Post-Match Thread and Ratings Bolton Wanderers 3-0 Southend United

[Bearded Shrimper]

I didn't watch the same, this is a more general point. We have a very unbalance squad so we're always playing at least one player out of position. That doesn't help anyone. Add that to the lack of quality and confidence and we're in deep, deep trouble.
At least we have tried to get a bit more pragmatic. Problem is we've gone from losing by 4 at home to losing by 3 away. It is an improvement, but too little too late.

 

[Mad Cyril]

Bolton were by far the better team but with better finishing we could have taken something from this game.

 

[OrangeyBrown]

Feel like the biggest difference between the teams was simply quality in front of goal. We battled pretty well and created a couple of good chances before they eventually took the lead.

It's not news, but not having an experienced striker leading the line for us is killing us at the moment. Hurts to see Akinola on the sidelines not being registered.

 

[shrimperjon]

Same old same old same old story. Beaten by a bang average side today. Goodship miss at 0-0 as Rush on Tuesday night has cost us dear. For large parts of the game we matched them and played some ok football. We do look a better orgniased side now and harder to score against but our lack of creativity in the final third and the lack of killer instinct when we do create chances is a huge problem. We desperatly need some fire power from somewhere as the lack of goals is costing us dear every game

We keep saying it, but unless RM can get the embargo lifted and we can somehow persuade another 2 or 3 players to join we are screwed. Can't fault the effort today but we are just not good enough in key areas.

Think biggest mistake by MM in the last two games is to put Olayinka out on the left. He is by far our most creative player and is wasted out side. Good to see Macca back and we at least looked competitive with him in the side. Clifford back on the bench also positive and assume ANG will be back for th next game

Is their hope, i guess there are small signs of improvement but without reinforcements MM hands are tied and this squad of players simply isn't good enough. It hurts, its sad, its depressing, its frustrating and at times it's embarrassing but it's our team, our club, our love and I can't wait to get back to RH on the 12th. We have a role to play and that's get behind the team regardless of how tough it is. SOUTHEND TIL I DIE

 

[Billy Bests boot laces]

watch it here

Bolton 3-0 Southend

Highlights of the Sky Bet League Two match between Bolton and Southend.

www.skysports.com

No thanks, terrible thing to say after going to Roots Hall since 67, but i really cant be bothered any more.

 

[LBBlue]

Bolton have only lost 2 in 12 and I reckon they will be there or thereabouts at the end of the season so a 3-0 defeat is no surprise.

However we have no chance of winning anything as we can’t score. 6 goals in 14 games- one a penalty, one direct from a free kick, one by Acquah that I reckon was an own goal, Goodship‘s managed to go through an Exeter defender’s legs leaving just 2 Ralph‘s at Crawley and Acquah’s against Walsall.

It’s so frustrating when we get to the edge of their box and decide we need to go back into our own half.

Molesley needs to pick the beast “Team” to get goals not what he thinks is his best 11 and that means playing Olayinka through the middle.

Goodship isn’t going to be the answer not strong enough, nor quick enough nor tall enough - a poor Neville Roach as someone said.

 

[Born In A Blue Shirt]

Today was a reflection of our season. Start with tenacity, keeping it tight and letting the opposition dictate the pace. Then concede a soft/avoidable goal that puts us on the back foot. Respond with a little flurry of attacking intent, albeit lacking that cutting edge to effectively make anything substantive of it, concede a second on the break, the heads drop, the third follows shortly after and that’s game over.

We started very well I thought - ok, we didn’t set the world alight, but we contained Bolton well. The first goal was ultimately the key moment in the game. Olayinka, who for me has been our stand out player this season, has killed us with that clearance. As I say, he’s been excellent and I’m a big fan, but he had time to put his foot through it, and frankly the end product is not good enough from a professional footballer. That’s what’s so frustrating - the mistakes we are making are so basic they shouldn’t be happening twice a season, let alone in a weekly basis.

I’ve tried to be positive about the players we have, as frankly the embargo that continues to linger means there is little room to shuffle the pack.

However, I’m at the point now where there are certain players I’ve seen deliver the same underwhelming performance so many times that I’d rather see someone else have a go, as I’m convinced they just aren’t going to make the grade. Certainly not in time to save us from the drop anyway!

Two players who fall into this category are Terrell Egbri and Brandon Goodship. I desperately want them to be good enough, as I think they both work exceptionally hard, but unfortunately the facts would suggest they aren’t.

Goodship, whilst he shows nice touches and glimpses of quality, has missed two guilt edged chances in the last few games. At Walsall, we got away with it. Today we didn’t. I know some will say service is an issue, and I acknowledge that. But the facts are he currently has 2 goals in 17 games this season. He is the teams leading striker, he’s had plenty of games in his favoured position to make an impact but unfortunately he’s not getting the goals the team needs, so for me it’s probably the end of the road.

Egbri is obviously only a young lad, and he has time to improve his game to a greater extent than Goodship. However, we need players that can deliver now and having watched every game this season, the improvement isn’t coming quick enough. His pressing and tenacity are both commendable, but ultimately his lack of confidence to go past a player and deliver a cross is a big part of why we have only scored 6 goals this season. The stats don’t lie - we don’t create enough chances and we don’t score enough goals. Egbri would probably consider himself a creative player and as a winger that his contribution to the team first and foremost is creating chances and knocking the occasional goal. He doesn’t do either regularly enough, so I think he needs more time developing his game before appearing regularly for the first team again.

I think it’s also the end of the road for JD as a central midfielder. He’s done ok in the middle without being spectacular, at times helped settle us down and always the simple things fairly well. However, it’s not a permanent solution and he’d be far better suited on the right hand side if midfield for me. There he can still get forwards, which he clearly enjoys, whilst at the same time offering some stability to Elvis who is erratic defensively putting it kindly (although I thought he was a lot better today). The 3 central midfielders should McCormack, Dieng and Olayinka for me. They all offer something different and could be effective.

On the positives, I think as a team we are going to concede a lot less goals with John White and Alan McCormack in the side. I appreciate we conceded 3 today, but I think that will become a rare occurance with Whites stabilising effect at the back and Macca doing similar in the midfield.

Now what we need is to inject some potency in the final third and if we can, results will begin to improve. The reality is though, they need to happen now and that means lifting the embargo first thing on Monday morning so we can register improved options. Equally for this group of players and the management team, the time for stating/identifying problems and experimentation is over, it’s time for results now with no further excuses.

 

[united we stand]

On a positive note we actually created a lot of chances today and we had a lot of shots. I sensed they had been told to shoot at the earliest opportunity.

earlier this season we were saying that an on fire Eastwood would”t score in this side as we never make any opportunities. That was not true today.

clearly we are going down, but I think we will win some games ( isn’t it terrible when your goal is simply to win a handful of games)

 

[Strykr]

Think biggest mistake by MM in the last two games is to put Olayinka out on the left. He is by far our most creative player and is wasted out side. Good to see Macca back and we at least looked competitive with him in the side. Clifford back on the bench also positive and assume ANG will be back for th next game

Agree with that, he put kyle taylor out wide as well before he got injured. I know we have square pegs in round holes but surely put your better players in natural positions and build around them :(

 

[stewart]

This week is the time for RM to step up to the plate ,get the embargo lifted and one or two more players bought in, if this dosent happen i can see some very unhappy people going to be at the ground once RH is open again on the 12th.RM time to back our words up with actions there are no excuses anymore ,do it or find new owners who will ,im tired of your promises ..

 

[southend_aussies]

Didn’t watch or listen, went on here at half & full time to see the inevitable.
Put a £2 bet on a 3-0 drubbing like I’ve been doing every week since August, got 19/2 odds so that’s my alcohol therapy paid for tonight.

In 41 years as a fan never have I been so bloody well cheesed off.
I can’t imagine what rubbish goes through RM head that he can justify this crapshow to himself!
I can’t decide if he is deluded or just a plain b@stard
????????

I had money on Bolton and Doyle to score. The reality is we are no where good enough and Martin keeps on digging his head in the sand thinking we'll get out of it. He needs to lift this embargo and do so quickly, otherwise we'll be down by Christmas.

 

[LennySUFC]

I thought Macca made a big difference being back, even just having the experience to command other players where to be. This was highlighted as when we subbed him we were never as good or as organised.

Big week Ron. Clear that embargo before these four killer games and give MM and the Players a fighting chance.

 

[OldBlueLady]

Molesley may have his hands tied, but it's he who picks the team and chooses to play players out of position - we all can see Olayinka needs to play through the middle to get the best out of him, why can't he? How did we finish a game that we lost 3-0, with 7 outfield players on the pitch who have played regularly in defence? You're not going to score many goals with that kind of outlook.

Game changed when Macca went off, we lost that control in midfield and we couldn't recover. I'd have loved to have seen Harry Phillips, who actually is a CM, come on for Macca. I've loved Demi's commitment over the years, but he's no CM, or certainly not the type we need. I think he's forgotten how to go forward as he used to when he was at RB.

Ox - 5, didn't do much wrong, but at the end of the day, we conceded 3
Bwomono - 5, an improvement on his last game
White - 6, harsh penalty given against him, otherwise led by example
Hobson - 6, has improved massively with White alongside, got in some good positions
Kyprianou - 5, not as solid as the other day
Egbri - 4, not good enough
Demetriou - 3, costing us
McCormack - 6, solid, lost control in centre when he went off - lovely shot which was reminiscent of the goals he used to score
Olayinka - 6, out of position, did have a few shots
Dieng - 7, my MOTM, made a real nuisance of himself
Goodship - 3, really hoped Molesley would get the kind of form out of him that he must have seen at Weymount, but it's just not happening

Subs:
Sterling for McCormack - 5, not enough effort
Clifford for Kyps - 6, did ok when he came on, some good crossing
Acquah for Goodship - 5, neither of them seem to be able to make a difference
Taylor for Egbri - 6, might be interesting to actually give him a forward start!

A word for the officials, penalty apart, I thought they did ok.

 

[SUBBlue]

Woke up, remembered we got tonked again, horrible feeling of dread in my stomach every time I think about the club, got the hump big time, now going back to bed to sulk.
Fervently hope Ron Martin is on Father Christmas naughty list this year- bloody sod!

 

[blues exile]

There's an article in The Guardian about Alun Armstrong, former Middlesbrough striker who now manages Darlington. A former football league club whose owner staked everything on a new stadium and saw them tumbling down through the divisions so that they are now a fully supporters funded and owned club on the way back up. I hope we will not suffer the same decline before Martin departs.

 

[Supa Shrimpa]

There's an article in The Guardian about Alun Armstrong, former Middlesbrough striker who now manages Darlington. A former football league club whose owner staked everything on a new stadium and saw them tumbling down through the divisions so that they are now a fully supporters funded and owned club on the way back up. I hope we will not suffer the same decline before Martin departs.

Sounds familiar ! Maybe it's time to form AFC Southend now ?

 

[Barry.C]

From what I’ve read briefly, from recruiters courses , they tend to
Have significant maps and criteria for “marking” a player or players they are Interested in.
I had an amateur go at it, pen in hand, marking every touch, pass, run etc as best as I could
Some things really stood out. White is exceptional as captain, leader and defender, although the last description defender doesn’t capture the best there is according to Les Ferdinand who made what I thought was a very insightful comment when he said , the best defenders he had ever played against were not defenders but ORGANISERS
JW was superb in the regard, it’s what he says and does and where he positions himself and others. Nearly all the danger to us is always down the left flank.
John White actually made 5 key saving tackles alone, throwing his body on the line. He was instrumental in commanding and marshalling our ability to constantly catch Bolton offside. Without him the defence is a shaky mess and clearly he breeds confidence into Hobson
Ron’s first move now should be to tie him down to a two year contract pronto
I felt really sorry for him on the penalty he was clearly upset and thought he got the ball as he often does but sadly this will mar his excellent performance to some extent, We still seem to be prone to offering a penalty a game,




5

 

[Ayrshire Blue]

Dieng, who's a midfielder but has played most of the last calendar year as a centre half looking a better centre forward than Goodship tells you all you need to know. We wont score goals with these forward options

 

[Barry.C]

Demi is not the player he once was and has lost the plot a bit in midfield as well as the legs and ability to tackle appropriately

Not a commanding player in midfield , in 14 touches he
Passed the ball backwards 12 times, although surprisingly he did manage 2 shots at goal. For an experienced International we also have seen him losing his head. In the second half he took an awful belated attempt to bring their player down, so poor that if he connected would have at least been a yellow,.2 of the pass backs included long hoofs from the opponents half , back towards Oxley and he continued to maintain his usual 2 key errors that could
Have led to goals
Thank goodness for Macca and please hurry back. Kyle Taylor. Is Demi’s time up.?

 

[Tangled up in Blue]

Thanks. I feel so upset that I can't watch or listen any more. I used to really look forward to match days, now I just dread them.

Gazza I feel your pain .I think all SUFC supporters do.