Post-Match Thread and Ratings Southend United 0-0 Hartlepool United

[Shrimper4lifeCBS]

Not a single one of our midfielders are good enough. Our management team clearly don’t know what they are doing currently and certainly don’t know their best team. Also incapable of dropping players who have been **** all season and can’t change formation. I don’t want 40 passes before we try and have a shot it allows the other team to get back their shape and become difficult to break down. We need pace on the wings and players who look to take the opposition on. We need some steal in the middle of the park. We need to be bold and brave and direct. Put the other team on the back foot.

I don’t see how people are still saying the current management should get this season. We are going backwards. We are worse now than we were last season. We shipped three goals to a team well below us last weekend. We can’t score against teams at this level anywhere near enough. If this management team weren’t southend legends we would have called for them to go a long time ago. Same as players like Bridge who is awful this season. This constant defence of staff and players is a huge reason we will never win anything and will be stuck at this level for a long time. Football is a ruthless business at times but we seem to be more like a pre school and want to just be nice to everyone.

Brilliantly put, Mahers like marmite you either love him or hate him!!

 

[Tampa Blue]

I don’t see how people are still saying the current management should get this season. We are going backwards. We are worse now than we were last season.

Fact is, based on our League position, we are worse now than we EVER have been in our entire history.

Will it change? Hopefully yes.

 

[Blues ‘n’ twos]

Negatives : we lack creativity and don’t look like scoring.

Positives: We still have a club to support.

 

[danbowen]

Negatives : we lack creativity and don’t look like scoring.

Positives: We still have a club to support.

And that positive seems to be the excuse far too many fans are using now. Stop living in the past and move forward as a club. There aren’t any excuses anymore it simply is not good enough at the moment. We are miles off of it

 

[fbm]

Does appear this season is starting to stall..... I doubt we will go down but we won't be challenging for the play offs. Maher ball is racid and I agree with some posters he won't get us out this league. If COSU decide to stick with Maher then they have to give him bigger budget to recruit players, what we currently have isn't good enough. We need to be bringing in better quality than we have done so far, if it means paying better wages then so be it. Currently we are getting outbid by the likes of Woking for players which is concerning and shows lack of ambition.

Bearing in mind we are 7 points away from relegation and also 7 points off the playoffs then surely either is just as likely as the other?

 

[FarmdogSUFC]

Completely uninspiring and lacking any entertainment whatsoever.

I am not Kev out at all, not even close in fact…

HOWEVER…

There’s a time where as the paying customer I need to be entertained and see value for money. I am not seeing that at present. Forget projects, forget process. That means **** all if the numbers through the gate start to drop off. Very surprised the numbers are still so high but that won’t continue watching that guff. I certainly have better things to do at the moment than sit in the freezing cold watching glorified training sessions.

Send Moncur back as well by the way. First time I’ve ever ironically cheered a player off. I’d run more than him and I haven’t kicked a ball in anger in about 10 years. If you can’t do the job, do yourself a favour and leave. You’re letting your teammates down, you’re letting the management down, you’re letting us down, but most importantly you’re letting yourself down

 

[It'sGrimUpNorth]

3 years of recurring match report comments with consistent layers of excuses

What's in our control?
How we play

What's somewhat in our control?
Players we bring in and who plays match day

I can't see how things are going to change and see only tiny flickers of hope from time to time but nothing consistent and the same mistakes in decision making time and again - literally on auto repeat.

I've said before id absolutely hate to be a forward in this team or anyone with a attacking mentality.

As per my comment previously buying lots of strikers will unlikely make a difference unless your name is Stan collymore (he came into an equally turgid team and was so good he carried the entire team - remembering Steve brown was his strike partner who looked like a footballing imposter alongside him). Throwing cash at more strikers doesn't make sense.

We have creativity in this side but we don't use it. We also have good players - not the best but skilled and capable - but we don't utilise their strengths. Let's play our most skilled attacking player as a quasi defender for example. Moncur looks awful because he's playing in a formation that doesn't allow him to succeed. Bonne hasn't scored because hes a finisher not a creator. If we don't create CLEAR GOAL SCORING OPPORTUNITIES he won't score.

The flickers of hope have come from when we do play on the front foot and to our players strengths. Do that and average players will at least have the ability to be their best selves.

This is the stark reality. The siege mentality necessity has gone. We now have other aspirations and we should have a different mindset.

We don't have the leadership to do this

For me it's Maher out and probably all 3 of them.

We have a club which is amazing and he and all 3 of them will forever go down in history and deserve the accolades.

However at the end of the season at the latest we move on.

Can’t disagree.

 

[It'sGrimUpNorth]

Bearing in mind we are 7 points away from relegation and also 7 points off the playoffs then surely either is just as likely as the other?

Not the way we are playing, no. Even if we continue to draw, it won’t be enough for a push to the top half of the table.

 

[It'sGrimUpNorth]

Completely uninspiring and lacking any entertainment whatsoever.

I am not Kev out at all, not even close in fact…

HOWEVER…

There’s a time where as the paying customer I need to be entertained and see value for money. I am not seeing that at present. Forget projects, forget process. That means **** all if the numbers through the gate start to drop off. Very surprised the numbers are still so high but that won’t continue watching that guff. I certainly have better things to do at the moment than sit in the freezing cold watching glorified training sessions.

Send Moncur back as well by the way. First time I’ve ever ironically cheered a player off. I’d run more than him and I haven’t kicked a ball in anger in about 10 years. If you can’t do the job, do yourself a favour and leave. You’re letting your teammates down, you’re letting the management down, you’re letting us down, but most importantly you’re letting yourself down

That last paragraph had me.

That’s a proper ‘Dad rant’ right there.

 

[in the know]

I seem to have a bit of a different opinion about some players involved yesterday . I thought Ralph and morton had a very good game. Ralph as usual won so many headers and was partly the reason they mainly targeted winds flank. I felt Morton was the only one constantly looking to receive the ball and move it quickly. Then Coker too when he came on.
I thought wind, although quite quick, demonstrated a big lack of experience both in positional awareness and dealing with the physical side. I'm assuming it was his sponsors choosing MOM yesterday.
Walker is a sub or should play on left of a front 3 only. I hate it we worry more about reacting to how every team comes to play at home with our set up and tactics instead of giving them the problem of dealing with how we set up to go for a win. Everything is so defensive and reactive, from set up at the start to reacting to the other teams subs. Clearly bonne and bim as a 2 are our best bet to get goals, hold up any through balls and win headers . I just don't get walker starting.
Every week bridge gets in the position to cross, stops, and instead of holding the ball to lay off high up the pitch, he lets himself be edged backward backward until he does the fall over trick to try for a free kick back on the half way line. I'd rather he stay stronger, upright, and get the cross in or lay it off high up the pitch.
It seems to be getting rarer when our supposed 532 tactics let us go at teams.
Thoroughly boring game and as everyone says, a hopeless trotting around ref who at least provided a reason for the atmosphere to be raised when he did the slowest pony trot possible to get from one end to the other to see our injured player. Thank goodness is wasn't serious but did result in a booking for our coaching staff who made the ref very aware of his slow trotting prowess.

 

[rigsby]

Completely uninspiring and lacking any entertainment whatsoever.

I am not Kev out at all, not even close in fact…

HOWEVER…

There’s a time where as the paying customer I need to be entertained and see value for money. I am not seeing that at present. Forget projects, forget process. That means **** all if the numbers through the gate start to drop off. Very surprised the numbers are still so high but that won’t continue watching that guff. I certainly have better things to do at the moment than sit in the freezing cold watching glorified training sessions.

Send Moncur back as well by the way. First time I’ve ever ironically cheered a player off. I’d run more than him and I haven’t kicked a ball in anger in about 10 years. If you can’t do the job, do yourself a favour and leave. You’re letting your teammates down, you’re letting the management down, you’re letting us down, but most importantly you’re letting yourself down

Your right about Moncur but there was also a lack of movement from Walker, Husin and Bridge.

Watch the highlights and that almost bizarre fluke goal for them in the first half. Keep your eye on Moncur for that whole passage of play.

 

[FarmdogSUFC]

That last paragraph had me.

That’s a proper ‘Dad rant’ right there.

I was fuming mate hahaha

 

[rigsby]

That last paragraph had me.

That’s a proper ‘Dad rant’ right there.

I thought more deputy head. If you changed the word management to school I was suddenly back in his office in the late 70's

 

[FarmdogSUFC]

Your right about Moncur but there was also a lack of movement from Walker, Husin and Bridge.

Watch the highlights and that almost bizarre fluke goal for them in the first half. Keep your eye on Moncur for that whole passage of play.

Do I have to?

For what it’s worth I also think Bridge is done, Walker is being played out of position and whilst I think Husin is very good off the ball, his on the ball contribution is non existent

 

[stewart]

yes Coker was ill all week and didnt train , so Maher picks his son Husin who is out of form , why didnt he give KAF a run instead ,played well in the cup game ,yes against a lower league team , but has also done well in the cameos hes been given over the course of the season, likes to run at defences also, or maybe now Wood has been loaned out KAF is going to be Maher forgotten player .

 

[Barling Magna]

Completely uninspiring and lacking any entertainment whatsoever.

I am not Kev out at all, not even close in fact…

HOWEVER…

There’s a time where as the paying customer I need to be entertained and see value for money. I am not seeing that at present. Forget projects, forget process. That means **** all if the numbers through the gate start to drop off. Very surprised the numbers are still so high but that won’t continue watching that guff. I certainly have better things to do at the moment than sit in the freezing cold watching glorified training sessions.

Send Moncur back as well by the way. First time I’ve ever ironically cheered a player off. I’d run more than him and I haven’t kicked a ball in anger in about 10 years. If you can’t do the job, do yourself a favour and leave. You’re letting your teammates down, you’re letting the management down, you’re letting us down, but most importantly you’re letting yourself down

Fairweather supporters will come and go (I'm not suggesting that you are one) but I think they make up only a small part of our 6/7000 home attendances. The majority will stick with us through thick and thin (or thin and thinner still) because Southend United are our team and they still exist. Of course it's preferable that we play entertaining, winning football but too often we don't give credit to the opposition. Hartlepool came determined to get a point and with the hope of breakaway goals. They pressed hard and high and used the full range of grabbing, pulling, pushing, ankle tapping and blocking to frustrate our players. They had a dominant centre half and a tricky striker. The ref decided to ignore all the wrestling (he's not alone in that - what's happened to the beautiful game?) and it became a bore fest.

We performed well against Forest Green because they came to play football rather than rugby and we may well perform well against York next Saturday because they are another footballing team - but we have to work out a way to beat the physical teams like Hartlepool which make up the bulk of this league. York and Forest Green obviously have done so, and the answer is something to do with pace and strength. Only Pepple seems strong enough to overcome the physical challenges (and he was battered throughout the game yesterday) and he isn't particularly quick. Walker is quicker but less strong. Our new signing Charley Kendall could be part of the answer, and surely he has to play from the start at York.

Onward and upward. Looking forward to going to York next weekend anyway, they have a good Christmas Market which should evoke the spirit of the season. Ho Ho Ho, Merry Christmas, give us a present Shrimpers......

 

[bazzashrimper]

Bridge got 3 or 4 good balls into the box in the second half yesterday - a couple of them early too. It's not his fault we don’t have a Cardwell type looking to get on the end of them now.

Those saying to just send Moncur back - do they know if we can actually do that without penalty? Is it like a mobile phone contract or a car lease where they will happily take it back but will charge you the money you’ve committed to spend anyway?

And those slagging off Maher - and moreover their fellow supporters for wanting to give him a bit longer. I’m sure most agree that this season is garbage, but the last 2 seasons we were entertaining to watch with a similar style - but the difference was that the players were able to pull it off in the way Maher wanted. Go back to Phil brown and I’ve tried to erase it from my memory, but was it 4-4-2, dull and we got beat 4-0 at home some weeks. I’m in the Maher in camp, not because he deserves it for what he’s done (which he does) but because although a change of manager gives a short term boost we could end up with another Brown, Bond, Campbell or that fella from Weymouth who’s name I’ve forgotten. I appreciate others may want a change - but just say that rather than slag off fellow fans who just have a different opinion.

 

[yogi bear up the cagire]

I was just left wondering whether the non league newspaper gave one star for entertainment because zero wasn't available? I can usually find some redeeming factor about a game but, apart from the first few minutes of the second-half yesterday, there was nothing. Not only boring but lacking in quality.....you really didn't have to be told that you were watching non- League football. Seeing Hartlepool's free scoring exploits in their previous two away games, I was waiting for a goalfest......deluded idiot!.....there again, It takes two to tango! Both teams have had less than hoped for starts to their season and both sensed that their luck could be turning. Yesterday may have been seen as a pivotal moment in both clubs' season, where the fear of losing trumped their desire to go out and win It.

 

[Leigh_Seasider]

Too many teams come to the Hall with a gameplan and figure out how to play us too easily. It was clear from early on that they were bigger, stronger and intent on roughing us up (Pepple especially). We did get better but we seemed lost for the first 20 odd mins. We just don’t start quick enough and we’re slow, painfully slow and lack physicality. Why not play Golding or at least bring him on. Up front we also lack a big, strong lump who isn’t intimidated or pulled around constantly. But the closest we have is Bonne, he starts on the bench. Ok Coker wasn’t fully fit which is a shame but Moncur clearly doesn’t like a battle and had limited effect. I just feel we need to mix it up more and get in the opposition’s faces more. Hartlepool will be delighted with the point. Other teams will look at our home record and think they have a chance.

 

[stewart]

Too many teams come to the Hall with a gameplan and figure out how to play us too easily. It was clear from early on that they were bigger, stronger and intent on roughing us up (Pepple especially). We did get better but we seemed lost for the first 20 odd mins. We just don’t start quick enough and we’re slow, painfully slow and lack physicality. Why not play Golding or at least bring him on. Up front we also lack a big, strong lump who isn’t intimidated or pulled around constantly. But the closest we have is Bonne, he starts on the bench. Ok Coker wasn’t fully fit which is a shame but Moncur clearly doesn’t like a battle and had limited effect. I just feel we need to mix it up more and get in the opposition’s faces more. Hartlepool will be delighted with the point. Other teams will look at our home record and think they have a chance.

Think they have a chance ,every team comes to RH at present has a chance and that includes Southport I think Maher is the opposite of our past ORANGE man who set the team up to not concede a goal Maher is the opposite he sets the team up not to score a goal ..