Post-Match Thread and Ratings Southend United 1, Ipswich Town 1

[southend4life]

Don't think it would be wasted at all. Stopping goals is just as important as scoring goals, and we have potentially 2 other strikers capable (Harris/Corr) of getting 20 goals. We only have one defender who can dominate like Mohsni does.

Yes I know but with corr out for god knows how long and so is sturrock, we're left with Harris, Asante, Crawford and Paterson (if he stays) and we saw yesterday that the 4-3-3 in the first half left harris isolated so put mohsni up there and it all changed and I feel of phillips can stay fit then he could do a decent job. I don't feel that asante or crawford are 20 goal a season striker as they're not experienced enough and paterson's not even getting a look in so mohsni would be the ideal replacement IF and only IF he is a 20 goal a season striker.

 

[palexander]

Jesus Christ! Mohsni is not a striker. He is not a 20 goal a season striker. This place worries me at times.

 

[easton8]

Jesus Christ! Mohsni is not a striker. He is not a 20 goal a season striker. This place worries me at times.

In what way is he not a striker? PS obviously thinks he can play there. Ipswich couldn't handle him the other night, turned the game on its head when he went up front.

 

[tommy tucker]

Bill up frount is not only a temp measure but will at best lead to another blank season .Like everyone i love the guy but striker he isnt we do need either a fit corr very quickly to play along side Harris or get another striker into the club very quick .Which I beleve sturrock is trying to do .

 

[easton8]

Bill up frount is not only a temp measure but will at best lead to another blank season .Like everyone i love the guy but striker he isnt we do need either a fit corr very quickly to play along side Harris or get another striker into the club very quick .Which I beleve sturrock is trying to do .

If we had 2 Mohsni's one would play at the back and one would play up front. Wouldn't be a blank season it would be a promotion season.

 

[onceknownasrab]

Bill up frount is not only a temp measure but will at best lead to another blank season .Like everyone i love the guy but striker he isnt we do need either a fit corr very quickly to play along side Harris or get another striker into the club very quick .Which I beleve sturrock is trying to do .

Everyone would like a tried and tested striker to come on board and bang in oodles of goals. They are not as abundant as many would like to believe. As for Mohsni, I think he is as near to being a striker as he is to being a good defender. Whichever position he decides to adopt, he will only be a work in progress. He has the potential at either end of the pitch. In terms of temperament he may never make the grade in any position. Time will tell. One thing for sure in my mind is that up front, should he knuckle down and calm down, he will easily be as good as Corr and probably better. Cor did a good enough job last season but he is far from being a terrific player. Good at this level, maybe passable at the division above, but thats it. For all the goals he got last season, he should have scored a bucket load more but his true ability prevented that. His misses were far more in evidence than his goals. I thank him for his contribution and he was at home at the level we played last season, but Mohsni should look to some other names in football for a mentor.

 

[palexander]

In what way is he not a striker? PS obviously thinks he can play there. Ipswich couldn't handle him the other night, turned the game on its head when he went up front.

When he has played up front, how many goals has he scored?

I'm all for throwing your cb up front when you are chasing a game, I'd do it myself all the time - but mohsni at the moment is a cb not a striker. And people saying he is a "20 goal a season striker" is just silly and a bit insulting to players like Corr and Harris.

Its VERY hard to get 20 goals, just because you are a bit wild or have 'some deft touches' doesn't mean anything. He is a great defender for us and let's keep his adventures at the other end as cameos. We need a proper striker and I'm sure PS will be working hard on that this week.

 

[onceknownasrab]

When he has played up front, how many goals has he scored?

Its not about how many goals he has scored, its about how comfortable he was in that position and whether or not with some specific training and experience he could go on to be useful as a striker. Don't get me wrong, I am happy if he wants to polish up his defending and stay at the back, but I do feel he is so raw at the moment that he is not one thing nor the other and with guidance, could make it at one or both ends.

 

[davewebbsbrain]

Mohsni scores goals, gets into good positions, brings other players into the game, confuses the hell out of the opposition defence, and has that knack of being in the right place at the right time and just seems to be the kind of player that things happen for. I would lay money that if he had a full season up front, he would score 20 goals.

 

[palexander]

When he has played up front, how many goals has he scored?

Its not about how many goals he has scored, its about how comfortable he was in that position and whether or not with some specific training and experience he could go on to be useful as a striker. Don't get me wrong, I am happy if he wants to polish up his defending and stay at the back, but I do feel he is so raw at the moment that he is not one thing nor the other and with guidance, could make it at one or both ends.

I'll remember that when the arguments come back round to the benefits of Blair Sturrock! Double standards 'because its Mohsni?' :omg:

Look, I'm not saying its not worth a go and as I said, in an emergency or chasing the game - definitely throw him up there, but as a full time gig? You are losing your best defender and its an unknown gamble having him up top.

What is PS thinks like you guys and says "its worth a go". Starts the season with Harris and Mohsni up front and Phillps and Barker at the back? Phillips stays fit and plays brilliant - Mohsni, 6-8 games in hasnt scored and looks a bit out of place once he has a run.

So Mohsni ends up on the bench playing at neither end?...

 

[palexander]

Mohsni scores goals, gets into good positions, brings other players into the game, confuses the hell out of the opposition defence, and has that knack of being in the right place at the right time and just seems to be the kind of player that things happen for. I would lay money that if he had a full season up front, he would score 20 goals.

Sounds like a £5m forward already! I'm coming round to the idea... :dim:

 

[onceknownasrab]

I'll remember that when the arguments come back round to the benefits of Blair Sturrock! Double standards 'because its Mohsni?' :omg:

Arguments will come back about every player. If Harris has a lean spell in front of goal some fans will tell him he is manure. As for Mohsni being our best defender i can't agree. Barker is our best defender, simply because of consistency. Mohsni, I agree, could become our best defender or maybe even our best striker. One thing for sure is he needs to work with anger management issues before he becomes the dogs at anything. As I said, he is so raw, its now the decisions have to be made about his future and if they want to convert him into a striker its within his capabilities skill-wise. He just needs to learn and learn a lot, whatever position he opts for.

 

[Grayson]

When he has played up front, how many goals has he scored?

Two in 1.5 league games I believe, not counting the odd 5 minutes here and there when he's gone up at the end of a match. If you add them though it'd be around 2 goals in 2 full games. Not bad, is it?

EDIT: easton8 has the right answer two posts below mine.

 

[davewebbsbrain]

I'll remember that when the arguments come back round to the benefits of Blair Sturrock! Double standards 'because its Mohsni?' :omg:

Look, I'm not saying its not worth a go and as I said, in an emergency or chasing the game - definitely throw him up there, but as a full time gig? You are losing your best defender and its an unknown gamble having him up top.

What is PS thinks like you guys and says "its worth a go". Starts the season with Harris and Mohsni up front and Phillps and Barker at the back? Phillips stays fit and plays brilliant - Mohsni, 6-8 games in hasnt scored and looks a bit out of place once he has a run.

So Mohsni ends up on the bench playing at neither end?...

TBH, neither of those scenarios are likely to happen lol

Phillips will be out injured in 3 games and Mohsni looks dangerous every time he goes forward. What you have to also bear in mind that he is such a handful that defences will be so confused by him that it will leave other players free.

 

[easton8]

When he has played up front, how many goals has he scored?

He's basically got 3 in 3 games if you add up the mins played as striker. Bury when he came on as sub, then 2 goals v Macclesfield next game. His 5 goals in 21 games last season amounts to 0.21 per game and he would need to raise this to about 0.4 a game to reach 20.

 

[South Bank Hank]

Arguments will come back about every player. If Harris has a lean spell in front of goal some fans will tell him he is manure. As for Mohsni being our best defender i can't agree. Barker is our best defender, simply because of consistency. Mohsni, I agree, could become our best defender or maybe even our best striker. One thing for sure is he needs to work with anger management issues before he becomes the dogs at anything. As I said, he is so raw, its now the decisions have to be made about his future and if they want to convert him into a striker its within his capabilities skill-wise. He just needs to learn and learn a lot, whatever position he opts for.

A good argument. What we need to remember is how this is Mozzer's first stint in professional football. As you say, he's got so much talent with so much rough around the edges that we still probably don't know his best position yet - he probably doesn't know himself. Isn't it the way of the world for us sometimes that we'd sell him "cheaply" as a defender only for someone else to find out his true worth as a striker. I say, let's find out for ourselves. He's played up there a few times now and far from let us down. Dion Dublin, Paul Warhurst, Chris Sutton, Christopher Samba and many others have shown how it can work. Dwight Yorke even did it the other way.

Just think we need to keep an open mind about this. Whatever the unique qualities are that a striker needs, it's pretty clear to me that a season up front for the unorthodox, talented, mercurial, nutcase would be a pretty special one. What a great fun season. Even if he wasn't cracking in the goals, he'd be causing havoc in the box for someone else to take advantage of - and we could always slot him back in at the back if we needed to.

Great that we can even have this debate!

 

[OldBlueLady]

Mohsni is great to have as a not so secret weapon up front, for now, I'd like him to concentrate on his defensive development and controlling the temper. He's got to learn that he doesn't have to DO everything, there are other players in the team that are probably quite adequately coping in a given situation without him bulldozering his way in. I fear for a match where suddenly there's no Coughlan or Barker alongside as Prosser and Phillips would have no luck controlling him! Once this is all in hand, then let's develop his striking abilities.

 

[Beefy]

Jesus Christ! Mohsni is not a striker. He is not a 20 goal a season striker. This place worries me at times.

Isn't he only a centre-half because that's where PS decided to play him last year? This isn't like moving a Barrett or a Prior upfront after 15 or 20 years playing a different position through youth teams and the like.

 

[South Bank Hank]

Isn't he only a centre-half because that's where PS decided to play him last year? This isn't like moving a Barrett or a Prior upfront after 15 or 20 years playing a different position through youth teams and the like.

Exactly my take on it. How do we know he's not a striker? He hasn't exactly made a career there.

Quite happy to let PS do what's necessary (including smashing the 'Bowyers' out of him) and see where he ends up.

 

[kentblues]

When we had this debate last season he said he started up front and got converted into a centre back when in France? This is why he doesn't look completely at sea up front as many CB's would. He could be very very good at either- but needs to be one or the other so he can develop. For that decision PS knows best- I suspect Mr harris would like Biliel up top every week as I suspect he would be the beneficialry of much of the ensuing choas in the opposition defense.


What may just play here is that Mark Phillips looks like a new signing and he alongside Barker with coughlan and Prosser for cover may just tempt PS to give it a go