Post-Match Thread and Ratings Southend United 1-1 Rochdale

[CaptainSmudger]

Jim Mc Nulty, talking bollox!

 

[CaptainSmudger]

Ryan East same rubbish!

 

[cerbera45]

In a way Rochdale's time wasting tactics come back to bite them on the backside, Good !

 

[Maroon Blue]

Good game and point overall. I was anxious at the start over KM tinkering and reversion to 2 up top. In hindsight it was probably correct, however a top 3 may have prevented Rochdale playing between the lines first 70 minutes. A greater higher press may have meant Rochdale go longer to prevent an overrun in midfield. As a minimum and probably a compromise LCP in the advanced 10 role behind 2 strikers should be used Tuesday as paid dividends yesterday. The triple substitution worked a treat and we pegged them back much like FGR earlier in the season. Bonne was hungry, passionate and full of running, KAF provided energy into the midfield and latterly LCP was majestic. What great balance he has and just glides past players. Listening to their deluded manager McSalty after the game saying our goal should have been just a consolation and their attacking first half and defending second half deserved for them to have a greater lead. Jeez never gives any credit to the opposition, mate you should be grateful you escaped with a point at the final whistle.

Hayes 6.5
Taylor 6
Goodliffe 7
Ralph 7.5
GSM 7
Coker 5.5
Morton 8 MOTM
Husin 6.5
Bridge 6
Kendall 6.5
Hopper 6.5

Bonne 7.5
KAF 6.5
Walker 6
LCP 7

James Morton my MOTM, very consistent in the middle and kept us moving second half. LCP deserves a start in place of the ineffectual Coker Tuesday and Bonne in ahead of Hopper. I am sure Aldershot will be more timid than the two recent visitors to the Hall given their precarious form and position in the league. A Tuesday night under the lights should mean a 2-0 win and 7 points out of 9 from the run of 3 home games, none too shabby. UTB

 

[Barry.C]

We seem to be fairly evenly split on whether we should have had 3 upfront or not. When I saw the line up personally I was disappointed ,especially after the recent winning performances with 3 upfront

I thought we would struggle to win, especially starting firstly with Just Hopper and Kendall upfront , but also a midfield group, containing an out of form Ollie Coker, and not often on it of late Husin., Add in a not at his best Bridge and it looked like a rather risky , defensive nullifying plan

No surprise this left us on the back foot and Coker desperately deep at times. Hence I waited for the inevitable first goal and it could and should have been more.

Although sub wise at first it looked a bit like for like , purely in the context of 2 forwards upfront and AF, in reality it became a different ball game with the Dynamism of Bonne , Walker , and forward drive of Appiah F contrasted with Husin . and subsequently Coker. But it took until 65 minutes for the first changes ,and finally with just 19 minutes to go Parillion , although most of us were calling for an earlier introduction, gets on, to try to help save the day

We shall never know of course whether we would have collected the 3 points had we actually gone for it from the outset with 3 upfront. But when we dont it actually does invite the first goal against us unless we have far more strength in midfield. Cokes on form makes space and creates and gets in good positions to shoot. But he is no Peter Butler. Miley can enforce but risks getting sent off and also lays deep. As good as Morton has come he too makes a few too many defensive errors

Whilst we could argue for another central midfield enforcer , its not always needed if you have the likes of Appiah and Pardillion driving forward scaring the life out of opponents.. One more as a capable Bridge replacement would be good, especially with drive and pace , an eye for goal, better at defending , good in the air and good crossing ability

 

[Ipswhrimp]

Whilst we could argue for another central midfield enforcer , its not always needed if you have the likes of Appiah and Pardillion driving forward scaring the life out of opponents.. One more as a capable Bridge replacement would be good, especially with drive and pace , an eye for goal, better at defending , good in the air and good crossing ability

I’d have thought we could pick up a player with those sort of attributes for around £5-10 million. We’ll just have to fight off interest from the likes of Leeds, Forest, Wolves and so on.

 

[RHB]

Listening to their deluded manager McSalty after the game saying our goal should have been just a consolation and their attacking first half and defending second half deserved for them to have a greater lead. Jeez never gives any credit to the opposition, mate you should be grateful you escaped with a point at the final whistle.

Their Fans Forum is just as bad. Mind you, their thread for our game did remind me of SZ at times.

Forum | The race for 7th (Saturday 15th Feb) by Dale_4_Life

In the race for 7th spot the following fixtures take place tomorrow. What price an away day win Double for Dale Saturday / Wednesday! Up The Dale Southend V Dale Gateshead v

www.fansnetwork.co.uk

 

[Swiss Tony]

Thought it was an entertaining game against a good side in Rochdale, who will be in the play offs I would think. Bonne came on and changed the game through his running behind. LCP is going to be some player, particularly after a full time pre season. Overall thought our performance was solid.

On a different note, I think some of our fans may need to realise that all teams do pass backwards and sideways at times and it is a perfectly reasonable thing to do when the forward pass is not on...or you have multiple players in front of you...

A disappointing game I thought. We got offered a box just before kick off and although I don’t particularly like them we felt it a decent option. However with 8 of us in there we had no idea that Gus had used his hand to score which was odd considering we were higher up. As for the game I thought we started brightly although once again our final ball wasnt good enough. I thought their goal was against the run of play. Thereafter it was a game very much played between both boxes. I’m struggling to think of many saves that Hayes had to make. We huffed and puffed and only once the subs were made did we get a hold of the game. All four made a difference and if Kev is true to his word and wants to use his squad then all four probably deserve a start on Tuesday. LCP in particular offers us something we don’t have. He has excellent skills and ability to take players on. In the end we deserved the equaliser and could have nicked but don’t think either team deserved to win.

Morton was probably the best of an average bunch today although even he was off it a bit but about time he won a MOM award. Otherwise Hayes looked solid and kicking was ok. The defence was solid although at times made things hard for themselves. Husin and Coker disappointed again. Hopper and Kendall battled hard but lacked service

So 4 pts this week and if we can beat Aldershot then that’s not a bad return after a tough run of games. Hoping we go to three up top again Tuesday and worry about ourselves a bit more than the opposition. We look so much better when 9n the front foot

Did you say 'doing a bit of digging?'...

Their Fans Forum is just as bad. Mind you, their thread for our game did remind me of SZ at times.

Forum | The race for 7th (Saturday 15th Feb) by Dale_4_Life

In the race for 7th spot the following fixtures take place tomorrow. What price an away day win Double for Dale Saturday / Wednesday! Up The Dale Southend V Dale Gateshead v

www.fansnetwork.co.uk

I look forward to beating them in the playoffs ****ing northern monkeys.

 

[Suomi Shrimper]

Have noticed in Bonne's last couple of games, he has made several good runs behind into space on the right and straight away been looking to make a quick low pass to the middle of the box. Was good to see that move pay off yesterday, hopefully Gus and Morton will keep looking for that option over the top when the midfield is getting crowded out.

 

[Tangled up in Blue]

Do you really think we deserved to lose that game? I would say we had by far the clearest chances (including one off the line).

No I'm glad we drew.

 

[Tangled up in Blue]

Your definitely a glass completely empty kind of guy aren't you

If you say so.

 

[leeblue]

A simple feature yesterday was the ball over the top...into channels too. Kendall and Bonne have good movement and it does turn teams round and gets you up the pitch, nice change.
Also I don't fully concur with some saying we were rubbish up until the end. I thought we started ok....had plenty of corners and decent situations (let down by final ball or finish)...Rochdale scored and took the wind out of us no doubt. And 1st 15/ 20 of the 2nd half Rochdale were on top. Again I think personell told over any tactics as such.

 

[Evening Echo]

SOUTHEND United boss Kevin Maher praised the impact of his substitutes in Saturday’s 1-1 draw with Rochdale.

Read more on this story


Help with Echo links

 

[Strykr]

 

[Cockle43]

A simple feature yesterday was the ball over the top...into channels too. Kendall and Bonne have good movement and it does turn teams round and gets you up the pitch, nice change.
Also I don't fully concur with some saying we were rubbish up until the end. I thought we started ok....had plenty of corners and decent situations (let down by final ball or finish)...Rochdale scored and took the wind out of us no doubt. And 1st 15/ 20 of the 2nd half Rochdale were on top. Again I think personell told over any tactics as such.

The ball over the top is certainly useful to mix it up, particularly against a team like Rochdale yesterday who liked a fairly high press that can compact the mid-field so a ball over the top played well is not a 'hit and hope' but a genuine move when played into the right areas, it also has the advantage of turning their defenders to face their own goal which they certainly seemed uncomfortable with.
Virtually every Rochdale player seemed to have an assurance and comfort on the ball which caused us a good many issues and did tend to compact the game. Disappointing that an obviously accomplished team seemed to feel the need to time waste as much as they did from minute one, I suppose that could be seen as them being a bit cautious as to what we could do and therefore their way to try and control the game, certainly when we were able to up the pace in the latter part of the second half they became uncomfortable with that.
From a first half where I was wondering if we could find a way to get back into the game the changes in the second half really did change the complexion markedly and I feel we could quite reasonably feel we could have got more than just the one point out of it. Having said that, if you'd said at the start of these three consecutive home games that we could get seven points out of the nine then I would have taken that, just got to make that happen on Tuesday now...

 

[PIERS]

Have noticed in Bonne's last couple of games, he has made several good runs behind into space on the right and straight away been looking to make a quick low pass to the middle of the box. Was good to see that move pay off yesterday, hopefully Gus and Morton will keep looking for that option over the top when the midfield is getting crowded out.

Would be even better if one of our players had got anywhere near the cross as well.
All conference defenders hate being turned , it’s where we should be creating chaos.

 

[They Call It Madness!!!]

Written out many replies, here's the shortened version.

- Coker in midfield was clever, the press was structured. We won it a few times but wasted by miscontrol, taking too many touches or by slowing down and turning back and then repeat. I don't get why when we won the ball we couldn't get it out of our feet quick enough and actually take advantage. Waste of brilliant determination over and over again.

- First half so many balls over the top. Brilliant tactic against a team that play a higher press than Simon Cowells trousers but why can we not actually play a decent one. These guys get paid to play football and I don't understand why one of them has not got the nous to whip it so it bounces and slows with a curl rather than a laced, aimless, lofted ball that bounces through to the keeper over and over.

- Early crosses have always been something that gets the crowd going, fast, chaotic attacks. KM made the triple substitution (and to me it was the most attacking intent triple substitution that I can think of since Tilly and Brush's switch versus Norwich in the Championship) and it changed the mindset. KAF played goal side of their 8 who before that had enough space to grow veggie patch and that made it possible for them to have to think of us. This coupled with Bonnes willingness to run the channel and approach the goal in 3 touches rather than the 2 and turn back like other players was a game changer.

- Ten minutes before the subs, we did start playing the better balls but was called offside a few times. This was the ball that was going to win us the game and I just hate it took so long to make it effective.

I can write more but that's enough. Been wanting to say these bits all day!

 

[in the know]

There were frequently far more than 2 in the press. Bridge and Coker often joined in and Husin to

I do agree we pressed in numbers albeit initially, but I guess my overall (well disguised) point was I'd like it to be the opposition worrying and changing to adapt to a settled well dri!led attacking 3 up top southend way of playing and not every game us trying to change, react, to cope and neutralise the latest opposition, we have a decent squad now and personally I feel we have players who can cover roles without chopping and changing unneccasarily. (Halifax and Rochdale weren't amazingly different).
No doubt Tuesday will be another change, I hope it's back to a proper 3 up top.
I agree with all the positives from saturday.
A good result against a good team.
L.P. Shows huge promise and I don't think we've seen his best attributes yet of box to box.
Bonne passionate, fast.
Goodliffe solid
More forward thinking than of late (exc halifax)

 

[Rob Noxious]

Not quite sure if it would work but possibly Hopper with Bonne alongside him?

 

[PIERS]

Bonnie. Finally we have a decent ****house striker . He always was good enough. The attitude is stepping things up.
One of those 9’s other teams always seem to have.
Please start him kev