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

[kentblues]

Love a bit of post match hysteria!
COSU need to dig deep into their pockets and back the squad as well as the stadium or we will experience more of the same next season.
The coaching staff were getting just as frustrated as you and I with certain players today, I lost count of how many times I heard the comment “play forward”.
Remarkably the season is still not quite over, but I say again invest as much money in the squad or the fans will vote with their feet.

I’m not sure it’s digging that deep. But we need 3-4 proven performers at this level at least who are at the top of their game. A fee or two perhaps- but the last two games show the potential support, and whatever extra outlay it takes to be competing for the top 3 will likely come back through the turnstiles.

 

[davewebbsbrain]

We don’t need to splash out big fees on players, we just go for out of contract players in June.

Fair point. First season in a while we haven't been under an embargo at a crucial point

 

[Gremlin]

Was that our biggest home crowd since the Sunderland game?

 

[Shrimp and two veg]

I think Morton has had an easy ride tonight. Can’t take a decent set-piece, can’t shoot, passing is abysmal. It wasn’t long ago on here people were making out he was the complete midfielder.
Currently he is a big part of the problem. I would go as far as to say I would rather have a good 45 minutes out of George Moncur each game. At least he had something a bit different.

Glad its just not me that believes he is abysmal, horrid drop in form, looks burnt out. When he gave up running when Braintree were in our box for that big scramble, right in front of us, i felt like he should go home and leave the shirt well alone.
What happened to him? He was scoring a few for his old club and took potshots when he arrived, he treats the ball like a hot potato these days.

 

[Sherif H]

Glad its just not me that believes he is abysmal, horrid drop in form, looks burnt out. When he gave up running when Braintree were in our box for that big scramble, right in front of us, i felt like he should go home and leave the shirt well alone.
What happened to him? He was scoring a few for his old club and took potshots when he arrived, he treats the ball like a hot potato these days.

All of our players can't wait to get rid of the ball...I wonder where that directive is coming from??

 

[ace]

Glad its just not me that believes he is abysmal, horrid drop in form, looks burnt out. When he gave up running when Braintree were in our box for that big scramble, right in front of us, i felt like he should go home and leave the shirt well alone.
What happened to him? He was scoring a few for his old club and took potshots when he arrived, he treats the ball like a hot potato these days.

Just lately he seems to suck the energy out of the team. As soon as he gets the ball the game slows down. And dont get me started on his set pieces. His floated corners or just so easy for the keeper to collect. Surely there's someone else that could whip one in with a bit more pace.

 

[Liam AAS]

Braintree had zero interest in winning that game and still came closer than us to doing so.

 

[THE SEVENTIES NORTH BANK]

Who would have provided them chances?

Cardwell was a bit cleverer at timing his runs than our current forwards, and a better finisher. So he would have got enough goals. Pepple used to create his own chances, some defenders couldn't stop him, so he would have scored plenty.

 

[Maldon Shrimper]

Today's performance came as no surprise as I expected Braintree to give us a difficult game they have got decent results against FGR York and Barnet.We showed plenty of effort but so so lacking in any quality in and around the box our crossing is abysmal. We aren't capable of scoring goals and lack totally any skill to break sides down.This hasn't happen in the last 3 games its the whole season.If we did manage to get into the playoffs( we wont and don't deserve to) it would be a disaster. I rather we get this season over and done with and start a fresh next season.Unfortunatly we are stuck with the majority of the squad which is a major problem next season.Over to COSU to sort out

 

[Strykr]

Im an exile, but just watched d1's vid.

Its astonishing to see the hall packed like that. Reminiscent of the golden tilly era, to be so toothless and in non league is incredibly sad.

Huge opportunity for cosu to take us to the next level, I applaud their efforts and long term plan, its wonderful having people who care about the club long term and imo we are very lucky, but im afraid they do have to balance sustainability and the quality of football on show before people lose interest and we are back to the 3k crowd of win lose or draw die hards.

Everything does feel a bit comfortable and stale. Part of owning a football club is being ruthless and making changes where necessary, this is the one thing cosu havent had to do yet, but long term for any football club people have to be sacked and changes have to be made. And at some point they will have to be judged on managerial appointments and budget....

As @nick12 pointed out we are getting matched or turned over by teams with significantly lower budgets and significantly lower attendances, which begs the question of whether the 3 amigos are up to the task.....

 

[Avl1983]

KM is the non league Big Sam. Will keep you up and is great to have for the tough times but will never get the club to reach the highs we can. Thanks Kev but time to move on and for someone to come in to move us onwards and upwards.

I was only today thinking the exact same, I can see him being the kind of manager brought in to steady the ship but when expectations change he isn’t up to it. I have more faith in COSU replacing him with a worthy candidate than I do of KM succeeding, time to go in my opinion.

 

[stewart]

Hmm....c'mon, A little perspective, please; that's leaning on a cliche to condemn an embargo-shackled squad.

I eish people would get over this embargo shackled team ,Naher had part off the preseason and a full January transfer window to get the business done and what does he come up with, Strikers BONNE ,WALKER , Waldron, Kendall, and Hopper for gods sake ,a past player whose goal scoring record is ****e, Theres 5 strikers that i dont think have scored 10 goals between them ,Wake up call needed, they were Mahers choices they werent forced on him,He has to go along with that so called strike force and somany others, Maher even said in his chat this week what a good GK he thinks Hayes is ,says it all to me. Time to bite the bullet COSU or there will be a big down turn in ST sales and attendances im sorry to say ,Need some positivity from you. I love you COSU and thankful for saving my club , but now you need to start making some hard decisions regarding the management and players .

 

[JB Shrimper]

I eish people would get over this embargo shackled team ,Naher had part off the preseason and a full January transfer window to get the business done and what does he come up with, Strikers BONNE ,WALKER , Waldron, Kendall, and Hopper for gods sake ,a past player whose goal scoring record is ****e, Theres 5 strikers that i dont think have scored 10 goals between them ,Wake up call needed, they were Mahers choices they werent forced on him,He has to go along with that so called strike force and somany others, Maher even said in his chat this week what a good GK he thinks Hayes is ,says it all to me.

I agree that he had the time to get business done and I actually feel the strikers, barring Hopper, are better than they have been performing and that is down to to awful supply and poor tactical awareness from Kev. The midfield is seriously our problem IMHO with too many players that do a lot of running but naff all else. Oh for a midfielder to play a nice ball for a striker to run on to rather than the strikers having to do the best they can from dud crosses. I believe Bonne is an assest and if played to his strengths, which he has not been, will do a good job for us after a preseason, hopefully under a different manager.

 

[KiwiRob]

Living on the west coast of the US, 3pm kickoffs start at 7am my time. For years, I’ve been setting my alarm and either watching or listening to games. I cherish a lay in but watching my team seemed more important. This season, I just can’t be bothered. Gutless, clueless and negative football - give me an extra couple of hours in bed.

I think you have put your finger on what seems to be lacking from the management team this season. In theory, the team could be improved over the summer but there is little evidence, despite COSU's backing, that Kevin Maher's team have got the best out of the players at their disposal this season, and that makes me wonder why simply reshuffling the team will solve the problems around the way the team is set up.

For the remaining three games, I would like to see Darren Currie given the chance to take control of the first team. That may be very harsh on Kevin Maher but football is a results-driven business and Southend should not be underwhelming against the like of Sutton, Solihull and Braintree in front of massive home attendances. Given Currie's impressive track record at Barnet, and the respect he commands from the players, I think he could really lift the team at a vital stage in the season.

 

[Barling Magna]

If anyone missed the detail of the game here is a VERY full description from the Braintree fans forum:

"It was a hard earned point for the Iron at a raucous Roots Hall this afternoon, with a strong rear-guard action forming the foundation which the home side struggled to breach.

With loan players being recalled, there was only four subs available to Steve Pitt, Alan Judge coming into make his first start for the club. The Iron kicked off and having played back to Langston, he launched it forward, Akinde wins the ball and lays the ball off, Judge tries to break away and is taken out with a crude slide tackle earning a very early yellow card for Ralph. Judge takes the free kick out on the left and goes for goal Hayes dives and gets it out via the post for a corner, nothing comes from it.

Parillon gets away down the Iron right, he feeds Bonne inside him and he hits an early shot bringing Grey into action with a good diving save. A lot of the football is scrappy with over/under hit passes and tackles flying in.

Blackwell attacks down the right and goes to the by-line winning a corner; Akinde meets it at the back stick and it's cleared off the line. Parillon raids again latching onto a long ball down the line, cuts inside as the angle narrows and Grey saves at his near post.

As the game flows from end to end, Braintree come again Blackwell cutting inside but his shot lacks power. From another Blackwell corner Langston glances his header across goal, Akinde retrieves it but is given offside. Southend's main threat continues to be Parillon and another good run from him sees him deliver a teasing cross which evades anyone in blue with Clampin seeing it out.

Annesley gets a facial injury and has to leave the field and a change of shirt. Another Iron attack and Lisbie has it just outside the left edge of the area, he manages to shrug off his marker but his shot is half blocked, it comes to Blackwell who fluffs his chance from 8 yards unable to sort his feet out. After the breakdown of a Southend attack, Grey retrieved the ball and does keepy-uppies which earns him a yellow card. The final attack sees Grey again called to save at his near post, five minutes are added as a fairly even first half ends.

Southend go on the attack from the re-start, getting the ball forward quickly using both flanks. Grey has to react well to a half-volley on the edge of the box from top scorer Scott-Morris, tipping it over the bar. From the corner the ball is partially cleared and Grey is there to turn away a deflected effort.

The Iron's first attack of the half is a lightning break, Lisbie and Blackwell are away, Lisbie gets into the box and has a shot which is saved and breaks loose it domes to Blackwell who somehow lets the keeper smother his effort. Southend keep coming and a dangerous right wing cross just evades Boone and it's cleared for a corner before the next blue shirt can reach it.

On 73 minutes Annesley finally has to come off and Pinnington comes on with Clarke-Francis shuffling across to centre back. The Shrimpers best chance sees Scott-Morris with another attempt from just outside the box but he blazes it over the bar. Cooper comes on for Judge on 80 minutes. Braintree make another promising break, a pass forward sees Akinde in a race with a defender, he looks to be winning the race but pulls up clutching his hamstring which sees him replaced by Fyfield.

As Southend pour forward there's another incisive counter from Braintree, the ball comes out to the edge of the box to Cooper but he fires over. With plenty of stoppages and subs 8 minutes of added time is shown, in the first of those Grey does well getting down to save a low shot from Kendall. The Iron manage to see it out under pressure and grab a massive point they earned."

 

[Jay_SUFC]

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.

Kendall should have come on for Husin, and we should have gone more attacking - taking 2 strikers off for 2 other strikers was pointless and I'm sorry, but the thought of another season with Hopper fills me with dread!

Also can't see the point of bringing Miley on, when we are pushing for a win - he sits deeper than the CBs!!!

 

[wiggy]

Absolute rubbish, 2 points from a possible 9 in the last 3 games. As much as I love Kev I have said from October his style of play will not get us out of this league, that coupled with some absolutely baffling new signings and the writing was on the wall.

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

Why do people love Kev, mystery to me?
Was an accomplished crab type midfielder and as a manager has had so many chances to kick on but always falls flat at the final hurdle. Done well when the chips were down and does ok against the better teams. Disastrous against very poor teams for some reason.
Terrible , irritable radio interviews and turns against his own crowd .
Picks totally out of form players that no one that watches them regularly would do and drops in form , positive ones.
Total failure of a season that should easily be top 5 , three coaches that will continue to bore and waste everybody’s time and money….why the love in, anybody else with Maher’s achievements would have been long gone, is he genuinely any better than Moisley, Bond, Powell, Brown….easy answer to that but no, let’s give him more time to confirm that he just ain’t got it?

 

[geoffmundo]

1st place Barnet have scored 87 goals and 2nd place York 90. We have scored 52 (all from 43 played). If we are serious about getting out of this league, we know what we need to do.

 

[Jay_SUFC]

1st place Barnet have scored 87 goals and 2nd place York 90. We have scored 52 (all from 43 played). If we are serious about getting out of this league, we know what we need to do.

Yeah, but how many have they conceded? Clean sheets will get us out of the league, not loads of goals.

That's sarcasm by the way

 

[Ian Benjamin]

As Kev said he could have given the same press conference for the last 3 games, possession blah, crosses blah, XG blah.

We don't score enough and our strikers are not a threat.

Who was better Akinde & Lisbie or any of our lot.

It was Akinde and Lisbie by a mile.