Post-Match Thread and Ratings Southend United 2, Oxford United 1

[Norwichshrimper]

Really surprised by this from the Oxfrd boards.......yellows fans were having fun at the portly Southend drum banger's expense. The 25 people round the incompetent percussionist tried to make some noise, the rest of the Southend crowd obviously had their minds on which bonfire party they were going to after the match. They made no sound. The yellows fans on the other hand were showing the home crowd how it should be done and making a terrific racket!
Really makes you wonder at the accoustics at the Hall .Thought the West was the loudest and rocking this season,and not much noise from the Oxford end !!.Heard the East stand a couple of times.As for the South the sound just doesn,t travel out the stand even if you see them singing.If only the sound would travel around ground what a great atmostphere it would be.

I wouldn't pay much attention to that report from the Oxford guy. It confused me...in part he seemed to be suggesting he was in his fifties, but his views kinda sounded like a 12 year old who hasn't been to many football games.

 

[Beefy]

I don't think we were lucky to win on Saturday. Oxford looked good and dominated the midfield for an hour but they didn't trouble our defence very much. Constable's chance when he opted to play it across goal instead of shooting was the only time I felt particularly worried. Daniels played well and his handling and decision making were top-notch but I think he'd have been very disappointed had any of those shots actually gone in. They had the ball a lot but nowhere where they could hurt us.

On the other hand, Timlin scores his chance 9 times our of ten and I'm still not sure how Leonard's chance didn't go in.

 

[Norwichshrimper]

I don't think we were lucky to win on Saturday. Oxford looked good and dominated the midfield for an hour but they didn't trouble our defence very much. Constable's chance when he opted to play it across goal instead of shooting was the only time I felt particularly worried. Daniels played well and his handling and decision making were top-notch but I think he'd have been very disappointed had any of those shots actually gone in. They had the ball a lot but nowhere where they could hurt us.

On the other hand, Timlin scores his chance 9 times our of ten and I'm still not sure how Leonard's chance didn't go in.

Nor me - and neither does my betting slip with Leonard last scorer at 25/1. :'(

 

[Norwichshrimper]

Agree with the general consensus, we simply did not deserve to win, which makes it all the better that we did. We didn't really turn up and failed to control the centre of the park and Oxford carved open our defence far too easily until Grant came on. Seeing us play so poorly and pull off a win though did leave me smiling though.

Daniels - 9 MOM - Outstanding, kept us in it.
Clohessy - 6 - Got forward well.
Gilbert - 5 - Average but an awful howler in the first half.
Barker - 6 - Expected better.
Phillips - 6.5 - As Barker but +0.5 for his goal.
Ferdinand - 5 - First time I've actually seen him start a game. Big disappointment, often anonymous but did show one or two glimpses.
Timlin - 7 - Had an almighty task on his hands due to the lack Kane and generally poor performances around him, impressed again though. What a miss.
Leonard - 7.5 - Started off quietly but grew in stature through the game and quietly impressed me.
Hall - 6.5 - Thought he looked well off the pace, so wasn't suprised to find out he had a bug. Considering that, an assist and a quality goal was a superb contribution.
Dickinson - 7 - Slogged his guts out for zero reward, no chances really came his way.
Harris - 4 - Very poor I am sad to say.

Subs
Grant - 7 - Should have come on much earlier, tightened midfield up got things going.
Blair - 6 - Held the ball up well helped kill the game off.

Another one here....we come up against the best side we've played this year, defend manfully for about 80% of the game conceding only one goal, yet the whole back four get marked 5's and 6's. I genuinely don't understand. The game was won in defence...yes Daniels played very well, but the defence stood up to it as well.

 

[Medway Blue]

We played a lot better and lost last season. At the same time, Oxford obviously didn't do enough (i.e. put the ball in the net) to beat us, so they therefore did not deserve to win.

I wasn't there but I think a lot can be said about Kalala's absence. He breaks up the opposition's play more than people realise and I doubt whether Oxford would have dominated like they did if he was playing. He is tough in the tackle and holds his position well and because he can't be played through, oppo teams have to play around him and many midfields at this level don't have the technical ability to do that. We seem to get a bit overrun abd outmuscled in the middle without him.

Factor in the absence of the Mohsni factor - I think we'd have played much better with those two.

 

[yogi bear up the cagire]

In a situation where one club has a particularly good striker and he scores a hattrick in a game where the opposition have more of the play , it is rarely clased as lucky, yet when a goalkeeper has a good game , suddenly its an lucky win.

We were not lucky, there was no fortuitous bounces, freak goals or catastrophic mistakes, in fact the "luckiest" moment of the games was for Oxford when Timiln made a big mistake when clean through.

True, we may have been a tad fortunate that Oxford were incapable of getting more than one of there quite numerous shots on target past the Goalkeeper, but there was no luck, we had a team that were able to stop shots Oxford didn't.

Having watched the BP highlights I think that we could consider ourselves a 'tad fortunate' on a couple of occasions, one in each half, when a deflection off our own player went once wide and once over the bar for a corner. When you're down on your luck, they would have ended in the back of our own net.

 

[Norwichshrimper]

We played a lot better and lost last season. At the same time, Oxford obviously didn't do enough (i.e. put the ball in the net) to beat us, so they therefore did not deserve to win.

I wasn't there but I think a lot can be said about Kalala's absence. He breaks up the opposition's play more than people realise and I doubt whether Oxford would have dominated like they did if he was playing. He is tough in the tackle and holds his position well and because he can't be played through, oppo teams have to play around him and many midfields at this level don't have the technical ability to do that. We seem to get a bit overrun abd outmuscled in the middle without him.

Factor in the absence of the Mohsni factor - I think we'd have played much better with those two.

Thats probably partially true - but remember the Shrewsbury game? Kalala played in the middle then and we were proper overrun in midfield that night as well. (if i remember correctly we were also without Hall and Mohsni as well that night). Shrewsbury controlled the game (particularly 2nd half) without really creating many clear oppurtunities.