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

[Andy_S]

OMG :O Lord Football! You were watching the same Macca as me and one that very few others seem to recognise. As it goes I had Friend MotM, thought he hardly put a foot wrong and I thought people were really very harsh on Franny Laurent - the conditions didn't suit him, and even less soafter he'd headbutted the wall of the north bank with a thud you could hear from our stand.

Incidentally, who was the deflection off for the 2nd?

Mildy - 7, did ok, conditions were crap, couple of fantastic saves, very poor decision on 1st goal cost us our concentration really
Sankofa - 7, got forward but he can't cross, I know Franno was needed in the middle but at 3-1 down I'd rather have seen a switch there
Franno - 7, coped well with Lambert I thought, got skinned a few times when drawn out to their left wing though
Barrett - 7.5, good performance from the Skip, some decisive heading and forward play
Friend - 8, brilliant free kick for our goal, and presented a constant threat down the left
Laurent - 7, excellent in first half hour, then got chopped a few times and head butted wall as mentioned, conditions didn't suit him at all
Macca - 7.5, learn to "zip it" mate, please, we all know they were cheating bar stewards, and the ref was obviously Mr Magoo's young relative - and get the ankle sorted...there's a good lad
Grant - 7.5, with Macca a dual force in the middle, breaking stuff up to, in theory, allow the two wider players the chance to create. Trouble was Soton were at us quick as anything whenever we tried...that was the difference between the sides
Moussa - 7, fail to see how people reckon he was MotM, was pretty much a non entity in the 1st
Barney - 7, was getting nowhere today despite his best efforts, the giants of the defence saw to that
Dougie - 7, he tried, bless him, and there was some decent stuff. Bit too much accentuated diving for my liking

Subs:
Sawyer for Dougie - 7, was on for about 5 mins before a touch, and then it was a header. Blinding run with the ball, trouble was it was across the pitch - Lee, if you're going to even attempt to be Southend's saviour, please learn to go forward
O'Donovan for Laurent - no mark, not really enough opportunity
Jeff for Macca - ditto

Officials - 2, were crap....as usual. Wish I could remember which game I remember Hegley from, wish he'd swallow his bloody whistle!

TBV - Excellent work again on the drums guys, crowd much smaller than I'd thought, and slow to join in but you kept it going.

The word generous doesn't even begin to describe that..........:stunned: :D

 

[Medway Blue]

When we're not getting any movement from throw ins then we know things have become bad.

This I agree with. We just don't seem to have a lot of off-the-ball movement anywhere. If we did, we might pull teams out of shape a bit more. Unfortunately, for me, the distinct lack of off-the-ball movement all over the pitch is in indication of a team that has little footballing intelligence. Of the three intelligent footballers with vision that we have, one is on his last legs (Freedman), one is out of position (Moussa) and the other is on the bench when he should be starting.

 

[Andy_S]

Memo to Tilly

When we have a corner, don't just pack the 6 yard box, but have a couple of players on the edge of the penalty area. At least two of our corners were cleared to the edge of the box where one of their players cleared without challenge.

Indeed. I have a few pet hates about what we do on the pitch, but this is most definitely one of them. Why on earth we don't have at least one there beggars belief. We never look threatening from corners as it is so more often than not the opposition head it out to the edge of the box anyway.

 

[BlueBeard]

Sorry OldBlueLady but are you really Wiggy and have transferred your passion for Flavs to Macca you are starting to be very blinkered where he is concerned he was not the worse player on the pitch but was just another of the average ones as for friend thought he had one good free kick but Harding could have given him a master class in how to frustrate a player and prevent them getting any decent passes in. Thought Southampton were much quicker in all areas of the pitch and once they were 3-1 up were quite happy to contain us and we had no width or pace to open them up.

 

[OldBlueLady]

The word generous doesn't even begin to describe that..........:stunned: :D

Shurrup -

Sorry OldBlueLady but are you really Wiggy and have transferred your passion for Flavs to Macca you are starting to be very blinkered where he is concerned he was not the worse player on the pitch but was just another of the average ones as for friend thought he had one good free kick but Harding could have given him a master class in how to frustrate a player and prevent them getting any decent passes in. Thought Southampton were much quicker in all areas of the pitch and once they were 3-1 up were quite happy to contain us and we had no width or pace to open them up.

And wash your mouth out!

 

[haveaguiness]

That's because our whole defence is in the box and our midfielders - particularly our CMs - are usually playing the part of "last man" to deal with the break. Admittedly Sanks is usually back too, but tonight, too often it was Grant and Macca back.

Thats because Grant is quick and Macca was having a rest because he is unfit. A lot of people around me tonight were saying he is looking unfit, blowing hard after 70 minutes or so when he hasn't really done a lot of running.

Did anyone else see the comment from Freedman in the paper if you didn't this is it:

“But it’s not just about the games it’s how you also look after yourself during the week between Monday and Friday to make sure you’re ready for matches.”

Make of it what you will, but it has been mentioned on here plenty of times.

 

[Medway Blue]

Indeed. I have a few pet hates about what we do on the pitch, but this is most definitely one of them. Why on earth we don't have at least one there beggars belief. We never look threatening from corners as it is so more often than not the opposition head it out to the edge of the box anyway.

We can't really say that tactics and meticulously-plannned set piece moves are our management team's strong points, unfortunately.

 

[OldBlueLady]

Thats because Grant is quick and Macca was having a rest because he is unfit. A lot of people around me tonight were saying he is looking unfit, blowing hard after 70 minutes or so when he hasn't really done a lot of running.

Did anyone else see the comment from Freedman in the paper if you didn't this is it:

“But it’s not just about the games it’s how you also look after yourself during the week between Monday and Friday to make sure you’re ready for matches.”

Make of it what you will, but it has been mentioned on here plenty of times.

I'm guessing you're having a pop at Macca again here, well, let's just remember the end to end continuous running he was doing here tonight. Him and Grant covered absolute acres more than anyone else.

 

[CyrilSneer]

OMG :O Lord Football! You were watching the same Macca as me and one that very few others seem to recognise. As it goes I had Friend MotM, thought he hardly put a foot wrong and I thought people were really very harsh on Franny Laurent - the conditions didn't suit him, and even less soafter he'd headbutted the wall of the north bank with a thud you could hear from our stand.

Incidentally, who was the deflection off for the 2nd?

Mildy - 7, did ok, conditions were crap, couple of fantastic saves, very poor decision on 1st goal cost us our concentration really
Sankofa - 7, got forward but he can't cross, I know Franno was needed in the middle but at 3-1 down I'd rather have seen a switch there
Franno - 7, coped well with Lambert I thought, got skinned a few times when drawn out to their left wing though
Barrett - 7.5, good performance from the Skip, some decisive heading and forward play
Friend - 8, brilliant free kick for our goal, and presented a constant threat down the left
Laurent - 7, excellent in first half hour, then got chopped a few times and head butted wall as mentioned, conditions didn't suit him at all
Macca - 7.5, learn to "zip it" mate, please, we all know they were cheating bar stewards, and the ref was obviously Mr Magoo's young relative - and get the ankle sorted...there's a good lad
Grant - 7.5, with Macca a dual force in the middle, breaking stuff up to, in theory, allow the two wider players the chance to create. Trouble was Soton were at us quick as anything whenever we tried...that was the difference between the sides
Moussa - 7, fail to see how people reckon he was MotM, was pretty much a non entity in the 1st
Barney - 7, was getting nowhere today despite his best efforts, the giants of the defence saw to that
Dougie - 7, he tried, bless him, and there was some decent stuff. Bit too much accentuated diving for my liking

Subs:
Sawyer for Dougie - 7, was on for about 5 mins before a touch, and then it was a header. Blinding run with the ball, trouble was it was across the pitch - Lee, if you're going to even attempt to be Southend's saviour, please learn to go forward
O'Donovan for Laurent - no mark, not really enough opportunity
Jeff for Macca - ditto

Officials - 2, were crap....as usual. Wish I could remember which game I remember Hegley from, wish he'd swallow his bloody whistle!

TBV - Excellent work again on the drums guys, crowd much smaller than I'd thought, and slow to join in but you kept it going.

Probably the worst set of ratings I have ever seen on here. These ratings reflect a 3-1 victory, not a defeat. How, when we had conceded 3 goals before half time do all our defenders receive 7 or above.

Friend, apart from a free-kick, was poor, as were all of the back four today. McCormack and Grant did have decent games. Moussa played better that he has been recently, and Harding soon got to wise to Laurent, and kept him quiet.
There wasn't much the strikers could do with no service. Its always a bad sign when Barney is coming into his own half to receive the ball.

Overall, extremely poor. Moussa maybe the best of them today, with a 6.5. No one deserved any higher rating than this

 

[Andy_S]

We can't really say that tactics and meticulously-plannned set piece moves are our management team's strong points, unfortunately.

Touche. I'm hoping that if M'Voto returns from wherever James Walker went for many a month, that we'll actually have a hope of scoring from a set piece again. Although no doubt we'll ignore the 6ft 4in, 14 and a half stone big black guy and aim everything at the 5ft 11in bald white guy with the 50p coin for a head like we normally do.

 

[haveaguiness]

I'm guessing you're having a pop at Macca again here, well, let's just remember the end to end continuous running he was doing here tonight. Him and Grant covered absolute acres more than anyone else.

What end to end continuous running though? he hardly moved out of the centre circle most of the game! Anyway he should be fit enough if he looks after himself to be able to last 90 minutes of running around for that long. Its not a secret he likes to enjoy himself so dont try and deny it.

And its not a pop at macca but also a couple of others. I mean we only had 6 subs again tonight because Scannell is on a pre season training program to get fit. He has only been out for 3 weeks, how the hell can he get so unfit!!! its a joke. They are supposed to be proffessionals and look after themseleves, freedman is right!!!

 

[Medway Blue]

Probably the worst set of ratings I have ever seen on here. These ratings reflect a 3-1 victory, not a defeat. How, when we had conceded 3 goals before half time do all our defenders receive 7 or above.

Friend, apart from a free-kick, was poor, as were all of the back four today. McCormack and Grant did have decent games. Moussa played better that he has been recently, and Harding soon got to wise to Laurent, and kept him quiet.
There wasn't much the strikers could do with no service. Its always a bad sign when Barney is coming into his own half to receive the ball.

Overall, extremely poor. Moussa maybe the best of them today, with a 6.5. No one deserved any higher rating than this

This I disagree with. I thought he had by far his best game for us tonight and for the first time since he joined us, I can't fault him for anything. Only part of the defence worth a 7+.

Disagree about the forards too. Last few games, I'd agree about the service thing, but they got a more service than usual tonight but never looked like scoring.

 

[bazzashrimper]

We didn't play too badly going forwards, but defensively we were nothing short of woeful so we deserved to lose the game. We are a centre half short at the moment - Francis showed tonight why he's a right back, Barrett showed why he needs a big (M'voto, Dervite, Sodje or Prior) playing alongside him - between them they never won a header all evening.

Sankofa didn't do too badly tonight, but Tilly feels he has to switch the defense to put him where least harm will be done. If we had CB cover even in the mould of someone like the Garry Richards we would be a better team defensively.

Friend had his best game for us - goal apart he played very well.

Moussa was excellent - just gets better.

Laurent was pretty good until about 20 mins in when Saints worked out he wouldn't pass the ball and just stood off him. Eventually he decided to try and pass, but was terrible. Should have been subbed far sooner than he was

Freedman, I thought he played really well - his role behind barney gave him time on the ball to run at Saints and he caused a few problems.

Barney - "worked his socks off", but fed on scraps.

Now, Macca - I thought he had his best game for a while tonight. However, when Sawyer came on his turning on the ball, dribbling and vision (that ball to Sankofa) was far superior to anything else on display out there. I'm not saying to necessarily drop Macca, Tilly should try to find a place for him, but Sawyer needs to play in centre midfield. That attacking position is so important in your home games and a couple of decent long balls out to wingers isn't enough in 90 mins I'm afraid.

O'Donovan - 3-1 down and he comes on for the last 5 minutes - Tilly even brought a midfielder on in the 4-4-1-1 formation ahead of him. Don't think he will still be here next weekend.

 

[OldBlueLady]

Matter of opinions isn't it? I really didn't think we were that bad tonight, we were unfortunate in some poor decisions and that knocked the stuffing out of us a bit. The ref was giving very little our way, and the lino next to nothing.

I'm always on the positive side, you know that, and I think we were grossly unfortunate in conceding the first two goals.

 

[Medway Blue]

Touche. I'm hoping that if M'Voto returns from wherever James Walker went for many a month, that we'll actually have a hope of scoring from a set piece again. Although no doubt we'll ignore the 6ft 4in, 14 and a half stone big black guy and aim everything at the 5ft 11in bald white guy with the 50p coin for a head like we normally do.

Ha! Yes, no doubt that will happen.

It shouldn't be difficult to arrange the set-up for a corner. One man standing on each post to occupy defenders, one man charging at each post, one man running into the middle of the six yard box from deep, one man trying to put-off the goalie (without fouling him) and a man lurking outside the box to sweep anything up or hit a long-range shot.

 

[palexander]

Thought it was pretty awful tonight - and whats that, 3 out of the last 4 games now you can say that about.

Really not looking forward to Brizzle next week.

We are a side out of ideas now - and that comes from the management, who to be fair are completely 'hands tied' now, so I just see a situation that isnt going to get any better.

Tilson lets (ok, to be fair - maybe FORCED) 2 strikers out on loan, loans one in who is found out to be awful and dropped before his month is up and leaves us with Freedman as out only attacking outlet.

I dont know where we go from here. Head says 'back to basics' - when at least we looked solid and got results - Francis RB, Grant RB and Laurent up top. Stick Sawyer in midfield WITH Macca and try that. We havent got much else in the way of choice.

Fear its going to be a looooooong winter.

Plus I heard the tax money payment is coming up soon and (totally unsubstantiated, but apparantly reliable) rumour is we still havent got the money for it and are looking at administration. Dont shoot me down, I am just passing on what I over-heard...

 

[Medway Blue]

We didn't play too badly going forwards, but defensively we were nothing short of woeful so we deserved to lose the game. We are a centre half short at the moment - Francis showed tonight why he's a right back, Barrett showed why he needs a big (M'voto, Dervite, Sodje or Prior) playing alongside him - between them they never won a header all evening.

Sankofa didn't do too badly tonight, but Tilly feels he has to switch the defense to put him where least harm will be done. If we had CB cover even in the mould of someone like the Garry Richards we would be a better team defensively.

Friend had his best game for us - goal apart he played very well.

Moussa was excellent - just gets better.

Laurent was pretty good until about 20 mins in when Saints worked out he wouldn't pass the ball and just stood off him. Eventually he decided to try and pass, but was terrible. Should have been subbed far sooner than he was

Freedman, I thought he played really well - his role behind barney gave him time on the ball to run at Saints and he caused a few problems.

Barney - "worked his socks off", but fed on scraps.

Now, Macca - I thought he had his best game for a while tonight. However, when Sawyer came on his turning on the ball, dribbling and vision (that ball to Sankofa) was far superior to anything else on display out there. I'm not saying to necessarily drop Macca, Tilly should try to find a place for him, but Sawyer needs to play in centre midfield. That attacking position is so important in your home games and a couple of decent long balls out to wingers isn't enough in 90 mins I'm afraid.

O'Donovan - 3-1 down and he comes on for the last 5 minutes - Tilly even brought a midfielder on in the 4-4-1-1 formation ahead of him. Don't think he will still be here next weekend.

Hurrah! I'm glad I'm not the only person who saw that. He has a vision that no-one else has, and we NEED that on the pitch, because one of these days, one of those balls will be trough to a striker and it'll be in the onion bag. People criticising Sawyer saying they can't see what he offers must have closed their eyes when he did that.

 

[palexander]

Matter of opinions isn't it? I really didn't think we were that bad tonight, we were unfortunate in some poor decisions and that knocked the stuffing out of us a bit. The ref was giving very little our way, and the lino next to nothing.

I'm always on the positive side, you know that, and I think we were grossly unfortunate in conceding the first two goals.

What poor decisions? Ref was bad for both sides and whatever happened for the first goal (I think Mildy let it go), it was Mildenhalls mistake - he should have held it or put it behind.

2nd goal was Frannos fault - deflection didnt help of course, but awful 'clearance'.

 

[OldBlueLady]

Hurrah! I'm glad I'm not the only person who saw that. He has a vision that no-one else has, and we NEED that on the pitch, because one of these days, one of those balls will be trough to a striker and it'll be in the onion bag. People criticising Sawyer saying they can't see what he offers must have closed their eyes when he did that.

Yes, but someone with "vision" would have known that Sankofa was NOT the player to pass to under those circumstances! :thump:

 

[haveaguiness]

Hurrah! I'm glad I'm not the only person who saw that. He has a vision that no-one else has, and we NEED that on the pitch, because one of these days, one of those balls will be trough to a striker and it'll be in the onion bag. People criticising Sawyer saying they can't see what he offers must have closed their eyes when he did that.

I agree with you, how we can have someone that talented sitting on the bench is unbelievable .