Post-Match Thread and Ratings Southend United 0-1 Mansfield

[sufc4life21]

No doubt MM knows that Akinola needs support up front and is trying out the options he has - wouldn't be surprised to see Richard Taylor given a go on Tuesday.

Hope not!

 

[hlane17]

Maybe we should see if keith dublin could come back, throw him up front as well.

This is crazy, there must be a striker in the world out of contract who can head the ball and score 5-10 goals.

Our season depends on sourcing one of these forwards, but if we don't move quickly then there will be none left

 

[RHB]

No doubt MM knows that Akinola needs support up front and is trying out the options he has - wouldn't be surprised to see Richard Taylor given a go on Tuesday.

That doesn't fill me with any form of enthusiasm I'm afraid.

 

[Rayleigh boy]

two good sides get the points - Cambrdige and Mansfield - no real surprise

BUT ...

the tinkering over selection and formation - the clever clever approach .. and ultimately a team that loses its shape and becomes chaos when we go a goal down ..

Players getting their game wrong - players playing their own game ... its falling apart

I thought when Macca was first back their was some sort of change .. I thought the MM answers about the transfers were weak ...

I am worried that a young inexperienced manager might not have the authority and core belief to lead in a pressure situation like this ..

I have no answers - and of course 3 points fixes everything - BUT scary scary times

 

[Chrisb]

That doesn't fill me with any form of enthusiasm I'm afraid.

Me neither but I wouldn't be surprised !

 

[Shrimpet steve]

Thought oxley was decent! Hes probabley our best player which isnt good! But hes reliable and a good time waster.

Defence. not bad! Hobson white decent enough

Midfield. good until macca went off

Attack.Akinola is skillfull but his finishing is poor! Reeco looks awkward on the ball and no threat! ANG tries to do too much and should have squared the ball when running through on goal!

 

[Shrimpet steve]

Macca will be a loss! We seem more resolute and steady when he plays!!

Halford offers absolutely nothing and as I said before a waste of sufc money on his wages!

Elvis will be a miss but clifford has a better delivery and game time will help his improvement.

 

[Zeuss]

He would probably like that too.

But in typical Southend fashion, we once again have a growing injury list in Ralph, Lennon, Olayinka, Egbri, Gard & Goodship.

To add to that, Halford & Elvis came off with injuries today and Macca & Demi aren’t capable of playing regularly, so we’ll be without them for the next game at least, you’d think.

Kyle Taylor isn’t match fit after having two-months off and to compound our woes, Dieng gets banned for what can only be described as wreckless, amateur behaviour.

If none of those players were available for the next game, this is the outfield squad we’d be left with;

Clifford
Hobson
R. Taylor
White
MMN

Phillips
ANG
Klass
Walsh (maybe)
O’Shane Stewart
Kinali

RHF
Akinola
Acquah

A truly frightening prospect

Not at all good,but add Demi at RB and Hart at LMF.

 

[LBBlue]

Having failed to win any of their first 14 games Mansfield have only lost 2 of their last 19 games and are probably the best team in the division at the moment. They controlled the whole 90 minutes

Really we hardly had a kick as we came up with our usual just 2 shots on target. We do now make it hard for opponents to score against us but have no threat at all. The only time we pushed forward in numbers we lost it and they caught it on the break.

The game has evolved into football played by hard working athletic scurriers. Sadly we dont have many of them. We badly missed Olayinka and Egbri - players who can run with the ball. It only brightened up when ANG came on.

Dear old Ox parries the ball straight to a opponent again and he couldn’t miss. One of these days he might parry it away.


Moving Halford to right back was of course a major error in hindsight. He is required to move there and sadly was so far away from his opponent he couldn’t even reach him to pull him down.

We need some continuity of selection and formation to get anywhere. Unfortunately we don’t play Grimsby, Scunny, Col U and Barrow at home every week. It’s hard to find one positive from today - it’s so depressing.

 

[mfurok]

Having failed to win any of their first 14 games Mansfield have only lost 2 of their last 19 games and are probably the best team in the division at the moment. They controlled the whole 90 minutes

Really we hardly had a kick as we came up with our usual just 2 shots on target. We do now make it hard for opponents to score against us but have no threat at all. The only time we pushed forward in numbers we lost it and they caught it on the break.

The game has evolved into football played by hard working athletic scurriers. Sadly we dont have many of them. We badly missed Olayinka and Egbri - players who can run with the ball. It only brightened up when ANG came on.

Dear old Ox parries the ball straight to a opponent again and he couldn’t miss. One of these days he might parry it away.


Moving Halford to right back was of course a major error in hindsight. He is required to move there and sadly was so far away from his opponent he couldn’t even reach him to pull him down.

We need some continuity of selection and formation to get anywhere. Unfortunately we don’t play Grimsby, Scunny, Col U and Barrow at home every week. It’s hard to find one positive from today - it’s so depressing.

Perfect and so sad.

Let’s hope Roy recovers.

 

[Clinton Baptiste]

If you're starting a game with Greg halford up front you may as well wave the white flag. We are down. A few half decent results aside we have been utter pants this season and MMs recent acquisitions are puzzling at best. Louis Walsh?? Our goal difference puts us even further behind. Unless he finds a freddy eastwood from somewhere national league here we come.

 

[Jay_SUFC]

Not at all good,but add Demi at RB and Hart at LMF.

No, we need Demi in midfield; may as well play Howard at RB, but I have a horrible feeling R Taylor will end up there

 

[wiggy]

Having failed to win any of their first 14 games Mansfield have only lost 2 of their last 19 games and are probably the best team in the division at the moment. They controlled the whole 90 minutes

Really we hardly had a kick as we came up with our usual just 2 shots on target. We do now make it hard for opponents to score against us but have no threat at all. The only time we pushed forward in numbers we lost it and they caught it on the break.

The game has evolved into football played by hard working athletic scurriers. Sadly we dont have many of them. We badly missed Olayinka and Egbri - players who can run with the ball. It only brightened up when ANG came on.

Dear old Ox parries the ball straight to a opponent again and he couldn’t miss. One of these days he might parry it away.


Moving Halford to right back was of course a major error in hindsight. He is required to move there and sadly was so far away from his opponent he couldn’t even reach him to pull him down.

We need some continuity of selection and formation to get anywhere. Unfortunately we don’t play Grimsby, Scunny, Col U and Barrow at home every week. It’s hard to find one positive from today - it’s so depressing.

I’m his biggest knocker but Ox actually made a decent save to get to that shot and no way could he have got that any further out the way than he did.

 

[onceknownasrab]

Team outfought and manager outthought.

 

[Jay_SUFC]

I’m his biggest knocker but Ox actually made a decent save to get to that shot and no way could he have got that any further out the way than he did.

You can't blame Oxley for that, but watch how our defence just stood there, whilst their attacker anticipated a rebound

 

[ms brush]

Granted, not a good showing yesterday. Thing is, we are in a situation, like other L2 clubs, where there is no tangible income coming in to the club and we are (in common with most clubs at our level) looking for the rare as unicorn c*** experienced 20 goal a season striker, who is prepared to go to a team bottom of the EFL on day old egg sandwich money, and score copious goals with precious little service... its no wonder MM is trying to work with what he has got! There is no cast iron guarantee that spending the required money to get a striker in would change anything, so much as we need someone, maybe the gamble is a dice roll too far

Was interesting listening to the bbc essex post game analysis from David Kelly and Glenn Pennyfather re ColU... and guess what? Although they are safer in mid table, they have shipped out all their experienced players, their chairman has said they are not bringing anyone in and they are very quickly falling into the abyss. Their fans want Theo back and they cant afford him! And they wont be the only club in that situation - the point being if a clubs survival means a spell in the national league, surely that is better than disappearing altogether? In many ways it is the same situation as ours and i think our squad is actually in better shape than theirs.

So back to us yesterday. It was a disappointing game, we didnt play well but we were holding out ok until a lapse of concentration was punished by their goal. We had precious few chances, that we failed to make the best of. We at least didnt totally fall apart and ship 3 or 4... you have to give credit to them - they werent much better than us, but they took their chances and did a lot more off the ball work, tracking back and generally not allowing us to settle. Our undoing was our own again. Hobson did a great job, and looked far more comfortable in a back 4. Sam Hart looks much better as a wide midfielder rather than a wing back, Clifford gives me confidence at LB and it looked more balanced than 5 at the back. But, losing Elvis and Macca is a huge double blow with so few options on the bench, and now RB becomes a problem again as JD is so pivotal in midfield these days. And Dieng getting sent off was stupidity of the highest order. I expect he will be fined for that one. I like ANG and Reeco, but not sure either of them are wily enough yet to really make a mark in this league. Acqah is getting better - i think he will come good but whether it's in time to keep us up is another matter entirely.

JD was hugely missed, and hopefully he is back on Tuesday.

 

[in the know]

Thought oxley was decent! Hes probabley our best player which isnt good! But hes reliable and a good time waster.

Defence. not bad! Hobson white decent enough

Midfield. good until macca went off

Attack.Akinola is skillfull but his finishing is poor! Reeco looks awkward on the ball and no threat! ANG tries to do too much and should have squared the ball when running through on goal!

Good summary I think. I'd only differ about the middle really. Thought Taylor showed a lack of match fitness and match awareness. Hopefully itl will come if stays fit enough to play another 90 tuesday

 

[united we stand]

That doesn't fill me with any form of enthusiasm I'm afraid.

I would rather Richard Taylor up front than halford.
I said on the halford re-she guns thread that I didn’t understand what he brings, yesterday just reinforced that opinion. Forgot about the pathetic tackle, I thought he was poor the test of the game as well.
I totally get it that Molesley knows far better than me, and IGet it that i watch a game as a fan and I don’t have the skill to pick up points others do- so someone please educate me- what did he do yesterday to justify being picked again (in any position).

 

[GBJ]

Maybe we should see if keith dublin could come back, throw him up front as well.

This is crazy, there must be a striker in the world out of contract who can head the ball and score 5-10 goals.

Unfortunately for us, the issue isn’t finding these players, it’s getting them to sign for us.

Calvin Andrew was the original player identified for this role, but he wouldn’t even entertain the idea of joining us.

Not being funny, he might have done a job for us, but he’s hardly set the world alight, and I believe he’s still without a club..... something he deemed as a better option than joining our madcap bandwagon.

Tells you all you need to know, really.

 

[Barling Magna]

This season is about survival. The real worry is about how we intend to improve next season.

We only have to finish 22nd. We are a poor team overall. Our only quality players this season have been Olayinka and Oxley. Hobson, Dieng, Demi, JW and Macca are all important for us but none of them are particularly gifted. Kyle Taylor, ANG, RHF and Sam Hart are all works in progress and they don't work hard enough in my opinion. Terrell Egbri is less talented but he has the heart of a lion and is able to scare defenders with his pace, the others need to match his work rate. Neither Acquah nor Richard Taylor are the answer to our need for a target man but they are all that we have got and it does nobody any good to constantly criticise them - they need encouragement. Akinola needs another forward alongside him and he needs to improve his composure when the chances come his way.

BUT.... we only need to finish 22nd. Grimsby and Stevenage are both poor teams. I think they are the ones that we have to finish above. We have a difficult February ahead of us, but March looks much easier so we need to get four points from our next two matches and then try to gain something during February in order to be in touch for the easier run of games that follow.

This season is about survival. We only need to finish 22nd. It's next season that really worries me.......