Post-Match Thread and Ratings Southend United 2-0 Oldham Athletic

[AndyT]

Exactly as I saw it 'southendkid'. .. and also the way we played at MK Dons.

As you say, the difference was that we got that second goal and the oppo didn't get back in the game, as they missed their chance to level it up, whereas Oxford and MK Dons didn't.

Work-rate in all 3 matches has been excellent and you can tell the side looks better with MAF starting.

Turner grows every game. You can see why he played in the Premier League.

Hendrie played like he did against Coventry the season he was on-loan. So quick and decisive going forward and good delivery, as 'Rigsby' said. Way better than Cokes, even. He was knackered at about 75 minutes, but we managed the game well after that and he could take a breather.

Think he'll link well on the left with Macca, though I did notice Macca and Kites swapped sides for most of the first-half.

All in all, starting to really take shape as a side.

 

[OldBlueLady]

I like Marco but am surprised at so many having him as MOTM, first half I thought he was fairly anonymous. Surprised at Oxley's MOTM from the sponsors, I had Hendrie, Lenny and Ferdinand ahead of him. Delighted for Hendrie that he had such an impressive game and showed how a decent cross could be put into the opposition box several times. I felt we looked much better 2nd half, with some quality passing centring around Woody.

Oxley - 7.5, great penalty save
Demetriou - 7.5, confidently took his penalty.... and scored! Then gave one away
Turner - 7, did ok, we need to utilise his height more in their penalty area
Ferdinand - 8, thought he had a great game
Hendrie - 8.5, who is this man? He was the Hendrie we had briefly on loan who so impressed!
Kightly - 7, some good stuff then a hamstring problem
Leonard - 9, my MOTM, central to everything, broke play up and forced play forward, brave and committed
Wright - 8, very solid game and well taken goal
McLaughlin - 8, excellent work down the wing, another assist
Cox - 7.5, worked incredibly hard
Fortune - 7.5, pretty anonymous 1st half but much better in the 2nd

Subs:
Woody for Kightly - 7.5, saw that quality in the pass
Ba for Cox - 7, didn't get much chance

 

[Leoblue]

Well, that's the left-back issue resolved.

A special nod, also, to :-

Mark Oxley
Jason Demetriou
Anton Ferdinand
Michael Turner
Josh Wright
and
Marc Antoine-Fortune

I might get slated for this, but I didn't think we played any better or worse than the previous two games, IMHO.

RATINGS :

Oxley 8, Demetriou 8, Turner 8, Ferdinand 8, Hendrie 8.5, Kightly 7, Leonard 7.5, Wright 8, McLaughlin 7, MAF 9 MOM, Cox 7

I think you're right. On the radio they said he had a good game. So pleased for the lad......

 

[Leoblue]

Why have you not even mentioned Anton Ferdinand in your match report :winking:

Stop it you wind up hahahahaha.

DWB is the only one who has come up on here today and said we played well.

 

[rayleigh dan]

Much better defensively and I've got to hand it to PB, many we're calling for Anton's head but he was very good today. Best performance overall since Blackburn and about time too!

Oxley 8 - Penalty save and very solid throughout.

Demetriou 8 MOM - Convincing pen and played very well too. I thought the pen decision against him was very harsh.
Hendrie 7 - Massive improvement on his early season form. Bar one rash sliding tackle in the second half, he kept his head and was defensively sound. Good going forward and one cross Lenny should have done better from. Deserves to keep his place.
Turner 7 - Good in the air, distribution was suspect at times and sold himself too early in occasion. Not as good as last week but played his part and is looking a good signing now.
Ferdinand 8 - Huge improvement, like light and day following his horror show last week. Read the game really well and kept things simple.

Kightly 7 - Great cross field pass started the move for our first goal. Hopefully the injury's not too bad.
Leonard 8 - Superb yet again, only sour note was missing that headed chance in the first half.
Wright 7 - For me he looked better on the right after being a little redundant early on. Having said that he did win the pen! Took his chance well too.
McLaughlin 7 - Super cross for Wright's goal. I was a bit disappointed by his defensive work at times in the second half.

Cox 7 - Worked incredibly hard but didn't really look like scoring.
Fortune 8 - Played his part in both goals. We played to his strengths today and he looked a real threat throughout.

Wordsworth 7 - Got stuck in defensively without making a huge impact going towards.
Ba - Not enough time to rate.

Much better Blues :happy:Let's keep it going now.

 

[IloveShrimp]

I like Marco but am surprised at so many having him as MOTM, first half I thought he was fairly anonymous. Surprised at Oxley's MOTM from the sponsors, I had Hendrie, Lenny and Ferdinand ahead of him. Delighted for Hendrie that he had such an impressive game and showed how a decent cross could be put into the opposition box several times. I felt we looked much better 2nd half, with some quality passing centring around Woody.

Oxley - 7.5, great penalty save
Demetriou - 7.5, confidently took his penalty.... and scored! Then gave one away
Turner - 7, did ok, we need to utilise his height more in their penalty area
Ferdinand - 8, thought he had a great game
Hendrie - 8.5, who is this man? He was the Hendrie we had briefly on loan who so impressed!
Kightly - 7, some good stuff then a hamstring problem
Leonard - 9, my MOTM, central to everything, broke play up and forced play forward, brave and committed
Wright - 8, very solid game and well taken goal
McLaughlin - 8, excellent work down the wing, another assist
Cox - 7.5, worked incredibly hard
Fortune - 7.5, pretty anonymous 1st half but much better in the 2nd

Subs:
Woody for Kightly - 7.5, saw that quality in the pass
Ba for Cox - 7, didn't get much chance

Don't disagree with you often OBL but how you can mark Ferdinand above Turner, Demetriou and Fortune is beyond me. Also Turner and Kightly same mark? Ba touched the ball twice and looked very inexperienced, yet you have marked him the same as player who was class (Turner)?

But then again we all see things differently.

Fortune easy mom for me.

 

[rayleigh dan]

Don't disagree with you often OBL but how you can mark Ferdinand above Turner, Demetriou and Fortune is beyond me. Also Turner and Kightly same mark? Ba touched the ball twice and looked very inexperienced, yet you have marked him the same as player who was class (Turner)?

But then again we all see things differently.

Fortune easy mom for me.

I thought Ferdinand was better than Turner today. Turner was class last week, today he was just good. I don't recall Anton putting a foot wrong, Turner's distribution first half was poor, in the second half he gave away a needless free kick within shooting range. Still, Anton was so bad last week the blinkers are still on for some it seems :stunned:

 

[Barling Magna]

From an Oldham Athletic fans forum:

"Fortune? Thought he was excellent. His hold up play and footwork was top notch. Good first touch on him as well."

 

[mfurok]

Why have you not even mentioned Anton Ferdinand in your match report :winking:

Probably because, for the first time in four matches, he didn't give a goal away.

He read the game well today but was fortunate that Oldham didn't pump balls over the top to make him try and turn. Sadly it's likely to be a different story at Rovers next week.

Agree with those who chose MAF for mom but am really starting to love Oxley (!) and wouldn't argue with the sponsors. Hendrie played well but after listening to Brown on the radio this week he probably knows that he has as much chance as JW of being a regular when Coker is fit.

JD showed commendable guts and calmness with the penalty and I thought we looked much better when Wordsworth replaced Kightly.

**** of the day was Doyle and his wholly unnecessary assault on Lenny with seconds to go when the game was lost. What a ******.

A pat on the back for Turner who has performed commendably (as he did on loan at the Os earlier in his career) in each game he has played, particularly considering the length of time he has been out injured.

Finally I would still prefer us to attack more against these poorer sides so that we don't get pegged back later in the game having not scored enough to be safe..........and tried to improve our goal difference.

 

[IloveShrimp]

Just because I thought Turner was better than Ferdinand today does not mean I have blinkers on from last week. Seems to me that you are the one with blinkers to have mentioned Ferdinand performance of last week which I didn't. I didn't say Ferdinand had a bad game today, just that I thought Turners was better.

 

[southend_aussies]

Just a shame we move to ninth but are still three or more games away from playoffs. We'll need a team to stumble and for us to go on an amazing run to be in contention. Phil Brown might be confident of getting more than 70 points this season but we might need 75+ to make it this year, which looks unlikely at this stage.

 

[Fitz]

Leonard is the best player in this division by far. Fear he will go in January, if he stays I predict 6th place, if he goes, 14th!

MAFF and Hendrie played well today, but will they next week, Leonard is a 8 to 9 out of 10 each week!

Ferdinand played better and fair play to him after distasteful crowd baying for his exit last week!

 

[rayleigh dan]

Just because I thought Turner was better than Ferdinand today does not mean I have blinkers on from last week. Seems to me that you are the one with blinkers to have mentioned Ferdinand performance of last week which I didn't. I didn't say Ferdinand had a bad game today, just that I thought Turners was better.

TBF the blinkers comment was judgemental and I apologise. I still think Anton was better than Turner though, I guess we'll have to agree to disagree.

 

[Tampa Blue]

What a difference a week makes, today thought that we looked like a proper and solid unit. Just wish that we could turn some more of our possession in to goals as thought we were better than a 2-0 win but happy to take it.

Oxley - 9 - he is fast turning in to one of the better keepers that we have ever had. Will there be interest for him in January?
Demi - 8 - much improved from earlier in the season and cool penalty. showed his rash side by giving away the penalty.
Hendrie - 8 - positionally a big upgrade on Timlin. Thought he was solid and got forward well to deliver some great crosses. Good to hear PB say that he did enough to keep the shirt.
Ferdinand - 8 - so improved from last week, looks like PB got it right. Almost up to last seasons standard.
Turner - 8 - looks dominant and far quicker than I was lead to believe- seems to have a great attitude
Kightly - 6 - sorry to see him injured, didn't do much wrong before the injury but just didn't do much.
Wright - 7.5 - looks better out wide to me, great timed run and finish.
Leonard - 8.5 - will so miss him when he leaves. I think that great midfield performances should be described as having a 'Lenny'.
McLaughlin - 8 - getting back to his pre injury form
Cox - 7 - works so hard but I wish he spent more time in the box, but can't fault his effort and commitment.
MAF - 8.5 - so intelligent and such a great first touch, if only he carried more of a goal threat, but if he did then he wouldn't be with us.

subs

Wordsworth - 7 - good to have him back and eased back in nicely.
Ba - 5 - not on long enough to judge.

Manager - PB got it right today by supporting Ferdinand and yes I would have dropped him myself, and though forced to change the LB, deserves respect for publicly praising Hendrie after the match.

Special word for the topless Oldham fan probably now in a hospital ward somewhere - in fact just one word "why?"

 

[Medway Blue]

I thought we were impressive today, best we’ve played since Blackburn. Two things really irritated me......the first, that showed to me that we can be a force in this division. We really need to build on this and push on. Secondly, if we’d kept the intensity up we could have got 3 or 4 goals. Our goal difference is **** poor and I wish we’d be a bit more ruthless to sort it out.

That aside, we were excellent from back to front. There’s very little I can add to what has been said already. I struggled to pick a MOM out of Fortuné, Demetriou, Leonard and McLaughlin. Long time since I’ve been able to say that. Special mentions to Hendrie and Wright, and also to Turner and Ferdinand who put in a much better display. Cox still frustrates me, he’s still dropping too deep and he’d have at least double his current tally if he showed some positional sense and played as a striker like he’s supposed to.

Some saying Oldham were bad, not sure I agree. I’ve seen us drop points to much worse this season. You could see the way they wanted to play and we expected that but I think we stopped them from playing the game on their terms. Special mentions for that to Fortuné who hassled and pressed their back line and kept standing on Clarke to stop them playing it out from the back, and to Leonard who similarly pressed and hassled in midfield and whose anticipation and quality in the tackle allowed him to keep breaking up Oldham’s play.

Thought we looked a lot more balanced, even when Kights went off. This is what we need to do. A nice, balanced 4-4-2 with players playing in their correct positions and playing to our strengths. Keep it simple and don’t overcomplicate things. And go for the jugular a bit more! Do those things and I think we’ll see more performances like we did today.

 

[Keith Keithson]

A great game for us iFollowers! Have to say I feared this was a potential banana skin and had 1-0 away win written all over it. I only tuned in after 20 mins so missed our pen, but so pleased for the Ox, another great penalty save. Second half we looked threatening and tight at the back. The pitch is still not doing us any favours, but we managed. Huge shout out to Hendrie who was superb save for one rash challenge near the end. He must have thought his career was somewhat snookered this season but he got his big break yesterday, and should keep the shirt.

I'll get my coat...

 

[AndyT]

Agree with pretty much all of the above 'JTSB', though I think at 2-0, we had to game manage for a period.

Gardner was making some very positive runs with the ball from deep for them and if we'd have pressed on too much, we could have been exposed a bit more than we were.

I certainly agree that Oldham were not poor. They missed their chances, especially the penalty. Thought we were just a touch better than them in our team play with the ball and work-rate without it.

Think they are a team in transition. The fella sitting next to me yesterday was working and making notes for Oldham and said they are trying to play a different and more positive style of play than under the previous two managers, so it's a work in progress for them.

 

[ms brush]

What a difference a week makes, today thought that we looked like a proper and solid unit. Just wish that we could turn some more of our possession in to goals as thought we were better than a 2-0 win but happy to take it.

Oxley - 9 - he is fast turning in to one of the better keepers that we have ever had. Will there be interest for him in January?
Demi - 8 - much improved from earlier in the season and cool penalty. showed his rash side by giving away the penalty.
Hendrie - 8 - positionally a big upgrade on Timlin. Thought he was solid and got forward well to deliver some great crosses. Good to hear PB say that he did enough to keep the shirt.
Ferdinand - 8 - so improved from last week, looks like PB got it right. Almost up to last seasons standard.
Turner - 8 - looks dominant and far quicker than I was lead to believe- seems to have a great attitude
Kightly - 6 - sorry to see him injured, didn't do much wrong before the injury but just didn't do much.
Wright - 7.5 - looks better out wide to me, great timed run and finish.
Leonard - 8.5 - will so miss him when he leaves. I think that great midfield performances should be described as having a 'Lenny'.
McLaughlin - 8 - getting back to his pre injury form
Cox - 7 - works so hard but I wish he spent more time in the box, but can't fault his effort and commitment.
MAF - 8.5 - so intelligent and such a great first touch, if only he carried more of a goal threat, but if he did then he wouldn't be with us.

subs

Wordsworth - 7 - good to have him back and eased back in nicely.
Ba - 5 - not on long enough to judge.

Manager - PB got it right today by supporting Ferdinand and yes I would have dropped him myself, and though forced to change the LB, deserves respect for publicly praising Hendrie after the match.

Special word for the topless Oldham fan probably now in a hospital ward somewhere - in fact just one word "why?"

Will do ratings in a minute. For me though, there is no doubt about Hendrie, and no doubt he is an upgrade on Timlin. Why PB thought Timlin, as a decent midfielder but not really a defender, was a consistently better option than a quality LB playing at LB is still slightly beyond me. On that performance yesterday, Hendrie not only proved the point, but on that form will probably give Coker a huge fight to get his place back. I am pleased for the lad, that was a powerhouse performance yesterday and he has definately proved more than one point! For this alone, he was my MOM.

 

[AndyT]

Great comment on Hendrie 'msbrush'

He had one chance to impress yesterday and boy did he take it! :thumbsup:

 

[OldBlueLady]

Don't disagree with you often OBL but how you can mark Ferdinand above Turner, Demetriou and Fortune is beyond me. Also Turner and Kightly same mark? Ba touched the ball twice and looked very inexperienced, yet you have marked him the same as player who was class (Turner)?

But then again we all see things differently.

Fortune easy mom for me.

I watched Anton yesterday, he was so much better than what he had been and didn't put a foot wrong. Whether that was because he had an actual left back alongside him or not, I don't know. What I do know is that he knew he'd been poor in recent games and obviously made a big effort this week to turn that around.

I thought he was by far the better of the central defenders this week, that's not to say Turner was poor at all, just that Anton was better, hence one point difference in their markings. I also thought Kightly was doing just fine before having to go off.

As I said in my report, I thought Fortune was pretty anonymous first half but much better in the second - coincidentally when they had taken Peter Clarke off, who had mopped up everything aerially. Demetriou has to be marked down a little for conceding the penalty, and Ba looked energetic and made a nuisance of himself when he came on. My marks show a good team performance so I'm not sure why I'm being called out to explain them! :stunned: