Post-Match Thread and Ratings Southend United 0-1 Scunthorpe United

[Neil 24]

Need a goal scorer rely on fred to much. performance was okish but 4 straight losses not acceptable.

 

[shrimperjon]

Unfortunately it's like last season again. Played well in spells but failure to kill a team off has cost us again. Starting 11 on paper looked decent, but we are so missing Laird. Then to complete the evening we bring on Straker and Reid in an attempt to get back in the game. Under PS there were times when if we conceded first goal and you knew the confidence would drain from the team. New manager but the sane thing is still happening. Very worried that this will continue for a long time. PB talks a good game, but the team is not replicating it on the pitch.

 

[south247]

Game should have been called off towards the end when there was a waterfall on the pitch

 

[OldBlueLady]

I honestly thought we were miles better than them 1st half, seemed to be one way traffic throughout. God knows what happened at half time, and yes, Coker made a mistake, but in the grand scheme of things, he's been a good player for us thus far. Such a shame his one mistake in an otherwise creditable performance tonight was punished so comprehensively. And by an ex Ewe as well. I think that is what really hurts. Prosser had Iwelumo in his pocket most of the game, then one little slip up and he goes and scores.

Bentley - 6, wouldn't surprise me in the slightest to see Smith back in next week
Thompson - 6, not a right back though to be fair, he did try. I'd have rather seen Auger there who actually IS a RB
Phillips - 6, okayish
Prosser - 7, if we'd have won it would have been higher. Decisive and composed, had Iwelumo under control for most of the match
Coker - 7, one mistake, other than that, a good performance and some really good work alongside Timlin
Hurst - 7, didn't give up all night
Leonard - 7 ditto Hurst
Atkinson - 8, MOTM, exemplary performance. I finally got to see an Atkinson performance the like of which others saw earlier in the season
Timlin - 7, some great link ups with Coker in the 1st half, and much improved match awareness. If he was fully fit, there is no way I'd have subbed him
Eastwood - 8, great performance from the stand in skip, caused lots of problems and won a fair few headers. Can't help but think that Corr alongside in the 1st half might have given different results
Woodrow - 6, tried hard but I think he's not adapting in the same way Britt did

Subs:
Corr for Woodrow - 6, crowd were calling for him, but he didn't seem to do a lot when he came on
Straker for Timlin - 6, yes, I get that Timmo needed to go off, but Straker? Not the right sub for me at that time
Reid for Coker - 6, poor Ben, I felt as if he was doubly punished. Yet to see what Reid brings to the game

Officials:
Yes, I've seen worse. However, their GK was allowed to get away with blue murder with his time wasting and the ref never got a grip. Also there seemed to be several very dodgy/marginal offside decisions, seemed to be Scunthorpe players only had to appeal and they were given. Some poor disciplining and what the heck was that all about with Fred being called to the ref and several of our players pointed out to him and then, apparently, he was booked?

 

[eastling]

If Corr had started I suspect he would have got on the end of Hurst's excellent crosses in the first half and we may have won the game. Not too sure why Woodrow is starting. He showed his inexperience in the first half with a one on one with a defender and the chance went away. He really should be coming on as a sub.

Away teams will always be encouraged to go in at HT level which was the case with Morecambe and Scunny.

Once they scored we didn't look likely to equalize which is worrying.

Not too sure what Reid offers. Hurst MOM for me with Fred second. Atkinson okay and Leonard put in a shift. Pitch very wet by the end.

Not all doom and gloom but we didn't score when we made all the running in the first half.

Also we seem to lack a bit of (to coin a Brownism) collective 'nous' (this includes Messrs Brown and Penney) when away sides start their antics. Last week Morecambe put us off our stride by committing a string of niggly fouls that went unpunished and today Laws decided to tackle our positive play by getting his players to time waste with their goalkeeper and no 10 being the main culprits. We didn't seem to be able to counteract that at all which is also a tad worrying.

 

[amsemp]

Really am gutted that Laird is injured as I feel we'd have had a different set of results in the last 4 if he had played. 3 games, 3 wins and zero conceded with Laird in the team and 4 straight defeats conceding in every game without Laird in the team, it's not rocket science. On the other hand, no one has staked a claim to keep him out the team when he returns so maybe give Jack Payne a start next time I reckon.

The Scunthorpe centre backs won virtually everything (even against Barry) and showed us exactly what we're currently missing most of the time with Phillips and Prosser. Couple that with no creative flair or edge in the midfield and I'm not surprised we can't kill of the opposition. We must have two of the best forwards in the league with Eastwood and Corr but without the service they are useless.

2 good loan signings needed consisting of a big midfield lump capable of winning aerial battles and playing the killer ball aswell as a tall and strong centre back who will win most in the air and put the sh!ts up oppo strikers.

 

[Angell Delight]

Atkinson was excellent, Freddy worked his nuts off but the creativity is non-existent. Another poor display but we deserved a point, Coker's huge mistake meant we got none.

Not good enough.

 

[KiwiRob]

I think Phil Brown is going to have to show a little more faith in Conor Clifford. He needs games if Southend are going to get the best out of him.

 

[OldBlueLady]

I think Paul Brown is going to have to show a little more faith in Conor Clifford. He needs games if Southend are going to get the best out of him.

Who is Paul Brown? :unsure:

 

[Suffolk Shrimper In Dorset]

Crap, but I've seen us be more crap than that -

Lack of any creativity and the lack of any reaction to them scoring were the most worrying

no width

om the plus sude i like the way we try to play it, and we do need some luck which we are not getting but surely will soon

 

[KiwiRob]

Who is Paul Brown? :unsure:

Sorry for my mistake, OBL. The disappointment of another Blues' defeat has clearly made its mark.

 

[Jonny_Stokes]

Blimey, is toilet Laird (so out of his depth in L1 he has his own meme thread on our board) really that much of a lynchpin for you? No wonder things are bad.

 

[OldBlueLady]

Blimey, is toilet Laird (so out of his depth in L1 he has his own meme thread on our board) really that much of a lynchpin for you? No wonder things are bad.

Ryan Leonard, Ben Reeves! Now go home and be a good boy!!!

 

[amsemp]

Blimey, is toilet Laird (so out of his depth in L1 he has his own meme thread on our board) really that much of a lynchpin for you? No wonder things are bad.

Cool story bro.

 

[fbm]

I feel worse tonight than I did after last Saturday, which was a bad day at the office. We all have those.

However, tonight we had an up-tempo performance and the football played for the first hour was easy on the eye, if not overly penetrative.

We gift them a goal and it all goes wrong. We could have played until Wednesday and not scored.

Again, as I said after the Morecambe game, we play nice football in the wrong area of the pitch. We can't hurt the opposition 50 yards from goal. I don't actually think we have the squad to cope with this and God knows how we change it. This is "flattering to deceive" football. We aren't playing well because we put 20 passes together in our own half. We so lack that creativity to make a decisive pass.

Ratings


Bentley - 7 - Made one save all night and picked the ball out of the net.

Thompson - 7 - Did ok at right back.
Prosser - 8.5 - MOM - Couldn't ask for more from him, some superb tackles and blocks.
Phillips - 8 - Looked decent and solid.
Coker -5 - Was doing ok until that header... heaven knows what he was trying to do.

Hurst - 7 - Good going forward and put some quality balls into the box.
Leonard - 5 -Controversial here... I had thought he was one of the most improved players from last season but he is incapable of playing a ball forwards. So many times the move went backwards when he had the ball. He is not the answer in midfield.
Timlin - 5 - Hardly passed to a blue shirt all night.
Atkinson - 8 - best performance so far this season.

Eastwood - 7 - Worked hard but isolated and never looked like scoring.
Woodrow - 5 - Doesn't look like the answer up front.

Subs -

Reid - 5 - What does he bring? Seems like a fat Benyon.
Corr - 6 - Didn't do it tonight.
Straker - 7 - Played well when he came on

 

[Southend Pier]

I think Ron needs his fingers to feel the passion of a wallet as this

 

[Southend Pier]

Ron needs his fingers to feel the texture of a wallet as this Embargo will be the undoing of us

 

[Southend Pier]

I predict a drastic shift in the prediction league forecasts for us......people rapidly moving from decisions made by the heart, to ones made by the head. In the end the game should have been predictable with Scunthorpe being a tight unit not scoring many but not giving many away. In reality 0-0 looked the likely result until Coker gifted them a goal. What was perhaps most worrying was the way our heads then went down following the goal and the fact that we appeared to show little urgency or fight to get back into the game.

I agree with this. Tend to be realistic with judgements made in the Head. But judging from the heart is understandable as theres the passion for the team to do well. but you can't always be influenced by what the heart says.

 

[Southend Pier]

What was Coker thinking.

:facepalm:

Yes having seen the footage on Sky I fail to see why he had to head the ball that far up into the air when surely he would have seen Iwelumo in front of him. he was facing him. had time to bring it down or head it backwards for a throw. even heading it out for a corner would have looked iffy as he had time.

 

[Jonny_Stokes]

Ryan Leonard, Ben Reeves! Now go home and be a good boy!!!

Hmm. One derby win, a dismal defeat at Wembley, Marc Laird and losing at home to Morecambe or one derby loss, being top of the division above, Romaine Vincelot and beating the Ewes away. It's a toughie. :finger: