Post-Match Thread and Ratings Southend United 1-0 Port Vale

[RHB]

Completely forgot about him till midway through the 2nd half, loved him while he was with us but felt he was largely anonymous today. Certainly didn't fall over as much as the 27 did!

Pulled his 5th yellow for the season today so he will definitely be anonymous next match!!

 

[AndyT]

Never mind Anthony Grant, what about old loon Duffy.

Tried to get JW sent off, but got his comeuppance by doing enough to be constantly laughed at throughout the second half! :smile:

 

[spoons]

Their manager was acting like Billy big ******** I thought he and Phil would come to blows on a couple of occassions,to me he's unknown I've never heard of him.

Robert "Rob" Page (born 3 September 1974) is a Welsh former international football defender, now manager at League One club Port Vale. In an eighteen-year career in the Premier League and the Football League he made 550 competitive appearances for six different clubs. He both captained a team and scored a goal in all top four divisions of English football.[SUP][1][/SUP] He also gained 41 caps for Wales in a ten-year international career, captaining the side once, before he retired from international football in September 2006.

Now you have heard of him, class act as a player, cutting his teeth as manager .

 

[rayleigh dan]

I notice Weston is already recieving negative comments, people love moaning about him don't they. Yes he missed a couple of good chances but so did a few players today. I thought he had a really good game and was much more threatening than Worrall has been recently.

I know you've got a lot of likes but to be honest comparing Weston's performance with Worrall is like comparing chalk with cheese, Weston was playing up front today, Worrall has never played there. For what it's worth Weston was probably MOM for me today despite the misses, however I'd still prefer Worrall to start wide as he's been by far the most consistent performer of the two overall.

 

[rayleigh dan]

deserved result but should have been more comfortable but im not complaining, we are looking solid and playing as a team with confidence improving all time...

Bentley 7 - several good saves, consistent as always
White 7 - so solid needed to be against tricky little winger, captains performance
Bolger 7.5 - had the big centre forward under control, great crossfield ball in 2nd half, improved so much
Prosser 6.5 - looked a bit shaky for me at times but put in a decent shift
Coker 7 - another day at the office for him
timlin 6.5 - heart an passion but quite quiet
leonard 6.5 - plenty of effort but not too much going forward
deegan 7.5 - great fast half and nearly scored a cracker in 2nd half
weston 7 - gets in great positions with his pace deserved his place today
mooney 7 - great workrate and team performance
pigott 8 - great to see him prove a lot of people, including myself, wrong, poachers goal, held the ball up and worked hard

subs
wordsworth 6.5 - looks comfortable on the ball and provided the goal on a plate for pigott
worrall 6.5 - few glimpses of what he can do and played his part
atkinson 6 - worked hard but looked a bit lost going forward

Pretty much agree with you other than Timlin who I'd take a point off (I loved Tims but he consistently gave the ball away today) and Prosser/Bolger who I'd even out to a 7 each. I actually thought Prosser was the better of the two overall but he made one suicidal pass which evens if out for me.

 

[Jai]

Actually thought the fans (around me anyway) were very positive towards the players today including the usual fall guys (Weston/Pigott) which really seemed to help them.

Was a good game today, 1-0 doesn't do it justice.

 

[rayleigh dan]

Completely forgot about him till midway through the 2nd half, loved him while he was with us but felt he was largely anonymous today. Certainly didn't fall over as much as the 27 did!

I think that early yellow rattled him, plus the ref was having none of him going down over soft challenges, it looked like he's lost some of his 'nous' as Phil would say since he's left us.

 

[Tokyo Blue]

An entertaining game and great win .......a few negatives but when we win I can't be bothered to mention them

 

[A Century United]

Great, hard fought result. Up to 7th and the Pig is on fire!

:pig::pig::pig::pig::pig::pig::pig::pig::pig::pig:

 

[Pubey]

Blimey, you're a braver man than I for doing that google search!

 

[Norwichshrimper]

Really good game today, entertaining. There were about 5 chances either end in the first 10 minutes. One of the most entertaining 1-0's you'll see.
It was a hard earned victory, but with a lot of quality on show too.

I'm really not a fan of Prosser in the main, but thought today he was outstanding, looked more accomplished than Bolger (who incidentally I am a big fan of!)
Prosser excellent. Only shaded for me by Coker as MOM.
Midfield decent Deegan a huge improvement on when I last saw him about 3 weeks ago, Leonard again superb defensively and positionally, but again a bit hit and miss with the ball.
Front 3 worked really well together, as I mentioned elsewhere Weston's role today was key, regardless of how you rate his performance. For him to be the most advanced of a front 3, but still continuously track back to make it 4-4-2 when defending made the set up solid...we'd have been overrun were it not for his incredible commitment and energy level...Pigott was out on his feet for the last 10 minutes, but Weston was still bombing back to protect the wide areas until the very end...Wordsworth could learn from that as he looked exhausted after being on about 10 minutes!

I am also going to give a special mention to Luke O'Neill...yes, I know he didn't get on, but I watched him in the half-time kick about and he managed to boot the ball straight off the pitch instead of to Worrall 4 times on the trot , then landed it on the roof of the South Stand trying to find Wordsworth on the other wing...comedy genius.

 

[Pubey]

Really good game today, entertaining. There were about 5 chances either end in the first 10 minutes. One of the most entertaining 1-0's you'll see.
It was a hard earned victory, but with a lot of quality on show too.

I'm really not a fan of Prosser in the main, but thought today he was outstanding, looked more accomplished than Bolger (who incidentally I am a big fan of!)
Prosser excellent. Only shaded for me by Coker as MOM.
Midfield decent Deegan a huge improvement on when I last saw him about 3 weeks ago, Leonard again superb defensively and positionally, but again a bit hit and miss with the ball.
Front 3 worked really well together, as I mentioned elsewhere Weston's role today was key, regardless of how you rate his performance. For him to be the most advanced of a front 3, but still continuously track back to make it 4-4-2 when defending made the set up solid...we'd have been overrun were it not for his incredible commitment and energy level...Pigott was out on his feet for the last 10 minutes, but Weston was still bombing back to protect the wide areas until the very end...Wordsworth could learn from that as he looked exhausted after being on about 10 minutes!

I am also going to give a special mention to Luke O'Neill...yes, I know he didn't get on, but I watched him in the half-time kick about and he managed to boot the ball straight off the pitch instead of to Worrall 4 times on the trot , then landed it on the roof of the South Stand trying to find Wordsworth on the other wing...comedy genius.

To be fair that sounds more accurate than John White's passing.

 

[Jedi Shrimper]

Only listened on radio, great that Pig is really finding his feet, Wordsworth seems to be starting to show his worth now, and we're above Col Ewe. :smile:

 

[mfurok]

We were much better today because we were set up to attack.

If we continue to play that way we will concede goals but are likely to win many more games.

Thoroughly enjoyable.

 

[OldBlueLady]

To be fair that sounds more accurate than John White's passing.

Oh ha-di-ha, nothing wrong with White's ability to pass. But of course, you see him play often enough to be able to make such a clueless remark. It's his presence in defence that makes us solid, it's only when he's not there that you realise how vital he is to that defence.

 

[Bearded Shrimper]

i'd give everyone 7.5
i really don't think anyone impressed more than any other. Everyone worked hard and put a shift in. I thought the defence was good both individually and collectively. White really showed why he should play and is better than O'Neill. Bolger was good, Prosser was good but i was surprised just how much of our play went through him. Coker was very good as usual.

all the midfield 3 was good and solid. i thought Leonard was good actually, don't see why people are so critical of him.

Mooney did alright in the hole. I thought there can't be too many teams playing 4312 at this level.

front two worked hard but the finishing could improve

subs did alright but we didn't make it easy for ourselves at the end


overall, a scrappy win that would have been comfortable with better finishing but i'll take it.

Ref: i think both sides were lucky he let as much go as he did but he did well. after letting virtually everything go he started to slowly assert himself and give some fouls and cards. i thought he did well.

overall, very decent, plenty of chances, could and should have been more comfortable

 

[Pubey]

Oh ha-di-ha, nothing wrong with White's ability to pass. But of course, you see him play often enough to be able to make such a clueless remark. It's his presence in defence that makes us solid, it's only when he's not there that you realise how vital he is to that defence.

Vital?!

With O'Neill in the team we've averaged 2.25 points a game

With White we've averaged 1.2 points a game.

Also surprisingly, we've conceded less goals on average with O'Neill (0.75) compared to White (0.8)

It's good that John White has come back and is playing well. I think there's a good player in there, but he clearly needs competition to up his game. To suggest that he's vital though is crazy - we should be selecting players on merit. O'Neill clearly did well during his run, but played poorly at Burton and White has taken his chance in the last two games. Let's hope they keep on battling each other because it'll only be for the benefit of the team.

 

[Norwichshrimper]

I hope the Deegan detractors can now see what us Deegan lovers see. Great link up play, good range of passing and tough tackling.

Today I was a Deegan lover...earlier in the season I was a Deegan detractor....he's upped his performances significantly of late. Today he put in a really good performance, yes, he nearly gifted them a goal first half with one sloppy pass and the booking was unnecessary if you want to be really picky, but he overall did his defensive job well and contributed well in the final third too.

I said this in one of the great Deegan debates early on in the season (Walsall maybe when he was undoubtedly very poor) - people talk about his tackling and him doing the dirty work, but he is actually one of the most skilful players we have, you've only got to watch him in the half time knockabouts. He also has great vision and weight of pass. He has all the attributes to play that defensive midfield role, I think last season and early this season though that it was the mental side of his game that was lacking....he seemed to be trying to do things too quickly, rushing, trying things at the wrong times....it seems that over the last month or so he's settled down, understood more what is required of him in that position and as a result his performances and value to the team have rocketed.

Would anyone honestly have thought back in August that Deegan would be in the first team on merit come October

Fair play to him though..he's worked hard, proved his worth and earned his place in the first XI - that of course is not to say that previous criticism wasn't valid.

 

[Norwichshrimper]

We were much better today because we were set up to attack.

If we continue to play that way we will concede goals but are likely to win many more games.

Thoroughly enjoyable.

Agree it was thoroughly enjoyable

Not quite sure we were "better" because we were set up to attack...It certainly worked today and it would have been unjust had we not won, but playing that front 3 does leave us more vulnerable at the back. We certainly looked more dangerous going forward (though we only managed the one goal), but we also looked a lot less solid defensively.

In the first 5 minutes alone, Pork Vale had 2 or 3 decent chances, Bentley made a couple of very good saves and John White had to make a goal-saving block/clearance at 0-0 also. It wouldn't have been just, but the result could easily have gone the other way with just a small twist of fate.

I actually thought we were a bit too open first half and were lucky not to concede....second half we seemed more compact and controlled the game more

 

[OldBlueLady]

Vital?!

Well, if he hadn't have been there today then they'd have scored! You ought to try reading some of the other reports on here which back up what I said, I repeat that he is VITAL. The defence looks flustered and much more rocky when he isn't there.