Post-Match Thread and Ratings Southend United 0-1 Solihull Moors

[rigsby]

It had to be you!
As usual Hayes was on the wrong foot, made no attempt to get it as thought it was sailing over….he's playing above his level , Wakering would be about right!

No attempt because he had no chance to get anywhere near it. Paul Clark agrees with me but obviously you know better.

 

[Thundersley Blue]

What disappointed me was the lack of drive this team has to go win football match. Fair enough you go goal down that happens but the response wasn't great despite the fans getting behind the team. We definitely lack quality in the final third with no real options off the bench to change a game. We need to recruit better quality of player this summer.

Yes and at least will be free to do so for the first time.

 

[Steve Giles]

It had to be you!
As usual Hayes was on the wrong foot, made no attempt to get it as thought it was sailing over….he's playing above his level , Wakering would be about right!

No thanks Wiggy

 

[Thundersley Blue]

No attempt because he had no chance to get anywhere near it. Paul Clark agrees with me but obviously you know better.

I agree with you on the goal, but Hayes does seem to have a weakness with shots low down to his left hand side. He should have done better with the Sutton equaliser and very nearly gifted Solihull a 2nd goal. Thanks to Ralph he got away with it. Not forgetting either the 2nd or 3rd goals at Boston he should have done better with. Would imagine Collin will return very soon.

 

[Maroon Blue]

Well there you have it, easily snuffed out by a Solihull team that are in free fall. No pace, no passion, just going through the motions in second gear like we were playing in treacle. Every cross overhit, Hayes misjudges a cross shot. The two corners from a fresh Bridge in injury time were a living nightmare, no attempts to put it in the box, remember Goodliffe last week. Absolutely shocking, Bridge looks shot to pieces, he is no longer able to create an inch of space for his curling crosses, sad to see. Only Taylor, Goodliffe, Ralph & LCP can hold their heads up after that lack lustre display. Maybe Husin also. Subs were awful and made us worse, although Miley added a bit of bite in central midfield.

Hayes 5.5
GSM 5.5
Taylor 7.5 MOTM
Goodliffe 7
Ralph 7
KAF 6
Husin 6.5
Morton 6
LCP 7
Bonne 6
Hopper 5.5

Miley 5.5
Bridge 4
Walker 4
Coker 4.5
Kendall 4.5

Harry Taylor my MOTM, solid and combative as usual, gave his all and unlucky to be denied a first goal by a great save. Time to change it up for Friday as we are still not out of it. Although Rochdale and Gateshead had impressive wins. Oldham and Halifax are in free fall and FGR also in poor form (although safe in third).
Nobody will beat York in the playoffs though. UTB

 

[wiggy]

No attempt because he had no chance to get anywhere near it. Paul Clark agrees with me but obviously you know better.

A long way out, no pace on it....on the wrong foot and badly positioned for about the 8th time this year, still think Maher is the biggest problem?

 

[CaptainSmudger]

From ‘Evan is a Shrimper’ on my first Southend United match.
I thought the idea was to put the ball into Goals at each end
I am very confused after witnessing that shambles.

 

[rigsby]

A long way out, no pace on it....on the wrong foot and badly positioned for about the 8th time this year, still think Maher is the biggest problem?

In football that is know as a chip. Even if it was a cross it ended a perfect curling chip

At your next game ask some of the good people around you in the South Upper. They will explain it to you

 

[rayleigh dan]

A sub par and hugely disappointing performance, especially given the huge support and play-off place within reach. As usual we dominated possession but had no idea in the final 3rd with play often coming to a stand still, no movement etc etc, it was back to the worst showings from a few months back.

GSM had a mare, and was badly at fault for the goal. He also failed to bother tracking back after giving the ball away in the attacking 3rd in the first half - inexcusable, and this really annoyed me. The rest of the defence played fine and were rarely troubled, I’m not sure if Hayes was partly at fault for the goal, I’ll have to watch the replay.

In midfield, Morton’s form has fallen off a cliff in recent weeks, and KAF reverted to his poor performance level from earlier in the season. Leon at least looked threatening and tried taking his man on, I was disappointed that he was subbed (especially for Walker), I know he was tiring, but even so still looked a threat. Husin had a decent first half, but faded and reverted to his safety first ‘crab ball’.

Up front Bonne produced his worst performance for months, I don’t like him stuck out wide though, if he plays it needs to be through the middle. Hopper works hard, but that’s about it. He fails to win many headers (he used to be good at this didn’t he?), or hold the ball up well. Being brutal, he isn’t good enough to play the target man role effectively.

None of the subs had any real impact, with Bridge and Walker being particularly poor. Walker worryingly has shown little effort in recent weeks, he looks to me like he doesn’t want to be here, we desperately need to move him on in the summer if possible. He was a signing I had high hopes for, but has let us down and been a huge flop.

Hayes - 6
GSM - 4
Taylor - 7
Goodliffe - 6
Ralph - 6
Morton - 5
KAF - 5
Husin - 6
Parillon - 7
Hopper - 4
Bonne - 4

Subs
Miley - 5
Bridge - 4
Walker - 3
Coker & Kendall - Not enough time to rate.

Overall, it’ll take a miracle to make the play offs now and 3 or 4 quality signings are needed in the summer to inject some life into the squad. I expect us to be in the play off places at a minimum next season, no more excuses for failure.

 

[leeblue]

I think it's worth fans going back and reading match reports since Maher arrived to manage the team. Nothing has changed ... And i think nothing will

Except embargoes, players not being paid club being wound up once a month. Even this season has been messed up by these issues.
Next season...purely football on the agenda, then justifiably judge. Its very simple.

 

[Wobbler]

Not sure why so many are blaming Hayes. That was well executed chip not a miss hit cross. Dipped just under the bar and Hayes positioning wasn't bad. No chance of tipping it over.

Look at his movement after it leaves Thorpe's foot, he's all over the place. He ends up three yards off his line at one point and by the time he moves back it's too late. He completely misjudged the flight of the ball.

Regardless of whether you think he's a decent 'keeper or not his distribution is also woeful, which makes him a strange signing considering Maher wants us to play out from the back.

As for the rest of the performance the only criticism I'd have of Maher is playing Bonne right-wing. Parillon was on the periphery out on the left (he was more threatening playing centrally in the second) and the immobile Hopper was completely isolated.

Morton's gone massively off the boil in recent weeks and for me doesn't have the athleticism to play the holding role. He gets turned and outmuscled far too easily and when his passing is off he becomes a liability. If Miley is fully fit he should start.

KAF's workrate and energy is infectious but he doesn't have the quality on the ball that we need in the final third. He's worth a place in the squad for tougher games but when the onus is on us to attack we need better.

Husin had a good first half but went back into his shell in the second, just when we needed someone to take the game by the scruff of the neck. He has the ability to do it but not the personality it appears. A couple of quality additions in midfield are needed in the summer.

As for the attack, what else can be said? Our only reliable goalscorer is a wing-back who's now playing a more defensive role due to the change to 4 at the back. Without a striker who can reliably score goals or midfield players who are either willing (Husin had two good attempts in the first half then none for the rest of the game) or able to strike a ball from distance we're never going to be a prolific team, under any coach.

 

[Zeuss]

The goal was a much GSM’s fault, he let the guy run from nearly the half way line cut inside and hit a shot that I agree the keeper could have done better for.

Yes—once again Gus stood off him ,allowing him space and time,making no attempt to block the shot/cross.

 

[ms brush]

Look at his movement after it leaves Thorpe's foot, he's all over the place. He ends up three yards off his line at one point and by the time he moves back it's too late. He completely misjudged the flight of the ball.

Regardless of whether you think he's a decent 'keeper or not his distribution is also woeful, which makes him a strange signing considering Maher wants us to play out from the back.

As for the rest of the performance the only criticism I'd have of Maher is playing Bonne right-wing. Parillon was on the periphery out on the left (he was more threatening playing centrally in the second) and the immobile Hopper was completely isolated.

Morton's gone massively off the boil in recent weeks and for me doesn't have the athleticism to play the holding role. He gets turned and outmuscled far too easily and when his passing off he becomes a liability. If Miley is fully fit he should start.

KAF's workrate and energy is infectious but he doesn't have the quality on the ball that we need in the final third. He's worth a place in the squad for tougher games but when the onus is on us to attack we need better.

Husin had a good first half but went back into his shell in the second, just when we needed someone to take the game by the scruff of the neck. He has the ability to do it but not the personality it appears. A couple of quality additions in midfield are needed in the summer.

As for the attack, what else can be said? Our only reliable goalscorer is a wing-back who's now playing a more defensive role due to the change to 4 at the back. Without a striker who can reliably score goals or midfield players who are either willing (Husin had two good attempts in the first half then none for the rest of the game) or able to strike a ball from distance we're never going to be a prolific team, under any coach.

This. Absolutely!

Which then leads me to ask the following questions:

How can you get a team to be effective if you keep asking them to do things that are not their strengths?
For example:

Bonne can hold up a ball beautifully and has intelligence in his play. Not prolific, but will play others in. So how on earth can he have a hope of scoring/assisting by being stuck out on the RW?
How can leading goalscoring RWB Gus be effective in the back 4, when his defending is questionable and his best attribute is out wide and ghosting into the box unseen? (where Bonne has been sent to cover)
How can we nullify a good central attacking midfielder (Parillion) - easy, send him out to the left wing where he is ineffective.
Asking KAF to play central midfield, where he has plenty of energy, but not the precision to start off a strong onslaught attack consistently!

For me there are 2 big issues going on.
1) Kev has only got one set of tactics, and these only work if you play with pace and intent. We do not do this! Whether that is because the players we have arent capable of this, or they are not being allowed to play to their strengths isnt totally clear. I suspect its a bit of both.

2) We dont have a creative enough midfield to open sides up, as as a result we play the safe posession game, which is both predictable and boring to watch. We play defensively, but we arent really good enough to stop sides from scoring. And because goal scoring from across the pitch has been a problem for a long time, it leaves us vunerable to losing to teams like Solihull!

There was absolutely nothing Hayes could have done about that goal yesterday



.

 

[rshepp]

All very disapointing.
Two season ticket holders around me said that they will not be coming back for the remaining home fixtures.
How many others?

 

[Shrimp and two veg]

All very disapointing.
Two season ticket holders around me said that they will not be coming back for the remaining home fixtures.
How many others?

It would be "very Southend" to win the next 2, bet theyll be at the Hall for Wealdstone...
We all had the hump yesterday

 

[hlane17]

Yes—once again Gus stood off him ,allowing him space and time,making no attempt to block the shot/cross.

Not the first time and won't be the last. GSM would be an EFL player if he could actually defend.

 

[Dave Smiths Love Child]

A long way out, no pace on it....on the wrong foot and badly positioned for about the 8th time this year, still think Maher is the biggest problem?

Why is Maher the goal keeper coach or back up to Hayes ??

 

[dusterman]

Still ****ing ****ed off.

 

[Rattus Norvegicus]

Deep sigh.

 

[Southend Elvis]

I'm always banging on about our strikers not scoring. I do believe it's the tactics that is causing this problem, we can't have so many struggling to find the back of the net, when they have produced goals in their playing careers before they arrived