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Post-Match Thread and Ratings Forest Green Rovers 1-3 Southend United

Thought we were excellent tonight. Some amazing strikes, but we had a couple of easier chances which ordinarily could have popped in to give us the 3-1 we deserved rather than 45 yard wonder goals

Why was this. The back 5 are settled. Clifford is a good defender and as schoolboy said earlier makes good contact with his clearances. Elvis is back in the game. Tonight White defended really well. And Hobson has his comfort of playing in a 4 again. He needs that.

Fergie was excellent tonight. Not just the goal, but his breaking up of play. Was it Crawley who we got him from? Who have replaced him with the less high flying Wright brothers? They must have finance issues.

But what really was different tonight was the front 3. We looked dangerous every time we went forward. Hackett Fairchild was excellent, especially first half. Akinola was brilliant throughout - his game suits playing wide in a 3. He also pressurised the play enough and I lost count of the times when the right CB gave him the ball as he sprung on to it.

But Acquah tonight played his best game for us. He was a real nuisance for the 70 odd minutes he played. I’ve said before that I’m not sure he will make it as a pro longer term. If he plays like he did tonight more often, he may just make it. Well done Emile!
 
Just seen the Ferguson goal on the EFL highlights. My God what a goal. If that's not goal of the season I can't wait to see the goal that beats it
 
Yeah, lets drop a committed, intelligent young lad who has had to learn his trade in almost impossible circumstances for an unfit bloke who has totally wasted his talent and already been booted out of the club for repeated failures to act like a professional footballer
I get all that, young lad, too soon, one of our own, committed etc, thats all lovely stuff, but ive got to be honest in our predicament i dont care. I didnt want ranger here, but he is. We need our forwards to score goals to keep us in the league, acquahs doing his best but he's nowhere near ready, and he should never have been thrown out there as he has been cos of our embargo/crap recruitment.

Tonight was awesome, but we cannot rely on worldys from midfield and volleys from centre backs. One win and people seem to forget the losses and frustration and above all league position.

And for the record nothing would make me happier then for us to survive this year and acquah goes on to become a total sufc hero and legend next few seasons.
 
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Oh. And forgot to say. Thanks to Forest Green for starting Hutchinson. Not the first time I’ve seen a game (or half a game) pass him by. When you play our relegation rivals in the next few weeks, please start with the players that gave you 13 points from the last 15
 
I get all that, young lad, too soon, one of our own, committed etc, thats all lovely stuff, but ive got to be honest in our predicament i dont care. I didnt want ranger here, but he is. We need our forwards to score goals to keep us in the league, acquahs doing his best but he's nowhere near ready, and he should never have been thrown out there as he has been cos of our embargo/crap recruitment.

Tonight was awesome, but we cannot rely on worldys from midfield and volleys from centre backs. One win and people seem to forget the losses and frustration and above all league position.

And for the record nothing would make me happier then for us to survive this year and acquah goes on to become a total sufc hero and legend next few seasons.
I’m not sure what your point is, Ranger isn’t fit. Acquah does a good job in his absence. Goodship is the only other option, would you rather he played up front by himself instead of Acquah? I certainly wouldn’t.

A strikers only job isn’t to score anyway. Acquah is being put out there to hold the ball up and create space for the 3 attacking players behind him. He’s 20 and probably wouldn’t have been in the side had the club been running normally for the past couple of years, but it hasn’t and that’s not his fault. He is doing what is required of him to a fairly decent standard and seems to be getting better at it in every game he plays. He’s probably never going to be the sort of striker that scores loads of goals, not every striker is.

Why did you not mention Dieng’s goal as part of your but? Is it because a goal from a well worked move into the box didn’t fit in with your point?

And why can’t we rely on Ferguson scoring worldies? He’s done it twice already in a handful of games, why can’t he do it again? We should be encouraging him to continue to take shots from outside of the area.

The problem of recent weeks has been that we aren’t taking opportunities to shoot. Tonight we take opportunities to shoot and it pays off and now we can’t rely on it?
 
I’m not sure what your point is, Ranger isn’t fit. Acquah does a good job in his absence. Goodship is the only other option, would you rather he played up front by himself instead of Acquah? I certainly wouldn’t.

A strikers only job isn’t to score anyway. Acquah is being put out there to hold the ball up and create space for the 3 attacking players behind him. He’s 20 and probably wouldn’t have been in the side had the club been running normally for the past couple of years, but it hasn’t and that’s not his fault. He is doing what is required of him to a fairly decent standard and seems to be getting better at it in every game he plays. He’s probably never going to be the sort of striker that scores loads of goals, not every striker is.

Why did you not mention Dieng’s goal as part of your but? Is it because a goal from a well worked move into the box didn’t fit in with your point?

And why can’t we rely on Ferguson scoring worldies? He’s done it twice already in a handful of games, why can’t he do it again? We should be encouraging him to continue to take shots from outside of the area.

The problem of recent weeks has been that we aren’t taking opportunities to shoot. Tonight we take opportunities to shoot and it pays off and now we can’t rely on it?

My point was in response to spensers reply to my post saying perhaps this is a good formation for us moving forward but with ranger up front and not acquah.

I do know that a strikers job is not to just score goals. But you must admit youd hope for your main striker to score more then once the whole season?

I didnt mention diengs goal, because in essence its the same as fergusons goal or hobsons. Goals scored not by strikers but by midfielders/defenders but this is the exception rather then the norm particularly with us this season.

Its great that ferguson is scoring belters and long may it continue, but i cant name a succesful side in history that relied solely on screamers from midfield.

Your asking why we cant rely on tonights opportunities taken, i hope we continue to make those opportunities and shoot and score. But you cant honestly tell me that you dont want your forwards to be the focal point of our goal threat. Our goal scoring record is pathetic, our top scorer is clifford. I dont think its unreasonable of me to desire some strikers who may be able to score goals.
 
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Just seen the goals, can`t remember seeing three strikes as good as that in the same game ever! My last post complained about our dearth of shots on goal, feel pretty silly now. I hope they make me look even more foolish for the rest of the season, who knows even the forwards might like to join in.
 
That performance was enough to draw me out of my posting hiatus! Has to be the most enjoyable Southend game I have watched for some time. Watching the Blues is certainly becoming more enjoyable. Dare I say it, that feeling of inner-dread before a game is slowly starting to become ‘cautious optimism’.

Well done to MM and the squad. Everyone did great last night. A real team performance with a few sprinkles of gold dust sprinkled throughout. All three goals were very enjoyable to watch. To a man, each player did the club proud.

Emile has sparked some interesting chat. For what it is worth, I thought I’d throw in my 2 pence as well. Although saying that, the point I make below is probably a broader one, better suited to a different thread.

To start with, I thought Emile’s performance last night was very good. Most on this thread seem to agree. However, for a while now i’ve worried that he has become a bit of a scapegoat, possibly even a victim of the club’s demise over the last few years.

Unfortunately, when the ship is sinking you have to find a way to stop it. Neither Sol, or MM (until more recently) were given many tools, if any, to do this. As a result, both have had to throw players into the team that may not have been quite ready.

I think it is important to remember this, especially in respect of those players that we call ‘our own’ (i.e. youth team/u23 prospects). In an ideal world, these players are gifted first-team opportunities when they are ready. The amount of development contracts/third-year scholars/first professional contracts we dish out every year is testament to our club’s commitment to persevering and being patient with ‘potential’ first team talent. However, as a club we have been in freefall. Instead of remaining patient with ‘potential’ talent, many have been flung into the limelight (e.g. Clifford, Rush, Mitch-Nelson, Gard, etc. etc.).

Some have taken to first-team football quite comfortably, while others have struggled. This is to be expected, and is certainly understandable. They are works in progress after all. I will touch on a few examples below to give Emile’s recent treatment some context.

Clifford’s integration into the first 11 seemed to work perfectly. Fresh from a loan spell at Concord (and I think Bishop S some time before that) he has not looked back. Brilliant story. Now 22, you would imagine it was probably getting to the make or break part of Clifford’s career at Southend anyways. I couldn’t be more pleased for the lad. If he had been chucked into the first team under similar circumstances when he was 19/20 who knows what direction is career would have gone in.

Mitchell-Nelson is an interesting case. While showing some serious promise, it’s quite possible he wasn’t ready for regular first team action just yet. In some ways it is pleasing MM was able to withdraw him from the limelight this season to continue his development. By all accounts, he is performing admirably for the u’23s. I for one certainty hope he gets another opportunity in the first team in the future. Ideally when MM feels he is ready and not because we are under an embargo and happen to lack defenders!

Then we have the curious case of Emile Acquah! I for one did not think Emile looked ready for regular league football when he was first chucked in. Not because he didn’t appear to have potential (he certainly did), but similar to your Mitchell-Nelson’s, Richard Taylor’s, and Matt Rush’s of this world, there was clearly some work/development to do. He looked very raw. However, unlike Clifford who was thrust into the first team at a perfect time in his development, or Mitchell-Nelson who was withdrawn from the limelight this season to develop further (because we now have plenty of CB options), Emile plays in a position that we have been threadbare in for a long time.

Consequently, he has often been expected to step into the first team and successfully lead the forward line. Maybe it’s because we have been bottom of the league for most of this season, or because we have been fighting relegation for the last few years, or because we have become accustom to losing week in and week out, but I think some of us might have forgotten who Emile is.

Emile is a lad who played for our youth team, went to the local Southend grammar school and whose main experience of men’s football came at Harlow a few seasons back. Emile is 20 and is ‘one of our own’. Lets try and remember that the next time he has a bad touch or fails to win a header.

In other seasons, similar prospects would have probably been given the opportunity to soak in another loan experience and combine that with some U’23 games. Possibly even get on the bench occasionally for the first team. Unfortunately, Emile’s not been afforded the same patience given to other prospects. This is because we have been in freefall as a club and gone an embarrassingly long time without experienced striker options. Because of Emile’s size, and because he is a striker, we have continued to throw him, over and over again into our first-team with unrealistic expectations.

However, that is now history. Sol and MM had to try and get results by any means. This I understand, accept and would probably do the same. I just can’t help think that some of our players (mainly our prospects have been harshly judged along the way).

In good news, in my opinion Emile’s performances are getting better every week. While he might have been chucked in the deep end to begin with, he is clearly continuing to learn quickly on the job. I don’t think it is a surprise his uplift in performances coincide with MM being in a position to use him more selectively. I for one am excited to see how Emile’s development continues over the coming seasons (should he stay on). He certainly appears to have a lot of potential. Leading the line as effectively as he has at first and second in the league deserves real credit.

I may have read the whole ‘Emile’ situation completely wrong! All I know is there is nothing better than seeing ‘one of our own’ turn in a decent performance on a Saturday. Clifford’s winner against Newport and Emile’s up at Walsall were all the sweeter because of who they are and what they represent.

Whether Emile goes on to be a legend of the club (which I hope he does), or another that does not quite make it, I hope our club is now better positioned (post embargo) to handle our future talent with more patience and care moving forward. As fans lets remember to be kind.

UTB
 
I think for once we dealt with the weather better than FGR. We also did very well to get our first against the weather in the first half and had it behind us in the second, which we dominated. Equalled out the Cambridge home game as I thought having that weather in the second half played in their favour that night. Minor thing but good stuff.
 
Sad its taken this long for fans to realise how badly treating a young player can affect them, especially one who is as kind as he is. It's easy to say don't read the hate but when it's on almost everything and you're 20 years old? Im pleased to see the support Emile is now getting from fans, it's a shame it's normally after the game rather than before. Hopefully that's something to be changed from now on.
I really don't get the mentality of some of our fans, who seem to feel the need to scapegoat someone irrationally and then get constantly on their backs. There gave been numerous cases of this over the years, all unjustified, and poor Emile is the latest! It is embarrassing, unfair and has the potential to ruin a young man's promising career!

With the squad we gave now, even with our lack of firepower (last night excluded), young Acquah has the shirt, he has, more importantly, retained the right to be in the starting line up, and is improving game by game. He may have made some mistakes and made some naive decisions, but he is a 20 year old lad. The trouble is, being so tall and strong, people tend to forget his inexperience, again, unfair to him.

The fact is, he is in the side on merit and I am certain he is doing exactly what the manager is asking of him - holding up the ball, making a nuisance of himself and creating gaps for others who to exploit. He isnt going to score a hatful of goals yet, but that, i believe, is not why he is on the pitch at this point in time!

Emile reminds me of a young Theo - who if i rightly recall is a pretty decent squad player who knows where the goal is. And soneone we let slide through our fingers, several times, partly because of the abuse he got from a number of our 'fans'.
 
Accepting of course that injuries suffered last evening may dictate otherwise, please MM resist the temptation to tinker with the lineup for Saturday against Salford. Surely that starting eleven deserve the opportunity to show us again the skills, desire and goals which rocked FGR back on their heels. You have found a lineup which worked. You resisted the calls for Ricky to start. If he is fit enough, then do likewise with the similar calls to put Nile straight into the starting eleven. I believe you have shown that players must earn the right to start. By that you seem to indicate that squad togetherness is an important ingredient of a successful team. Oh, and ignore the jibes about the PE teacher! Those who saw your performances in midfield for Bournemouth know that you have a very solid background in the professional game. Best of good fortune for the remaining 16 games. There will be many twists and turns along the way. But survival in this league beckons. Go grab it!
 
That performance was enough to draw me out of my posting hiatus! Has to be the most enjoyable Southend game I have watched for some time. Watching the Blues is certainly becoming more enjoyable. Dare I say it, that feeling of inner-dread before a game is slowly starting to become ‘cautious optimism’.

Well done to MM and the squad. Everyone did great last night. A real team performance with a few sprinkles of gold dust sprinkled throughout. All three goals were very enjoyable to watch. To a man, each player did the club proud.

Emile has sparked some interesting chat. For what it is worth, I thought I’d throw in my 2 pence as well. Although saying that, the point I make below is probably a broader one, better suited to a different thread.

To start with, I thought Emile’s performance last night was very good. Most on this thread seem to agree. However, for a while now i’ve worried that he has become a bit of a scapegoat, possibly even a victim of the club’s demise over the last few years.

Unfortunately, when the ship is sinking you have to find a way to stop it. Neither Sol, or MM (until more recently) were given many tools, if any, to do this. As a result, both have had to throw players into the team that may not have been quite ready.

I think it is important to remember this, especially in respect of those players that we call ‘our own’ (i.e. youth team/u23 prospects). In an ideal world, these players are gifted first-team opportunities when they are ready. The amount of development contracts/third-year scholars/first professional contracts we dish out every year is testament to our club’s commitment to persevering and being patient with ‘potential’ first team talent. However, as a club we have been in freefall. Instead of remaining patient with ‘potential’ talent, many have been flung into the limelight (e.g. Clifford, Rush, Mitch-Nelson, Gard, etc. etc.).

Some have taken to first-team football quite comfortably, while others have struggled. This is to be expected, and is certainly understandable. They are works in progress after all. I will touch on a few examples below to give Emile’s recent treatment some context.

Clifford’s integration into the first 11 seemed to work perfectly. Fresh from a loan spell at Concord (and I think Bishop S some time before that) he has not looked back. Brilliant story. Now 22, you would imagine it was probably getting to the make or break part of Clifford’s career at Southend anyways. I couldn’t be more pleased for the lad. If he had been chucked into the first team under similar circumstances when he was 19/20 who knows what direction is career would have gone in.

Mitchell-Nelson is an interesting case. While showing some serious promise, it’s quite possible he wasn’t ready for regular first team action just yet. In some ways it is pleasing MM was able to withdraw him from the limelight this season to continue his development. By all accounts, he is performing admirably for the u’23s. I for one certainty hope he gets another opportunity in the first team in the future. Ideally when MM feels he is ready and not because we are under an embargo and happen to lack defenders!

Then we have the curious case of Emile Acquah! I for one did not think Emile looked ready for regular league football when he was first chucked in. Not because he didn’t appear to have potential (he certainly did), but similar to your Mitchell-Nelson’s, Richard Taylor’s, and Matt Rush’s of this world, there was clearly some work/development to do. He looked very raw. However, unlike Clifford who was thrust into the first team at a perfect time in his development, or Mitchell-Nelson who was withdrawn from the limelight this season to develop further (because we now have plenty of CB options), Emile plays in a position that we have been threadbare in for a long time.

Consequently, he has often been expected to step into the first team and successfully lead the forward line. Maybe it’s because we have been bottom of the league for most of this season, or because we have been fighting relegation for the last few years, or because we have become accustom to losing week in and week out, but I think some of us might have forgotten who Emile is.

Emile is a lad who played for our youth team, went to the local Southend grammar school and whose main experience of men’s football came at Harlow a few seasons back. Emile is 20 and is ‘one of our own’. Lets try and remember that the next time he has a bad touch or fails to win a header.

In other seasons, similar prospects would have probably been given the opportunity to soak in another loan experience and combine that with some U’23 games. Possibly even get on the bench occasionally for the first team. Unfortunately, Emile’s not been afforded the same patience given to other prospects. This is because we have been in freefall as a club and gone an embarrassingly long time without experienced striker options. Because of Emile’s size, and because he is a striker, we have continued to throw him, over and over again into our first-team with unrealistic expectations.

However, that is now history. Sol and MM had to try and get results by any means. This I understand, accept and would probably do the same. I just can’t help think that some of our players (mainly our prospects have been harshly judged along the way).

In good news, in my opinion Emile’s performances are getting better every week. While he might have been chucked in the deep end to begin with, he is clearly continuing to learn quickly on the job. I don’t think it is a surprise his uplift in performances coincide with MM being in a position to use him more selectively. I for one am excited to see how Emile’s development continues over the coming seasons (should he stay on). He certainly appears to have a lot of potential. Leading the line as effectively as he has at first and second in the league deserves real credit.

I may have read the whole ‘Emile’ situation completely wrong! All I know is there is nothing better than seeing ‘one of our own’ turn in a decent performance on a Saturday. Clifford’s winner against Newport and Emile’s up at Walsall were all the sweeter because of who they are and what they represent.

Whether Emile goes on to be a legend of the club (which I hope he does), or another that does not quite make it, I hope our club is now better positioned (post embargo) to handle our future talent with more patience and care moving forward. As fans lets remember to be kind.

UTB
I agree with a lot of what you say. In respect of Emile against Cambridge almost all thought he had a good game while last night most although maybe not as many were very appreciative of his performance. That is two good games against sides presently placed first and second in League 2 which is no small achievement for a still inexperienced twenty year old performing what most would accept is a difficult role in the team. The point I would like to make is this: had Emile spent the majority of the season playing Under 23's or sitting on the bench it just would not have been have been possible for him to turn in the performances he did against Cambridge and Forest Green. He has been able to reach his present level only because of the minutes played earlier in the season. While he may have seemed ineffective and frustrated many of our supporters at that time he was gaining in experience and learning what it takes to contribute at this level. Those tough games when he was decried as being hopeless were an integral part of his development as a footballer. For Pele and very few others, it was always simple in their youth. They looked stars as soon as they stepped on the pitch and after that it was always onwards and upwards. For nearly everyone else it is a much tougher road with sometimes having to take two steps back after every step forward. Emile now looks like he is developing, and, like many others on here, I will be hoping what he have seen in his last two games now represents his new level of performance.
I am certain we would not have seen what have in these two important games unless he had endured the trials of those tough games earlier in the season. And it cannot be overlooked that until very recently we have not been a very good side at all so he was trying to learn his trade playing for a team that had any number of serious deficiencies and was losing every week
Bravo to Emile for having the intelligence and aptitude to learn to make the necessary adjustments and for having the resilience and self belief to see him through those testing times.
And a special shout out to MM and the coaching staff for overseeing his development. They must be very pleased with what they have seen recently.
And I know many like to slag off MM but I do not think it can be denied he has been a very positive influence on a number of players. I do not know how Nathan Ferguson played at Crawley but doubt he performed better there than he has done with us. SimAk also; I love watching him but if he really had performed elsewhere the way he is now playing for us I suspect we would never have had a chance to sign him. Of course MM is not perfect but he is doing a lot right!
As is Emile! If he can maintain, or dare I say it, improve on his recent performances there are likely to be more than a few Southend games well worth watching before the season ends.
Now for Man U Lite on Saturday. Let us hope we can do to them what we did to the full strength version a few years ago!
UTB
 
Brilliant all round performance by the whole team. Watching all our games this season I have spent most of every game shouting 'take a pop' at the TV. That performance shows that when you take a little risk ie shoot on sight you reap the rewards.....

We are coming for ya Col U ?
 
Confidence and team spirit count for a lot. MM is building that in difficult circumstances and has a bunch of lads .. finally .. who want to put the graft in and play for the shirt.

Best thing last night was not ****ting myself every time FGR got the ball, I was sat there thinking “we’ve got this”.

We’re getting harder to beat and if we can carry on adding goals to the mix like last night and the movement and balls into the box, we can beat anyone in L2. As for Acquah ffs give it a rest. What is it with some of our fans, it’s boring.
 
Brilliant all round performance by the whole team. Watching all our games this season I have spent most of every game shouting 'take a pop' at the TV. That performance shows that when you take a little risk ie shoot on sight you reap the rewards.....

We are coming for ya Col U ?

It worked out well yesterday but just as a counter argument, in an earlier match against Exeter, we were 2-1 up and Kyle Taylor took a chance. It went high, bounced off the advertisement board and the keeper was able to take a quick goal kick, went up the other end and they scored a last minute equaliser.

When it works it's brilliant, as we saw last night. When it doesn't, teams can hurt us.
 

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