Post-Match Thread and Ratings Southend United 3-2 Hartlepool

[DTS]

I have chosen to ignore 90% of the rubbish spouted on here and give my own ratings from yesterday.

Mildy 6 - Cant fault him for either goal, little else to do but kicking was poor

JFC 7 - Solid if unspectacular. Chose his monents to overlap well and did a good job in an unfamiliar position.

Malone 5 - Poor mans Herd. Weak in the tackle and poor set peices time after time. Did improve in 2nd half but couldnt have got any worse.

Barrett 7 - Good game. Did well against there tall but useless forward and tried to drive us forward from the back.

Morrison 8 - My MOM. Class act. Could have done better with a poor firsr touch for one of there goals but still put in an excellent game.

Laurent 8 - Skinned his man with ease, great lay back for Barney in the first half, full of creativity and tricks - Wish he had more of a final ball if im being overly critical but a goal and a game like that - good man.

Macca 7 - Good game. Felt he set Grant up for a fall with poor pass for the first goal but on the plus side he drove forward time and time again and provided an assist through sheer hard work.

Grant 6 - Tried hard and did some good stuff but gave away the first by not putting foot through the ball and scored an own goal altough personally dont blame him for that.Not his best game but got a big clap from me when he came off.

Moussa 6 - Tried hard again but so out of form its not funny. Went missing at times and really needs a rest to get his energy and confidence back which he wont get as were too paper thin.

Jabo 6 - Held the ball up well at times and I thought looked intelligent with the ball but failed to hit the target twice late on when he should really have scored. An upgrade on Dougie but not an answer for us long term IMHO.

Barney 8 - Felt he should have done better twice in first half which we could really have done with but cant fault two poachers efforts. Hard to see where goals are coming from if its not Barney

SUBS

Walker 7 - Bit headless but seems to have bulked up a bit and was just what we needed to strecth a tired 10 man defence.

Scannell 7 - Hard to knock the cross and ran a lot which is often my main critiscm of him. Still needs to do more to convince me he really wants to be here.

 

[Yorkshire Blue]

My ratings

Mildenhall 9 - quietly assured again, claimed a number of important crosses to relieve pressure. Gets an extra mark for his "game management" late on. Those in the South stand will know what I'm talking about.
Christophe 7 - a pleasing performance for someone who hadn't played in that position before to my knowledge. Gave us the defensive stability we need
Morrison 6 - hope we sign him as I think he'll develop into a good league one player, he's not quite there yet and its easy to forget he's only 18. Once he's got a bit more upper body strength and a bit more positioning he'll be a real asset. Did however make a howler which led to a goal
Barrett 6 - your average Barrett performance
Malone 6 - Like Morrison he's young and will only get better. I think he's got a bit of quality about him that will see him play at a higher level in time.
Laurent 8 - amazing trickery and an improved final ball. He even scored as well. Probably my MOM although we were better once he went off. I can't help thinking that he should be up front, where that sort of trickery hurts the opposition a lot more than when it is on the wing.
Grant 6 - not at his best before limping off. Was the only time he combined with McCormack to set up Pool's first goal?
McCormack 6 - like last week it was a game of two halves for him. First half other than giving away a goal when he first played Grant into trouble (who should have done better, but it was still a bad ball to play) and then teed up Boyd, he was generally missing. Second half he got into the game more and finally gave us a presence in midfield. The second goal was more like the Macca of old when he won the ball high up the pitch, but that's been all too rare a sighting this season.
Moussa 7 - much better when he was moved into the centre although I wouldn't fancy that midfield against a team a bit more up for it than 'Pool.
Barnard 7 - missed two great chances in the first half, but made amends second half with two poacher's tap-ins.
Ibhere 6 - does "a job", but not much more.

Subs Scannell 8 - fantastic piece of wing play for the winner.
Walker 6 - shocking miss, but provided an outlet

Hartlepool 3 - absolutely dire.

 

[superblue24]

Mildenhall - 7 - couldn't really do much about the second goal, and the first goal was hardly a tap in either. Looked solid on corners and set pieces.

Christophe - 6.5 - Did a job, and offered some nice overlapping options for Laurent, especially in the first half.

Barrett - 7 - Solid. Enjoyed some of those surging runs he made through the middle. At one point I thought he was going to run right through everyone from defence...But he layed it off (and carried on for the 1-2, it has to be said)

Morrision - 7 - Again, a solid performance. Did exactly what is required of a centre half. A few lapses in concentration, but he is only 18!

Malone - 6.5 - If this guy played like he did in the second half all game, he would have been a "7". I thought he did really well with some great surging runs in the second half and some nice balls into the area.

Moussa - 6.5 - Did ok. Was a bit anonymous at times, although did what he had to do pretty well.

McCormack - 7 - Not impressed in the first half. I was keeping my eye on Macca for the first half, and can honestly say I couldn't see anything to write home about. In the second half, he was far better. Mostly to blame for the first goal.

Grant - 6 - Cant honestly say I remember Grant doing much other than being partially to blame for that ridiculous first goal.

Laurent - 7.5 MoM - Awesome. He actually made me feel sorry for some of the Pools players with some of the tricks he was doing. This guy is brilliant. My only criticism is he lacks real crossing ability, but if he is able to cut inside and attack the goal which he did on Saturday once or twice, I can live with that!

Ibehre - 6 - Not good enough. Can't say I rate this guy at all. Seemed to fall over himself most of the game, and the rest of the game stood next to defenders to give off the impression he was being man marked.

Barney - 7 - Didn't do too much in the first half, but was very good in the second half! Did exactly what you want your striker to do, finish off those sorts of chances.

Subs -

Scannell - 7 - Good replacement for Laurent. Another player who in my opinion is underrated at the club. won the ball back for us brilliantly for that goal.

Walker - 6 - Not good enough. No idea. Lacks confidence or something.

It was a weird weird game, but even at half time I felt that if we could get an early 2nd half goal....We could claw oour way back and even go on and take the win.

Very frustrated with being 2 behind from such ridiculous defending. 2 players for me stuck out as being nowhere near as good as the other players, and that was Walker and Ibehre. Hopefully we wont be extending Ibehre's loan spell, and I hope Walker improves fairly soon.

 

[fbm]

Have looked at the highlights for their first goal.

For all the slating McCormack has on here, I'd love to know what people think he should have done with it.

The ball bounced to him, he had a player on his back, so he nodded it to Grant (perfectly I might add) who had no-one around him and could have cleared. He dallied long enough to be challenged, and then the ball ricocheted off Macca to Boyd who, I have to say, hit a cracking shot.

If Macca had tried to turn with it he would have been challenged and possibly caught in possession, which would have been a big mistake!

 

[yogi bear up the cagire]

Have looked at the highlights for their first goal.

For all the slating McCormack has on here, I'd love to know what people think he should have done with it.

The ball bounced to him, he had a player on his back, so he nodded it to Grant (perfectly I might add) who had no-one around him and could have cleared. He dallied long enough to be challenged, and then the ball ricicheted off Macca to Boyd who, I have to say, hit a cracking shot.

If Macca had tried to turn with it he would have been challenged and possibly caught in possession, which would have been a big mistake!

Don't think it's been mentioned on here but IIRC the commentary team mentioned that Grant raised his hand in apology to his team-mates accepting his resposibility for the first goal.
As has been mentioned on here, Laurent providing two crosses, in the first-half, for Barnard, who probably should have done better and then went on to score our first. Additionally it is worth noting that, at the end of the Blues Player highlights, I think it was Moussa who, in an attacking position, chested the ball down and then, inadvertently stood on the it and lost control. Laurent suddenly appeared from nowhere and swept the ball away to the right before unleashing a shot that just went wide of their left post.

 

[southend4ever]

lfabfobl,

Macca has to be one of the last names on the teamsheet based on his last half dozen or so games in a blues shirt. Look forward to him improving (here's hoping)

Laurent = quality.
Morrison - very good!

ronnie corbett