Post-Match Thread and Ratings Southend United 1 v Port Vale 3

[OldBlueLady]

Haven't read everything on this thread so far, came dashing back from MK's wedding hoping for a performance to enthuse about, sadly disappointed. Ok, firstly League 2, Port Vale were thugs of the highest order and this is what we've got to adjust to. I suggest Matt Paterson gets himself in the gym with Lawrence Bloom and acquires a hearty dose of whatever sorted Barney out last year otherwise he is gonna get nowhere. Secondly we have to learn some guile, once we realised we were going to get nothing out of the officials then we should have been employing dirty tactics (God, what I wouldn't give for Macca back right now!) off the ball and underhand, beat the *******s at their own game. This is where Paul Sturrock has to use his players to our advantage. I have no idea why Barry Corr didn't start yesterday but the game was crying out for him - that's not a slight on Blair btw, who is very good at holding the ball up - but Paterson was an innocent out there. Screech (and what happened to the hair?!) was miles better when he came on because he used his brain. As others have said, Morris was probably our best player although a word for Craig Easton who never gave up and was probably our only outfield player to even attempt to get to grips.

Morris - 6, can't go higher, still let in 3
Coughlan - 4, learn to tackle man! This is really starting to bug me
Coughlan - 4, would've expected better from a seasoned pro
Prosser - 3, oh dear
Barker - 5, provided an outlet that was sadly ignored
Soares - 4, gutted he got the start, thought Ryan Hall was odds on. Has skill but in this league that is not enough
Grant - 5, absent in 1st half, stifled by the ref from early on
Easton - 6, kept on, tried and challenged
Zaaboub - 5, why didn't Hall play?
Sturrock - 6, holds the ball up well but not options to do anything with it
Paterson - 5, boy amongst the men, beef it up

Subs:
Phillips for Prosser - 5, better but not much, seemed at least to work better with Coughlan
Corr for Sturrock - 6, most influential of the subs, should've started
Spencer for ? (can't remember, Zaaboub?) - 6, showed energy and upset PV's organised defence

Officials - 1, and that was for the East line lino, the West one missed everything and the ref was dire. Rarely have I been so infuriated by a collective bunch of officials.

 

[Southminster_Shrimper]

Morris - 8 for keeping the score as low as it was. Some great saves in the first half especially the one which that blind oaf of a ref gave a goal kick for!

Rest - 0 for turning up. Absolutely shocking lack of effort. A few made token efforts but simply werent good enough to be on that pitch. The people with the forks did more!

Soares gets a specially awarded -10. He is absolute toilet he really is. Just because you take corners and get a deflected goal you do not deserve to be in the starting 11. More is needed for this clown or get him off and put someone on who is half decent. Or get Betsy back! ;)

 

[Strykr]

Find it quite fascinating how anybody can rate anyone other then the keeper above a 3.
it was absolutely atrocious, even if you dislike tilly, none of his teams ever played as poorly as that, the hardest thing for me was losing the will to care, i dont know who any of these people are, and none of them seem any good at even the basics, i'll always be SUFC but for the first time in 20 odd years i felt like leaving early, and first time ever ive not celebrated a goal. like a lot of you ive seen crap like this before but all of a sudden it seems theres no heart involved in the club, hope these guys come good, i genuinely do, but on that performance its non league all the way. and **** me the standard of football in league 2 is dire, worse then i remember tbh!

 

[jackspratt]

Fisrt game of season for me and last what a load rubbish, glad didnt renew season ticket this year, game could of ended 1-6


Morris - 6
Coughlan - 4
Clohessy - 4
Prosser - 2
Barker - 5
Soares - 4
Grant - 5,
Easton - 4
Zaaboub - 4
Sturrock - 4
Paterson - 5

Subs:
Phillips- 5
Corr - 6
Spencer - 6

Officials - 1

 

[Rayleigh Blue]

Man of the match should have been the supporter that watched that crap

 

[Kris]

As usual I see, people have let their feelings run away with them. Which is what ironically happened after the Bristol City game also. This is a brand new team in a new League. Surely people expected days like today early on? If not, you are very, very naive! After Bristol we were champions, after today we're in the Conference blah blah, this never would've happened under Tilly blah blah, Ron Martin is this and that blah blah, look at me I was proved right blah blah. Seriously, come on people. It was a shoddy performance yes, there were some baffling selections yes, but it's the THIRD league game of the season. The management and players WILL learn from today. Especially as in my opinion, Port Vale were League Two in a nutshell - not masses of ability, but big, strong lumps who get in your face and who are well organised and well drilled. Easton and Grant never got a kick because they weren't allowed any time. Paterson and Sturrock didn't get a kick because they were up against two great oafs. I'm sure PS has learnt even more today, which will be used in the near future. Games like this, are, ironically, needed.

Excellent and refreshing post. I'd green you if I could although there appears to be a rep glitch at the moment and I think I'd have to spread it around first anyway.

There were people digitally masturbating after the Bristol City game and essentially describing us as worldbeaters, and now all of a sudden we're a Sunday pub side. Don't get me wrong, we were awful yesterday, really awful, but to be honest I think some are going over the top about the depths of the performance because for me it was no worse than some of the dross we served up last season either; the so-called easy-wins that we flunked at home to Wycombe, Tranmere, Exeter and Yeovil being every bit as bad IMO.

Port Vale will definitely be challenging for promotion this season as far as I'm concerned. They were devastating on the counter-attack and they turned over QPR at Loftus Road as well so we didn't lose to a bunch of no-hopers, unlike in the infamous Boston match quoted on here (for me that really was the epitome of rock bottom!).

It's going to be a long, hard season but we have to give the management and players time; they've had very little of that together. Sturrock knows what he's doing and he'll mould us into enough of a decent unit to consolidate this season and build a base to work on next summer. We only had 2 points from the first 5 games last time we were in this division and we didn't do too badly then.

 

[Vultan]

Okay, here's my input about the game like it or lump it. ;)

Basically IMO I think sturrock got the team wrong from the start, and after about 5mins I think it showed... It seemed like the plan of attack was to lump it forward to blair the target man for him to knock on or hold up...unfortunately he didn't do either. I don't think he won one header....
If they really wanted to play long ball, you needed Corr as the target man who has already proven he can play that role. I also think Spencer should be starting ahead of soares on that right wing, Soares just seems exteremly lightweight and I can't see an ounce of confidence in the guy at all.
Grant did seem quite lost out there on sat, couldn't really take game by scruff of neck but then I think that's cos port vale's players pressed quite well.
The defence I think again seemed nervous, maybe cos they were up against a very good port vale side, (who i thought played poorly even for them).

To be honest I think the team are still learning to play with one another which is understandable after such a short spell of time with one another, find it very hard to blame anyone in particular, I just think Sturrock got the team wrong on the day! Maybe he knows that now and will def change things around, but that's apart & parcel with having new team...gonna take sometime to find the right balance...let's just hope that balance is found soon, otherwise could be very long season!

One last comment as well, I see people on here saying bout fans slagging off players etc....I must admit i didn't hear anything! Although, I was sat in East Stand and I really just can't believe how quiet it is?! Considering you're right by the away fans, i thought that's where noise should come from...especially the banter!

Anyway, here's to the next game at Wolves where I think Southend will put in a performance, let's just hope they take that performance to the league!

 

[Ulysses]

Forgot

Morris - 6.5
Colhessy - 8
Prosser 5.5
Coughlan 7
Barker 6.5
Grant 7
Easton 6.5
Soares 6.5
Zaaboob 6
Paterson 6
Sturrock Jnr 6

Subs
Phillips 6
Corr 6
Spencer 5.5

Next game - Evans, Colhessy, Bilel, Coughlan, Barker, Soares, Easton, Grant, Hall, Crawford, Corr

 

[brigadista]

A lot of people have said that Sturrock is only playing cos of his dad, but I think he is an intelligent player, who has skill, vision and is able to bring the midfield into the game with his link up play. He was fouled continuously yesterday and the ref was blind to it.

I'm sorry but do you really believe he'd be at the club if it weren't for his old boy? he's toilet, watching him, Corr and Paterson at Aldershot was like going back in time to Jeroen Boer or Drew Broughton. Keeper lumps it up field, then they pretend to make and effort to head it, complain the center back fouled them, or are then offside and run even slower than the donkey pace to actually get where they are, to get back onside.

The only reason there is hoof it football back at the hall is because all 3 are totally devoid of movement or any pace whatsoever.

 

[Onion_Bag_Dave]

I'm sorry but do you really believe he'd be at the club if it weren't for his old boy? he's toilet, watching him, Corr and Paterson at Aldershot was like going back in time to Jeroen Boer or Drew Broughton. Keeper lumps it up field, then they pretend to make and effort to head it, complain the center back fouled them, or are then offside and run even slower than the donkey pace to actually get where they are, to get back onside.

The only reason there is hoof it football back at the hall is because all 3 are totally devoid of movement or any pace whatsoever.

You are wrong about Blair, he has very good vision, very good passing abilities and can bring the ball down and play people into the game. He isn't a goal scorer though. He will get a few though! A player can have a bad game.

 

[TravellingBlue]

I'm sorry but do you really believe he'd be at the club if it weren't for his old boy? he's toilet, watching him, Corr and Paterson at Aldershot was like going back in time to Jeroen Boer or Drew Broughton. Keeper lumps it up field, then they pretend to make and effort to head it, complain the center back fouled them, or are then offside and run even slower than the donkey pace to actually get where they are, to get back onside.

The only reason there is hoof it football back at the hall is because all 3 are totally devoid of movement or any pace whatsoever.

Strange, Corr and Sturrock do not suit each others play (as they are both too similar) and therefore shouldn't start together, that I agree. Paterson played maybe ten/twelve minutes at Aldershot? We have two hold up centre forwards in Corr and Sturrock, it is up to Paterson to feed off of both of them. Give them time, let them get a few games under their belts and then see where we are at.

As for hoof ball, this is where I will say that on Saturday every defender was guilty of it, however, the panic had set in after we lost quite an early goal and discovered that PV were actually quite a good football side! I failed to see a single pass from defence (or midfield to that matter) which went to the feet of any of the strikers or even down the channels. What I did count was 24 occasions when the ball was simply hoofed and the PV goalkeeper had the easiest of tasks of just picking it up!

As for the nepotism you describe, I have been quite impressed with Blair in the few games I have seen him play.

I know patience is a virtue, but we need to give them time and have masses of patience!

 

[brigadista]

two words for you chaps.......Daniel Webb

 

[OldBlueLady]

two words for you chaps.......Daniel Webb

And history doesn't always repeat itself, I've also been fairly impressed with Blair, he's one of only a few players that seems to know how to aim a decent cross into the box and he certainly holds the ball up well, as others have said.

 

[Napster]

two words for you chaps.......Daniel Webb

and another - David Jack.

 

[canveyshrimper]

and another - David Jack.

Two more, Danny Greaves.

 

[Napster]

Two more, Danny Greaves.

I dont remember Jimmy managing the Shrimpers?

 

[Matt the Shrimp]

Two more (well, son-in-law): Carl Emberson