Official Match Thread Southend Vs Hereford

[Smiffy]

6,100 and the Blue Void barely heard.

What a comedian you are.

How many times do I have to say this....

The Blue Voice is meant to be the whole bloody ground not just in the immediate area of the bass drum in W Block.

The Blue Voice DOES NOT have a dedicated area of the ground.

 

[Sherif H]

What was Clarke doing giving away a needless foul in the last few seconds? Hereford really should have scored with Mildenhall hobbling, the defence goes missing yet again and bloke shoots straight into Mildenhall's chest as the ref blows for time.

Clarke gives away a needless penalty last week, a stupid foul that should have cost us 2 points today, the penalty for the first goal in the play-offs. He is quickly becoming a liability.

I was more concerned about which pen1s decided it would be wise to launch a heavy pass back to Mildo in the last couple of minutes! Typical Southend....always do it the hard way. Hereford were far from the worst I have seen, but were a typical direct, uninteresting pile of toss like the majority of this rancid League...today, we would have been punished at the back again by a better side.

Still, a win, and the rot stops...for now.

 

[Magnum PI]

Crikey.. Still a fair bit of negativity on here tonight..

I thought we looked excellent in the first half - albeit certainly lacklustre second half but generally someone is going to get a spanking soon... Sawyer was immense, and my advice would be to delay the centre mid we are looking for while we have this fella, and to take our time and pick the right man, or at least get Sawyer signed up !!
I also thought Christophe did all the simple things right, and gets his legs into tackles you think he wont make. I think Macca might not walk straight back into the midfield. So much stronger than Moussa and Grant..

I thought Betsy was absolute quality first half, and his final ball was good most of the time.. He went quiet second half but am sure that this came from the bench. He and Walker werent getting wide at all, and yet first fifteen minutes Walker was everywhere!

I honestly think the goals will come, and I am certain we will finish top 10 !
I wouldnt want to be up against Freedman and Barnard as a front two !

 

[Smiffy]

Crikey.. Still a fair bit of negativity on here tonight..

I thought we looked excellent in the first half - albeit certainly lacklustre second half but generally someone is going to get a spanking soon... Sawyer was immense, and my advice would be to delay the centre mid we are looking for while we have this fella, and to take our time and pick the right man, or at least get Sawyer signed up !!
I also thought Christophe did all the simple things right, and gets his legs into tackles you think he wont make. I think Macca might not walk straight back into the midfield. So much stronger than Moussa and Grant..

I thought Betsy was absolute quality first half, and his final ball was good most of the time.. He went quiet second half but am sure that this came from the bench. He and Walker werent getting wide at all, and yet first fifteen minutes Walker was everywhere!

I honestly think the goals will come, and I am certain we will finish top 10 !
I wouldnt want to be up against Freedman and Barnard as a front two !

Spot on Sir.

When it clicks, we will have a very good side (If we hopefully sign Sawyer and Christophe permanently in Jan)

 

[Sherif H]

Crikey.. Still a fair bit of negativity on here tonight..

I thought we looked excellent in the first half - albeit certainly lacklustre second half but generally someone is going to get a spanking soon... Sawyer was immense, and my advice would be to delay the centre mid we are looking for while we have this fella, and to take our time and pick the right man, or at least get Sawyer signed up !!
I also thought Christophe did all the simple things right, and gets his legs into tackles you think he wont make. I think Macca might not walk straight back into the midfield. So much stronger than Moussa and Grant..

I thought Betsy was absolute quality first half, and his final ball was good most of the time.. He went quiet second half but am sure that this came from the bench. He and Walker werent getting wide at all, and yet first fifteen minutes Walker was everywhere!

I honestly think the goals will come, and I am certain we will finish top 10 !
I wouldnt want to be up against Freedman and Barnard as a front two !

I applaud your positivity MPI, but I seriously think the win today merely papered over the all too obvious cracks...despite all the running and endeavour from both Sawyer (who incidentally I think is a superb talent) and J F Christophe, we miss somebody who can calm and control the midfield in the centre so badly that the defence is being put under undue pressure from even the most average of teams, such as Hereford. I would however caveat that by saying that again, Clarke looks a liability at times, and as obviously talented a footballer as Francis is, his all too casual style at times defies belief. All too often we mess about with the ball in critical areas at the back, and put ourselves under avoidable pressure on more than one occasion today.

Another Southend trait (for many years)...why oh why can we not close out games....Hereford were there for the taking today...a pretty poor one dimensional side with a journeyman up front in Guinan and a pretty rancid midfield, yet we made them look good at times.

Glad of the win, but feel we will struggle to beat decent sides until these worrying traits are attended to.

 

[Clinton Baptiste]

I agree Sherif. Delighted with 3 points but any other team than Hereford would surely have beaten us. Same old problems- Francis is in dire form but no back up, crossing was woeful all game especially from the left side, silly things like the corners where Walker stands next to Harding- why??. People are giving Sawyer 8 but to me he ran around a lot but didnt make many telling passes. Nice to keep a clean sheet but still think we need a better centre back than Clarke. Sod buying all these central midfielders and strikers- Christoph did the holding role well I thought and the front 2 will get plenty of goals but we need an injection of quality on the flanks and at the back. We shouldve got punished at the end becasue of our inability to defend set pieces. How can we have 5 central midfielders but no left sided winger and no back up centre back?
I think both us and Hereford will be struggling to stay in this division come end of the season.

 

[steveo]

Hereford were far from the worst I have seen, but were a typical direct, uninteresting pile of toss like the majority of this rancid League..

I cant understand why they didnt whack a few long balls into the box when Mildenhall could hardly walk. I think they were limited to 1 corner and the shot at the end, and obviously the ridiculous pass back.

 

[AdamTheShrimper]

Although i didnt go to the game today (legitimate reasons) my brother and dad went. They said it was a totally different team in each half. They liked the look of christophe and said he is strong and should have been man of the match.

 

[jerseyshrimper]

6,000, I heard.

6393 the crowd

 

[Beefy]

I think both us and Hereford will be struggling to stay in this division come end of the season.

Hereford are practically gone already IMO.

We'll be nowhere near any serious trouble.