and he really should have scored. From the other wing a cross came in that Walker headed wide from 8 yards before our best chance of the day when Wood (on for a tiring Walker) was played through in the inside right and the ball went all the way across goal with Waldron somehow not applying the finishing touch.

One suspects that later in the season one or more of those chances go in. It maybe a bit match fitness, a bit confidence (although Gus scored last week) and a bit luck.

I thought Harry Taylor played well again and Man of the Match would be between him and Noor. Hopefully Noor will be fit enough for an hour Tuesday

 

[Holy Joe]

. Bridge & Husin must start as we looked so much more creative with their introduction albeit against 10 men.

Husin just coming back from injury - would you 'must start' him or let him come back at a more gradual pace?

I doubt anyone on here has the info to make a informed decision on this. So id just say let's not criticise if he's on the bench!

 

[Blues4LifeDan]

I understand that mate, my point is that he shouldn’t have been on his first yellow card as the ref admitted he got that decision wrong, so the shirt pulling incident should have been his first yellow.

I get the frustration but you can't rest on should have's and maybe's. He knew he was on a yellow, deserved or not, and he decided to pull back a player. As captain, he should know better. As already mentioned, Miley was rightfully booked and played a very assured game thereafter. He never gave the ref an opportunity to give him a second yellow. If any ref was going to dish out a second yellow, it was him. Waterfall should have realised that.

On a different note. We can tell you don't really want Mancini, come on, admit it. So we'll happily have him if you want

 

[Yorkshire Blue]

Same old Maher. Dont lose a goal. Gubbins played because of this with a standard back 5. 2 maybe 3 attacking players out of 11 on the pitch. This had 0-0 all over it.
Yes we have a club to be proud of. But football is about entertainment, hope, winning - like religion fans place their faith in this to provide elements which may be missing in their lives to create happiness and fulfillment.
I didn't see this game but did watch v York. It was dire. Banks of players defending hoping for a break up front from a long ball.

Maher as we should all know now is a a glass half empty manager. I absolutely love what he's done for the club and team and should be rewarded. However his style of football is not entertaining, constantly based on hope of a team that might nick a goal and winning is about preventing loss.

Personally I think our players are good enough and I'm not convinced that more players are going to make a difference other than having options from the bench.

I don't believe - and it's my opinion - that we will progress with the current state, mentality and tactics employed by Maher. That's not a Maher out comment. - and I'm a classic football sofa fan with little knowledge - but an observation over time of his approach and football thinking.

in addition after 30 years of watching sufc, I've also seen some wonderful attacking football and therefore benchmarks of entertainment, hope and winning under managers like webb, fry, tilson and Thomson.

I don't see it ever happening with Maher. Yes we will win some games get hopeful but I can't see us progressing with this style of football.

At this point even forget formations etc as they are fluid but continue to employ a strategy of packing a team with defensive players, not taking any risks, defensive approach to playing and hope to nick a goal at the end... I don't see the light.

Maybe Maher can hire you as his glass half-full optimism coach?