Post-Match Thread and Ratings Southend United 3 -1 Wigan Athlelic

[rayleigh dan]

I was planning on doing ratings but TBF I echo most of those already posted (and my lazy streak's showing). Anyhow, Rigsby's report mirror's my views perfectly, I've had my runs ins with Riggers previously, but credit where credits due, that was a very good summary of the match :thumbsup:

Chrissy Powell's barmy army! :happy:

 

[PIM501]

If that's a euphemism I don't care for it Horace.

Excellent result for the Blues today, sounded like great performances from all the lads. Cox, Mclaughlin and Fortune all deserve high praise. Timlin had agreat game and Anton seems rejuvenated. Up the table we go...... 14th now. Bring on Bury.

Timlin kept giving the ball away and yet again was at fault for the Wigan goal

 

[jarvisyeh]

The bogs got 3/10. That's pretty good.

To be fair, you wouldn’t want to give them a number 2!

 

[AndyT]

Our one's didn't even have a tin roof. I know for a fact because we used to bunk in via the Shakespeare Drive alley, straight into those bogs before fans started coming into the ground.

LOL :smile: .. I vaguely remember that. I certainly remember the "outside toilets". I think the floodlights used to shine in on them, giving the impression of having some form of epiphany as you stood there!

 

[tommy tucker]

Every single player on that pitch from the starting 11 through to the subs gave every ounce of effort .The transformation of this group of players is unbelievable .Not one player in the last 3 games hasn't given 100% Long may it last .I have always been doubtful there is a god .Step up to the plate CHRIS POWELL my new found god .

 

[southendkid]

Timlin kept giving the ball away and yet again was at fault for the Wigan goal

Timlin also created several chances and made numerous tackles in midfield, yes he gave the ball away for their goal (even though 2 other players should have cleared it before it reached him) but he still had a great game.

 

[Stan33]

Get off his back,Tim ,he was immense yesterday ,have u ever played football ?even our PL players r human & put passes astray ,& I thought had MLF not try & beat 3 players & cleared it Timlin would not have touched it ,sorry should read PIM not Tim

 

[E for B and Billy Best]

Blimey, they've improved. In the early 70s, the bog at the North/West corner would have got nought out of ten. Open drain type. It stank even if you were first to use it. It only had one cubicle for a number 2. No light, no toilet rolls as they were always stolen to throw on the pitch by the North Bank. The wooden door was broke at the hinge and the lock was busted off. And it was always flooded/blocked, so you were welcomed by stinking floaters. It really was appalling. Possibly the worst in the whole football league, and that's saying something. It couldn't have had anyone cleaning it.

Oh yes the proper way to watch football. Tip-toe into the karzi to avoid splashing then a race against time to finish your wazz before the toilet flushed again and raised the water level above your royals.

 

[wivs]

After watching Goal Rush, our pitch certainly isn't the worse pitch out there!!!!!

Agree with this, a lot of the pitches are in a state. Some of the grounds we still have to visit in fact, Bradford and Blackpool, Oldham looked bad last week, Bury from what I can remember and obviously Rochdale beach.

Also feel that Danny Cowley came across really well, said nice things about Chris Powell and us. If Phil Brown was watching he ought to take note of how you should respond when asked about other jobs, when it was suggested that Danny was in the frame for the Bradford job, he replied that he is loving it at Lincoln, had a job to do there and wants to complete the job. (Odds on him taking the job next week?)
Back on topic, great game yesterday (Saturday) , thought everyone was on their game, we attacked them from the start, so refreshing after some of the dour performances weve had to endure this season and the atmosphere was great. Also a special mention for Dru, who at 17 shows maturity well beyond his years and should go on to be some player.

 

[mattitouk]

Agree with this, a lot of the pitches are in a state. Some of the grounds we still have to visit in fact, Bradford and Blackpool, Oldham looked bad last week, Bury from what I can remember and obviously Rochdale beach

The Rochdale fans have nicknamed their stadium the "Sand Siro" which I thought was quite witty. :smile:

 

[londonblue]

I, and others, have done exactly that in our reports on here.

Yep me and I've already said as much in my match report. Timlin was very poor while playing at LB under Brown and when he played CM under Brown this season, didn't look any better

The transformation couldn't be greater under Powell. Looks a proper CM again, the Timlin of old. Him and Dru look a force to be reckoned with. They work well together. If one isn't putting a tackle, the other one is. They compliment each other so well

Good on both of you. But the real test will be what happens next time a player has a bad patch with very justifiable (and frankly obvious) reasons? Will you be so quick to dismiss them?

 

[E for B and Billy Best]

Our one's didn't even have a tin roof. I know for a fact because we used to bunk in via the Shakespeare Drive alley, straight into those bogs before fans started coming into the ground.

Once when I bunked in their it was so flooded with penny floaters that Lenny Henry was in there doing a Comic Relief appeal.

 

[Amwell Blue]

Interesting that the Wigan supporters didn't think the pitch was much worse than "cutting up a bit"!!! :stunned:

http://www.wigan.vitalfootball.co.uk/forum/forums/thread-view.asp?tid=34140&start=69

Can't believe that they were arguing about being rude to each other. That would never happen on SZ :winking:

 

[ms brush]

Ran out of time over the weekend, but still buzzing! And still got a sore throat from all that shouting and cheering!

Couldn't have asked for better, awesome all round performance from the boys! I said to my dad just before the game started that I thought we could pinch it if we got the early goal, not really thinking we could do it. Would have taken a good game and losing if I am honest! As you can imagine, we had a good laugh 3 minutes in when the first goal went in!! Then, we kept going and didn't let them settle at all, so the Wigan we were expecting just didn't really turn up! When the second went in it was just magical, the atmosphere in the hall hadn't been that good since the play off semi final v swindon when we got to Wembley!

Post break, I thought we either took our foot off the gas slightly, or Wigan finally found a bit of spirit. Their goal was coming and it isn't hard to see why they are top, they are a very good side. But a very good side who are not used to losing! Very please to see our reaction to conceding, we were back on it, and grabbed the third goal to finish them off. At 2-1 we could have easily lost, but 3-1 it was game over!

The whole team was awesome, almost impossible to pick a MOM. Special mentions must go to Dru and Timlin, who owned that midfield, any thoughts that Timlin was past it are clearly wrong and what a prospect young Dru is!! I thought Anton was excellent, as was Turner. Coker and Demi were both causing trouble, Kightly is a huge danger man now, and very pleased that MAF scored!

Credit to the Wigan boss, who was gracious in defeat. I think they will go up as worthy champions. Even the pitch didn't look as bad as it has done recently.

Whatever magic dust Chris Powell is using, hope he has a good supply of it.

Bring on Pompey. Can't wait....

 

[AndyT]

Was thinking yesterday how similar, in terms of goal times, the match was to Boxing Day. Just a slightly earlier second goal for us on Boxing Day :-

Southend v Wigan ... 3,36,83 (67)
Southend v Charlton ... 2,11,79 (66)

Turner scored in both games in the first half. Coxy scored both the other goals against Charlton. Against Wigan, he assisted both the other goals.

Very different performances, though. Wigan were a far superior outfit, of course.

 

[davewebbsbrain]

Good on both of you. But the real test will be what happens next time a player has a bad patch with very justifiable (and frankly obvious) reasons? Will you be so quick to dismiss them?

Sounds like a taped interview. No comment

 

[RobM]

Timlin and Yearwood compliment each other as already said, although "Your hair looks good!" and "I like your shirt!" isn't going to help on match-day.

 

[davewebbsbrain]

Timlin and Yearwood compliment each other as already said, although "Your hair looks good!" and "I like your shirt!" isn't going to help on match-day.

How do you know that won't help on match day?

 

[Yorkshire Blue]

Central midfield was the area that I was most concerned with after we sold Leonard. Turns out it is actually our strength. Timlin was immense and whilst Dru wasn't anywhere nearly as impressive as he was v Scunthorpe that says more about just how good he was against Scunny as he more than held his own against the league leaders. It's amazing to think that just 5 weeks ago he couldn't even make Brown's last 18 man squad. Kightly and McLaughlin weren't especially effective going forward on this occasion but their work-rate was superb and more than made up for it as first half we dominated the league leaders.

I'm now no longer looking down at the relegation zone but looking up at the play-offs. To be truthful that's probably too far away which may be just as well. Whilst Chris Powell has quickly developed a shape, a style of play and a game plan that was missing for so long, there are still some big questions for him for the summer. Will 34 year old Turner be able to maintain his form and fitness over 40+ games next season to be the central defender we build our defence around? He's been excellent recently but there's a big difference between doing that over a dozen games (he's played 14 times this season) and still be going strong at the end of a full season - we saw this last year when Ferdinand faded down the home stretch and remember the play-offs would only extend the season further. If he is the man to build around Turner will still need a pair of younger legs alongside him in the middle to do his running. The goal apart the midfield shielded them well but Ferdinand and Turner aren't quite the right balance and are surely only a temporary pairing.

Up front Cox was impressive and Fortune can still contribute - there's no better example than his goal - but whilst he uses his experience to mitigate it he was starting to look his age a little (and not just when celebrating in front of the Wigan fans). Ladapo and Harrison noticeably gave us more energy up front. It will be interesting to see if Fortune starts Tuesday, particularly if CP wants his forwards to press, or whether he is utilised more off the bench in short bursts. Harrison looked very sharp; Ladapo awkward to play against. You could see their roles immediately. What a refreshing change to have players signed with a clear role in mind.

Oxley 6
Demetriou 7
Coker 7
Turner 8
Ferdinand 7
Timlin 9
Yearwood 7
Kightly 7
McLaughlin 7
Cox 8
Fortune 7

Harrison 7
Ladapo 6

The individual ratings may not look all that but the team was greater than the sum of its parts as this was pushing a 9 out of 10 team performance .

Long may that continue.

 

[united we stand]

Central midfield was the area that I was most concerned with after we sold Leonard. Turns out it is actually our strength. Timlin was immense and whilst Dru wasn't anywhere nearly as impressive as he was v Scunthorpe that says more about just how good he was against Scunny as he more than held his own against the league leaders. It's amazing to think that just 5 weeks ago he couldn't even make Brown's last 18 man squad. Kightly and McLaughlin weren't especially effective going forward on this occasion but their work-rate was superb and more than made up for it as first half we dominated the league leaders.

I'm now no longer looking down at the relegation zone but looking up at the play-offs. To be truthful that's probably too far away which may be just as well. Whilst Chris Powell has quickly developed a shape, a style of play and a game plan that was missing for so long, there are still some big questions for him for the summer. Will 34 year old Turner be able to maintain his form and fitness over 40+ games next season to be the central defender we build our defence around? He's been excellent recently but there's a big difference between doing that over a dozen games (he's played 14 times this season) and still be going strong at the end of a full season - we saw this last year when Ferdinand faded down the home stretch and remember the play-offs would only extend the season further. If he is the man to build around Turner will still need a pair of younger legs alongside him in the middle to do his running. The goal apart the midfield shielded them well but Ferdinand and Turner aren't quite the right balance and are surely only a temporary pairing.

Up front Cox was impressive and Fortune can still contribute - there's no better example than his goal - but whilst he uses his experience to mitigate it he was starting to look his age a little (and not just when celebrating in front of the Wigan fans). Ladapo and Harrison noticeably gave us more energy up front. It will be interesting to see if Fortune starts Tuesday, particularly if CP wants his forwards to press, or whether he is utilised more off the bench in short bursts. Harrison looked very sharp; Ladapo awkward to play against. You could see their roles immediately. What a refreshing change to have players signed with a clear role in mind.

Oxley 6
Demetriou 7
Coker 7
Turner 8
Ferdinand 7
Timlin 9
Yearwood 7
Kightly 7
McLaughlin 7
Cox 8
Fortune 7

Harrison 7
Ladapo 6

The individual ratings may not look all that but the team was greater than the sum of its parts as this was pushing a 9 out of 10 team performance .

Long may that continue.

It’s funny how we all see things differently, maybe they were asked not to track back, but I thought the two new boys did considerably less defensive work, including putting their back 4 under pressure than cox and 36 year old fortune did