Post-Match Thread and Ratings Southend United 0-2 Fleetwood Town

Danshrimper said:

The performance was unacceptable and Brown needs to go but I don't understand why people think they're helping by loudly booing and abusing players (as early as 20 minutes in) for minor mistakes or simply passing it back to the keeper when there is no other option. All it does is unsettle the players and make their performance even worse. By all means boo at full time if it is deserved but at least get behind the team during the game, especially when we're only 1 goal down.

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Earlier than that in the West, calls of "what a load of rubbish" were coming from about 12 mins in! I don't know why people like that come along, if you're that negative THAT early, you're simply not going to enjoy it.

What frustrated me most was the backwards passing particularly the number of times the ball was played to a player with nowhere to go and so leaving him no choice but to pass backwards.

Agree with the consistent themes on here. Probably my biggest surprise was playing O'Neill in CM after the change. Atkinson would have offered some energy and must be annoyed to be out of favour.

We seem to have lost any semblance of pace in our play and everything at walking pace.

Frustratingly a player like Coker who looks good when taking on the fullback chooses to do it about twice per season and opts to come inside or back to Adam Barrett all of the time. Also Leonard has so much pace when he surges forward but only went forward once yesterday. One positive is that we got a corner from a Lenny throw which must be the most productive output from one ever!

From where I was (in West) it sounded like Mooney got some cheers when he came on rather than boos but guess the East must have different views.

How can some of the veteran posters claim this was one of the worse games they have seen at RH. We had whole seasons in the 80's when this would have been a top 5 game.

"The two Adams, both static and square, never take ball forward and poor at passing with any intent; too often pass sideways when unchallenged and on our own penalty box: can they not take the ball forward 20 yards at their feet while others make moves/space/runs?"

And therein lies a big problem. Both Brizzle and F'wood soon twigged that if they push up on the two in possession, they simply can't pass. Reason is - nobody in midfield looks for the ball.

"Earlier than that in the West, calls of "what a load of rubbish" were coming from about 12 mins in! I don't know why people like that come along, if you're that negative THAT early, you're simply not going to enjoy it."

Well, you don't know it's going to be rubbish before you go!

rigsby said:

How can some of the veteran posters claim this was one of the worse games they have seen at RH. We had whole seasons in the 80's when this would have been a top 5 game.

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Very easily they can say it, because it was.

Better to let people vent than try to defend the undefendable.

rigsby said:

How can some of the veteran posters claim this was one of the worse games they have seen at RH. We had whole seasons in the 80's when this would have been a top 5 game.

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I think you have to view it as like for like, player for player. The players we have now should be head and shoulders above the bad old days but in their performance yesterday, it does rank as one of the worst performances for years

Romford Blue said:

Agree with the consistent themes on here. Probably my biggest surprise was playing O'Neill in CM after the change. Atkinson would have offered some energy and must be annoyed to be out of favour.

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Absolutely. Felt Atkinson should have replaced King and McGlashan O'Neill before half time.

I usually tell myself not to post just after a bad game , but to reflect overnight and then base comments in a clear and measured way rather than anger.
I went against that yesterday and posted how bad / non existent our centre midfield was.
I have now slept on things and have a different view to yesterday.

It wasn't bad at all , bad doesn't do it justice !
In line with some others , I don't think I've seen a worse performance by a professional team ever !!!!
Sorry if those not there think that's over the top , but it was embarrassing beyond belief.

Really not sure what the answer is - New Manager ? New Players ? New Tactics ?
Took my 9 year old daughter yesterday who has seen about a dozen games now.
She asked me at one point "why aren't they trying to win" - didn't have a plausible answer.

dannypav said:

I usually tell myself not to post just after a bad game , but to reflect overnight and then base comments in a clear and measured way rather than anger.
I went against that yesterday and posted how bad / non existent our centre midfield was.
I have now slept on things and have a different view to yesterday.

It wasn't bad at all , bad doesn't do it justice !
In line with some others , I don't think I've seen a worse performance by a professional team ever !!!!
Sorry if those not there think that's over the top , but it was embarrassing beyond belief.

Really not sure what the answer is - New Manager ? New Players ? New Tactics ?
Took my 9 year old daughter yesterday who has seen about a dozen games now.
She asked me at one point "why aren't they trying to win" - didn't have a plausible answer.

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Did our run of really bad games begin when you started taking your daughter Danny? If so, leave her at home in future.

dannypav said:

Took my 9 year old daughter yesterday who has seen about a dozen games now.
She asked me at one point "why aren't they trying to win" - didn't have a plausible answer.

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Absolute quote of the weekend. Get it sent over to Boots & Laces pronto!

There was nothing wrong in playing Cox as a lone striker but the key thing is to play the ball to feet also with pace and zip from the midfielders, most of the midfield players should be getting forward quickly to support the lone striker. Many teams play successfully with just one man up front. We were just playing long high balls to a short player surrounded by two big centre backs who must have had one of their easiest ever games.

OldBlueLady said:

Absolute quote of the weekend. Get it sent over to Boots & Laces pronto!

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Sign the kid up!

Rootshallbloke said:

Did our run of really bad games begin when you started taking your daughter Danny? If so, leave her at home in future.

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Actually she missed much of the end of last season , so I think she's seen more wins than losses !
She is very positive though and today says it wasn't that bad , adding that Fleetwood didn't have too many chances.
Dont think they did actually , but that's not the point.

dannypav said:

Actually she missed much of the end of last season , so I think she's seen more wins than losses !
She is very positive though and today says it wasn't that bad , adding that Fleetwood didn't have too many chances.
Dont think they did actually , but that's not the point.

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Really. They missed a sitter and scored two goals that were disallowed. The first one was well onside. I was dead level. Im not sure about the other.

TBH Fleetwood never had to get out of 2nd gear. Had they gone at us full tilt for 90 mins we would have got the drubbing we deserved.

One thing I have noticed from the games I've seen this season is that all the opposition seem to have players in midfield that get the ball and run at our two centre backs. This normally leads to a shot from them or the player they pass it to. Our midfield get the ball and pass it back or sideways(yawn). There is also no link between our midfield players and our strikers.
When Lenny actually runs with the ball forward, he looks really good once into his stride. Unfortunately he only tries this about once or twice a game, and reverts to passing out wide.

I'm not reading anymore of this thread.

As they say "it's doing my head in". (Big sigh).

Rattus Norvegicus said:

I'm not reading anymore of this thread.

As they say "it's doing my head in". (Big sigh).

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Truth hurts

Feeling very low after that performance first time I have ever left early and it was more to get away from the boos, people pay their money so if they want to vent there frustration then thats up to them, my own opinion is that it was just to cringey and embarrassing to listen to, the atmosphere was dire and I just had to get out of there.
Well done to fleetwood i thought they were really well set up not great individual players like JET but they played as a team and played with a great togetherness.
Their pressing was brilliant and something I was wishing I would see from the blues. The amount of times they had 6...or more players in our half pressuring the ball from the first to last minute and we had no answer, no quality of finding that pass through, instead we lumped it forward time and time again to Cox who in no way is a target man who was being marked by two six foot something centre backs..... and we did it again and again and again! Fleetwoods back four didnt even break sweat.
But when they went forward it was quick, when they countered they wouldnt stop on the ball and wait for everyone to get back like we seem to constintly do, they played it out from the back, their keeper constantly played a short pass to a full back and we never clocked onto it.
My God do we miss Timlin and Woody and Ranger and untill they are fit and IF we can get a few new signings then that performance, im afraid, is what we can expect every saturday.

Im now asking myself am I a Mr Phil Brown out man, sometimes I think be careful what you wish for but at the moment the option of a new manager maybe a breath of fresh air, a chance to start again whilst its early season and a chance for the players to start again and maybe have a lot of pressure take of them.....Looks like the best option in my eyes. Never a good thing to see someone lose there job but I think Mr Brown its time we said goodbye!

I don't know how many of you watched the Burton vs Derby game on Sky on Friday night. I don't think that, in terms of pure footballing ability, the Burton squad is much better than ours. Yet I sat and watched them take the game to Derby for most of the match, breaking with speed and fluency from the back, with front players that seemed instinctively to take up good positions to receive the imaginative passes that came to them, and with as many players as possible hurrying back behind the ball and fighting to get it back when possession was lost. I reflected that last season we were in the same league as Burton and competing with them but there now appears to be a gaping chasm between us in terms of how effectively we play. I think it would be a great lesson for our management team and players to just sit down together and watch that game to see what they ought to be doing. This may be a bit off-topic but is my sad reaction to the overwhelmingly gloomy comments on yesterday's performance.