Post-Match Thread and Ratings Southend United 1 Shrewsbury & dodgy pitch 2

[Shrimp and two veg]

Let's hear it...

 

[OrangeyBrown]

First off, Shrewsbury were a brilliant defensive outft and didn't give us any time on the ball for the full 90 mins. You can see how they're doing so well this season.

Now for the negatives.. you can't afford to give away the first goal to a side so solid defensively, and unfortunately it came from individual errors. Demetriou slipping in a small bog that formed on the east side of the pitch and Coker with a very poor defensive header in to his own net. From that point on it's a struggle, their second was a wonder strike.

We did fight back well in the second half though and it almost fell to Ranger perfectly to make it 2-2 on the rebound, not sure how that didn't go in, if the keeper's saved that then it's a remarkable double-save. Left ourselves too much to do in the end though and couldn't find the breakthrough, not through lack of trying though.. some of our players ran themselves in to the ground (particularly Cox). Some of the booing at full-time was unwarranted in my opinion.

 

[Chairman Trigg]

A poor display with no effort in the first 45, against a very organised team who wanted it more.Although luck was against us our play was one dimensional with punting the ball to Ranger our only game plan.The substitutions totally lost me today McGlashan put on and then never passed to even when he got out wide and then to take off Cox ....!.
Today is unfortunately the day I have to say Brown needs to be replaced, we are stale with no plan b when things don't go our way
Finally if Lenny goes we are going to struggle and could easily find ourselves sucked into the relegation fight

 

[davewebbsbrain]

First off, Shrewsbury were a brilliant defensive outft and didn't give us any time on the ball for the full 90 mins. You can see how they're doing so well this season.

Now for the negatives.. you can't afford to give away the first goal to a side so solid defensively, and unfortunately it came from individual errors. Demetriou slipping in a small bog that formed on the east side of the pitch and Coker with a very poor defensive header in to his own net. From that point on it's a struggle, their second was a wonder strike.

We did fight back well in the second half though and it almost fell to Ranger perfectly to make it 2-2 on the rebound, not sure how that didn't go in, if the keeper's saved that then it's a remarkable double-save. Left ourselves too much to do in the end though and couldn't find the breakthrough, not through lack of trying though.. some of our players ran themselves in to the ground (particularly Cox).

It wouldn't have been such a wonder strike if someone had bothered to try and close the guy down before he got the shot away. They all just seemed to watch

 

[OrangeyBrown]

A poor display with no effort in the first 45, against a very organised team who wanted it more.Although luck was against us our play was one dimensional with punting the ball to Ranger our only game plan.The substitutions totally lost me today McGlashan put on and then never passed to even when he got out wide and then to take off Cox ....!.
Today is unfortunately the day I have to say Brown needs to be replaced, we are stale with no plan b when things don't go our way
Finally if Lenny goes we are going to struggle and could easily find ourselves sucked into the relegation fight

Cox was spent, wasn't even running before he went off, he was knackered.

 

[Juggler90]

My thoughts after watching today is that man for man, Shrewsbury are not more talented than us. Less though I'd say. However, the difference is the work rate. I thought we worked hard but not as they did.

As the post above says, they didn't give us any time on the ball (we knew that is how they'd play) so I give credit to their manager who has got a good team, performing excellently to a greater sum than the individual parts.

Today I thought the following:

Oxley (7) - Can;t remember him doing much other picking the ball out the back of the net twice, neither time of which were his fault.
Demi (7) - At fault for the first goal (I didn't see it from the West very clearly) but OK
Coker (7.5) - Poor O.G. but class on the ball as we expect
Turner (6.5) - Alright. Thought he was a bit sloppy.
White (7) - Should start every game at CB. Always does a job
Lenny (7.5) - Standard, worked hard, scored, carries up. SUFC will be a substantially worse side without him.
Wordy (6.5) - Puts a good ball in. Just seemed a bit sluggish.
Macca (6) - Thought he had a poor game. Pitch didn't help but don't remember him beating a man
Wright (5) - Poor
Cox (7) - Worked hard, not much came off
Ranger (7) - As above. Marked by 3 players at times it seemed

Subs - McGlashan (5) - did he touch the ball?
Subs - Robinson - Why??

Brown - Out managed today by a manager who gets more from his team than Phil does from his

Ref - Poor. Standard.

 

[blues exile]

Shrewsbury everything we are not - organised, compact, energetic and able to vary their game according to the situation. When we scored, a comeback should have been possible, instead of which all we had to offer was hoofing it up to Ranger.
Oxley 7 Blameless
Demetriou 5 oh well, long term contract in the bag
Turner 5 Unconvincing, shakey.
White 6 Best of the back four
Coker 5 Not his best performance
Wright 3 Wrong
Wordsworth 4 Anonymous
Leonard 7 Forever having to plug the gaps if he goes, heaven help us
McLaughlin 5 After Charlton, thought he had found his form but sadly not
Cox 7 Ran himself into the ground, must be sick of the chaos around him
Ranger 5 Showed willing, but just hasn't got what it takes
McGlashan 5 Never saw enough of the ball
Robinson 3 Why?

 

[Sufc.2008]

Oxley - 6 - Didn't have a lot to do... his kicks were mainly good with a few over-hit, but that was down to the wind.

Demetriou - 6 - Done okay, saved us a few times at the back being the main outlet of pace.
Turner - 5 - Pretty solid defensively, but lost count of the amount of times he hoofed it to nobody... and -1 for a pretty needless foul near the corner flag.
Ferdinand - N/A - Was doing okay until he had to come off early on.
Coker - 6 - Pretty shocking header for the own goal.. Not as good as recent games but not bad either.

Wright - 4 - Must have been injured from last week still, anonymous and shyed away from most tackles in the first half.
Leonard - 7 - Nice header for the goal, and as committed as ever. Not his best game but one of the better players for us today. Wordsworth - 3 - The only time I realised he was playing is when he gave the ball away. Aside from that he just strolled around for the whole match adding nothing.
McLaughlin - 4 - Offered nothing and struggled to beat his man at any point in the match... Didn't really put a shift in IMO.

Cox - 7 - Put himself about as always... his constant moaning at the officials (no matter how bad they were today) is a little irritating, along with the needless foul to earn himself a yellow card when it would have been our throw in.
Ranger - 6 - He did try harder today, but nothing really came off. He is not the kind of striker that wants balls fired at his head for 90 minutes... one day Brown will suss that out.

Subs:
White - 7- Solid and looked a lot better than Ferdinand at the back.
McGlashan - 6 - Didn't realise notice him adding an awful lot.
Robinson - N/A - Didn't do anything of note, shouldn't have been the choice to come on anyways.

 

[Southend schoolboy]

Beaten by a good side. No Plan B, Ranger Boo boys clearly don’t watch the same games I do. There’s not many strikers in the world you could put in our team and expect them to come good. 95% of the balls up to him are fizzed in the air. Blue Voice a shadow of what it used to be. Didn’t hear a word out of them last week when 2 goals up against Charlton, too busy giving the finger to their equally soft opposing fans. Some of the things you hear in that block are ridiculous.
John White when are you going to play a pass along the floor to our equally gifted ball playing full backs. Great defender but cannot have him and turner just hoplessly lifting balls forward and expect the likes of Ranger and Cox to make something good out of it. We desperately need a winger who can beat his man, McLaughlin works tirelessly but has no end product. Please Brown, I’m still with you but I’m losing hope. That Shrewsbury side is completely different from the one at the end of last season, with young talent at its core. We have old has been who are just trying to get their last few pay days before retirement.

 

[Bluegoose]

We can't pass the ball, it's just hit and hope for the most part, none of our boys can hold the ball up without getting pushed of the ball. I've seen Rayleigh town pass the ball better than we do week after week

 

[Tommy2holes]

The pitch was horrible. If only we had a decent groundsman.
The performance was equally as horrible. We get in a good position to get something from the game and we just keep hoofing it. **** poor.
I'm getting fed up with a so called quality squad not earning their money. We keep giving out 3 year deals to 30 something's and it's only going to get worse.

We can forget any chance of going for a top 12 finish if we bring on a player like Robinson to earn us points.

Brown has run out of ideas. We are treading water with the very real threat of a relegation fight. If Lenny leaves in January id say we are in the Brown stuff.

I'd love to see Martin show some bollocks and find another man for manager but I doubt he will.

 

[THE SEVENTIES NORTH BANK]

The pitch was horrible. If only we had a decent groundsman.
The performance was equally as horrible. We get in a good position to get something from the game and we just keep hoofing it. **** poor.
I'm getting fed up with a so called quality squad not earning their money. We keep giving out 3 year deals to 30 something's and it's only going to get worse.

We can forget any chance of going for a top 12 finish if we bring on a player like Robinson to earn us points.

Brown has run out of ideas. We are treading water with the very real threat of a relegation fight. If Lenny leaves in January id say we are in the Brown stuff.

I'd love to see Martin show some bollocks and find another man for manager but I doubt he will.

To be fair to the new Groundsman, I heard that when he came in the time had already passed for the new pitch to start to be laid. So it wasn't ready from day one.

 

[Wickford Blue]

First goal cannot wait till I see it on the TV - pitch didn't help but looked like there was no one anywhere near Coker so poor header.
Second goal - good strike but no closing down and would put money on that was Wordsworth job as it seemed he was taking stick on the walk back to the half way line....and given that he strolled through the whole 90 minutes (was a disgrace in my opinion and seemed as if he didn't give a sh*t) I wouldn't be surprised>
Josh Wright was clearly not fit (as probably was Ferdinand) so why did he start?.
MacLaughlin was just not at the races and just could not do anything right!
Rest of the team all ok but we need to realise that Ranger is not just a one trick pony but likes the ball to his feet and no just the hump up the middle!
Anyway season over - mid-table and just whether Brown is in charge next season
I would let Lenny go now and get some cash!

Brown has said the Play offs are in sight........Not sure about that

 

[southendkid]

To be fair to the new Groundsman, I heard that when he came in the time had already passed for the new pitch to start to be laid. So it wasn't ready from day one.

Yeah the groundsman is being made a scapegoat, from what I understand we were supplied with the pitch far too late for it to bed in properly, so even a top groundsman would have struggled to deal with it. Really we should have explained the situation to the FA and tried to get our first home fixtures swapped with the away team so that the pitch could be properly prepared.

 

[IloveShrimp]

So obvious that the coaching staff need to be refreshed. The team is devoid of ideas and no-one wants to take a gamble up front like ‘Safety first’ has been installed into them.

Should not Oxley have cut out the cross that resulted in Cokers own goal?

I think the game was lost in midfield with three of them not performing - Wright, Wordsworth an McLaughlin having real stinkers. McGlashen was brought on and not one pass made to him.

Up up front Ranger was being bullied by three players and yet we constantly punted long high hopeful balls to him. What chance did the guy have?

Must admit I am becoming fed Up Now!

 

[billy best was god]

Yeah the groundsman is being made a scapegoat, from what I understand we were supplied with the pitch far too late for it to bed in properly, so even a top groundsman would have struggled to deal with it. Really we should have explained the situation to the FA and tried to get our first home fixtures swapped with the away team so that the pitch could be properly prepared.

The groundsman was not doing his normal repairs at half time seemed to be replaced with 4 kids, has he also gone?

 

[Medway Blue]

It’s back to being as we were really. Shrewsbury are very very average if we talk about their technical quality.....but they put us to shame in terms of the mental side of the game. They’re organised; they have an identity; they’re well-led; they’re intense; they’re confident. Everything we’re not.

We rallied in the second half and finally began to match them for intensity but we are simply too one-dimensional. Charlton were depleted and we benefited from their being put off their game by the state of the pitch. But against teams like Shrewsbury who have our woeful, one-dimensional, hoof-it-to-Ranger style of play sussed out we have neither the passion nor the ability anywhere within the playing side of the club to have a “Plan B”. Very, very stale. We’re better than that.

One step forwards, two steps back as always. 10 points off the playoffs now so I don’t think it’s happening.

Oxley 6

Demi 5 - silly slip for led directly to their first when he should have put the thing in the stands.
White 6 - looked assured but frustrated with him immediately looking to hoof the ball to Ranger.
Turner 6 - composed and assured for the most part.
Coker 5 - poor own goal and struggled to make an impression going forwards.

Wright 4 - didn’t look fit and, rarely found a blue shirt with a pass, and once again....HE’S NOT A RIGHT WINGER!
Leonard 6 - good goal, energetic and put himself about but slip/missed tackle led to Shrews corner and awful clearance from said corner straight to their lad led to the go. Otherwise would have been a 7.
Wordsworth 4 - very poor. Total lack of concentration when in possession meant he couldn’t string a pass together and made little impact in attack.
McLaughlin 5 - tried hard but nothing really came off for him today and rarely looked to beat his man.

Ranger 5 - tries to fill the target man role but it’s not him. Does well to get on the end of about 50% of the lumps forward but unable to catch back up with play quickly enough to be a threat in the box like he should be. It’s just not his game. Today he was continually crowded out by 3 players as the ball approached him, yet still like a bunch of lemmings we persisted.
Cox 6 - again, tried hard and showed nice touches but no service and resorted to coming deep in search of the ball again.

McGlashan 5 - could have made a real impact and stretched them but bizarrely his teammates didn’t seem to want to give the ball to him and continually looked to the left wing for attacks, so he was fairly isolated.
Robinson 5 - touch of a rapist.

I remain convinced that a breath of fresh air and some new ideas are needed from new leadership.

 

[manor15]

Weird game, don't think we actually deserved to lose based purely on play. That's not saying we played well, but Shrewsbury had one own goal and one screamer from pure luck. Other than that, did they manage a shot? If Nile Ranger could score from 3 yards out this could be an entirely different thread.

Circumstances were tough with Ferdinand going off so early and the wind at the north end. What frustrated me was that all of the intensity and pressure high up that gave us a great start against Charlton completely vanished. Granted Shrewsbury are a better side, but even on the ball we looked reluctant to get forward.

On the pitch, found it strange that the pitch seemed to look substantially worse than it did after the Boxing Day game. It only got worse too. We didn't help by continually switching the ball to the east side even though it looked like it had just been harvested.

Oxley 6 Not a lot to do, nothing he could do about either goal.
Demetriou 7 Ignored at times when he tried to get forward. Good enough defensively.
Ferdinand - One great move and it took him out of the game.
Turner 5 Really struggled with Morris, naive booking given his experience.
Coker 6 Unlucky with the goal, was caught in 2 minds as to what position to take up and panicked.
Wright 3 Was he injured going into the game? Worst he's played for us. All over the place, couldn't keep up with play and looked frustrated.
Leonard 9 We'd be in the bottom 4 if he left in the summer. Leads by example.
Wordsworth 5 Again, full of tricks and flicks and no substance. Left Lenny a lot of work to do.
McLaughlin 6 Faded in and out of the game, gave up with 10/15 to go.
Cox 7 Looked to create something and at times his pressure worked. Wrong call to take him off.
Ranger 4 That miss from close range was criminal, just like him. Didn't win a lot in the air or on the ground.

Subs
White 6 Strong, drifted right a little too much.
McGlashan 6 Game was too long ball and in the air and passed him by.
Robinson 5 Wrong sub. Ran around.

Subs didn't make sense and half the team was running on fumes beyond the 75th minute and we lost all momentum and any hope of a comeback. Dread to think of what shape they'll be in come 5pm on Monday.

 

[Lord Football]

That wasn't a bad game given the gusty wind and a pitch that looks more and more like a ploughed field. Shrewsbury are the best team I've seen all season. They worked really hard, closed us down quickly, played well when not in possession, were incredibly well organised and had a game plan that they stuck to which worked.

Even so, I feel (much like our trip there earlier in the season) we could have got a point.

The opening goal was a howler of an own goal. On first (and so far only) viewing it seems Coker simply made a hash of a simple headed clearance. However, there may have been a touch as the ball went through to him, so it might not be as bad as we first though. As bad... it was still poor. Their second goal was a great finish, you don't argue with that.

However, we were out worked for most of the half, with pretty much every "second ball" ending up with them (the second goal being another example). Didn't really think at half time we were going to see a comeback. So it came as a shock when Lenny scored. From a corner. Ok, the defending was dreadful. There was three on the line and he was unmarked. So game on.

We pushed forward with some intent, but they defended manfully and limited us to half chances. Ranger looks like he missed a sitter (but hard to tell from my vantage point).

No one in Blue played particularly badly, but no-one shone out. We looked better when Lenny was directing traffic in the second half, and we are really going to miss him if (when) he goes. I am not sure either Wordsworth or Wright can do a similar job. Cox ran himself into the ground again, and deserved better than he got. He was probably out best player on the day.

Referee, with my ref's head I really don't like Gavin Ward or how he goes about his business. Today just underlined my view. He didn't get much wrong, but he seems to have this need to be centre of attention when it is not warranted. As a result even his good decisions are greeted with derision.

So what now? If we are going to make the play offs, we need to go on a run and we need to go on it now. The next month is full of games that are eminently winnable - and I think we need to if we are going to mount a challenge. We are not helped at home by playing on that pitch. It is not co-incidence we end up playing route one....

 

[RobM]

If we have to rely on Wordsworth and Wight after Leonard goes then I fear we are doomed. Did they win a tackle between them?