Post-Match Thread and Ratings Southend United 1-3 Gateshead

[LeedsSUFC]

As bad as that was today, and the criticism is definitely deserved, we have had 7 games in 21 days with a small squad, we now have a week to recover and sort a few of the problems out, I'd be worried of there isn't a bounce back next week and more energy

Most of the league played the same amount of games and survived… Only difference is we decided to take the last possible train to Preston, which meant to we played a midweek game which others had off.

 

[Liam AAS]

Did we not offer Wes a deal? I thought we did but he chose to move?

He was offered a deal but his agent was holding out for more, allegedly. He was seen as a good player for the current level but not someone that would hold down a starting XI position if we moved into League Two.

 

[dusterman]

No I think they are the actual problem not Kev

Really, why?

 

[Shrimperborn1957]

KAF seems to me to run around like a playful puppy. Really not impressed me. Bonne so lethargic and again has not shown much. Personally think Gubbins is not that bad. Moncur show pony. Can't shoot, Kev really needs to consider his tactics. 1 up top today was criminal. We had 3 forwards available. My season expectations are so shot to pieces. Mid table fodder this season. Kev can have this season but next year promotion or out.

 

[NZamba Legend]

Oh dear you're not allowed to slag off Maher!

Pretty much everyone on this thread is slagging off Maher

 

[Maldon Shrimper]

...because when Wood does come on he rarely does anything worthwhile. His control is particularly poor - even at this level. Who agrees? Kev for starters or else he would play him.

At least he crosses the ball first time which Bridge hardly does.

 

[Chris Powell's mate]

Pretty much everyone on this thread is slagging off Maher

Not me.

 

[leeblue]

I think it was twitter where someone put a poll of predictions for upcoming season, unfortunately I've been spot on about player who will have a down season....Bridge.

 

[Shrimperjohn]

Did we not offer Wes a deal? I thought we did but he chose to move?

Did we offer him just a 1 year deal and he wanted 2?

 

[Mr Browns Ghost]

Really, why?

Well we criticise Kev and told it’s not kevs fault

We can’t criticise the players they are brilliant it’s not their fault

Well then you are not left with anything else other than the coaching , the footballs diabolical if it’s not the players or the manager then it’s the coach’s right.

 

[BEERMONSTER]

That performance was disgusting them players don’t deserve the support and most of them ain’t fit to we’re the shirt the club is to big for all of them everyone has to be questioned Maher the players the recruitment has been **** poor when we first come down to this league drawing at Wealdstone and loosing at home convincingly was rightly unacceptable and brown got the sack the football is just as bad as was then maybe it’s time for change

I posted the following in the Testimonial thread and despite the criticism flying around tonight the change you mention will not involve Kev at this time in my humble opinion

Without question deserved and obviously somewhat overdue, although that's down to someone else's watch, not COSU.
I also see this as another endorsement of COSU's commitment to Kev.
I don't know if the agreement of a testimonial year was part of the terms of Kev's new contract but it's announcement at this juncture could be seen as a little reminder to some that COSU have every intention from their perspective that he is the right man for the job and expect him to be around to at least the end of his contract. Also having listened to JR comments today in the second part of the Shrimperscast interview in which he gives his expectations in respect of on the field success during the targeted 5 year regeneration of the Club, it could be argued that unless Kev massively drops the ball he is potentially one of the most secure managers in the game at this time.

 

[Strykr]

I thought we'd get beaten, and we did. Personally I feel recruitment has been substandard, and the model of bringing up and coming young players in and slowly bedding them in and improving them has been torn apart by injuries, key players leaving and missing all our first targets.


Take the best CB and ST and midfielder out of any team in the land and they would be massively set back.

We are throwing names into the team and hoping something sticks.

Recruiting older unfit players which we all hoped we wouldn't do again.

Team spirit and cohesion seems completely absent, unsurprising given the circumstances.

Kevs traditional game plan is null and void as it is all based around key personnel doing very specific jobs that aren't there any more.

Late and nonsensical substitutions.

Starting with one striker up front at home in front of thousands in the national league.

Not really adapting to just how important the extra amount of subs per game would be. This small squad mentality is a thing of the past imo.

I'm resigned to a lower table finish this season. Even in our darkest hours the last few years I've gone into each game thinking we could well get a result here. But it feels like the old Alvin Martin days where you'd almost expect to lose or maybe scrape a dour 0-0.

Yeah you can talk about Ron, and injuries and tea leaves and FGR poaching harry, but it still ****ing sucks being in this league, I don't think we are a "Massive team" blah blah, but I certainly think given our support and history we are at least a league 2 team.

I haven't given up hope on the amigos and cosu etc, maybe it will all come good, but could well be another few years of this, which to put it mildly is a drag... and could well just be us die hards that turn up next year, as the floaters, kids, and glory hunters won't turn up to watch boring football where we lose.

 

[barton west]

The reason we played so well last year, over performed perhaps, and with the Dunkirk spirit aside, was that we had the best defence in the league. Ralph, Kensdale, Taylor, with Miley forming a protective screen, and a confident goalkeeper behind them. Only one of those five played today, Collin, and it seems his confidence may be shot.
Didn’t see the game today, listened on the wireless. Those who say that it was a nonsense to start with only one up front are completely correct. And why Bonne, not Pepple?
I posted at length a few weeks ago that the departures of Cardwell and Kensdale, together with Miley’s injury, followed by poor recruitment, had turned us from an upper mid-table side into one that would flirt with relegation.
Where are we in the league right now?
A poster has asked what are the reasons why Gateshead are so much better than us. They have better players than us brought about by better recruitment, they play attacking football, and are miles ahead tactically.
For those who will point out that I wasn’t at the match today, I saw Gateshead twice last season, home and away.

 

[Ipswhrimp]

As anyone who's played the game knows, half of football is in the head. The way the Gateshead players swaggered off the pitch after the warm-up reinforced my suspicion that we were in for a hard game. And as others have noted, Gateshead were good. Much of the time, they didn't let us play our best game.

Collin looks to me like a young man whose confidence is shot. He should have come for the ball with Gateshead's first goal but he backed off. His distribution was appalling. Curse Ipswich for poaching David Martin.

I agree with @Boreham Blue that Gubbins and Foran had decent first halves, the first goal apart.

It was a frustrating watch but we are where we are. Fingers crossed, things will improve as the season goes on.

 

[dusterman]

Well we criticise Kev and told it’s not kevs fault

We can’t criticise the players they are brilliant it’s not their fault

Well then you are not left with anything else other than the coaching , the footballs diabolical if it’s not the players or the manager then it’s the coach’s right.

Furry muff, thought there might have been so fact around it but I walked into that somewhat.

Fair dos, been out SZ’d. I blame the Guinness.

 

[rayleigh dan]

I thought we'd get beaten, and we did. Personally I feel recruitment has been substandard, and the model of bringing up and coming young players in and slowly bedding them in and improving them has been torn apart by injuries, key players leaving and missing all our first targets.


Take the best CB and ST and midfielder out of any team in the land and they would be massively set back.

We are throwing names into the team and hoping something sticks.

Recruiting older unfit players which we all hoped we wouldn't do again.

Team spirit and cohesion seems completely absent, unsurprising given the circumstances.

Kevs traditional game plan is null and void as it is all based around key personnel doing very specific jobs that aren't there any more.

Late and nonsensical substitutions.

Starting with one striker up front at home in front of thousands in the national league.

Not really adapting to just how important the extra amount of subs per game would be. This small squad mentality is a thing of the past imo.

I'm resigned to a lower table finish this season. Even in our darkest hours the last few years I've gone into each game thinking we could well get a result here. But it feels like the old Alvin Martin days where you'd almost expect to lose or maybe scrape a dour 0-0.

Yeah you can talk about Ron, and injuries and tea leaves and FGR poaching harry, but it still ****ing sucks being in this league, I don't think we are a "Massive team" blah blah, but I certainly think given our support and history we are at least a league 2 team.

I haven't given up hope on the amigos and cosu etc, maybe it will all come good, but could well be another few years of this, which to put it mildly is a drag... and could well just be us die hards that turn up next year, as the floaters, kids, and glory hunters won't turn up to match boring football where we lose.

Good post, I agree with most of what you say, but this part particularly stands out. My biggest criticism of Maher is not using the bench effectively and leaving subs too late. This season with 5 subs allowed it’s become even more apparent.

Every other team uses subs earlier to get more energy on, we only ever use 2 or 3 of the 5 allowed despite having knackered looking players. Of course our relatively small squad isn’t helping, but for example we had Wood and Pepple kicking their heels today. One came on when the game was more or less over, the other not at all, despite others running through treacle.

 

[barton west]

“ given our support and history we are at least a League 2 team”. Wrexham have a similar history and support. They got out of the Conference at the SIXTEENTH attempt.

 

[Guybrush13]

“ given our support and history we are at least a League 2 team”. Wrexham have a similar history and support. They got out of the Conference at the SIXTEENTH attempt.

And look at the money they had to spend to do it.

 

[Billy Bests boot laces]

One tactic I can't get my head around is having all 11 players defending corners. This only invites the opposition to pile everyone forward giving them a pick of free headers. Leaving one forward (Appiah Forsun would be the sensible choice), keeps two defenders back to deal with the counter pace. I don't get why this is happening.....

Nor do i!. Several times today when they had corners, the ball got headed or kicked out, only to fall at the feet of a Gateshead player as we had no-one outside our pen area, & subsequently they gain possession again so easily?.
Whereas they always had one player around the halfway line when we had a corner, flanked by 2 of ours.

 

[Holy Joe]

Right here we go.

My expectations ahead of kick off were low - Gateshead are a good, attacking side and we've been decimated at the back with Taylor and Ralph out.

The first 20 mins were poor, Gateshead were all over us and we conceded. I said on the match thread, it's gonna be a long afternoon. I was wrong.

A tactical change (plan B) with Husin dropping deeper alongside Morton and we looked better, We equalised with Moncur hooking a ball to KAF who laid it off to Gus to fire home. 1-1 at half time, not sure we deserved it, but we were in the game.

2nd half, I actually thought we had the better of it. There was far more play in the Heed penalty area than ours. But Heed just had better quality possession and moved the ball quicker and with real attacking purpose. 2 goals against us, one a pen that I'm still not convinced was justified, need to see a still or slomo or a different camera angle! Ultimately poor defending in all 3 goals has cost us. Probably not too surprising considering the patched up defence.

Overall reasonably entertaining game, I've been significantly less entertained in games this season (and prior seasons!)

Ratings all 5's - don't think anyone had a particularly bad or good game. When everyone is average, we'll get average performances like this.