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

[shrimperton]

Just got home, poor second half from all blues players, 5 out of 10 the lot of them & I'm being generous!!!

 

[ntfcfan]

Just got home, poor second half from all blues players, 5 out of 10 the lot of them & I'm being generous!!!

Loud at the end? Hard to tell when you're in the midst of it but I thought it was pretty decent!

 

[Silencer]

Freezing cold, lacklustre, heartless and got what we deserved 0 pts!!!

To me, there is a few players who hit form December/early January but they have since changed their style of play following the plaudits. These two/three star performers seem to neglect or forget what got them the decent reviews in the first instance....maybe these players need to get back to basics and firstly graft and play for the team - the rest will follow.

Another issue sue seems to be the fact that we are carrying far too many crocks, that's certainly not a reflection of medical staff who work wonders - just means the likes of Freddy, Corr, Barnard, Phillips and even the impressive Prosser are all very injury prone and rarely seem fully fit. As for Philips- if it wasn't for this defensive crisis, I feel it should be a case of putting him out of his misery and shooting him behind the stables!!!!

Finally, our formation is changing all the time - we played 4-5-1 and played it. Well. We have started tinkering and can't win a game.

 

[Silencer]

Bentley - 6 Average, could he have come for first goal?
White - 6 Not the Same playersince returning
Coker - 7 Tidy, Calm
Phillips - 3 Struggled all night, goal was cringeworthy. He has been a good servant but his legs are gone badly. Coupled with the fact he can't pass wind it's a worry playing him.
Straker - 4 Woeful, 1 good game in six
Timlin - 6 Grafts, battles
Leonard - 5 looks tired, worst performance in a long time
Laird - 7.5 MOM Best passer, box to box and only midfielder comfortable in possession.
Atkinson - 6.5 Needs to do more, goes missing
Corr - 5 Lost a lot in the air, poor attempt when through first half
Barnard - 5 Huffs and Puffs doesn't look like shooting let alone scoring

Eastwood - 4 I'm a huge Freddy fan but this latest injury spell has ended him
Hurst - 6 Lazy and Selfish but shows glimpses and only player capable of creating regular chances
Willians - 5 only had five mins

 

[Southend Pier]

Easy to say with hindsight, but thought it at the beginning. 3 at the back ?

Lacking in confidence and form and we change to a totally different formation? Guess the reasoning was lack of defenders but surely we should be keeping it simple and getting back to basics.

Dropping Hurst for me is absurd, he may be out of form but he is the one creative player we have, let him play himself back into form, he wont do that from the bench.

Brown now has to prove his managerial credentials, he couldnt turn around Sturrocks team, he really needs to be able to do so with his own .

agree completely

 

[Southend Pier]

why a narrow defence when Northampton play good wide footie.

 

[marlow17101032]

Your still going down end off

 

[marlow17101032]

We were awesome first 15, you came back into it and had most of the pressure. Second half we were better, and deserved the win. Well done for travelling all those who did, great effort. Loud until the second half when you weren't really. Sixfields rocking at the end, all of the Cobblers fans in the ground bopping along to 'Chrissy Wilder's Barmy Army'. Good luck for the rest of the year.

Don't think you understand !! You beat a team which not won in 8 games ,good luck in non league football next season

 

[Jonny_Stokes]

I'm just struggling to work out how a team containing Marco Laird Basten () managed to lose against what started off the night as the worst team in the entire league. :facepalm:

 

[turkishm]

I don't no who is fit to play at the back Saturday, but for the short term for me Corr has to be drafted in, unless PB brings someone in, he could do no worse. In the midfield, Laird, and Payne to come in, in a five man midfield, with Williams up top to see how the lad gets on. again he could do no worse, than watching Eastwood and Barnard trying to rediscover past glories.

 

[yogi bear up the cagire]

Have to say I groaned inwardly when I saw that Barnard was being given a start. Anyway, what do I know? perhaps PB had seen something in training to justify his choice. Groaned inwardly and even more deeply when the failed Barnard was replaced with Eastwood. Can anyone explain to me why, at this point, Payne wasn't brought on instead? I nearly imploded towards the end when the commentators announced that Gomis was warming up.
Clearly we need to build from the back again with at least one (or even two) defenders brought in before Saturday. If I hear that Phillips, Barnard or Eastwood get anywhere near the starting line-up against Wycombe .........is it worth listening to??? There are limits to the masochism I will open myself to. Shame about the transfer window, otherwise PB could start his Summer sale early.

 

[eastling]

No surprise about this one. The thin squad and lack of goal threat has bitten us on the derriere! February has proved to be an awful month.

 

[flapjack]

Just total pony in the second half, they wanted it more than us and there was no desire and no threat up front from anyone.I'm afraid Mr Brown has to take a look at himself as well with the team selection and formation, we seemed to able to beat anyone before the Hull game and now we would struggle to score or beat the ball boys on a saturday afternoon.

 

[MountainDrew]

Love the abuse Freddy receives on here, think a lot of yous are either jealous of the guy or just have personal vendetta against him.
cant believe how much stick he gets on here for the defeats, ok if he started then fair enough but to blame the substitute time after time is moronic!
look at his stats at the beginning of the season, up there with the best strikers in the football league!
this is exactly the type of crap that I read on here that makes me feel embarrassed to be a shrimper, you guys are clueless

 

[onceknownasrab]

It was good to see Laird got a chance even though it would have been best for him to play in front of a back 4. Hurst dropped to the bench was a tight call - best assists/top scorer v severely out of form. Well maybe he needed reminding that he can be dropped.

I suppose then its about the attack ( about as toothless as my nan and she has been dead 57 years) and who should have played. Corr and Barney? Which one is to be played to? Which one can hold up the ball? Which one is likely to score? Well I do not see the point of those two on the pitch at the same time.

I am a big PB fan by the way he has moved things on this season. I think the onset of poor pitches put the skids under our style and form and subsequently the lost confidence is doing the rest.

Its time for managerial balls to be displayed. Either get someone in who can be considered a striker or use the ones we have differently. If you can drop Hurst who makes the goals you can drop Corr who misses them.

February has been a total disaster for the side. Watch out PB the Ides of March approacheth.

 

[cobblers]

Your still going down end off

Im not saying that was a masterful performance, but you can only beat whats in front of you. You guys are struggling atm and we are on the up, I think we will be safe this year.

 

[yogi bear up the cagire]

Brown: "This is not a crisis because we are still in the play offs."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9_Xz2q40ijA

 

[Colchester and proud!]

Chin up guys the Essex derby will be back next year but by the looks of it in league 2 :sad:

We are playing really badly at present after a promising run just before our long lay off due to the bad weather, like yourselves we are struggling to score goals and I feel it could be costly for both of us.

 

[MK Shrimper]

Brown: "This is not a crisis because we are still in the play offs."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9_Xz2q40ijA

We're still 3 points shy of last season's relegation points.

 

[yogi bear up the cagire]

No surprise about this one. The thin squad and lack of goal threat has bitten us on the derriere! February has proved to be an awful month.

Yes indeed, as you and ms brush said and I myself indicated some time ago; there are doubts that the squad's quality in depth is not sufficient to maintain a promotion push. I had hoped we'd still manage to get to the play-offs but our recent form is starting to cast grave doubts on that possibility. Is it in the end the long running embargo that has done for us? Without that in place perhaps PB would have managed to sufficiently strengthen the side.......SO, money plain and simple.
What to do now? Well, success is built on a strong defence, which we had, on our undefeated run, earlier in the season. Prosser and Kiernan were the solid bricks on which the rest of the team was built. Without those two the whole thing has unravelled. Bentley can have little confidence in what is in front of him and the midfield, rather than thrusting forward to cover up the inadequacies of a toothless strikeforce are occupying themselves, looking backwards and trying, unsuccessfully, to fill the gaps in our defence.
The absolute priority is to get two defenders in by the weekend and hopefully this will liberate the midfield a bit. We lack pace up front and Straker doesn't appear to be the consistant answer. Unfortunately we seem to be stuck with too much dead wood and I fear that we may not be able to remedy that until next season.