Post-Match Thread and Ratings Southend United 0-0 Braintree Town

[Strykr]

I fully appreciate there was a disastrous mess left to COSU but clubs with miniscule budgets are consistently outperforming us. Simply not good enough.

This, 100 times this. Cosu must see this from a business perspective.

 

[Spaceman Spiff]

For the first time ever we gave up on the parking front, came home and watched the game on DAZN instead. Am I glad? well no, because there is no substitute to being there. That said, I saw some stuff I might have missed 'really live' and probably missed some through TV viewing. Anyway, overall we didn't have what it takes to break down a team like Braintree, and because of that we have lengthened the odds of making the Play-offs more than ever, but still the dream will not die. Were we dog**** as many have said? not in my book, (I'm not even sure I know what dog**** football looks like) we were a team playing middle of the table football without the essential gutsy players necessary to rise above our average, with a coaching team who have run out of motivational oomph after a long difficult season. And yet, in spite of all of that, with the right results around us, we can still nick the last play-off place, absolutely crazy, isn't it?

For what it's worth I'm in the camp which wants to dispatch this season to the bin, rebuild, ready for next season, and finally get the obligatory decent pre-season, get hold of our first or second choice newbies, and have the debate about Mr Maher after that lot.

Thanks for providing a balanced view, for those of us who couldn’t even get in front of a screen to watch. Rare as hen’s teeth on here.

So disappointing to see our season wither and die on the vine like this, when just the tiniest improvement in front of goal was all we needed to bridge the gap. Surely our football department see what we do with regard to a number of the lads.

Leaders and game changers are what this team lacks, in essence. We don’t have any. Any player can change a game occasionally. Changing games regularly and especially when your team is off colour - that’s what we need.

Leaders would inject the determination and dedication to the cause that so often seems lacking. Or, as Roy Castle might have said: “Dedication’s what yer need, if you wanna be a playoff makerrrrrrr.”

 

[Strykr]

COSU don't have money to buy players for the NL next season let alone L2. There's no way they want us to get promoted this season

You cant seriously believe that?

 

[Spaceman Spiff]

COSU don't have money to buy players for the NL next season let alone L2. There's no way they want us to get promoted this season

Sorry, but this is clearly utter cobblers

 

[danbowen]

The problems are clear as day. Creativity, and scoring goals. If we were able to keep Harry Cardwell, or Bim Pepple, we would have finished in the play-offs at the end of the season.

The midfield are by far the biggest issue. Of course the strikers should be getting more goals but how many big chances do they really get? The midfield create next to nothing and the biggest issue is the speed in which we go forward. We pass side to side so much that the opposition get their shape back easily and become hard to break down. Why we can’t just occasionally go direct with two quick passed from defence to striker so the can put the opposition on the back foot.

 

[Amwell Blue]

moment of the match for me was Akinde doing his hammy then getting a yellow for time wasting being subbed

I don't normally give marks but his swallow dive gets 5.9 from me

 

[hlane17]

moment of the match for me was Akinde doing his hammy then getting a yellow for time wasting being subbed

Couldn't have happened to a nicer fella

 

[Blue Yonder]

The answer could be signing more players and an embargo free summer but it would be nice to see the ones we have playing to their full potential and improvement as a result of work on the training ground.

 

[RobB11]

How can anybody truly rate Maher as a head coach!? He does not have a clue.

 

[Barry.C]

I was expecting/hoping for a reaction after last week, but no...........just more of the same. Braintree were nothing special on the day, but could easily have nicked it.

My thoughts? Well, every side in the league know we are inept in front of goal and can be vulnerable to a quick counter attack. They soak up what little pressure we can exert and play long balls out of defence in the hope of finding one or two quick forwards. Thankfully, Harry Taylor thwarted that tactic today, almost single handed, but we still had to rely on Nathan Ralph clearing one effort off the line in the second half.

In midfield we tend to play a lot of one touch passes without actually getting anywhere. It can look pretty but by so doing we often lose possession when an opposition player ultimately anticipates and intercepts. Braintree managed to do this on several occasions today but didn't have the quality to take full advantage.

When it comes to our attacking force, there isn't very much to say. The Braintree keeper made a few saves during the match, the best of the bunch being from Gus's shot in the second half. The others were from shots that lacked power and were fairly easy for the keeper to keep out. I've lost count of the number of times this season I have seen us flash balls across the face of goal with our so-called strikers always being a yard too slow to turn one in, incredibly frustrating.

Sadly, there is very little to be encouraged about in this squad of players and with many of them under contract for next season I fear it will be rinse and repeat in 25/26.

Its amazing in my experience watching us how performances somehow perk up in the last year of your contract?!

 

[SHRIMPERPETER]

So what happened to the attacking football Maher promised pre match?

 

[Richard Hearn]

Couldn't have happened to a nicer fella

Nouble, perhaps?

 

[rayleigh dan]

Rubbish. Maher’s last five signings as strikers are all impotent. Walker tbf had a good first half but faded, everyone else striker wise was useless. What’s the point of Hopper? No pace, no physical presence? A terrible signing.

Gus seems to have got caught up with his own hype. He certainly can’t play right back given his pathetic attempts at ‘defending’ in the last two games. Taylor got him out of a hole several times today by covering his arse when he didn’t track back.

Taylor was easily my MOM, Parillon had a good first half but faded, as did Walker. Bridge was better today as well, but it was too little too late.

Maher… whether it’s been poor signings or poor tactics, or a combination of both, I’m not sure. But we must improve next season, as many have suggested I’m happy to give him until the year end, if nothing’s improved then I’m sorry, the excuses must stop.

 

[Tinks]

Oh my - not a lot of positivity on this board tonight and in honesty who can blame us
Disappointing is an understatement and the football woeful.
Remember, these are, and I quote “professional” footballers. It’s their full time job which atm they are not doing very well. I know if I was not performing well at work I would be dragged into the managers office and told to buck my ideas up. Someone mention here that on the training day the other day Kev was focusing on attacking football - well they didn’t take any notice so therefore most of the blame remains on them.

I knew it was going to be a hard game and said so earlier in the week. Braintree were organised and they had done their homework on us.
Only a couple of the guys stood out for me today - Taylor & Parillion and he had two players on him every time he got the ball.
The ball in the final third was awful and some of the crosses abysmal. Lots of running and huffing and puffing but not much else.
Such a shame when we get the big crowd we don’t perform

I think we need to go back, lick our wounds and look onto the next season which I suspect will be in this league but, we will linger in this league for a few more season with this current squad and I now think Kev needs to seriously sit down and look at who he wants to take forward with him - for me it would only be about 4-5 players

 

[bazzashrimper]

The midfield are by far the biggest issue. Of course the strikers should be getting more goals but how many big chances do they really get? The midfield create next to nothing and the biggest issue is the speed in which we go forward. We pass side to side so much that the opposition get their shape back easily and become hard to break down. Why we can’t just occasionally go direct with two quick passed from defence to striker so the can put the opposition on the back foot.

I disagree. When Kendall came on he made a great run to pull a defender wide. Before that everything was largely static.

I thought Walker was good today, and parillon. Bonne was once again absolutely woeful and I thought Goodliffe had a bit of a stinker too.

 

[KiwiRob]

player of the month dropped, I can imagine how KAF took that,ridiculous.

That really does raise serious questions about the manager's judgement.

 

[It'sGrimUpNorth]

I think I said in the pre match thread that it has 0-0 written all over it!

 

[LBBlue]

Of course it’s easy to dismiss Braintree as the little club from up the road who we should be smashing out of sight. But, since they signed their keeper, Henry Gray, on loan from Ipswich, he has played 17 out of 18 games and they have lost only 4 of them. They lost the one he didn’t play in. He was 20 three weeks ago and I thought he was by far and away the most promising player on the pitch, in total control of everything he did. Another day another keeper and it could have been different.

So give them a bit of credit. And they ended up having the best chances.

As for us, well it’s not just the last three games if we don’t sneak into 7th place. It’s the whole season and 46 games. Winning just 9 of 22 home games so far is never going to be good enough.

First half everything went through Parillon. I didn’t realise Husin was playing.
What really punishes us is that no one seems to move when they haven’t got possession - and very few of them can consistently move and go past players with the ball.
Second half Parillon was knackered.

As for the ref he looked very officious and efficient but he missed the pull back on Bonne that should have been a penalty in the first half. We have had so few penalties this season.

We must not forget that we ended up signing the scraps that were left at the start of the season and that’s when we left ourselves with a hill that is probably going to be to big to climb.

 

[onceknownasrab]

Well it's the same old story but with so many different interpretations from the fans. Today, for me, we got too many of the basics wrong. KM tells you about balls into the box without mentioning how many crosses, from open play and set pieces, go directly to the opposition keeper. The strikers have no chance of being on the end of them. Our slow build-up allows time for defences to pack and give little space for our forwards to have a crack. This, for me, is a coaching failure. If it's only the players that takes the blame then they are not playing to the coaches instructions and would indicate we would do no worse without coaches. Tosh of course. Team and management are complicit and both found wanting.

Then there are team selections and substitutions, many baffling and disappointing. The list of criticism is long and laboured.

I still believe we have a pretty good team and it has underachieved. Our recruitment has been lacking in savvy and poor in judgement;
Walker has no great track record of goals and doesn't look like that will change any time soon.
Hopper is just not what we need and that will not change.
Kendall I want to see fit after a preseason and I have suspicions he will come good.
Bonne is an asset but play him down the middle.
Parillon, so gifted, but he is probably at our level because his shooting has the accuracy of a blind man wielding the proverbial banjo in pursuit of the bovine backside.
That's five reasons for our profligacy in front of goal. All brought in by our management and many will say, for historic reasons, they were not first choices. It still must have been deemed they could do a job and largely, given the right supply, I think they can. Any striker, Ollie Pearce included, would struggle with our inability to get in behind and deliver any telling ball.
Big decisions need to be made about players and management. We have rewarded loyalty and loyalty is important but if loyalty was everything then Chris Powell would still be our leftback at 55years of age. We have players and management that deserve thanks and praise for their contribution but unless they can still reach the required standard, then a sad but fond farewell needs to be made.
This season has been another missed opportunity and one we may regret for a long time.

 

[The Original Tribal Chief]

Anyone making any excuses for this shower of **** is deluding themselves. This season’s results and performances have been totally unacceptable. It’s time for sweeping changes.