Post-Match Thread and Ratings Southend United 1-1 Bury

JamesTheSuperBlue said:

I genuinely don't know where to start with that. I am disgusted. Phil Brown and Phil Brown only cost us 3 points in that match.

Now I will be the first to admit that we were not brilliant in the first half. It was all a bit scrappy and there were a few too many aimless hoofs forward. But we were comfortable and not once did Bury ever look like they were going to threaten. Yet you could see the players immediately start sitting back on the lead. Instead of going for the jugular and opening up a bigger lead against what, up until that point, had been very poor quality opposition, we have a situation where Timlin and Worrall are playing a short corner and trying to hold the ball down there 2 minutes before half-time! I couldn't believe what I was watching.

It got worse after half-time. From the 50th minute, White was watching the ball go out of play by the corner flag for a goal-kick to us and leaving it there for a ball boy to trundle over and return it to Bentley. And then Bentley making a point continually of walking to the opposite side of the goal from where the ball went out to take his goal kick. Timewasting in the 50th minute!

What in the name of sweet Jesus is that idiot saying to them at half-time? Bury are there for the taking, all he had to do was tell them to keep the pressure up and turn the screw after half-time.....but they did the opposite. So now we'll have a situation where some of the more short-sighted fans will start blaming the failure to hold a lead today on the lack of goals or the 4-4-2 system which we began the game with (a system which will come good with Corr and Barnard up top if it is persevered with) when in reality, it is clearly down to something that he is saying to them before the match (“get the first goal and sit on it”) or at half-time (“now you're 1-0 up, take it easy and see the game out”).

It is made all the more infuriating to hear him in his post-match interview saying “we knew Bury would come back into the game second half and we tried to tighten things up a little bit at half-time to counter that”. Sorry, but what sodding aspect of Bury's woeful first half display gave you any sort of impression that they would come back into the game? The only way they were ever going to work their way back into it is if you allowed them to do so with your half-time team talk and tactical tweaks you stupid, inept *******. What football manager worth his salt honestly makes that kind of prediction when 1-0 up and in control after 45 minutes at home against one of the poorest sides we've seen this season? He's made tactical tweaks at half-time to counter something which hasn't happened yet and allowed them to come back into the game. Go for the fecking jugular and try to create a 2-or-3 goal buffer. If Bury still come out, manage to move into the ascendency and put our slender lead under threat despite Southend still throwing men forward and attacking then fair enough, react to it and try to protect it. You can't make changes and base your half-time team talk on something which is showing no signs of happening, but he's done exactly that and plunged his team into a situation where its lead IS under threat.

We may even have been able to hold on despite the tactical tweaks and half-time team talk, but the final nail in the coffin was the decision to haul Barnard off for Weston and switch to a negative 4-5-1 set-up. From the moment that change happened, the ball stopped sticking up front like it had in the first half due to the fact that Corr/Weston (whichever of the 2 chose to be the one player to stay forward at the time) was isolated up top alone and we had lost the energy and the ball-retention skills of Barnard. We put 10 men behind the ball and straight away invited a pressure onto our own goal which was never there before and had shown no signs of appearing. The old man and I turned to each other as soon as that change was made and said “that's it, we'll either cling onto a 1-0 win by the skin of our teeth or it'll finish 1-1,” because as soon as that change is made you know that Phil Brown ain't looking for any more goals. From that point on I pretty much switched off because I knew the equaliser was now going to come. The goal and the free-kick which led to it would never have happened if he had kept things as they were but the Bury pressure, the panic in our defence and the three successive corners that Bury forced, all the result of that substitution and negative change in shape and mentality, told you exactly what was around the corner.

Of course, as anyone could have predicted, the tired excuses came out in the post-match conference and the first words which came out of his mouth were about the referee, the penalty and the fact that they cost us the game. I'm sure many of our less-observant fans will fall for you hiding behind that excuse too but sorry mate, forget the non-penalty because YOU cost us that win and should never have put your players into a position where they needed to be awarded a late penalty to get the 3 points.

As an aside, there have been plenty of stonewall penalties not given and shocking refereeing performances over the years but it's a long long time since I've seen our players react to a decision like that. Is that frustration with their manager boiling over on the pitch? I can't see how the changes he made in the second half, the clear difference they made to the shape and mentality of the team, and the fact that we conceded a goal minutes later will help the players' confidence in El Tango and it already looks like he's lost them a little bit. There certainly seems to be something more deeply and fundamentally wrong than just the “lack of a goalscorer”.

Either way, he's certainly lost my confidence. The old man reckons he's the worst football manager we've had since Dick Bate. He might not be far wrong. The Alvin Martin and Alan Little days may have been dark ones but those two never had the quality available to them that this clueless idiot has. This group of players has the collective quality to be fighting at the top end but they are continually being blunted by a manager who is tactically inept and has no idea how to get the best out of them. I think the players themselves know this too and IMO this frustration is showing in their body language and even more so in their reaction to the non-penalty today. There is a total lack of confidence among, and maybe that is to blame for ridiculous time wasting in the corner before half time and at our own goal kicks after 50 minutes (although I'd say it's more likely Brown's instructions), but it is our own manager who has drained the players of confidence with his negative tactics and formations, his chopping and changing of the starting line-up, and his ludicrous substitutions. He needs to go.

Cut your losses Ron.

Click to expand...

JamesTheSuperBlue said:

I genuinely don't know where to start with that. I am disgusted. Phil Brown and Phil Brown only cost us 3 points in that match.

Now I will be the first to admit that we were not brilliant in the first half. It was all a bit scrappy and there were a few too many aimless hoofs forward. But we were comfortable and not once did Bury ever look like they were going to threaten. Yet you could see the players immediately start sitting back on the lead. Instead of going for the jugular and opening up a bigger lead against what, up until that point, had been very poor quality opposition, we have a situation where Timlin and Worrall are playing a short corner and trying to hold the ball down there 2 minutes before half-time! I couldn't believe what I was watching.

It got worse after half-time. From the 50th minute, White was watching the ball go out of play by the corner flag for a goal-kick to us and leaving it there for a ball boy to trundle over and return it to Bentley. And then Bentley making a point continually of walking to the opposite side of the goal from where the ball went out to take his goal kick. Timewasting in the 50th minute!

What in the name of sweet Jesus is that idiot saying to them at half-time? Bury are there for the taking, all he had to do was tell them to keep the pressure up and turn the screw after half-time.....but they did the opposite. So now we'll have a situation where some of the more short-sighted fans will start blaming the failure to hold a lead today on the lack of goals or the 4-4-2 system which we began the game with (a system which will come good with Corr and Barnard up top if it is persevered with) when in reality, it is clearly down to something that he is saying to them before the match (“get the first goal and sit on it”) or at half-time (“now you're 1-0 up, take it easy and see the game out”).

It is made all the more infuriating to hear him in his post-match interview saying “we knew Bury would come back into the game second half and we tried to tighten things up a little bit at half-time to counter that”. Sorry, but what sodding aspect of Bury's woeful first half display gave you any sort of impression that they would come back into the game? The only way they were ever going to work their way back into it is if you allowed them to do so with your half-time team talk and tactical tweaks you stupid, inept *******. What football manager worth his salt honestly makes that kind of prediction when 1-0 up and in control after 45 minutes at home against one of the poorest sides we've seen this season? He's made tactical tweaks at half-time to counter something which hasn't happened yet and allowed them to come back into the game. Go for the fecking jugular and try to create a 2-or-3 goal buffer. If Bury still come out, manage to move into the ascendency and put our slender lead under threat despite Southend still throwing men forward and attacking then fair enough, react to it and try to protect it. You can't make changes and base your half-time team talk on something which is showing no signs of happening, but he's done exactly that and plunged his team into a situation where its lead IS under threat.

We may even have been able to hold on despite the tactical tweaks and half-time team talk, but the final nail in the coffin was the decision to haul Barnard off for Weston and switch to a negative 4-5-1 set-up. From the moment that change happened, the ball stopped sticking up front like it had in the first half due to the fact that Corr/Weston (whichever of the 2 chose to be the one player to stay forward at the time) was isolated up top alone and we had lost the energy and the ball-retention skills of Barnard. We put 10 men behind the ball and straight away invited a pressure onto our own goal which was never there before and had shown no signs of appearing. The old man and I turned to each other as soon as that change was made and said “that's it, we'll either cling onto a 1-0 win by the skin of our teeth or it'll finish 1-1,” because as soon as that change is made you know that Phil Brown ain't looking for any more goals. From that point on I pretty much switched off because I knew the equaliser was now going to come. The goal and the free-kick which led to it would never have happened if he had kept things as they were but the Bury pressure, the panic in our defence and the three successive corners that Bury forced, all the result of that substitution and negative change in shape and mentality, told you exactly what was around the corner.

Of course, as anyone could have predicted, the tired excuses came out in the post-match conference and the first words which came out of his mouth were about the referee, the penalty and the fact that they cost us the game. I'm sure many of our less-observant fans will fall for you hiding behind that excuse too but sorry mate, forget the non-penalty because YOU cost us that win and should never have put your players into a position where they needed to be awarded a late penalty to get the 3 points.

As an aside, there have been plenty of stonewall penalties not given and shocking refereeing performances over the years but it's a long long time since I've seen our players react to a decision like that. Is that frustration with their manager boiling over on the pitch? I can't see how the changes he made in the second half, the clear difference they made to the shape and mentality of the team, and the fact that we conceded a goal minutes later will help the players' confidence in El Tango and it already looks like he's lost them a little bit. There certainly seems to be something more deeply and fundamentally wrong than just the “lack of a goalscorer”.

Either way, he's certainly lost my confidence. The old man reckons he's the worst football manager we've had since Dick Bate. He might not be far wrong. The Alvin Martin and Alan Little days may have been dark ones but those two never had the quality available to them that this clueless idiot has. This group of players has the collective quality to be fighting at the top end but they are continually being blunted by a manager who is tactically inept and has no idea how to get the best out of them. I think the players themselves know this too and IMO this frustration is showing in their body language and even more so in their reaction to the non-penalty today. There is a total lack of confidence among, and maybe that is to blame for ridiculous time wasting in the corner before half time and at our own goal kicks after 50 minutes (although I'd say it's more likely Brown's instructions), but it is our own manager who has drained the players of confidence with his negative tactics and formations, his chopping and changing of the starting line-up, and his ludicrous substitutions. He needs to go.

Cut your losses Ron.

Click to expand...

sufclee said:

Couldn't agree with this more, player for player i cannot see a stronger squad in the division yet for whatever reason PB cannot get them playing TOGETHER, as manager he must take responsibility for this instead of constantly blaming the players!

Click to expand...

THE SEVENTIES NORTH BANK said:

Well I don't know about that. Take Bury for example, they have Rose and Lowe up front, both coming back from injury, that's why they didn't start today.
They have scored 12 between them (6 each) in the league this season, that's almost what our whole squad have scored this season. We certainly can't match that, and can only dream of a striking partnership like that.

Click to expand...

tommy tucker said:

Rose tinted glasses .Or has Phil Brown got s**t in his eyes . He said we played well when was this approx 15 mins of a 95 min game . The rest was pure dross long balls hoofed forward to no one . Players playing like they have not got a clue .Phil brown either watches a diffent game to the rest of us .Or he needs a trip to speck savers to get some glasses .:angry:

Click to expand...

Stuart W said:

How shockingly predictable. Go 1-0 up (albeit totally out of the blue), so time to change tactics. In my 47 yrs of going to the Hall, I can't recall us taking the ball to the corner flag in the FIRST HALF before. And it was quite clearly a tactical decision to play the way we did, because as soon as Bury got their inevitable equaliser, we decided to go for it. WHY not play like this at 1-0, and endeavour to get a second goal? I'm afraid the buck stops with Brown, and the penalty decision should not disguise the ineptitude and negativity that had gone before.

What made it worse was listening to Mark Babbage talking to Phil Brown on BBC Essex in the car coming home, as for a fleeting moment I thought that I was in North Korea, what with the lies and propaganda flying about with regard to this and recent games. No we weren't unlucky, but negative. uninspiring and at best performing like a mid to lower mid-table side.


Rant over.

Click to expand...

OldBlueLady said:

I cannot believe two people are having a go at John White here! He was one of our better players today, and didn't do a great deal wrong as far as I can see!

It was good to see a change to 4-4-2, which I'd said I felt we ought to try during the week, trouble is, if you're going to play 4-4-2, then let's at least get the ball to Barney's feet and stop humping long balls half heartedly forward. Barney was the better of the two strikers, Corr looked lazy to me whereas at least Barney was giving it plenty. Midfield was strange, with two fairly defensive ones centrally, the two wide players didn't get enough service going forward and we kept trying to play it through the middle. It wasn't till the 2nd half when Lenny and Worrall started pushing forward that we really looked threatening. Deegan had little influence on the game, Timlin, on the other hand, was the puppet master and it's good to see him back.

I just didn't understand the set up, Lenny and Timlin is our best central midfield combination, we had two fit central defenders so why on earth did we have Lenny at RB and John White in the middle of defence? And then, why on earth Weston when we made our first substitution? Wrong, wrong, wrong!

Bentley - 6, didn't have to do much but did make one important save and one important challenge
Leonard - 7, getting back to normal, but not in his best position
White - 7, slotted in comfortably in the middle of defence, got his head on lots
Prosser - 7, solid, typical Luke performance
Williams - 6, looked more comfortable once Weston came on strangely!
Worrall - 7, improved over the game, challenged and battled well, and desperately unlucky not to win a penalty
Timlin - 8, MOTM, one of the best and most consistent passers of the ball we have
Deegan - 6, going off the boil, can't see a place for him in the team
Atkinson - 6, not a winger and certainly not a left winger
Barnard - 7, never stopped battling, unlucky to be subbed
Corr - 6, looked better once Barney went off

Subs:
Weston for Barnard - 4, words fail me
Payne for Atkinson - 6, not on long enough to have an effect

Officials:
Just shocking.

TBV:
A word of praise for them today, the kept going and Scott tried desperately to get more involved. Well done lads.

Click to expand...

Bobby dazzler said:

Had to miss today due to my daughters yearly trip to the Excel centre to dress up as a Japenese Anime character. Annoyed , frustrated , angry but daddy's girl gets her way once a year.
i pretended it was match day there and got a high five from a steward when she recognized my southend shirt.
overpriced and unflavoursome food ensued. Two hours of minor excitement ensued (and then two more)
Voice over actors and people with bit parts in obscure series signed autographs. Kids and teenagers in cos play outfits (thought I saw the bluebells there) everywhere. Buxom women in outfits clearly too tight. Old men dressed in a variety of weird costumes.
legs and feet aching I called time to the adventure.
got into the car and the Blues were 1-0 up. Excel car park echoed with the cheer of a happy shrimper who then realized bury were getting the upper hand. Before we got out of the car park it was 1-1. Listened more in hope than belief that we would score a winner.
then it struck me. Sammy the shrimp and Elvis the eel are underneath real people. What odds on signing them and having them both up front. Couldn't do worse than what we have now :omg:
Obscure and off the track a bit I know but in the end I had a better day not watching the Blues

Click to expand...

DTS said:

This must be a joke. White nearly gifted them the lead in the first few minutes and he was an inept as a centre back as he is as a full back. I think he is one if the first players we should be looking to replace.

Click to expand...