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

[manor15]

Would have taken a point before and probably at half time with our injury issues. Great clean sheet and the defence held up very well, Hendrie probably looked the most out of place which says a lot. Could have won? Probably. Cox's penalty but few clear cut chances other than that. Just went too long ball with Ranger on and didn't exploit the wings. Take the point.

Oxley 7 Great first half save, nothing else to do.
Bwomono 8 Brilliant. A little rash and struggled with the ball in the air but a threat going forward and didn't struggle at all when they came at him.
Leonard 8 Looked a natural in defence, a great sweeper.
Kyprianou 6 Wasted possession looking for 50 yard passes but filled in well.
Hendrie 6 Clearly picked up a knock so will give him the benefit of the doubt. Dived in too often.
McGlashan 7 Pace was a threat but delivery wasn't up to scratch.
Timlin 6 Experience was key but wasteful in possession.
Kightly 6 Played a deep central role which restricted him but he did the role well.
McLaughlin 6 A little rusty as to be expected, will get better with game time.
Cox 6 Effectively in midfield. Hard to have an impact from there and confidence lacking for the pen. Improved up-front.
Fortune 6 No impact, chased a lot but had no service.

Subs
Ranger 7 Won a lot in the air, a solid return.
Yearwood 8 Great on the ball, roamed forward. Occasionally got carried away and they looked to get in behind.
Robinson 6 Tried to get in behind, poor finishing and not suited to the long balls.

Take a point, would only have 5 of that 11 starting with a fully fit squad. Charlton will be a much tougher challenge next weekend.

 

[mrsblue]

Shocking pitch
Shocking game

Sorry everyone I saw nothing to inspire me anywhere....2 poor teams.

 

[Ex-Member1]

Disappointing but a point is a point. Pitch needs sorting asap. COYBB

 

[SUFCStu]

I do see it as 2 points dropped. Missed penalty and playing V ten men.

I don't see how the pitch can be fixed without digging it up and starting again? And that can't happen since I don't think that's possible with Roots Hall now being used for 10 months.

 

[onceknownasrab]

A lot is being said, by me too, about the defensive frailty, but it seems to be matched by our attacking ineptitude. A combination that has conspired, yet again, to forgo early season points. Sadly, in a rough run like this, Blues fans are more likely to say 'here we go again' because it feels so normal. That is probably the worst thing about it.

 

[Blues4LifeDan]

Thought Kyprianou and Elvis did great today, especially Elvis. Would say he keeps his place over Demi surely?
Lenny really impressed me at the back. Communicated brilliantly with his back four. If this was the Spanish league, he would be playing CB.

Kightly looked really uncomfortable in CM and the less said about Timlin's passing the better!

Amazing that Ranger can come on and still look a cut above everyone else baring in mind he's nowhere near match fit yet.

I think a clean sheet is fantastic when you consider the back four before the game. However, playing narrow against 10 men is amateurish and scoring a goal looked impossible. Charlton should be interesting.

UTB!

 

[Evening Echo]

Match report: Southend United 0, Rochdale 0

SOUTHEND United were forced to settle for their third League One draw in succession after being held to a goalless stalemate by 10 man Rochdale at Roots Hall this afternoon.

More...

 

[blues exile]

Difficult to judge the defensive qualities of the new look back four against a practically non existent Rochdale attack, but no one did anything particularly wrong. Elvis looked promising, Kyprianou seemed comfortable and Leonard fitted in well. Midfield, Timlin's combative attitude is admirable, but his passing woeful. Kightly anonymous and McLaughlin disappointing. McGlashan's pace is sadly not matched by his crossing. Cox, Fortune and Robinson don't look as if they could buy a goal between them. Ranger, despite no pre-season (or maybe because of it, judging by the sorry crop of injuries and lack of form suffered by so many) was different class when he came on. A season of struggle seems to lie ahead, made worse by a deplorable pitch which will only get worse until it is relaid.

 

[Massimo Giovanni]

Rochdale will be happier with their point than we are - and we shouldn't be as the 3 were there for the taking.
Phil cobbled together a team which have a good few positives in it, not least the good play and maturity from the young men starting a difficult game against a hefty physical side AND not found to be missing.
Elvis rightly M of the M.
Harry K settled into a steady CB alongside versatile Len.
There was no lack of effort from any of the 14 players used but there was a lack of confidence and some very poor finishing.
We will play worse and win.

PB was shouting and pleading for the ball to be played from back to wide faster etc for most of the game but in truth when we did get the ball wide the crosses were poor.

Ranger looked as if he had never been away and when he presses for a start then maybe we can start getting some goals.

 

[mattitouk]

Phil's post match BBC interview pretty much echoes our opinions on the game. Overall, pleased that we got a draw considering we had a makeshift defense, but ultimately it was 2 points dropped because of the opportunities that were missed.
Thinks Elvis was brilliant today, and worthy of being MOTM. also praised Leonard and Timlin for playing out of their natural positions, but feels that the more "senior" players need to get off their backsides and take the chances when they get them.

 

[bess30]

Would of taken a point with the defence before the game but if you look at our next 2 games will really could of done with the 3 pts today!! The last 3 draws should have all been wins

 

[Lord Football]

Shocking pitch
Shocking game

Sorry everyone I saw nothing to inspire me anywhere....2 poor teams.

Then you clearly weren't watching. But well done for coming.....

There were positives in what was a poor game, not helped by it involving two make shift teams, one of which ended up building a ten man bus.


1. Elvis. Will give PB something to think about. He never looked out of place, never looked out of his depth and played with a confidence you should expect from a 17 year old. Well done, and great to see him get the MotM award.

2. Yearwood. Looks like a real powerhouse, and whilst he may not be ready just yet, I think we have a gem on our hands.

3. Ranger. Questions answered. He is fit enough to play and he caused them all sorts of problems.

4. We got a point with a scratch team. Yeah. It was a ****ing awful game, but I think given the line up most of us would have taken that at 2.59.

5. And here something to consider. We have only lost one game in the league all season. We've played badly, defended badly, and not taken chances... but we've only lost once. A good team picks up points when it isn't playing well. I'd rather be doing that than playing brilliant and only getting draws. And yeah I know its a glass half full point of view.

Ultimately though, we still have problems all over the park. I think a lot of us (myself included) fell into the "look at who've we bought, we are going up" optimism that was generated before the season and the reality is proving to be somewhat different.

 

[Chairman Trigg]

Looking at the number of enforced changes,lack of height ,players out of position we really should be pleased that we are upset at not getting 3 points.The new kids have gained valuable experience and improved as the game went on, we kept a clean sheet and Ranger got a decent run out.....So not all bad news

 

[RHB]

Manor 15's match report at post one is just about exactly what I thought, which saved me saying it again. I'm assuming that Rochdale's early brief was to kick and cripple as many Blues players as possible. The early assault on McGlashan was worthy of a straight red as far as I'm concerned. And the policy of 'if it moves kick it' continued for whole 90 minutes. Probably the worst team I have seen at the Hall this or last season.

Poor old Coxy's confidence doesn't look too good at the moment, but maybe the return of Ranger will help. He desperately needs a big player to feed off, and Nile certainly fits that bill. So, should we have won? - probably, Were there a fair few positives? - definitely. Elvis and Dru especially looked at home in the team . The irony of today was that we fielded a patched up back 4 and get a clean sheet. Still a point's a point. Charlton next, which will be a very big challenge in comparision, but hopefully confidence amongst the players will have grown a bit after today.

 

[THE SEVENTIES NORTH BANK]

I thought Timlins passing was shocking again today, especially first half. I think he gave it away about 6 out of his first 9 passes, which is hard to do even for an amateur, let alone a professional. Fortune looks like he's shot his bolt. Nowhere near the player he was last season. He's also losing everything in the air and is now leaning or backing in to give an easy free kick. The plusses for me was Elvis of course who looks a fantastic prospect and had a great game. I also thought Lenny was superb as a centre back, a natural if ever he wanted to switch to that position. I was right behind that shot that Oxley knocked onto the post, it was a super save. Ranger got game minutes which will help him a lot. We are so much better when someone up front is winning his headers and the ball is sticking.

 

[mrsblue]

Then you clearly weren't watching. But well done for coming.....

There were positives in what was a poor game, not helped by it involving two make shift teams, one of which ended up building a ten man bus.


1. Elvis. Will give PB something to think about. He never looked out of place, never looked out of his depth and played with a confidence you should expect from a 17 year old. Well done, and great to see him get the MotM award.

2. Yearwood. Looks like a real powerhouse, and whilst he may not be ready just yet, I think we have a gem on our hands.

3. Ranger. Questions answered. He is fit enough to play and he caused them all sorts of problems.

4. We got a point with a scratch team. Yeah. It was a ****ing awful game, but I think given the line up most of us would have taken that at 2.59.

5. And here something to consider. We have only lost one game in the league all season. We've played badly, defended badly, and not taken chances... but we've only lost once. A good team picks up points when it isn't playing well. I'd rather be doing that than playing brilliant and only getting draws. And yeah I know its a glass half full point of view.

Ultimately though, we still have problems all over the park. I think a lot of us (myself included) fell into the "look at who've we bought, we are going up" optimism that was generated before the season and the reality is proving to be somewhat different.

I fully understand some want to draw anything from today which is fair enough,but Dale were at best mediocre and we never looked scoring against 10 men....I don't do ratings because IMO they are irrelevant but we had the two youngsters doing ok against an attack which was virtually non existent .

First clean sheet is decent though.

 

[OrangeyBrown]

As Brown said in the post-match interview, we were too one-dimensional after the red card. Kept playing too directly instead of trying to play the ball down the flanks and get good crosses in. Not good going forward, but defensively I was delighted for Elvis, Kyprianou and Lenny who all looked comfortable.

 

[Blues4LifeDan]

Shocking pitch
Shocking game

Sorry everyone I saw nothing to inspire me anywhere....2 poor teams.

Mrsblue, I see people berate you on here an awful lot. Some called for, some not called for. I've never indulged in reacting to any of your posts because it becomes like a playground. However, I'm really surprised by your above comment! You constantly state that we sign too many old players and don't give youth a chance and yet, today we did exactly that and your unimpressed. I'm totally baffled. For someone who likes to see youth get a chance, I would have assumed that you would have relished seeing such a good performance by both Harry and Elvis. Furthermore, Dru came on and looked composed. I would say the youth system did us and Ricky Duncan proud today. Something that has to be celebrated. Somehow that has escaped your notice. Strange.

 

[Shrimperforlife]

Mrsblue, I see people berate you on here an awful lot. Some called for, some not called for. I've never indulged in reacting to any of your posts because it becomes like a playground. However, I'm really surprised by your above comment! You constantly state that we sign too many old players and don't give youth a chance and yet, today we did exactly that and your unimpressed. I'm totally baffled. For someone who likes to see youth get a chance, I would have assumed that you would have relished seeing such a good performance by both Harry and Elvis. Furthermore, Dru came on and looked composed. I would say the youth system did us and Ricky Duncan proud today. Something that has to be celebrated. Somehow that has escaped your notice. Strange.

Blues.. too much logic in this... I think a short period on the naughty step for you I feel...

 

[jarvisyeh]

Thought the negatives were outweighed by the positives today. Since the Rotherham showing we have become difficult to beat, we just need to see teams like this off, especially at home and against 10 men.

Bwomono was excellent and didn't look out of place at all.

Leanard looked so so comfortable at the back and could be the perfect partner for Ferdinand, as he has the pace to sweep things up. It's a shame that we really need him in midfield.

My first chance to see Yearwood today, some fantastic touches but that final decision let him down a little. There is definitely a very good player there though.

Not sure what has happened to Cox this season, last year he would have buried the penalty. Just doesn't seem as clinical this season.

Ranger helped the ball stick up front but we didn't seem to play to the game and ended up just hitting it long up to him rather than exploit any space.

Glad to have the clean sheet and hopefully we can build on that.