Post-Match Thread and Ratings Southend United 1-0 Lincoln City

[Napster]

Mandy Rice-Davies.

You would say that, wouldn't you!

:clap:

 

[TravellingBlue]

I'm new to this site and am assuming there's already a thread somewhere that concentrates on Blair Sturrock bashing, and so I'll be told to go to that thread? I think he's truly awful, and I wonder how much we'll be throwing away by losing Paterson and Spencer just so the manager can play his own son (more something that would be associated with Sunday league that a professional club!).

I also worry that Sturrock's brand of football will turn away lots of season ticket holders for next season, and the club will therefore lose a fair amount of much needed income. If you compare attendances to the Wignall era (when we played similar football at the same level), then the loss of fans will probably be as much as 1500 per game, amounting to a loss in revenue of £500k per season, which is just what we need, isn't it?

Pringello ratings below:

Morris - 7 - absolutely nothing to do, so don't want to mark him down unnecessarily!
Clohessey - 6
Gilbert - 6
Mohsni - 7
Barker - 8
Grant - 6 - doesn't look so comfortable in the deeper role
Timlin - 5
Simpson - 5
Hall - 7 - created the goal with great cross, but did little thereafter
Corr - 7 - good header and won lots of ball. Badly missed once injured.
Sturrock - 4 - Two intelligent cross field passes, in fairness, but won nothing, terrible touch, gave lots of ball away, couldn't finish when put 15 yards clear on goal (someone earlier says it wouldn't sit up for him...he needed to nod it down for himself but didn't have the confidence (or ability) to do it), and was shown up even more so once we lost Corr
Jarvis - 5 - send him back to Cardiff, I'd rather we gave our own players (Spencer and Paterson) some games
Crawford - 7 - had done more in 5 minutes than Sturrock in 70. Looks a good prospect at just 18.
Soares - 5

Got to admit enjoyed reading your synopsis of the game. And agree with the majority.

For me I am probably in the minority on this board when I say I would much prefer to see Spencer or Paterson starting more games. Spencer scored 5 in four games (?) towards the end of last season and Paterson was having an excellent pre-season and a good game v Bristol City before being slammed on the bench and not played again!

Blair is a good solid pro. However, he is not a goal scorer, and I do believe that indeed Spencer, Crawford and Paterson would give us more goals than Blair, therefore I would start one of the three above with Corr (who is winning me over now!). As for Jarvis, I don't think we will see too much of the youngster, he might be fast, but I don't think he's quite up to playing against men yet!

Keep your comments rolling and don't get put off too much by the stalkers on here who will vehemently try disagree with every word you say!

 

[Beefy]

Keep your comments rolling and don't get put off too much by the stalkers on here who will vehemently try disagree with every word you say!

Yeah, damn these people with different opinions.

 

[john]

pretty spot on there apart from the jarvis comment, he showed more than I have ever seen from patterson (bristol city apart) patterson looks weak/slow/low on confidence, jarvis looked strong, up for it and some skill too. Spencer I still not sure about, he showed last season he can score, but in general he looks rubbish.

Hi - it's the first time I'd seen Jarvis and I didn't think he showed that much...I agree he's probably better than Paterson and Spencer, but what does it do for their confidence or progression when they're dropped for a player who's only with us a month? If the loan isn't extended after that month then Sturrock will be forced to turn to strikers he's been shunning.

 

[john]

Spot on! Crawford in particular stood out for me when he came on, in what was a nervous second half.

Yeah, a very nervous second half indeed, and only his introduction seemed to alleviate the pressure a little, I thought.

 

[Pubey]

Yeah, a very nervous second half indeed, and only his introduction seemed to alleviate the pressure a little, I thought.

I agree, also Jarvis offered little in open play really but he did a good job in taking the ball to the corners and wasting a few minutes.

 

[TravellingBlue]

I agree, also Jarvis offered little in open play really but he did a good job in taking the ball to the corners and wasting a few minutes.

Against Lincoln City :blush:

 

[john]

Whilst I don't deny that Sturrock senior can probably see more plusses in Sturrock juniors performances than maybe other managers, I really do not consider that a manager with the pedigree Sturrock has would pass over players obviously better than Blair just so he "play his own son".

I think it's more down to the fact that he doesn't rate Spencer and Paterson.

But be honest - what on earth would Paul Sturrock, an established international striker and experienced respected lower league manager know about strikers?

:duh:

Um, where do I start? While I hope (in fact, it's more a partisan belief) that Sturrock will do well, I have to question his "pedigree". He has done well managerially in general, winning several promotions, but the fact he has been sacked from three of his last four jobs does not bode well (again, I hope that's irrelevant). What does bode well, however, is that it appears Sturrock often gets success early before tailing off (promoted in his first year at Swindon & Wednesday and his 2nd at Plymouth).

You're possibly right on his rating of Paterson and Spencer, but then why didn't he release them? I know we were short on numbers, but it seems he has no intention of playing them. After the Bristol game maybe he fell out with Paterson, since there didn't seem to be any performance issue there, did there?

Finally, Sturrock was never an "established" international striker. He had 20 caps, which makes him slightly more established than Andy Cole but far less established than Ian Wright were for England. Either way, that along with his managerial experience doesn't necessarily make him a great judge of strikers, otherwise you could say the same for pretty much any ex-professional footballer. As we know, many great footballers make terrible managers - and even good managers sometimes make mistakes with players (think Ferguson signing Djemba-Djemba, or Wenger signing Francis Jeffers). I happen to believe that Sturrock's (natural) love for his son enhances his misconception that he's a decent player.

 

[EastStandBlue]

Against Lincoln City :blush:

Why should we be ashamed of that? The moment we start thinking of ourselves as higher and mightier than those gracing this division is the very same moment we set ourselves up for a massive fall.

How derided was Ronnie Moorie on here when, as Oldham manager, he claimed they should be steamrollering sides like us before going on to win the league?

 

[john]

Hello John,

Welcome to the site. I think for me you summed it up in your appraisal of Crawford but you could have also summed up Patterson or Spencer when you said did more than Sturrock did.

Whilst I dont think Sturrock is amazing by any means I am a fan as I think he brings other into the game and he is infact very good at holding up the ball. I would also add his control is second to none. I do appreciate this wont win us a game but it does help make space etc.

If you asked me to give you one redeeming feature of Spencer or Pattersons game I would struggle. Spencer is fast but to lightweight and Patterson I think could be a decent finisher but rarely gets a shot off.

I would rather see Jarvis given a chance for the next few games over Blair but I do think its unfair when people claim Blair is only playing becuase of who his Dad is as I really feel he is a better solution than both Spencer and Patterson at the moment.

Yeah, fair enough really. I kind of hope that given a few games Spencer and Paterson might show something, but agree that it may never be the case. As I've posted above, though, I really don't see the point in one month loan signings except in emergencies. Surely playing Jarvis will be massively detrimental to the confidence of the players who will be with us for the next nine months?

 

[TravellingBlue]

Why should we be ashamed of that? The moment we start thinking of ourselves as higher and mightier than those gracing this division is the very same moment we set ourselves up for a massive fall.

How derided was Ronnie Moorie on here when, as Oldham manager, he claimed they should be steamrollering sides like us before going on to win the league?

How low have we sunk when we have to waste time in the corner against Lincoln City was the point I was making.

And don't you think that with the fantastic squad that PS has put together we should be steamrollering all in L2?

 

[TravellingBlue]

Yeah, fair enough really. I kind of hope that given a few games Spencer and Paterson might show something, but agree that it may never be the case. As I've posted above, though, I really don't see the point in one month loan signings except in emergencies. Surely playing Jarvis will be massively detrimental to the confidence of the players who will be with us for the next nine months?

Agree 100%

If Jarvis is the 'new Aaron Lennon' then he will not be joining us permanently!

I think that PS will throw a real spanner in the works tomorrow and start with Crawford and Paterson or Spencer up front. Blair and Barry both picked up knocks and could do with a rest. It will give the 'fringe' players the opportunity to stake their claim.

 

[john]

Got to admit enjoyed reading your synopsis of the game. And agree with the majority.

For me I am probably in the minority on this board when I say I would much prefer to see Spencer or Paterson starting more games. Spencer scored 5 in four games (?) towards the end of last season and Paterson was having an excellent pre-season and a good game v Bristol City before being slammed on the bench and not played again!

Blair is a good solid pro. However, he is not a goal scorer, and I do believe that indeed Spencer, Crawford and Paterson would give us more goals than Blair, therefore I would start one of the three above with Corr (who is winning me over now!). As for Jarvis, I don't think we will see too much of the youngster, he might be fast, but I don't think he's quite up to playing against men yet!

Keep your comments rolling and don't get put off too much by the stalkers on here who will vehemently try disagree with every word you say!

Thanks! I'll try to keep it up now I've joined.

I do think in this division that you need at least one 'big man', especially with Sturrock's style of play. Unfortunately if Corr's injured then Blair is our only option for that role - and he just didn't seem to be good enough at it for my liking. Like you, I would much rather see Corr play the hold up role with one of the other three. Fingers crossed his injury wasn't too bad because I worry for us if he's out for any considerable amount of time.

 

[Cricko]

How low have we sunk when we have to waste time in the corner against Lincoln City was the point I was making.

And don't you think that with the fantastic squad that PS has put together we should be steamrollering all in L2?

It made me sick to watch Grant wasting time in the corner...are we that rubbish that we did not think another attack was worth it...I hate league 2 football with a passion....

 

[john]

Agree 100%

If Jarvis is the 'new Aaron Lennon' then he will not be joining us permanently!

I think that PS will throw a real spanner in the works tomorrow and start with Crawford and Paterson or Spencer up front. Blair and Barry both picked up knocks and could do with a rest. It will give the 'fringe' players the opportunity to stake their claim.

Yeah, he may do, but I hope not to a certain extent. As I've just posted above, I think we have to play with a big man, and I think if he plays with two of those three they're going to play badly and accentuate his lack of faith in them - they just don't seem to have the strength to hold things up. Ideally I'd like to see Corr play with one of them, but as it's the JPT I doubt he will due to the knocks you mention.

 

[john]

It made me sick to watch Grant wasting time in the corner...are we that rubbish that we did not think another attack was worth it...I hate league 2 football with a passion....

I'm torn on that one. I see it's the sensible thing to do, but we come to be entertained and holding the ball up like that is just boring. On the other hand, if we had a shot and then conceded on the break, I'd probably be on here ranting about the lost points because we weren't professional enough!

 

[Beefy]

It made me sick to watch Grant wasting time in the corner...are we that rubbish that we did not think another attack was worth it...I hate league 2 football with a passion....

I don't disagree because I wasn't there, but how many times have people complained about us conceding late goals over the past year?