Post-Match Thread and Ratings Millwall 2-0 Southend United

[Up the Shrimpers]

Tilly's comments on BBC

Tough place to go
Officials poor
A foul & offside for their goal
Cant fault commitment
Boys doing a man's job
Call at 12.30 re Laurent felt hamstring
Sankofa not well during game
Plugging holes & using stop-gaps
Felling sorry for lads as they are giving everything
Cant do anything more
Ask lads to keep going
Not easy to get people in
Still searching for players
Need to be realistic
Some he wants cant get in
Tough as it
In it together need to pull together

Alliker picked up on the use by Tilly of the "can't do anything more" line as at the end he almost used it again & basically NA thought Tilly was saying "literally" there was nothing he could do about the situation.

Worrying times.

Tilson was really stuttering during this interview even more so than normal. The interview is not on the BBC Essex site at the moment but I think they might repeat some of it during sports report tomorrow?

 

[loz]

Mildenhall -6. Held onto a few things well and not at fault for the goals, but distribution poor.
Sankofa- 4.5 Fair play if he felt sick, but a sloppy first half and played us into trouble on numerous occasions, albeit that Scannell left him isolated a lot.
Francis- 5 Shocking distribution in the first half. Second half better but perhaps only because we stopped him taking so many free kicks.
Barrett - 5.5 Didn't do much wrong but we needed more leadership out there.
Malone - 6. More productive than most but tailed off near the end, putting us in trouble on several occasions.
Grant 5 - industrious but off the pace, should possibly be lower if the appalling loss of possession for their second was indeed his.
Macca - 6. Average, which makes him the pick of a pretty shoddy midfield.
JFC 5. Anonymous, understandably struggled when out of position second half.
Scannell - 4. Ran into blind alleys all night and seems to have no positional sense.
Moose - 4. I'm probably one of his biggest fans but he contributed nothing tonight bar one half decent shot early in the second.
Paterson - 6. Showed some nice touches with the ball at his feet, but clearly not suited to playing on his own up top. Didn't deserve the abuse he was getting from the guy behind us though, as we tried to explain after an hour or so of listening to it..

O'Keefe- 6 more effort than most of the team combined.
Freedman/Spencer 5.5 - odd nice touch each but the game was lost before they came on and they showed little sign of changing it.

Players seemed to have little idea of their shape or strategy today, and were second to almost everything against a Millwall team that didn't look up to play-off standard. Not good, and I can't see that Tilly can be anything other than seriously concerned- not that I'd expect him to show it as he seems not to want to criticise players publicly.

 

[bazzashrimper]

Didn't deserve the abuse he was getting from the guy behind us though

This abuse of our own players is the thing that annoys me more than anything "supporters" do. When Hooper played for us a bloke in front of me continually slated him. I continually told him I felt he should watch his full game and give him a chance. He hasn't sat in front of me since hooper left and started banging in goals for fun.

Anyway - well done for telling that bloke to shut it.

 

[seany t]

Ah, apologies for my mistake. I realise my review of the game makes it sound like I was on a personal witch hunt but I've never been that critical of a SUFC player before. He was just clueless tonight. Perhaps not that much more than some, but not a League One player at all.

Admittedly he wasn't the only one...

 

[fixitkid]

Paterson - 6. Showed some nice touches with the ball at his feet, but clearly not suited to playing on his own up top. Didn't deserve the abuse he was getting from the guy behind us though, as we tried to explain after an hour or so of listening to it..

well done for telling the fella off, there is no way we should be slating a fella who's only 2 games in.......BUT..... he did have zero impact on the game. As our lone striker who was advertised as being able to hold defenders off and create chances I saw none of that, to me he posed no threat to their back line.

Spencer Came on and immedietly he posed more of a goal threat, he chased balls he threw his weight around and his work rate was much highier than Patterson. For me if we're playing one up front again Spencer gets the nod before Patterson, even if he's not fully match fit sub him in the 60th.

 

[seany t]

well done for telling the fella off, there is no way we should be slating a fella who's only 2 games in.......BUT..... he did have zero impact on the game. As our lone striker who was advertised as being able to hold defenders off and create chances I saw none of that, to me he posed no threat to their back line.

Spencer Came on and immedietly he posed more of a goal threat, he chased balls he threw his weight around and his work rate was much highier than Patterson. For me if we're playing one up front again Spencer gets the nod before Patterson, even if he's not fully match fit sub him in the 60th.

Spencer only had the odd ball to feet though as we'd gone 4-4-2 at that point and used Macca and Freedman just behind him.

 

[loz]

well done for telling the fella off, there is no way we should be slating a fella who's only 2 games in.......BUT..... he did have zero impact on the game. As our lone striker who was advertised as being able to hold defenders off and create chances I saw none of that, to me he posed no threat to their back line.

I just don't think Paterson is a target man type of player, he was drifting around looking for space but was too isolated and didn't get enough decent ball to feet (when he did get hold of it he looked alright, some decent snap-shots and layoffs). It may be that we think he can develop into a player who can lead the line, but he's not that at the moment and that's not his fault; it's our mistake if that's what we've bought him for- although i'm not convinced that that's the case, it could just be that Tilly feels forced into it as the best of a poor set of options at the minute, especially as he doesn't seem to think Spencer is ready to start.

and even if we did have a player who was comfortable alone up front, the midfield would still need to support him far better than their woeful attempts today for it to have any effect.

 

[seany t]

I just don't think Paterson is a target man type of player, he was drifting around looking for space but was too isolated and didn't get enough decent ball to feet (when he did get hold of it he looked alright, some decent snap-shots and layoffs). It may be that we think he can develop into a player who can lead the line, but he's not that at the moment and that's not his fault; it's our mistake if that's what we've bought him for- although i'm not convinced that that's the case, it could just be that Tilly feels forced into it as the best of a poor set of options at the minute, especially as he doesn't seem to think Spencer is ready to start.

and even if we did have a player who was comfortable alone up front, the midfield would still need to support him far better than their woeful attempts today for it to have any effect.

Seems a bit of a coincidence to me that he came from the same club we sold Barney to. Wonder if he was part of the deal?

 

[fixitkid]

I just don't think Paterson is a target man type of player, he was drifting around looking for space but was too isolated and didn't get enough decent ball to feet (when he did get hold of it he looked alright, some decent snap-shots and layoffs). It may be that we think he can develop into a player who can lead the line, but he's not that at the moment and that's not his fault; it's our mistake if that's what we've bought him for- although i'm not convinced that that's the case, it could just be that Tilly feels forced into it as the best of a poor set of options at the minute, especially as he doesn't seem to think Spencer is ready to start.

and even if we did have a player who was comfortable alone up front, the midfield would still need to support him far better than their woeful attempts today for it to have any effect.

It just seemed to me that Patterson has been billed to us as this strong lively charecter who will hold the ball up and push his way though, and he was just shoved off the ball by a strong expirenced Millwall back 4. You're right he had very little service to work off but he didn't seem to make a nuisence of himself the way a striker should.

I think you're right as well it might have simply been Tilly's best option, we're selling Barney you can either have 200k and nobody or 175k and this bloke who will be really good..... in a couple of years.

Spencer only had the odd ball to feet though as we'd gone 4-4-2 at that point and used Macca and Freedman just behind him.

And I think the few he got through he made more of, he was quick and committed and made them think twice. I don't think we even got to 4-4-2 from where I was sat it looked like 3-6-1. and Freedman barely got a touch unfortunatly

 

[Interpol Shrimper]

This abuse of our own players is the thing that annoys me more than anything "supporters" do. When Hooper played for us a bloke in front of me continually slated him. I continually told him I felt he should watch his full game and give him a chance. He hasn't sat in front of me since hooper left and started banging in goals for fun.

Anyway - well done for telling that bloke to shut it.

Our amazing loyal fans have been doing this for years though, don't forget.
Remember the "civil war" at Oxford the L2 promotion season?
The niggling at certain players around Xmas 2007 (Charlie Mac was one & promptly shut them up by scoring an equaliser at Donny)?
The oh so witty abusive chanting of both players and supporters?

Thing is though, you can't criticise them as, don't forget, they follow this team (their team) home and away over every single millimetre of the season's journey...

 

[Grayson]

Mildenhall shanked a goal kick in the first half out of play and got abuse. He promptly, and rightly so, turned around to tell the abusive tosser to **** off.

As for the game, I just got back, living in Bournemouth. It was cold, we were dire, and I'm very worried for our L1 status this season.

 

[ibwiajwa]

I got a text from a mate at the game saying the second was Grants fault. Once again we lose and some people who dont like certain players have to blame them such as Scannell. Seany if you dont like him then fair enough but dont blame a conceeded goal on him when its not his fault, i.e Grant.

Grant bailed us out again and again in the second half. The trouble is that he is playing too deep, partly because we can't hold the ball higher up the park, although that might be easier if he was further forward.....Catch 22. As for Scannell, he goes on good pacey runs but always falters just outside the box and is shepherded away from goal, or passes backwards. I wish he had the confidence to go on and have a go.
I still think that our biggest problem at the moment is having Francis at centre back. He is not particularly good in that position - what was he doing for the second goal! - and cannot whip in balls as he does from full back. I think it's a sign of how important he was to us in that position that we are so toothless now.
Leighton Orient are now level with us having played a game less.....and remember how bad they were at Brisbane Road...........

 

[grassroots]

Whatever the line-up, formation, tactics, etc, the crucial thing from last night was Southend Nil and 10 points from a poss 36. 'hard work & running their socks off' etc means b*gger all unless we score This is relegation form and I see no sign of it getting better - this is a fourth tier squad(at best) and Mr Martin is in the process of taking us to where we were when he took over...........but we have got a new stadium to look forward to, haven't we?!

 

[yogi bear up the cagire]

Grant bailed us out again and again in the second half. The trouble is that he is playing too deep, partly because we can't hold the ball higher up the park, although that might be easier if he was further forward.....Catch 22. As for Scannell, he goes on good pacey runs but always falters just outside the box and is shepherded away from goal, or passes backwards. I wish he had the confidence to go on and have a go.
I still think that our biggest problem at the moment is having Francis at centre back. He is not particularly good in that position - what was he doing for the second goal! - and cannot whip in balls as he does from full back. I think it's a sign of how important he was to us in that position that we are so toothless now.
Leighton Orient are now level with us having played a game less.....and remember how bad they were at Brisbane Road...........

This is very much how I heard it from the commentary last night with Grant saving Jeff's skin on a couple of occasions and then being shouted at for sitting too deep and being told to get up the field. I think Tilson looked at the options he had and decided that 0-0 was the best we could hope for, especially with Laurent missing. It seemed to work reasonably well until that unfortunate goal, just before half-time. Once they had the lead I didn't believe there was a way back for us and more importantly, I think the team felt the same. Scannell, at times looked bright, but appeared to lack the courage and confidence to take it that step further.
I think that by Saturday we will start to have an idea of what lays ahead of us for the rest of the season. If we don't get at least a couple of loanees in then I can't see anything but a continuing slide towards the relegation trap door. Even then, looking at the fixture list, its difficult to to see where we can get the foothold in order to rebuild confidence......apart from Tranmere at home. I myself am a little shocked how quickly things have deteriorated. With a rampant Swindon ( Paynter certainly wanting to prove a point) coming on Saturday and us with Macca suspended and Grant, Laurent, Sankofa possibly out with injury and illness. What can we hope for???.................





















......................snow?

 

[Clinton Baptiste]

Why are we persisting with this formation when it clearly isnt working and the players look like strangers?
Why does Tilly only make subs when the game is lost?
Why not start Spencer and Paterson together? 3 strikers on the bench but only one on the pitch, sends a very negative message. Start attacking, get a goal up and then sit back and maybe take a striker off and go one up front. We are chasing games virtually every game now.
Martin is getting a lot of stick but Tilly is not helping things with his bizarre and negatvie tactics.

 

[Magnum PI]

Millwall were dreadful and won easily in the end. I am one of the rose-tinted brigade usually but we are in big trouble. I cant see where the goals will come from now. Its not like we can even do set pieces.
home form is going to be the key to whether we stay up

 

[seany t]

Millwall were dreadful and won easily in the end. I am one of the rose-tinted brigade usually but we are in big trouble. I cant see where the goals will come from now. Its not like we can even do set pieces.
home form is going to be the key to whether we stay up

All of the above. I keep looking at these teams thinking 'they're not any better than us, really?'

But I guess they must be, because they keep beating us...

 

[Boreham Shrimper]

Millwall were dreadful and won easily in the end. I am one of the rose-tinted brigade usually but we are in big trouble.I cant see where the goals will come from now. Its not like we can even do set pieces.
home form is going to be the key to whether we stay up

This is what concerns me more than anything else. We have had a dodgy defence for quite some time now, propped up by loanees which has lead to a lack of consistency at the back and I'm resigned to the fact that we'll go on conceding stupid goals.

What has kept us in a respectable position in the league has been Barney's goals with very few coming from the rest of the team. Now that he's gone, the pressure seems to be on the new kids who have come in, one of whom is played as a lone striker and barely knows his team mates' names, and the other gets brought on with 20 minutes to go when we've already thrown the match away by inept defending. Last week I was quite pleased that we'd seemingly managed to get a good deal for Barney as he was always going to be leaving at some point between now and the end of the summer transfer window anyway. Now and in the cold light of day I'm not so sure :(

 

[yogi bear up the cagire]

This is what concerns me more than anything else. We have had a dodgy defence for quite some time now, propped up by loanees which has lead to a lack of consistency at the back and I'm resigned to the fact that we'll go on conceding stupid goals.

What has kept us in a respectable position in the league has been Barney's goals with very few coming from the rest of the team. Now that he's gone, the pressure seems to be on the new kids who have come in, one of whom is played as a lone striker and barely knows his team mates' names, and the other gets brought on with 20 minutes to go when we've already thrown the match away by inept defending. Last week I was quite pleased that we'd seemingly managed to get a good deal for Barney as he was always going to be leaving at some point between now and the end of the summer transfer window anyway. Now and in the cold light of day I'm not so sure :(

I have already stated my concerns about the gamble of relying on M'Voto's quick and permanent return to shore up our defense.
I think that when Tilly talked about kids doing a mans job, he may well have been refering to Paterson and Spencer. I'm sure he sees them as good prospects for the future. Trouble is we need someone for NOW, or at the least, a loanee with the legs,and the experience, to help them up front.
Difficult to know if we would have continued to get the same committment from Barney had we refused him the move he desired.......we shall never know.
I think the most worrying thing in all this is that Tilly has a reasonable idea of what he needs, at least to get us out of the 'merde'. He wanted to bring in people like Chorley (a great addition from what I saw on Monday night) and many others.............but what do you do when those players just don't want to sign up for us? It makes you wonder whether Paterson agreed to come.......with a gun pointed at his head?

 

[TrueBlue]

Mildenhall shanked a goal kick in the first half out of play and got abuse. He promptly, and rightly so, turned around to tell the abusive tosser to **** off.

As for the game, I just got back, living in Bournemouth. It was cold, we were dire, and I'm very worried for our L1 status this season.

Telling your own fans to **** off? HE SHOULD BE MORE PROFESSIONAL!