The first half was the most gutless, spineless, embarrassing "performance" from a Southend side I have seen in many a year. It reminded me of the dark days of Wignall. Only with less effort. The shout from the back of the Greens after half an hour summed it up - Can we have our money back? We should've done, under the Trades Description Act. We certainly weren't watching professional footballers. Steve Tilson, quite frankly, lost it and had an utter moment of madness. After persisting with 4-5-1 and it not working, he looked up his Football Manager 10 and thought, hmm, 3-5-2, that might work. It didn't, Steve. It really, really didn't. The bunch of boys in blue didn't know where to turn, where to run, who to mark or what to do, full stop. The decision to play M'Voto was an even worse one. Whilst Paterson must be wondering what the hell he’s let himself in for. He gets two starts, on his own, up front, yet is promptly dropped. Is he going to get the Hooper treatment I wonder? He’s young and you can’t help but think his confidence will be affected, as per Hooper, with this whole chopping and changing. Are we being managed by some kind of crazy scientist now or something? Pat Baldwin seemed to sum it up in his interview by saying they only tried setting the new formation up yesterday and it was only when we played 4-4-2 that we were comfortable and happy.
Leading up to the first goal, both Francis and then Christophe had the chance to calmly play the ball to either a team mate, or just up field. They did neither. Both carelessly swiped at the ball and gifted possession to Swindon, resulting a ball being played into the box, M'Voto completely misjudging it, and allowing Paynter a simple, yet calm finish. Within a few minutes we somehow managed a chance ourselves, with a long ball over the top allowing Laurent to flick it over the defenders head and lob right footed over the keeper, with only the bar stopping us from going level. That would be the only moment of any quality from us in a dire first half. Just moments later, another scrappy mess at the back ended in Baldwin's hurried clearance smacking the Swindon player and rebounding to Austin, who made no mistake in beating Mildy from 8 yards. What was the celebration all about? Why did he feel the need to taunt the South and the East stands? Paynter managed to avoid doing it, but Austin took it upon himself to be a dick. The first half then continued in the same vein, with our defence and midfield all over the shop, gifting possession away continually and looking like a bunch of pub players. I don't remember there being such a surreal, depressed atmosphere at Roots Hall for some time. We didn't even seem to give the players as much stick as you'd expect. It was all very lifeless, on and off the pitch.
The second half came and Tilly appeared to wake up, realise we were an embarrassment and that he'd made a stupid, stupid error. I notice he didn't admit it after the game though! Within a minute of the restart, Scannell showed the first bit of hunger and determination from a blue shirt in the whole of the game up until then, and it woke up both the players and the crowd. Spencer soon followed suit, and we suddenly started looking like a football team again. Miraculous, 4-4-2, looking better than a new formation with new players all trying to fit in at once. The chances came and went, most notably a fantastic strong run by Laurent, which ended in him trying to beat the keeper when if he'd have bothered to look up, he'd have seen Spencer completely unmarked for a tap in on the 6 yard line. When that moment happened, I think we all thought that was that. Somehow though, we scored two of the most scrappy goals we've scored for a long, long time and saved ourselves a point. In doing so, it possibly glossed over the incredible errors of judgement from the management.
Ratings:
Mildenhall 6.5: Made an odd attempt to save the second goal and made one horrible kick out which nearly ended up with him being lobbed. After that though he made two or three decent saves to keep us in it.
Francis 6.5: Played a big part in the first half shambles, but was a main instigator in getting us back in it during the second half with some excellent crosses.
M’Voto 4: One moment of ok-ishness followed with three calamity moments appeared to be the order of the day. At fault for the first and nearly gave them a couple of others. Should never have played in a million years. It wasn’t his fault he was thrust back into things though I suppose.
Baldwin 6.5: At fault for the second, although was generally pretty sound apart from that. Was one of only a couple that seemed to give a damn in that first half and spent the entire game barking out orders and organising those around him. Another loan defender that looks more comfortable and more solid than Barrett. Oops.
Barrett 5.5: As usual he was here, there and everywhere. Not really what a centre back should be doing, especially when all around him are laying down.
Malone 5: I’m struggling to think of what he contributed, other than poor set piece deliveries. Mr Average, was, well, Mr Average.
Grant 5: One of his poorer displays of the season and we didn’t really miss him when he went off, which summed it up.
Christophe 4: Shocking. He’s a professional footballer who struggles when he tries to pass it along the ground more than 5 yards. How he escaped being taken off at half time I’ll never know.
Moussa 4: Never really got into the game and struggled in amongst the lay down and die tactics. Desperately needs a rest out of the spotlight.
Vernon 6: Touched the ball four or five times seemingly in the first half, but as soon as he had Spencer alongside him he looked more at home. Will hopefully prove a useful acquisition.
Laurent 6: The magical piece of ability for the lob in the first ten minutes aside, he, as usual, didn’t look at home up front. In the second half though he had a decent enough time on the wing, although he holds on to the ball for far too often and his decision not to square it for Spencer at 2-0 down was nothing more than criminal.
Subs:
Scannell 6.5: Helped changed the game in our favour. Added some pace, strength and directness to our play. Put in a cracking delivery for Spencer to head over and then set up the equaliser with another very decent cross. *Awaits negative rep from mattytheshrimper for praising Scannell and/or using capital letters*
Spencer 6.5: He’s quickly becoming a favourite of mine. Quick, lively, tricky, energetic and hard working, whilst above all else he appears to know what positions to take up as a striker. Indeed on early glimpses I’m failing to see why his face didn’t fit at Rochdale. He deserves a start already and he comes across as someone who is desperate to build a career and find a club to call home, whilst he’ll work hard to get it.
Herd 6: Looked more assured and comfortable in 20 minutes than Malone did in the previous 70. I can’t even be bothered to bang on about how he should be playing any more to be honest.
