JCR and the Goat

[Kris]

Quote[/b] (Beefy @ Oct. 24 2005,14:14)]On the subject of the strikers, I was quite impressed with what I saw on saturday. Yeah, maybe The Goat does need a rest but I saw enough of an understanding between him and Eastwood on saturday to give me great hope for the rest of the season. At the start of the seaosn teams were doubling-up on Freddy, but with Goater on the pitch they can't do that, plus Goater's physical presence pushes the defence back, creating the type of space that Freddy thrives in.

I've not been here since the match so I don't know if this has been raised but IMO, the worst substitution of the three was the Smith for Guttridge one. Maher had a 'mare on saturday, second half particularly and when Maher loses his composure so does the rest of the team and it should have been him to go off. I'm not having a go at Kev, far from it, but he's only human and sometimes he has off days. Bringing Smith on to get on the ball and calm things down was a good choice but essentially we were left with two play-makers on saturday at the end which is far from ideal.

Agree with your first paragraph but not the second. For me, it was Guttridge who was having the 'mare, not Maher (although he was below par by his standards).

Although I sympathise with Gutts to some extent as he was being kicked all over the place by his opponents, I thought he completely lost it in the second half - he wanted too much time on the ball, played some lazy passes and his positional sense went to pieces, leaving Maher exposed on several occasions.

It was by far his worst performance in a Southend shirt, in my opinion, so quite how he won Man of the Match I don't know. Jay Smith should have replaced Gutts far earlier.

 

[Beefy]

Yeah, Luke wasn't great either, but when Maher struggles we really struggle. Just read fbm say in another thread how good Maher's passing was on saturday, well it didn't look that way to me. I lost track of the number of tiems he gave the ball away in the last half an hour. The fact that Kev didn't go near any of the set-pieces once Gower came on speak volumes for his self-confidence.

Again, I'm not having a go at Kev. If anything it shows just how important he is for us.

 

[shrimperian]

I have come out and stated many times in the past that I am not a Maher fan. It isnt his play that irritates, it is the fact that he insists on being the set piece maker, even though he is woeful at it. yes, we do score from his crosses into the box, but we waste many more. i am not advocating that we dont use him, just not all the time. the other point is that we rely on him far too much. If he has a bad game, the entire team suffers and then he starts that dreadful moaning! However, for the most part, that criticism is based upon previous seasons. This season, he has been much improved and I am man enough to come on here and praise him. Saturday and the Donny game were poor from his past performances and thats when we need to have the balls to say, take a rest Kev, let the others take some weight off of your shoulders. Guttridge is a different player from Maher and I think they make a good partnership. Mahers passing is better than Gutts and Gutts has more energy that Kev, but when one doesnt perform, the other suffers. IMHO that is what happened on Saturday. Still, lets not get all negative. WE ARE TOP OF THE LEAGUE! Roll on Saturday

 

[Andy_S]

Quote[/b] (Beefy @ Oct. 24 2005,14:14)]Yeah, maybe The Goat does need a rest but I saw enough of an understanding between him and Eastwood on saturday to give me great hope for the rest of the season.

See, now I didn't see that at all. I thought it was incredibly frustrating, with the few things that Goater did win in the air, that they went here there and everywhere and never in the direction of Freddy. While I appreciate what Goater can bring to the side, I'm becoming slightly frustrated at the amount of balls fired up to him. We play much better when we keep it on the ground and pass it around the opposition. Not only that, but with the striking situation it suits Freddy a heck of a lot more. He wants it to his feet, he doesn't want to try and anticipate which way the ball might fly off Goater's anatomy for 90 minutes. We were at our best on Saturday when the ball was at Freddy's feet, or when JCR was on the counter attack, not when we were knocking balls up to Goater's head.

 

[Its grim up north!]

Quote[/b] (shrimperian @ Oct. 24 2005,16:01)]I have come out and stated many times in the past that I am not a Maher fan.  It isnt his play that irritates, it is the fact that he insists on being the set piece maker, even though he is woeful at it.  yes, we do score from his crosses into the box, but we waste many more.  i am not advocating that we dont use him, just not all the time.  the other point is that we rely on him far too much.  If he has a bad game, the entire team suffers and then he starts that dreadful moaning!  However, for the most part, that criticism is based upon previous seasons.  This season, he has been much improved and I am man enough to come on here and praise him.  Saturday and the Donny game were poor from his past performances and thats when we need to have the balls to say, take a rest Kev, let the others take some weight off of your shoulders.  Guttridge is a different player from Maher and I think they make a good partnership.  Mahers passing is better than Gutts and Gutts has more energy that Kev, but when one doesnt perform, the other suffers.  IMHO that is what happened on Saturday.  Still, lets not get all negative.  WE ARE TOP OF THE LEAGUE!  Roll on Saturday

Good point! I see where your coming from on that one.

 

[bas blue]

one thing for sure, gray is not a winger