Post-Match Thread and Ratings Southend United 1-1 Swindon Town

[dannypav]

Felt sorry for Thompson because he only stayed up front to close their keeper down and make him hurry his clearance.
It would have looked bad if he had just backed off.
Leonard or Wordsworth should be alert to this and one of them drop back to centre half.
Ferdinand obviously disagrees with my view as he 'gently' pointed out to Thompson that he should not have gone AWOL.

 

[rlb999]

There seems to be an attempt to hang their goal on Thompson by some fans and by the manager. The latter is really disappointing given our improvement in recent weeks. As dannypav says above - plenty of teammates who should have covered. I'm sure if you want no attacking when we're 1-0 up Brown would be quick to accommodate you, but suspect you'll whinge about how boring that it's. Thompson did nothing wrong - it's a team game and no one needs to be outed for their goal. If anything the whole team needs to learn how to finish.

 

[Firestorm]

From my position in the South Upper , the Swindon goal was more down to (an albeit knackered) Ranger not stretching for a ball passing him about 18 inches away . Thompson and Cox had pressed their defence into almost panic and a hurried clearance passed Ranger, with a bit of extra effort the ball could have been recovered and given our position we may well of scored.

It was a bit harsh to blame Thompson imho

 

[AndyT]

Funnily enough, we were right behind the goal in the South Upper, as well and said the same thing.

Not anyone's fault, but in the first half, when he was less tired, he probably would have got to that.

 

[Firestorm]

Funnily enough, we were right behind the goal in the South Upper, as well and said the same thing.

Not anyone's fault, but in the first half, when he was less tired, he probably would have got to that.

That's where we were too

 

[AndyT]

One row from the back, we were, but right behind Wordy's shot that the keeper literally appeared from nowhere to save. How he actually caught it, as well, I still can't get my head around.

Another thing, there was a decent shout for a penalty on Wordy, but in fairness to the ref, he didn't get a good view of it.

 

[Firestorm]

We are front row.

The keeper puled of a number of good saves, without being overly spectacular , the one which was going bottom right after a deflection was particularly good.

I didn't properly see the block on Demitrous shot, did the block just get up at the right time of did it seem intentional ?

 

[tottenham541]

Unlucky not to get the three points, take that performance into the Walsall game and we get the three points on offer:thumbsup:

 

[RobM]

"Overall Man of the Match has to be Swindon's keeper though. Looking forward to seeing some of his saves on the highlights."

Not on Sky ones, you won't!

 

[AndyT]

We are front row.

The keeper puled of a number of good saves, without being overly spectacular , the one which was going bottom right after a deflection was particularly good.

I didn't properly see the block on Demitrous shot, did the block just get up at the right time of did it seem intentional ?

The one that Demetriou smashed with his left foot hit their number 28 on the back of the head. He knew nothing about it, at all. If it's that one.

 

[united we stand]

From my position in the South Upper , the Swindon goal was more down to (an albeit knackered) Ranger not stretching for a ball passing him about 18 inches away . Thompson and Cox had pressed their defence into almost panic and a hurried clearance passed Ranger, with a bit of extra effort the ball could have been recovered and given our position we may well of scored.



It was a bit harsh to blame Thompson imho

Totally agree with this , Thomposon's persistance almost gave us a great goal scorring chance-I still don't understand how Nile didn't get that ball. We had buckets of time to get oursleves sorted, and we had plenty of players back , its not like they the keeper immediately threw the ball out and they broke quickly. Other players have to take responsibility . If people are going to blame Thompson then I assume they never want to see either of our CB's go up for corners or generally get in the oppositions area?

The worst thing for me was the below stat
15 corners- no goal.

I don't know if it just 'feels' like it but Its not just this match, our conversion rate of goals from corners seems very low


What this game showed to be is how important beleif and confidence are. in the first half we won every second ball, chased every man and forced mistakes. If we ahd of scored a second gaola in teh firsst half it could ahve been a riot. After they scored they gained belief and literally upped their game. They started winning second balls and put in that few percent more effort across the pitch. We realy needed that second goal :sad:

 

[Tampa Blue]

Felt sorry for Thompson because he only stayed up front to close their keeper down and make him hurry his clearance.
It would have looked bad if he had just backed off.
Leonard or Wordsworth should be alert to this and one of them drop back to centre half.
Ferdinand obviously disagrees with my view as he 'gently' pointed out to Thompson that he should not have gone AWOL.

Do you know what, I agree with you on this and felt like I was alone in that regard.

If Thompson had backed off then the ball would have passed him from the keeper long before he was back in position, whereas he hassled and harried the keeper and back 4 which did actually allow Leonard to do what a good midfielder should do in that he got back and covered Thompson's position - damned if you do and damned if you don't. To hear PB basically blaming Thompson in his post match interview was out of order in my opinion.

I think that the reason we didn't win was that it PB was 20 minutes too late with his substitution. It was obvious that Ranger and Cox were knackered and we were crying out for some pace to stretch Swindon at the back for virtually the whole second half.

Because we weren't stretching or threatening Swindon they were emboldened enough to bring on Norris and basically go 4-2-4 and then they got the goal.

Only after the goal did PB do the substitution and then with Fortune having a stormer we absolutely battered them.

So for me, if you are going to blame anyone for the 2 points lost (though I would prefer to blame no one and say well done to Swindon for great defending and great work rate) then it is PB for not using his substitutes to enforce the win when we were 1 up - though I have to say that I have now joined the 'want PB to stay' camp rather than 'taxi for PB camp' and long may that continue.

Let's hope that the boys all rest up between now and Walsall as there looked some tired legs out there after that monumental display against Bradford.

 

[rigsby]

What a good atmosphere for a Tuesday night. Can't remember a last 15 like that at the Hall for very long time. Likewise clapping the oppo's keeper off , we don't normally give him them a chance to win MOM.

Agree with most of the posts, just like to mention Anton, thought he made a lot of stuff look easy, real good performance and he certainly deserved a clean sheet.

I'm not going to scape goat Thommo either. He was rightly up the pitch for a free kick but Woody made the worst decision of the night and clipped a nothing ball into their keeper at the near post.

Their goal came at the end of a frustrating little passage of play. Yes we took our foot of the gas but I don't agree we deliberately sat back. We knocked a ball into Ranger's chest and he was clearly fouled but we the ref didn't give it. We had that let off with the header at the far post and the ref missed a blatant hand ball when Cox was right in front of the East. (one of about 6 he missed).

Then Ranger wins us a free kick in a good area. At this stage as professional Woody should be thinking.... Game Managemnet....Yes we played well but are still just 1-0 up and they have come back strong and we need to get a second. They are not that good in the air So I'll really ask a question at the back post as my CB (Thommo) and Ranger are in good positions.......What you don't do is let them out of jail with a nothing little show boat of a free kick to no one.

Yes maybe Thommo could have sprinted straight back but as someone said their keeper was looking for a quick kick. Anyway we should have covered better after that. Still at least it set up a cracking last 15, which was worth the ticket money alone.

By the way when Fortune sprinted past his man in front of the West, were any of you thinking ....'Oh there goes that old has been, on his last big pay day'....Thought not.

 

[RobM]

"By the way when Fortune sprinted past his man in front of the West, were any of you thinking ....'Oh there goes that old has been, on his last big pay day'....Thought not."

Quite a turn of pace!

 

[Ayrshire Blue]

Brown always had the tools in the chest but its taken the craftsmen to show him how to use them.

Team is unrecognisable from August / September and we are attacking, we're going for the jugular and its not always working but at least we're not going 1-0 up and sitting back and inviting pressure onto ourselves.

The last 2 home games I have been entertained and thats all I ask for, thats what I pay my money for and thats what gets you 8,000 season tickets. You have to make people want to come back and we weren't, it was stagnant and flat out boring.

We chucked the kitchen sink at Swindon in the last 20 minutes and only an inspired goalkeeper has denied us 3 points

 

[Ironshrimper]

I diagree we sat back in the second half, yeah we took our foot of the gas, but it wasn't like Swindon were bombarding us.

Yeah they created chances, but so did we. Afer they equalised that was what sitting back looks like, but we should have scored, too many shots were weak or too near the keeper IMO; though if JDs shot hadn't hit that defending, it would have flew in!!!

Cox MOM, excellent player

We see things different, I think....like Rootshallbloke (and like I said last night) we sat back and parked the bus second half, it's was not them just having a go, we camped in our own half, as though it was Phil's words "just take it easy, they won't score all night" We must try and keep scoring.

 

[Jay_SUFC]

We see things different, I think....like Rootshallbloke (and like I said last night) we sat back and parked the bus second half, it's was not them just having a go, we camped in our own half, as though it was Phil's words "just take it easy, they won't score all night" We must try and keep scoring.

If we parked the bus and camped in our own half, how did we continue to create chances then?

And yes, I'm sure PB told them at half time to stop attacking and just sit back and defend

 

[Mick]

What was good to see was that when they equalized, we really powered at them and on another night would have won 4-1.

....... unless we sat back again after the second :winking:

 

[Tampa Blue]

If we parked the bus and camped in our own half, how did we continue to create chances then?

And yes, I'm sure PB told them at half time to stop attacking and just sit back and defend

I just think that the players were knackered to be honest

 

[Firestorm]

The one that Demetriou smashed with his left foot hit their number 28 on the back of the head. He knew nothing about it, at all. If it's that one.

That's the one