Post-Match Thread and Ratings Maidenhead United 1-0 Southend United

[Supershrimper]

Got to ask the question what do Currie and Bentley do. Do they have any input?

I observe the bench a lot at Roots Hall (much better than watching paint dry on the pitch) and Bentley seems to wander around with a clipboard and only be interested in who the opposition are going to change 30 seconds before it's announced on the digital subs board. I don't think see him do anything with the information, shout instructions to players about who's picking up this man at corners and free kicks. What does Bentley do?

Currie similar. Seemingly all 3 went for the managers job. Do they share ideas, try and change kevs tactics set up (which is more predictable than knowing that once the sun has set it will rise again the next day)

 

[Moley]

Maidenhead’s last clean sheet was back at the start of October… At Roots Hall

They’ve only kept 3 clean sheets all season & 2 have been against us.

That says it all for me. It’s not working, it hasn’t worked for far too long and until something serious changes it won’t improve.

Thanks for everything Kev, without you we’d probably be in the division below and wouldn’t be where we are now but unfortunately it’s time to go.

 

[dusterman]

Maidenhead’s last clean sheet was back at the start of October… At Roots Hall

They’ve only kept 3 clean sheets all season & 2 have been against us.

That says it all for me. It’s not working, it hasn’t worked for far too long and until something serious changes it won’t improve.

Thanks for everything Kev, without you we’d probably be in the division below and wouldn’t be where we are now but unfortunately it’s time to go.

Have the players stopped playing for him?

 

[Born In A Blue Shirt]

So that’s 6 players who you’ve said aren’t good enough yet Maher is “the man to take us forward”. Interesting. I do happen to agree with KAF and Gubbins, from what I’ve seen but both were Kev’s signings were they not? If he doesn’t rate them then get loan players in .. don’t keep picking the same players who aren’t performing ..

I definitely hear that - KM has to take responsibility for that. You do wonder though about the pool he had to choose from though once the embargo was lifted. Basically, the obvious no1 targets for the NL (Ollie Pearce etc) were already taken. Gubbins was obviously brought in because he knew Maher and knew the club . How many agents were dissuading their clients from joining us, takeover pending or not? Ultimately, we’ll never know. But it certainly explains why the likes of Appiah-Forson came in when he did. Other than D&R, did he have a queue of people after him? (Absolutely no idea by the way).

You do have to wonder if that’s the issue here - is it that we have targets that could improve us, but they just don’t want to come here? So when KM/JS/COSU look at how they can improve the squad there just aren’t the options.

As an example - we need a replacement for Cardwell; is there one that exists within budget, with his attributes that wants to come here? Probably not, so we end up with Hopper, who is a decent player but isn’t at the level Cardwell is.

Kensdale leaves; same again. Crowther was signed because he was part of a very strong Kings Lynn defence. Just not in the league of Kensdale.

Couple that with players like Bridge/Miley/Colin who are probably good enough but not hitting their peak level, players that maybe lacked end product but gave the side natural energy, such as Powell and Fonguck, gone and all of a sudden you’re half the team you were before.

KM has touched on it in interviews without obviously being as open as I have been there. It doesn’t mean it isn’t his responsibility to fix it - it is. But it might be an explanation as to why it’s happening.

Just my take!

On a more positive note, I think Hayes could be a great signing for us. Kendall has shown sparks too. Morton has been significantly better than last season and can be big for us if he maintains this standard. Coker I hear was poor today but is no doubt a talented young player more than capable of being in a promotion winning side.

There are still the ingredients of a really good side, I just think a handful need to move on, a good number of them need to sort themselves out and step up.

 

[eastling]

 

[RobB11]

Maher Stubborn. Can’t take criticism. Someone said previously in here that he is the man to take us forward, ffs, some people will just accept it. He’s got to go. Useless useless manager. Snappy when the obvious is pointed out in interviews, doesn’t like it. Not cut out for it. These fans deserve better. These players and management do not deserve these fans, they’d be better off playing in front of 800 at Braintree every week.

 

[RobB11]

Have the players stopped playing for him?

Hard to say. Two performances in succession against Dagenham and fylde would suggest not but then followed that up with the last two debacles. Fickle mentalities and weak players.

 

[Chris Powell's mate]

Maher Stubborn. Can’t take criticism. Someone said previously in here that he is the man to take us forward, ffs, some people will just accept it. He’s got to go. Useless useless manager. Snappy when the obvious is pointed out in interviews, doesn’t like it. Not cut out for it. These fans deserve better. These players and management do not deserve these fans, they’d be better off playing in front of 800 at Braintree every week.

Edit: these players do not deserve these wonderful fans.

 

[Leigh_Seasider]

I definitely hear that - KM has to take responsibility for that. You do wonder though about the pool he had to choose from though once the embargo was lifted. Basically, the obvious no1 targets for the NL (Ollie Pearce etc) were already taken. Gubbins was obviously brought in because he knew Maher and knew the club . How many agents were dissuading their clients from joining us, takeover pending or not? Ultimately, we’ll never know. But it certainly explains why the likes of Appiah-Forson came in when he did. Other than D&R, did he have a queue of people after him? (Absolutely no idea by the way).

You do have to wonder if that’s the issue here - is it that we have targets that could improve us, but they just don’t want to come here? So when KM/JS/COSU look at how they can improve the squad there just aren’t the options.

As an example - we need a replacement for Cardwell; is there one that exists within budget, with his attributes that wants to come here? Probably not, so we end up with Hopper, who is a decent player but isn’t at the level Cardwell is.

Kensdale leaves; same again. Crowther was signed because he was part of a very strong Kings Lynn defence. Just not in the league of Kensdale.

Couple that with players like Bridge/Miley/Colin who are probably good enough but not hitting their peak level, players that maybe lacked end product but gave the side natural energy, such as Powell and Fonguck, gone and all of a sudden you’re half the team you were before.

KM has touched on it in interviews without obviously being as open as I have been there. It doesn’t mean it isn’t his responsibility to fix it - it is. But it might be an explanation as to why it’s happening.

Just my take!

On a more positive note, I think Hayes could be a great signing for us. Kendall has shown sparks too. Morton has been significantly better than last season and can be big for us if he maintains this standard. Coker I hear was poor today but is no doubt a talented young player more than capable of being in a promotion winning side.

There are still the ingredients of a really good side, I just think a handful need to move on, a good number of them need to sort themselves out and step up.

I really rate Morton. Coker I feel would benefit from someone alongside him to help him along. I hoped Moncur might be that player but sadly not. Yeah there’s no doubt Kev would’ve wanted a bigger pool to swim in when it came to signings.

I just feel sometimes it’s like the players just aren’t buying into what he wants or running through walls for him. They were for most of last season. It just seems a bit telling to me. If Kev can turn this round fair play but we need a much better response on Tues. If we don’t get one it’s become a real concern!

 

[geoffmundo]

I must confess now I live overseas I don't get to see every game, for example I didn't see the shambles that was Sittingbourne. We are (thanks mainly to GSM's early goal scoring form and Bim Pepple coming good) a mid table National League team. Nothing more, nothing less. With the formers drop in form and the latter now departed we may struggle to maintain this status quo. Back to todays game. First half we looked the better side, especially early on, although thanks to a fortunate deflection they had the best chance of the half, although GSM's header hit the top of the bar.

Second half and the home side suddenly looked the more dangerous and that danger manifested itself when they took the lead in a well worked goal. Nothing the impressive Hayes could do about it. No substitutions at Half Time, none early 2nd half before the goal and none immediately after. I suspect that was because as usual substitutions are pre ordained, no surprises. When the subs eventually came they were pretty much like for like a midfielder for a midfielder, a forward for a forward. Game management then took hold with Maidenhead suddenly having protracted injuries and our players more wasteful than even in the first half.

In reality we saw one team fighting for survival and the other going through the motions hoping something will happen.

The only players to come out with any credit were Hayes and Morton (the commentators on TV praised both too).

I don't see Maher going, Justin Rees said back in September (maybe October) that this season there will be many ups and downs. The only way I see Maher going is that he gets to the stage where he's had enough.

We have a fantastic fan base, bigger and better than I recall in past seasons in L2, L1 and even Championship (or Division 2 as was). However, that alone doesn't guarantee success and unfortunately I foresee many more mediocre performances this season. But I do believe things will be better next season, although I probably thought the same this time last year!

 

[Shrimp and two veg]

Edit: these fans do not deserve these players....

Perhaps, these fans should have come together quicker to get the previous chairman out 5yrs ago before we fell out of the league.
Mid table L2 was do-able you'd think, with a new backing like COSU.
Being a winner albeit in a lower div, well thats a whole new ball game..

 

[yogi bear up the cagire]

My initial reaction was, that there aren't words to describe that performance..............but of course there are. Excruciatingly boring, no pace, no skill, no quality, no urgency, no fire, no movement, no flair, no creativity, no idea, no excitement, no penetration……...no hope. Something is wrong, very wrong. I can accept losing but just not like that.

 

[rlb999]

Second loss in a week to part-time opposition. Set up in a 3-5-2 when he'd recently had more success with other formations, then amazingly (but predictably) didn't change when we needed a goal. Has signed more right sided players and asked them to play on the left hand side of the team - which isn't going to help them succeed and endear themselves to the fans.

For me, it's time for him to go - not because we've lost a couple of games, but because he shows no sign of changing. But COSU aren't going to do that until the fans make it really uncomfortable for them, so I guess it's down to us. We're then very probably going to be in a position whereby we have to carry on paying these three until they find other work - an expensive learning curve for COSU.

 

[Jay_SUFC]

Got to ask the question what do Currie and Bentley do. Do they have any input?

I observe the bench a lot at Roots Hall (much better than watching paint dry on the pitch) and Bentley seems to wander around with a clipboard and only be interested in who the opposition are going to change 30 seconds before it's announced on the digital subs board. I don't think see him do anything with the information, shout instructions to players about who's picking up this man at corners and free kicks. What does Bentley do?

Currie similar. Seemingly all 3 went for the managers job. Do they share ideas, try and change kevs tactics set up (which is more predictable than knowing that once the sun has set it will rise again the next day)

I've started to wonder if they are getting fed up with Maher - surely they can see what is and isn't working.

If the COSU are worried about paying out, how about ditching Maher and giving these 2 a crack until the end of the season.

 

[Guybrush13]

Did the number we took get announced?

 

[THE SEVENTIES NORTH BANK]

For those mentioning shots at goal. Flashscore says we had 8 shots, but only 1 shot on target. Maidenhead had less shots with 5, but 4 of those were on target. Making them much more dangerous, and more likely to score. There's an obvious problem there. Also, I thought we had 2 shots on target? Hopper, I'm still not getting that signing when it's a goalscorer we need. It's not just Hopper though, we seem to be infested with inconsistent players that can be really good, or really bad.

 

[Shrimper]

Did the number we took get announced?

Was told by a steward it was between 900 and 1,000 but no definitive number

 

[Super Kevin Maher]

That was hard watching. I don’t mind us losing when we’re outplayed but we had all the ball and no end product. In addition to no end product, there was no real attempt to change things up. They were there for the taking yet other than our corner which hit the bar, I can’t remember a shot on goal. Too easy for them.
I’m a Maher fan, I want him to succeed and I believe he cares about the club. I don’t think he deserves the abuse and really hope that he can turn it around.

 

[Dutch Branch]

It’s beginning to get a bit too toxic now over Kev and that will no doubt filter down through the team if it hasn’t done already. That’s not healthy for anyone but at what stage does COSU view this as a problem that needs dealing with. Kev won’t change his ways and right now we have a bunch of players who blow hot and cold.

Halifax won tonight and if we don’t win on Tuesday, I’d say the season is pretty much over. I have a feeling that there won’t be much money around next season either, so the current playing staff will have to suffice. Just a gut feeling.

 

[sufc_dave]

Genuinely lost for words