Post-Match Thread and Ratings Southend United 0-2 Shrewsbury Town

[TravellingBlue]

I don't think that we should overreact to this defeat - we are still one of the form teams in the division. I wonder though, if I am the only one that thinks that we should have played to the whistle for the first goal. Several of our players paused fractionally to appeal to the referee which allowed them to get in behind us.

Halleujah - finally we agree!!

We shouldn't over react, we have recently played some very good football - we must have an off game at some point - I don't think so many players can have such a bad game on the same day again!

Not playing to the whislte cost us - definitley.

Spoke to one of the staff after the game and was told that there's loads at the club who still haven't been paid for January - I will get more confirmation of this today.

Thought we were poor all over the pitch. Shrewsbury came and battered us, we weren't ready for it and physically we did not stand up to them. Defenisvely we were poor, midfield was over-ran and the Corr/Blair partnership just doesn't do it for me.

Evans 6 Not really a lot to do
Clohessy 5 Thought he struggled, not one of his best games
Moshni 6 Brings a huge amount of energy, thought it wasn't his best game though
Barker 7 Streets ahead of any other defender
Gilbert 6 Again, after Tuesday quite solid - but what a terrible miss
Grant 5 Just didn't get into it
Easton 5 Was over run at time and lost the ball on many occasions
Hall 6 Tried, but was completely marked out the game
Ferdinand 6 Yes he's a good young player, but struggled throughout
Corr 4 Not his best game
Sturrock 4 Nothing

Sawyer 6 Don't get the hype yet, fingers crossed though
Crawford 5 Won a couple of headers
Soares 4 How does he get a game?

We have some very difficult games coming up. PS needs to shake it up a bit, not pick players on reputation or because they are his favourites! Would expect at least a couple of changes for Accrington.
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[Onion_Bag_Dave]

We have some very difficult games coming up. PS needs to shake it up a bit, not pick players on reputation or because they are his favourites! Would expect at least a couple of changes for Accrington.

Yep, probably expect Sawyer to play on Saturday with maybe Grant going up top or maybe even Harry for Barry! haha!

 

[Blue_Wes]

How bad must Corr be before people give him a rating that he currently merits, namely 1 or 2?
When people give say 5, it must mean he has done something constructive... yesterday I saw nothing at all that could be called this.

I was going to say the same about Blair, don't even remember him touching the ball :s

The ref ruined the game! Harrold shouldn't have even been on the pitch, leading with his elbow against Barker then the handballs. Oh well, back to reality!

Likewise, Blair has only had one decent game (Maccs) since this change of formation, he struggles to get involved out wide and rarely see's the ball. It's difficult to do anything when you don't receive the ball, and Blair's not the type of player to win the ball either. Maybe if Sturrock is to persist with this formation for home games, he's better off leaving his son on the bench, and playing him in the role he is more effective in when away from home. That said, the rest of team hardly covered themselves in glory either. As much as Harrold frustrated us with his antics, it was the team that frustrated the most, allowing ourselves to get sucked into their physical, long ball style of play - seems the pitch may have had some influence on this also, although let's not forget Shrewsbury played on the same pitch as us. FWIW;

Evans: 6 - Not much to do, but still looks shaky
Clohessy: 6 - Another that's not flourished under the new formation, doesn't seem to get forward as much.
Gilbert: 5 Defensively he struggled to cope with their number 23, and got done too many times, missed a sitter as well, should at least be on target even for a defender.
Barker: 6 Not as imposing as usual, didn't cope as well as he should with the two target men up front. I wonder if Harrold's early knock had an effect on him?
Mohsni: 6 Not as effective as we know he can be, allowed Harrold to wind him up, and needed Barker or Easton to help him focus. Unfortunately, they had their own games to worry about and he needs to learn to control his own temperament. Nasty challenge from Harrold, and a painful looking injury (not sure if the incidents are related as some time elapsed between the two)
Hall: 6.5 Tried hard, always wanted the ball and tried to attack when he had it, but Grandison seemed to have the measure of him today.
Easton: 5.5 Is he a captain, seems to go missing a lot, the game seemed to pass him by.
Grant: 5.5 As with Easton, a virtual passenger.
Ferdinand: 6 Performed better than his peers, but struggled without their support
Sturrock: 5.5 Not at the races today, doesn't see enough of the ball out wide, and another that was more passenger than player
Corr: 5.5 Didn't work for him today, very difficult as a lone striker when the midfield underperforms though, you're not going to get the service and when you do it's long balls to head, this will never work when Blair, Hall and Grant are not running forward to support him or receive the flick ons, very difficult role for him today.

Sawyer: 6.5 Come on and was direct, run at the opposition and passed the ball around, as with the Shrewsbury team, didn't seem to struggle with the pitch.
Crawford & Soares: N/A No time and barely involved.

The officials were poor, Harrold got away with murder, the pitch wasn't great, but despite the excuses we just weren't at the races. It's a blip that's ended our good run and we shouldn't overreact. People have been talking about promotion lately, a good indication of how feasible this target is will be how Sturrock Snr and the playing staff respond on Saturday at Accrington, hopefully it's positive and with a fifth consecutive away victory.

 

[GrumpyBlue]

Just awful. We made another poor side look good. Poor first half from both sides with no-one stamping their authority on the game. But we let them suck us into playing their hoofball. If we'd kept it on the deck and passd it around them, which we did every once in a blue moon today, we'd have played them off the park. Too many players AWOL - Grant and Easton were poor in the middle and kept getting overrun time after time. Clohessy was poor. Hall was marked out of the game by two players. Corr was shocking - no speed, no mobility, an inability to jump and an inability to hold onto the ball. Everything was static, no movement. Such a disappointment after the last 3 games.

Evans 5 - Poor kicking and could have done more with both goals.
Clohessy 4 - Disappointing distribution and positioning today.
Gilbert 5 - Solid but got rather easily beaten by Phillips several times.
Mohsni 6 - Dominant in the air as usual, little bit headless chicken.
Barker 6 - Dominant in the air and put himself about.
Ferdinand 5 - Overrun a little bit but had no protection from Easton and Grant in front. Looked a little lost at CB.
Grant 4 - Nothing came off for him today and his lack of vision can be frustrating.
Easton 5 - AWOL at times.
Hall 5 - Ineffective much of the time as he was double-marked. When he wasn't, his crossing and running with the ball wasn't up to his usual recent high standards.
Sturrock 5 - Ran a lot but seemed to be played quite wide rather than up top with Corr. Struggled to get into the game due to this, but was unlucky to be taken off when it should have been his strike partner who left the field.
Corr 3 - Slow, immobile, poor movement, can't jump.....awful today.

Sawyer 5 - Ran with the ball across the pitch which could have given us another dimension had his team mates actually moved for him. Wasted on the wing.
Crawford 5 - Didn't really get into the game, but put himself about a bit.
Soares - Not enough time.

Would agree with all this - seems my old mate Barna was correct about Corr on this showing - just cannot see how he has managed to score all his goals on this evidence

 

[mfurok]

Would agree with all this - seems my old mate Barna was correct about Corr on this showing - just cannot see how he has managed to score all his goals on this evidence

Good job he hasn't seen more of Gilbert!

 

[Tangled up in Blue]

Good job he hasn't seen more of Gilbert!

Thought(from the BP "highlights") he got absolutely skinned by the winger he was "marking" and let him in for an easy shot from outside the box long before Shrewsbury's first goal.
Is he really a better bet than Herd? I don't think so.

 

[canveyshrimper]

Thought(from the BP "highlights") he got absolutely skinned by the winger he was "marking" and let him in for an easy shot from outside the box long before Shrewsbury's first goal.
Is he really a better bet than Herd? I don't think so.

Gilbert isn't great but he's miles better than Herd, and Barker is streets ahead of both but he's now first choice in central defence.

 

[Shrimpergonzo]

Gilbert isn't great but he's miles better than Herd, and Barker is streets ahead of both but he's now first choice in central defence.

What he said!

Agree 100%

 

[TCR]

We won nothing up front and were beaten in the air in every Shrewsbury attack (mostly aerial). Mohsni showed his inexperience marking the shorter attacker whilst Barker was beaten every time by Harold. As a point of interest it is amazing how so many players ( e.g. Harold and Kightly) seem to be so much stronger physically after leaving us where they had been weedy. Maybe Herd should find a club that builds him up. I know that Harold was overly physical, as well as cheating, but wouldn't he have been a better bet than Corr (this match at least) and a better player for us. He looked confident and settled in their team and a good Div 2 player.


Evans 5
Colhessy 5
Moshni 5
Barker 5
Gilbert 5
Grant 4.5
Easton 6
Hall 5
Ferdinand 5
Corr 4.5
Sturrock 4.5
Substitites
Sawyer 6.5
Crawford 5

 

[OldBlueLady]

Thought(from the BP "highlights") he got absolutely skinned by the winger he was "marking" and let him in for an easy shot from outside the box long before Shrewsbury's first goal.
Is he really a better bet than Herd? I don't think so.

Phil, if you think that then you really do need to get to more games! Barker > Gilbert > Herd, like Harry said.

 

[EastStandBlue]

Phil, if you think that then you really do need to get to more games! Barker > Gilbert > Herd, like Harry said.

I prefer to think of it as:

Barker ...>....Gilbert...................................>............................................Herd.

 

[Tangled up in Blue]

Phil, if you think that then you really do need to get to more games! Barker > Gilbert > Herd, like Harry said.

I'd love to.Burton at home next.:happy:

 

[OldBlueLady]

I prefer to think of it as:

Barker ...>....Gilbert...................................>............................................Herd.

Yep, me too.....just didn't space it. I do feel kinda sorry for Herd because he has had a couple of quite decent games, but he's just not developed that positional awareness which you would have expected as he's got older in my opinion anyway!!!!!

 

[SantaShrimp]

Yes we were shocking but first goal ref gave us advantage and failed to pull the game back when it didn't come. Then the handball. Second goal leading up to it the player receiving it on the left was AT LEAST. 2 yards offside. Make no mistake we were poo but decisions like that cost games.

This sums up the game from where I was sitting in the West stand... Game should definitely have been pulled back by the ref and the hand ball incident right in front of me was clearly a deliberate act to handle and control the ball... We seemed to lose interest after that. The West lineo spent more time looking at the floodlights, the flats and St Mary's church in the second half, absolutely useless. Missed so many incidents. Fully expected him to be in a Shrews shirt for the second 45 minutes. Yeah OK so we played poor, but officials need to take some of the blame too