Post-Match Thread and Ratings Mansfield Town 2 - 1 Southend United

[OldBlueLady]

Laird - 7 - Worked hard and should be in starting line up with Gomis and Straker.

Sorry. Got to pick you up on that. Straker has been diabolically inconsistent and Gomis is totally unproven so not sure how you can say that?

 

[spoons]

Sorry. Got to pick you up on that. Straker has been diabolically inconsistent and Gomis is totally unproven so not sure how you can say that?

Ok then keep the same side and see us slip further behind. Hurst has been poor for a few games now, not the lack of goals more the lack of effort or quality. An inconsistent Straker would be better than what I saw today. Gomis will remain unproven until given a chance. Why not get him on as a sub. What does Clifford offer?:smile:

 

[FarmdogSUFC]

Can't do the basics. And I'm ****ed off.

That is all.

 

[Jcd]

We were poor, Mansfield were equally as poor. Played to the conditions. Stand out performances for me are;

Bentley 5 - Should have done better with both goals.
Tim 5 - Busy but poor
Atkinson 5 - Not a great game for Will, unfortunately, Couldn't get involved.
Hurst 5 - Excluded from game really, could have easily not been there and wouldnt have noticed.
Lenny 6 - Workhorse, not best performance however.
Baz 5 - Meh.
Fred 5 - Double Meh.

The boys were due a bad day to be fair, We will be back on saturday.

 

[OldBlueLady]

Ok then keep the same side and see us slip further behind. Hurst has been poor for a few games now, not the lack of goals more the lack of effort or quality. An inconsistent Straker would be better than what I saw today. Gomis will remain unproven until given a chance. Why not get him on as a sub. What does Clifford offer?:smile:

Clifford offers passion and desire, not something you can say about some of the others. Admittedly it's concerning that's his 2nd red this season, I haven't seen it but things I've heard would suggest it might be harsh. All we heard on the radio about him since he came on was good up to that point. I advocated changes in midfield before the match, I wanted both Laird and Clifford to start. Straker and Hurst have been poor recently, and regardless of what you say about Straker, I'm not sure he is the answer at the moment. We need to at least see Gomis before we can pass any judgement on him.

 

[mgh]

He's had two reds and has been lucky in other games just to get a yellow. At least the suspension means Laird might actually get a game now!

 

[davewebbsbrain]

Sorry. Got to pick you up on that. Straker has been diabolically inconsistent and Gomis is totally unproven so not sure how you can say that?

Gomis is unproven but why the hell keep him traininng for 4 months, sign him then don't play him?

 

[OldBlueLady]

Gomis is unproven but why the hell keep him traininng for 4 months, sign him then don't play him?

Don't know, don't understand it myself. Cannot understand why he's not at least been used as a sub since we've been able to play him.

 

[* ORM *]

No need to hit the panic button but what mystifies me is why 451/433 seems to have been abandoned when it has served us so well.

 

[CyrilSneer]

Starting with the defence. Coker was the only defender who came out the game with any credit. Thompson defended ok but his distribution was shocking. Phillips awful again, as he has been the past 3 games. White didn't seem to do as bad as some the ratings above to me, but he was very slow getting across for the first goal. With no Prosser the defensive line is all over the place at the moment. He is great at organising the back four. We need him back.
The midfield 4 all had poor first halves. Hurst seemed to sulk most of the game just because he wasn't playing up front, constantly giving the ball away and trying to just walk past defenders. Atkinson is not a natural winger. He made a few decent runs but travelled into trouble and he too gave the ball away. Timlin started ok, but then made a few awful misplaced passes, he did win the ball back well on a few ocassions though. Leonard seems lost in the middle of a 4-4-2, but seemed to think he could just run through the Mansfield defence all on his own when a pass would have been better. Corr and Barnard spent most of the first half coming deep just to get possession.
The second half was the same for the first 15 minutes before Bentley dropped a powder puff shot from which they scored their second. The introduction of Eastwood and Clifford changed the game in our favour slightly. Couldn't quite work out what formation we went to, but it looked like a 3-4-3. Clifford was very unlucky when his chip hit the bar, and then from where I was watching, a wrong red card decision. Maybe wrong when I see it again, but I thought he was the one who had been fouled. Not for the first time when down to ten men we dominated. Last 15 minutes we were all over them. Lots of half chances and then Corr hit the post from a lovely sequence of passes on the edge of the area. I don't think it was any coincidence that this was after the introduction of Laird. Last kick of the game Leonard scored a nice goal from the edge of the area. Too little to late though.
Brown has to take a large portion of the blame today for me. Firstly for not setting up in the formation that has proved so successful this season. He has changed to 4-4-2 just to accommodate Barnard and it hasn't worked in 3 games now. Also he promised changes and they were needed. Hurst, Atkinson and Corr all need a few games on the bench. They have been great this season, but after a prolonged sequence of games on tough pitches a break would freshen them up. Clifford(if red overturned) and especially Laird need gametime. Mansfield were there to be beaten and an above average performance from the blues today would have seen us take 3 points, but I still think we have one of the best teams in the league. The whole squad just needs to regroup and I think we will get back to the form that took us into the top 3 in the first place.

 

[Another Surrey Shrimper]

Prosser said he will be back next week

 

[OldBlueLady]

Prosser said he will be back next week

Absolutely key player, his aerial dominance sounds as if it was really missed at the back.

 

[tia]

We were poor yesterday and Mansfield deserved their win.We seem to struggle with poor conditions,Re Torquay,Newport,Daggers and now Mansfield.We will have to learn to mix it up and play to the conditions more.Thought the ref was poor today and we maybe did not have the rub of the green as Brown said but we did not deserve anything.Very good effort from our fans up there.First defeat for a while and only 4 points off of third and a play off place looks very likely at least so plenty to be happy about in the bigger picture.

 

[Pubey]

Absolutely key player, his aerial dominance sounds as if it was really missed at the back.

It wasn't his aerial ability that was missed.

 

[BrettieAngell]

Clifford offers passion and desire, not something you can say about some of the others. Admittedly it's concerning that's his 2nd red this season, I haven't seen it but things I've heard would suggest it might be harsh. All we heard on the radio about him since he came on was good up to that point. I advocated changes in midfield before the match, I wanted both Laird and Clifford to start. Straker and Hurst have been poor recently, and regardless of what you say about Straker, I'm not sure he is the answer at the moment. We need to at least see Gomis before we can pass any judgement on him.

I wasn't at the game and I'm not making any comment on Clifford because I've hardly seen him tbh but didn't we used to say that about a certain Frenchman?

 

[Wickford Blue]

I have just seen the sending off and it is ridiculous! If they start sending people off for similar tackles then we are taking any physicality out of the game!

 

[Rick Parsnip]

I have just seen the sending off and it is ridiculous! If they start sending people off for similar tackles then we are taking any physicality out of the game!

I've just seen it as well. Definite red card. Gone in showing his studs and making contact with the players shin. Reckless challenge. If it had been one of our players on the receiving end who then would have said it was not a sending off!

 

[Pubey]

Yeah his leg was far too high. We shouldn't appeal it

 

[OldBlueLady]

I wasn't at the game and I'm not making any comment on Clifford because I've hardly seen him tbh but didn't we used to say that about a certain Frenchman?

Point taken BA, not sure the "red mist" descends in the same way though.

 

[Ayrshire Blue]

This was a perfect game for Straker, someone who can collect the ball and actually run with it. In those conditions yesterday, that was exactly what we needed.

Very frustrating afternoon. We've played better football at home on a terrible pitch than we did yesterday.