Post-Match Thread and Ratings Southend United 4-1 Macclesfield

[EastStandBlue]

If that was the reason then it'll be interesting to see how Barnet will set up for him. They should be aware that he's scoring goals and they'll remember him well from his ill-fated performance at Underhill earlier in the season.

They've changed manager since then though....

Macclesfield changed Mohsni's marker three times throughout the game before switching back to his original marker, which to me suggests that they had no clue who he was or how to handle him. Barnet do have Uddin, who's pretty decent in the air if memory serves me correctly, so it'll be interesting to see how they respond. Macclesfield seemed to do much better when they doubled up on Mohsni, but that only led to Sturrock getting in front of his marker.

 

[Onion_Bag_Dave]

Macclesfield changed Mohsni's marker three times throughout the game before switching back to his original marker, which to me suggests that they had no clue who he was or how to handle him. Barnet do have Uddin, who's pretty decent in the air if memory serves me correctly, so it'll be interesting to see how they respond. Macclesfield seemed to do much better when they doubled up on Mohsni, but that only led to Sturrock getting in front of his marker.

And also that's exactly why all of our wingers in recent years have been good because some of our strikers have been man marked or marked by two geezers, which is why Hall and Blair where quality!

 

[sky240286]

No need for ratings, everyone was brilliant! In particular Hall, Moshni, Ferdinand and Blair (who needs a special mention after the abuse he recieved from the moron in block W)

Up the Blues :D

 

[davewebbsbrain]

Barker's mazy run and shot need a special mention, I really thought he was going to score. The poor guy looked knackered after that run.

 

[The General]

Well, that was simply the most enjoyable night at the Hall, for a long long time. There was a pre-match buzz about Moshni playing in an attacking position and as silly as i think this all is, its working for now and it really seems to have lifted the crowd. He really is a fans favourite and is such a character! He really appreciates the support and he is a real enigma. On Friday as he was warming up, he bundles Scriv out the way and starts taking some pictures! After he'd been subbed and was warming down infront of us, Coughlan also does the same thing and Bill starts praising Coughlan, much to the amusement of everyone. He is just what you want in your squad.

As for the game, well it was done and dusted by half time. We'd already missed a couple of sitters before Bill's goal (having seen it on SSN, he never touched it - but sssshhh) and everytime we went forward, we looked dangerous. Hall is getting better and better with each game and will play at a higher level within a season or two, be it with us or without us. Credit to PS on how he has managed Hall. Alot of us were frustrated that Hall wasn't getting as much game time as we would have liked but Hall is really shining now. His fitness is top notch, has good strength for a small ish guy and has tonnes of ability.

Second half we should of had another 4 but i felt in the last 25/30 yards we started to struggle and either made the wrong ball or we were either being too greedy, too selfish or just doing what wasnt needed and it became a bit frustrating as we really should have won 7/8-0 and it wouldn't have been unfair. Good to see Phillips come on, i was a little surprised Comminges didn't come on for some match practice but we have plenty of reserves games coming up and im sure he will figure regularly in them. Also was a bit shocked Harry didn't come on but i think Corr is one of these players who just needs to keep playing as otherwise he will stiffen up.

Kev

 

[Tommy2holes]

Well what a strange game of football that was, although thouroughly enjoyable.

A new formation on a slick surface that meant passing on the deck was the order of the day and something that this team is capable of doing in abundance when the mood takes them.

Macclesfield are a team like quite a few others who get stuck in and play the angles and look to score from balls over or from a set piece. I dont think that macclesfield team was any poorer than morcambe who beat us.
The difference being that we played directly passed the ball into great areas and swarmed foward in numbers, something we have done in a while.

In truth we should have scored more and missed probably 5 or 6 great chances yet scored 4 goals. When was the last time we could say that?

I laughed when it was announced that not only was sawyer not playing but that bilel would be upfront again. It samcked of desperation , but i had a feeling that bilel would score as he always looks likely to from defence let alone playing upfront and so it proved that macclesfield didnt have a clue what he was doing , but how could they when neither does bilel or his team mates most of the time.

He is fast becoming my favourite player since freddy and is the talisman this team and fans craved.

Ratings :

Evans 6.5 : Still not sure about him. Made a good stop at 1-0 from a freekick , but his distribution leaves a lot to be desired. Numerous times he made a catch and we had players peeling away out wide and he failed to deliver early ,choosing to wait and kick long.

Clohessy 6.5 : Was not at the races in the first half and didnt look his usual assured self. Much better second half and some of his deliveries are quality if people would only gamble on them.

Coughlan 7.5 : Probably his best game for us yet. One everything in the air and i can imagine this is exaclty the sort of game he would have enjoyed. Lashing with rain and huge centre fowards to rough up. Rarely got beat in the air and his legs were not tested too much by maccs style of play.

Barker 7.5 : Is the classiest of our defenders and could easily play a higher level. Won everything in the air and in the deck and even had the cheek to run the length of the pitch and rtry to score goal of the season. An easy game for him , but defended excellently.

Gilbert 6.5 : Not his biggest fan , but he did ok last night by winning most of his tackles. His distribution is so one dimentional and compared to clohessy he is way behind the level we need.

Ferdinand 7.5 : Its so refreshing to see a player that doesnt want to try an over do his role in the team. He is there to win the ball and play it simple and he does that fantastically well. He never looks to pass the ball long or try and pick out the impossible ball and his pass completion must be the highest in the team. At 18 years old he has a great career ahead of him and serves as a motivator to other talented youngsters in the youth team

Grant 6.5 : Not grantys best game , but got stuck in as usual and looked to move the ball quickly , but his passing and rythm wasnt as good as usual . On a few occasions he was batter placed to shoot , but chose to pass instead. Maybe carrying an injury.

Easton 7.5 : Great game from the captain last night. Was everywhere and served to be available all evening. Pushed the ball foward and covered and tackled to great effect. Did he get a goal? Or did bilel complete his hatrick?

Hall 8 : Its been no secret that he has the talent to destroy most in this league , but im sure fitness and confidence were key. Thankfully fitness and confidence are no longer holding ryan back . He was always available and looked to run at his marker for the full 90. He put in numerous crosses that should have been converted and capped a great display with a top draw finish.

Sturrock 8 : Great game from blair again last night. When are some of our moronic fans going to realize that blair is not a goalscorer he is a very useful outlet that happens to create chances for others. Last night he created atleast 2 goals and ran himself into the ground . very inteligent use of the ball ,too inteligent for some and worked tirelessly for the cause.

Bilel 8.5 MOM : What can you say about bilel. He is the most enthusiastic player i have ever seen play for blues in 20 years. He could play in goal and you could imagine him making save after save . He just gees up the rest of the squad so much by being everywhere and even had to be told by granty at one point that he was meant to be playing upfront. Both sets of players never know what he is going to do and nor do the fans. He is just exciting to watch and seems to have a knack of being in exactly the right place at the right time. Macclesfield had no answers to his style of play and simply wilted . He Could be a 20 goals a season front man in this division and must give defenders nightmares. Great work keep it up big man. (ps) Did he get a hatrick?

TBV Good backing of the team again last night it what seems like a very low crowd. I think officialy there where 3500 there ,but 5011 is inclusive of seaso's who didnt show.

I would say this though. Who is the moron down the front who was continuously calling blair a c-unit and evans a nonce for most of the match. Mate you and the little boys around you may think you are funny , but your not. You are a clown.

 

[Mick]

Macclesfield changed Mohsni's marker three times throughout the game before switching back to his original marker, which to me suggests that they had no clue who he was or how to handle him. Barnet do have Uddin, who's pretty decent in the air if memory serves me correctly, so it'll be interesting to see how they respond. Macclesfield seemed to do much better when they doubled up on Mohsni, but that only led to Sturrock getting in front of his marker.

Anwar Uddin, one of just a handful of Asians playing League football. He was steady but unexceptional at Grays.

 

[yogi bear up the cagire]

My first match for around eighteen months and as I suggested on the OMT, perhaps you should be organising a whip around to bring me back again on Tuesday! In theory, I should be able to do a match report but of course it ain't quite as simple as that. Knowing none of the players, apart from Grant, it took some time to begin identification...........and certainly the old eyes are not quite what they used to be. In addition, the emotion of being back at the Hall meant that I was happy just to wallow in the atmosphere and didn't want to detract too much from that by trying to concentrate on individual players strengths and weaknesses.
Overall, I was concerned at the start, when a few chances went begging.........feared it was going to be another one of those nights. Relieved when we got our first, although not aware that the party was just beginning........yet............seeing the number of chances we have been creating in recent matches I did feel that someone could be in for a thumping.........glad it happened when I was actually there! Last night everthing went well for us in the first-half and we were assisted by some comical defending. The tiny disappointment was the rather flat second-half, I would have loved just a fifth goal near the end, just to wrap things up ........
but I'll settle for what we got.

just some sketchy thoughts

EVANS Little concerned from his previous performance but got just what he needed with a good save from a well taken free-kick. This seemed to give him much
needed confidence and he really didn't do anything much wrong. couldn't do much about their goal.........perhaps he wasn't quite as commanding in his
area during the second-half.
GILBERT In the first-half, when he was in front of me in the West Stand, there was a bloke, a few seats from me who bawled him out every time he passed the
the ball out of defense, to one of their players. He must have improved after the third time .........................because I didn't hear him shout out again.
Had a better second-half and defended quite well.
CLOHESSY Quite impressed with him when he was in front of me in the second-half, pushing up to help the attack

BARKER Didn't pick him out too much.........presume that means that he did his job adequately and well. Came to my attention with that run in the second
period, when everyone backed off him and it took a good save from the keeper to prevent him from scoring.
COUGHLAN Another player that didn't get onto my radar much.......so the same as Barker

GRANT Not a great performance from Grant but he has to put up with a lot of sorrow from the opposition.........wonder whether he gets the protection he
needs, at this level. Didn't worry too much about not getting a barn storming performance from him...........whilst the transfer window is still open.

FERDINAND Can't but be impressed with the coolness and authority he carried out his tasks...........as nearly everyone says, a GREAT prospect.

EASTON A solid performance from what I saw

HALL Good performance took his goal very well...........hopefully, we've found a bargain there.

STURROCK Did well in the first half .....although a lot out of my eye shot. When I was defending him against a doubting friend, sitting next to me, he didn't
perform as well.

MOHSNI Have to say that I got worried following his first challenge on their goalkeeper, when he followed it up by remonstrating with the referee and thus
drawing his attention to the official. However, following that, what can you say! Wodered whether he got taken off at H-T in fear that he may score
another couple in the second-half and thus attract other clubs attentions :winking:

CORR A little disappointing..........not 100% fit didn' seem very mobile

SAWYER Probably the kind of match he needs to start easing himself back to this level of football

All in all, I fly back to France on Saturday a happy bunny.........will be there in time to hear commentary on what I hope will be another five star away peformance

 

[mfurok]

In which case he'll be able to drink the champagne when he gets a MoM, as he surely will soon.
In 45 years watching the Blues I don't think I've seen a youngster come into the side and look so self assured that you think he's been there for some time.
For me he's doing something really difficult; being a CB playing in mid-field who excites me by just doing so much right, not flash or risky but just, right. Others will probably disagree but he reminds me a bit, in the role he's currently playing and the way he's doing it, of Peter Butler; and for me that's no bad thing at all!

Spencer Prior

 

[united we stand]

Loved the game. I'm gonna try to avoid bringing it up as best I can but still really ****ed off with the 1 guy at the front swearing and abusing Blair everytime he came over the west block. Even when we were 3-0 up, the 1 guy was still larring it off to him, just don't understand.
?

Its been mentioned elsewhere, but I have to agree with this . May be its an 'In joke' that the rest of us don't get ? . But I don't think Sturrock thought it was funny and Easton made it plain what he felt in his celebrations after he had scored.
I assume this is what Sturrock senior was referring to in his post match interview on the radio, where he was clearly upset that one of his players was continually getting this abuse.

 

[Kris]

Sturrock Jr has mentioned this fan on his Twitter page recently.

 

[EastStandBlue]

Loved the game. I'm gonna try to avoid bringing it up as best I can but still really ****ed off with the 1 guy at the front swearing and abusing Blair everytime he came over the west block. Even when we were 3-0 up, the 1 guy was still larring it off to him, just don't understand.

Was he wearing a cycle helmet whilst clutching a "Bill Jennings OUT" sign between his buttocks, by any chance?

 

[Rob Noxious]

My first match for around eighteen months and as I suggested on the OMT, perhaps you should be organising a whip around to bring me back again on Tuesday! In theory, I should be able to do a match report but of course it ain't quite as simple as that. Knowing none of the players, apart from Grant, it took some time to begin identification...........and certainly the old eyes are not quite what they used to be. In addition, the emotion of being back at the Hall meant that I was happy just to wallow in the atmosphere and didn't want to detract too much from that by trying to concentrate on individual players strengths and weaknesses.
Overall, I was concerned at the start, when a few chances went begging.........feared it was going to be another one of those nights. Relieved when we got our first, although not aware that the party was just beginning........yet............seeing the number of chances we have been creating in recent matches I did feel that someone could be in for a thumping.........glad it happened when I was actually there! Last night everthing went well for us in the first-half and we were assisted by some comical defending. The tiny disappointment was the rather flat second-half, I would have loved just a fifth goal near the end, just to wrap things up ........
but I'll settle for what we got.

just some sketchy thoughts

EVANS Little concerned from his previous performance but got just what he needed with a good save from a well taken free-kick. This seemed to give him much
needed confidence and he really didn't do anything much wrong. couldn't do much about their goal.........perhaps he wasn't quite as commanding in his
area during the second-half.
GILBERT In the first-half, when he was in front of me in the West Stand, there was a bloke, a few seats from me who bawled him out every time he passed the
the ball out of defense, to one of their players. He must have improved after the third time .........................because I didn't hear him shout out again.
Had a better second-half and defended quite well.
CLOHESSY Quite impressed with him when he was in front of me in the second-half, pushing up to help the attack

BARKER Didn't pick him out too much.........presume that means that he did his job adequately and well. Came to my attention with that run in the second
period, when everyone backed off him and it took a good save from the keeper to prevent him from scoring.
COUGHLAN Another player that didn't get onto my radar much.......so the same as Barker

GRANT Not a great performance from Grant but he has to put up with a lot of sorrow from the opposition.........wonder whether he gets the protection he
needs, at this level. Didn't worry too much about not getting a barn storming performance from him...........whilst the transfer window is still open.

FERDINAND Can't but be impressed with the coolness and authority he carried out his tasks...........as nearly everyone says, a GREAT prospect.

EASTON A solid performance from what I saw

HALL Good performance took his goal very well...........hopefully, we've found a bargain there.

STURROCK Did well in the first half .....although a lot out of my eye shot. When I was defending him against a doubting friend, sitting next to me, he didn't
perform as well.

MOHSNI Have to say that I got worried following his first challenge on their goalkeeper, when he followed it up by remonstrating with the referee and thus
drawing his attention to the official. However, following that, what can you say! Wodered whether he got taken off at H-T in fear that he may score
another couple in the second-half and thus attract other clubs attentions :winking:

CORR A little disappointing..........not 100% fit didn' seem very mobile

SAWYER Probably the kind of match he needs to start easing himself back to this level of football

All in all, I fly back to France on Saturday a happy bunny.........will be there in time to hear commentary on what I hope will be another five star away peformance

I was thinking of you, Yoggles, and was amazed and enthused that you had such a game to see. I had intended to see this one when I came up last December, but I'm delighted it was postponed now as 'Bill' was injured at the time, if I recall correctly. Talking of 'Bill,' was there any announcement made as to it being DC Spooner's last game?

 

[Yorkshire Blue]

I was thinking of you, Yoggles, and was amazed and enthused that you had such a game to see. I had intended to see this one when I came up last December, but I'm delighted it was postponed now as 'Bill' was injured at the time, if I recall correctly. Talking of 'Bill,' was there any announcement made as to it being DC Spooner's last game?

He got an ovation as he walked around round the ground. He was lapping it up.

 

[yogi bear up the cagire]

I was thinking of you, Yoggles, and was amazed and enthused that you had such a game to see. I had intended to see this one when I came up last December, but I'm delighted it was postponed now as 'Bill' was injured at the time, if I recall correctly. Talking of 'Bill,' was there any announcement made as to it being DC Spooner's last game?

I can't remember hearing any announcement, although that certainly doesn't mean that there wasn't one. However, at one point in the second-half he walked around the ground perimeter in front of the West Stand modestly and certainly emotionally, accepting and saluting praise from a number in the crowd. I don't know whether that was part of a surreptitious tour of the whole ground.

 

[Rob Noxious]

He got an ovation as he walked around round the ground. He was lapping it up.

Thanks, Matt - tried to green you for this, but had to 'spread it around first.' :thumbsup:

 

[Pak Power]

I can't remember hearing any announcement, although that certainly doesn't mean that there wasn't one. However, at one point in the second-half he walked around the ground perimeter in front of the West Stand modestly and certainly emotionally, accepting and saluting praise from a number in the crowd. I don't know whether that was part of a surreptitious tour of the whole ground.

He was presented with a Southend shirt at half time with his name on the back, and posed for photo's with the blue belles

 

[Tangled up in Blue]

Spencer Prior

Tony Hadley and Glenn Pennyfather come to mind too.How about Spud as well?

 

[Tangled up in Blue]

He was presented with a Southend shirt at half time with his name on the back, and posed for photo's with the blue belles

Some relatives have all the luck.:whistling:

 

[OldBlueLady]

Not had time to read everyone's comments but I thought the first half was one of the most consumate displays I've ever seen from Southend at home, every man and boy of them played well and with rarely a foot wrong. Fantastic!

Evans - 8, great game, well done and clearly enjoyed the banter with TBV boys
Clohessy - 7, solid going forward and good tracking back
Coughlan - 8, the old war horse looked to thoroughly enjoy it all
Barker - 7.5, so wished that run through late on had resulted in a goal!
Gilbert - 8, best performance I've seen from Gilbert, some excellent stops
Grant - 6.5, so hit and miss at the mo - one minute brilliant and the other terrible. Probably the least accomplished performer for once
Ferdinand - 7, mature head on such young shoulders
Easton - 8.5, on any other day would have been my MOTM, some absolutely sublime visionary passing
Hall - 8, another very good performance
Sturrock - 8, worked his bum off, good to hear extra cheering when he was announced
Mohsni - 9 MOTM, just amazing, fearless and fiercesome! Had "words" with Evans at one point, I can see pleasure and pain ahead because for sure he will pick up red cards but he is just SOOOO entertaining

Subs:
Corr for Mohsni - 6, wrong sub, should have put Harry on at that stage and rested Barry, things didn't really work for him
Phillips for Coughlan - 6.5, sensible game to give him some exposure in
Sawyer for Grant - 6.5, well there was a surprise! Looked to me to be reining himself in a bit

Ref - 7, officials didn't get much at all wrong, so well done from me for once

TBV - 8, not quite as vocal as Friday but still good stuff, shame about those who've moaned