sufcintheprem
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Seeing as its been a while since I did these and, for a change, I'm not doing the slightly arduous 2 hour journey home, I thought I might put up my thoughts on today's game.
All in all, we weren't really that bad overall. Oldham succeeded where many other clubs have failed in the past and really closed down Maher and McCormack. Hughes was joining the midfield to press Maher and we repeatedly ended up dropping the ball at Peter Clarke's feet for him to howitzer aimless balls downfield. I honestly can't remember which came first but the two telling moments of the first twenty minutes were what was, what would become and what could have been.
For the goal, Barrett tried to win a ball that wasn't there to be won and sensing a gap, Hughes turned and bundled his way past the floundering defender before taking his time to slot the ball in tothe far corner. In fairness, it was an excellent finish but very naive defending. It should have been 1-1 though where a flicked ball from Maher was picked up by Clarke who showed outstanding strength to get free, superb balance to skip past the keeper but shocking composure meant his tap-in was very much a tap-out. Shocking miss and you started to worry. A moment that would later turn out to be pivotal was the booking of McCormack for an innocuous looking trip in the Oldham half. Frankly, this was a joke with only ten minutes on teh clock and for a first foul.
In spite of this, the West stand kept trying to lift the team and as the half wore on, Southend became more and mroe dominant. Maher and McCormack were given more room as Oldham struggled to keep up the intensity but chances were few and far between. Hughes' movement and his strike partner's physical threat meant we couldn't push on too much. Clarke P missed the first of several opportunities from a corner that seemed to be cleared off the line and a further effort from a corner was headed out from under the bar.
At half time, in spite of Southend's increasing dominance, I was still wondering how we would score as we never seemed threatening. Our wingers had offered approximately nothing in the first half and left far too much for the two central guys. Barrett and Clarke kept up their uncomfortable marriage and each must be looking for the time when the affair of that relationship, Richards, gets an oportunity. Hunt and Hammell really didn't do a lot wrong and the front two looked to have an excellent understanding without managing to create anything particularly clear cut.
The second half started where it left off inthe first for Southend. Black seemed to have realised he could sprint and sprint quicker than their full back and we owned the central midfield area while our defenders dealt fairly comfortably with any Oldham threat. The only moment of genuine worry I can remember was Barrett, again sadly, defending with too much naivety in the left back slot and getting robbed by Hughes. How Peter Clarke didn't get penalised for his superb one handed save, I don't know. Southend continued to probe and just after the hour mark (I think), Hammell broke superbly from defence to free McCormack. As the centre back came to close him down, he slotted L Clarke in to the empty space but he showed little composure with his finish and the keeper snuffed out the chance.
This was to be McCormack's last input before, in almost the direct opposite part of the pitch from his first booking, he inexplicably raked his boot across the back of an Oldham player's leg. This one was a definite booking but the anger from the crowd and players related to the farcical first.
In truth, Southend struggled to threaten any more after the sending off as McCormack had been influential in the middle and we had to switch to long balls. A couple of late corners posed little threat other than a half chance for Clarke P and really there was little to get excited about late on.
Overall, a reasonable performance and not lacking effort but sometimes it doesn't come off. As we've seen on another day, Clarke will be good enough to score those chances and without the farcical first booking, McCormack would have only picked up the one.
The disciplinary situation is ridiculous now though and something the club seriously need to address. Granted, it's a part of both McCormack and Bailey's game to make tackles and enforce the midfield but Robbie Savage has only been sent off once in his entire career and he's one of the best in the country at this role. How do you make players control their aggression? I don't know but this may turn out to be one of the biggest tests of Tilson's managerial career. We can't be playing with a man down as often as we are and we can't be missing some of our most influential players every few games. The crazy thing is that we're not a dirty team - the players are just making shocking decisions at times.
Ratings to follow post dinner.
All in all, we weren't really that bad overall. Oldham succeeded where many other clubs have failed in the past and really closed down Maher and McCormack. Hughes was joining the midfield to press Maher and we repeatedly ended up dropping the ball at Peter Clarke's feet for him to howitzer aimless balls downfield. I honestly can't remember which came first but the two telling moments of the first twenty minutes were what was, what would become and what could have been.
For the goal, Barrett tried to win a ball that wasn't there to be won and sensing a gap, Hughes turned and bundled his way past the floundering defender before taking his time to slot the ball in tothe far corner. In fairness, it was an excellent finish but very naive defending. It should have been 1-1 though where a flicked ball from Maher was picked up by Clarke who showed outstanding strength to get free, superb balance to skip past the keeper but shocking composure meant his tap-in was very much a tap-out. Shocking miss and you started to worry. A moment that would later turn out to be pivotal was the booking of McCormack for an innocuous looking trip in the Oldham half. Frankly, this was a joke with only ten minutes on teh clock and for a first foul.
In spite of this, the West stand kept trying to lift the team and as the half wore on, Southend became more and mroe dominant. Maher and McCormack were given more room as Oldham struggled to keep up the intensity but chances were few and far between. Hughes' movement and his strike partner's physical threat meant we couldn't push on too much. Clarke P missed the first of several opportunities from a corner that seemed to be cleared off the line and a further effort from a corner was headed out from under the bar.
At half time, in spite of Southend's increasing dominance, I was still wondering how we would score as we never seemed threatening. Our wingers had offered approximately nothing in the first half and left far too much for the two central guys. Barrett and Clarke kept up their uncomfortable marriage and each must be looking for the time when the affair of that relationship, Richards, gets an oportunity. Hunt and Hammell really didn't do a lot wrong and the front two looked to have an excellent understanding without managing to create anything particularly clear cut.
The second half started where it left off inthe first for Southend. Black seemed to have realised he could sprint and sprint quicker than their full back and we owned the central midfield area while our defenders dealt fairly comfortably with any Oldham threat. The only moment of genuine worry I can remember was Barrett, again sadly, defending with too much naivety in the left back slot and getting robbed by Hughes. How Peter Clarke didn't get penalised for his superb one handed save, I don't know. Southend continued to probe and just after the hour mark (I think), Hammell broke superbly from defence to free McCormack. As the centre back came to close him down, he slotted L Clarke in to the empty space but he showed little composure with his finish and the keeper snuffed out the chance.
This was to be McCormack's last input before, in almost the direct opposite part of the pitch from his first booking, he inexplicably raked his boot across the back of an Oldham player's leg. This one was a definite booking but the anger from the crowd and players related to the farcical first.
In truth, Southend struggled to threaten any more after the sending off as McCormack had been influential in the middle and we had to switch to long balls. A couple of late corners posed little threat other than a half chance for Clarke P and really there was little to get excited about late on.
Overall, a reasonable performance and not lacking effort but sometimes it doesn't come off. As we've seen on another day, Clarke will be good enough to score those chances and without the farcical first booking, McCormack would have only picked up the one.
The disciplinary situation is ridiculous now though and something the club seriously need to address. Granted, it's a part of both McCormack and Bailey's game to make tackles and enforce the midfield but Robbie Savage has only been sent off once in his entire career and he's one of the best in the country at this role. How do you make players control their aggression? I don't know but this may turn out to be one of the biggest tests of Tilson's managerial career. We can't be playing with a man down as often as we are and we can't be missing some of our most influential players every few games. The crazy thing is that we're not a dirty team - the players are just making shocking decisions at times.
Ratings to follow post dinner.
