Post-Match Thread and Ratings Grimsby Town 1-0 Southend United

[Yorkshire Blue]

I really wanted a manager who would come in here and shake it up. Kev is proving to be a quite Phil. Zero strategy, zero new manager bounce-

Of course there’s zero new manager bounce. There was zero new manager bounce with the last 5 appointments either. You are deluding yourself if you think a change in manager can remedy things overnight in what is a fundamentally flawed team.

But what there is - and this won’t be popular amongst those who can’t look past the result - is signs of improvement. Think back to Solihull, to Chesterfield at home. Unlike those matches the effort was there, they are moving the ball about much better and not looking as hopelessly directionless. And this was without our best two players in Bridge and Ralph. Obviously there’s still a long way to go and we don’t look like scoring but it was never an overnight job. This is probably a two year fix - assuming we don’t lose courage and panic and change course again - but that doesn’t mean we are doomed to relegation. We are still above the relegation spots despite this start. We’ll be in for a rocky month or two and then the improvements in performance should start to translate into more consistent results.

We all want it to be quicker though. More progress is needed and more reinforcements are needed - I’ve been calling for a right back and some legs in midfield since for months now - but the oil tanker is at least starting to be pointed in the right direction.

I don't think it is about Dalby personally. It is more about the fact we look to not lose by to many goals rather than plan to attack the opposition. We worry to much about them instead of them worrying about us.
That being said we do not really have much to offer on any part of the pitch atm so what team is going to be worried about us? I don't see that much change in the set up playing/ style wise than before Kev was here.

We need drastic change and the sooner the better otherwise it will be 3 relegations on the trot. Personally I don't think we will go down but paying fans want to see something different out there on the pitch and not have to face losing game after game week after week with the same old players.

You first stop the rot by making the team hard to beat. That means sacrificing attacking threat and going more defensive - hence the 4-5-1. It won’t always work but Grimsby rarely threatened to add a second so maybe we weren’t that far off. Murphy and Walsh give us a bit of pace for the counter but we probably need a bit more. We certainly need to improve set pieces. But we need midfield reinforcements to provide some legs to that midfield and we need to fix the right-side of defence which has been leaking goals ever since Elvis left the building.

 

[Ipswin]

Grimsby Town fan here. Two poor performances from two very average teams last night Liked Brunt for you guys (and by early second half disliked 'Mr Moaner' AKA Murphy intensely, if he put as much effort into striking as he does complaining he might be a half decent player) Sousa and Taylor for decent us otherwise a dreary evening and a dismal display of NL football for the TV cameras.
Delighted we ended our run of defeats though as we have some very strong opponents to come. Hope to see you for the return at your place

 

[Evening Echo]

SOUTHEND United fans have their say on Friday night's 1-0 defeat at Grimsby Town.

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[Chris Powell's mate]

Yes I personally would give Kinali a go, he has definitely deserved a chance. Egbri has had his run in the first team and is quick but no end product.

You see, calling Egbri quick is what the French call a trompe l’oeil.
His legs go like bees wings, but the speed is illusional.
He doesn't often beat his man down the wing, and last night was another example.
I'm not sure Kinali's the answer either, mind.

 

[teabee1]

Yes I personally would give Kinali a go, he has definitely deserved a chance. Egbri has had his run in the first team and is quick but no end product.

Absolutely this. Seems totally unbelievable that Egbri gets in the squad ahead if Kinali. Maybe someone with more of an insight into the club could explain. Even if Kinali is not ready (which I think his record suggests he is) Terrel should be nowhere near the first team unfortunatel. I know this is harsh and Terrel is a really nice guy, but he adds nothing except effort to the team.

 

[greyerfox]

A few thoughts, having watched on TV.

It was a low quality game featuring two poor teams. How odd to see Grimsby at the top and a team like Stockport much lower. That performance of Stockport in the Cup this week was something we must aspire to. As everyone has said, the horror of the opening 10 minutes apart, we matched our opponents in most departments. But there was always the feeling that Grimsby had the edge in breaking forward quickly.

The TV commentator said that Grimsby conceded 2 from set pieces last week against Shots. Did we attempt to exploit this? No we did not. Our set pieces were generally woeful, as they have been for years now.

I think KM set up to beat a team at the top of the table rather than one which had lost 4 on the bounce.

At times we moved the ball around very well but there was little end product apart from a decent effort over the bar by Brunt and a crucial block by Grimsby when Murphy was slipped in.

How Murphy wasn't booked for arguing with the ref was remarkable. It cannot be helpful to the cause and refs are unlikely to listen to shouts for a penalty from him. He is always prone to go down easily. Again not helpful.

Many have commented correctly about the exposure of JW and the lack of pace in midfield. Reinforcements needed ASAP.

COYB

 

[Kris]

You see, calling Egbri quick is what the French call a trompe l’oeil.
His legs go like bees wings, but the speed is illusional.
He doesn't often beat his man down the wing, and last night was another example.
I'm not sure Kinali's the answer either, mind.

He is quick. I can't remember who played the crossfield ball but Egbri was second-favourite to reach it but he did. I know the argument about the lack of end product but the first thing he did when he came on was to win us a corner (our first one?). Just a shame it came to nothing.

 

[FarmdogSUFC]

It’s just a sad state of affairs to be honest. I totally get it’s damaged limitations at the moment. Try to get back to the defensive structure we had before Brown destroyed it, and I get that they’re obviously a decent team at this level. But that was soul destroying. I’ve slept on it and I’m still pretty ****ed off at it if I’m honest. Again it’s not a case of no effort, we’re just short of it in a lot of areas. The lineup I thought was a bit strange, especially exposing White like that, and the subs were also a bit ****.

Big game Tuesday now, against Maidenhead. Probably the most depressing thing I’ve ever written

 

[SUFCStu]

Awful game from both sides but always going to be one result.

7/8 new players are needed and that's not an angry after the result statement. There's just nothing in the squad, there's nothing the new management can do. A new managerial bounce clearly can't happen with this mess.

There is an improvement though. You can feel it. Southend did quite well after going a goal down, with Brown, Moseley I could have seen that being 2-0 in the next ten minutes. Walsh stepped up well during this period.

Of course they haven't been good enough but again seeing it on the TV angles just shows how dire things are.

 

[Barling Magna]

You see, calling Egbri quick is what the French call a trompe l’oeil.
His legs go like bees wings, but the speed is illusional.
He doesn't often beat his man down the wing, and last night was another example.
I'm not sure Kinali's the answer either, mind.

Crikey, were you watching last night? Egbri was truly quick, ce n'est pas un trompe l'oeil mon ami.

 

[Chris Powell's mate]

Crikey, were you watching last night? Egbri was truly quick, ce n'est pas un trompe l'oeil mon ami.

Yes, I was watching.
He had two chances to get past his man, and I don't mean the low centre that got cleared when he himself was in the clear, and he failed to deliver.
A corner and a block were the results as I recall.
His yellow card was because he was a smidgin late getting to the ball.
I'm not talking leg movement, because agreed, it's lightning quick: I'm talking leg speed.

 

[Chris Powell's mate]

He is quick. I can't remember who played the crossfield ball but Egbri was second-favourite to reach it but he did. I know the argument about the lack of end product but the first thing he did when he came on was to win us a corner (our first one?). Just a shame it came to nothing.

Have answered this in the reply above to Barling Magna.

 

[Barling Magna]

Yes, I was watching.
He had two chances to get past his man, and I don't mean the low centre that got cleared when he himself was in the clear, and he failed to deliver.
A corner and a block were the results as I recall.
His yellow card was because he was a smidgin late getting to the ball.
I'm not talking leg movement, because agreed, it's lightning quick: I'm talking leg speed.

Well, we'll have to agree to disagree. No worries.

 

[Barling Magna]

Some good results for us this afternoon in the mini-league. Weymouth and Maidenhead both ship four goals against them, while King's Lynn and Dover also lose. Shows how important it was for us to only lose by one goal (yes, I'm being sarcastic.......but actually our survival may depend on our goal difference).

 

[Sufc.2008]

It’s true there’s no players arrived as yet, apart from the two Sheffield lads, but your not going to pick up any decent players at this stage in the season, without the chequebook.

Did we not pick up the two Sheffield lads?

 

[Evening Echo]

GRIMSBY Town boss Paul Hurst feels Southend United are not as bad as their league position suggests.

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[Shrimperjohn]

I am sick and tired of the Echo spouting on every week on how the opposition manager thinks that we are nowhere near as bad as our league position suggests. It’s the easiest thing in the world to say after winning... it’s patronising also.

We are as bad as our league position suggests... simple as.... however we ( ONLY) have to win our mini league against the teams around us for us to stay up the season.

Then the rebuild can start in earnest.

 

[Zeuss]

I was watching closely as I have every game this season. Your disrespect to some of our players and my opinion is why I am getting less and less enjoyment out of posting ratings every game.

By all means disagree but after driving many miles maybe I should leave posting ratings until the next day when I am refreshed.

From being in the stands I saw a fully committed performance where all gave a 100%, improved from earlier season performances. Yes the goal was shocking but did not knock the stuffing out of us.

I found it hard to pick out a star performer, some were better than others and maybe on reflection 5-6 is too short a widthband. But between 1-8, come on you have marked to show me up and for your own agenda,not on what really happened

I ,like you,would always prefer to actually be at the ground—I was even planning on going to Grimsby at one stage—but know that you usually get a much better appreciation of all aspects of the game from perfectly positioned tv cameras,as opposed to one section of the ground.That is not a good view at Grimsby.
Unusually for an away match,thousands of Blues’ fans were able to watch the whole game,because of the tv coverage and large numbers of them have now offered their opinions—including on individual performances!!—on this thread. I strongly suggest you (re -?) read them especially those that mention Brunt and White and then decide whether anybody else would even dream of awarding them the same mark out of ten for their performance!

 

[Chris Powell's mate]

I am sick and tired of the Echo spouting on every week on how the opposition manager thinks that we are nowhere near as bad as our league position suggests. It’s the easiest thing in the world to say after winning... it’s patronising also.

We are as bad as our league position suggests... simple as.... however we ( ONLY) have to win our mini league against the teams around us for us to stay up the season.

Then the rebuild can start in earnest.

A reporter reports.
Managers have code for poor teams; and ones that give them a game, and most fans can see this.
Alan Dowson said last week Woking were 'comfortable at times' ie Southend were no great threat.
I agree it's no solace when managers react as Hurst did, but most try to offer a semblance of diplomatic truth for fear of looking an idiot.
BTW, we didn't say anything similar after Dover or Chertsey did we?

 

[Maroon Blue]

I ,like you,would always prefer to actually be at the ground—I was even planning on going to Grimsby at one stage—but know that you usually get a much better appreciation of all aspects of the game from perfectly positioned tv cameras,as opposed to one section of the ground.That is not a good view at Grimsby.
Unusually for an away match,thousands of Blues’ fans were able to watch the whole game,because of the tv coverage and large numbers of them have now offered their opinions—including on individual performances!!—on this thread. I strongly suggest you (re -?) read them especially those that mention Brunt and White and then decide whether anybody else would even dream of awarding them the same mark out of ten for their performance!

I have just watched the game again on TV and as I said in my initial response, my ratings of 5-6 for all in hindsight was too narrow. Nobody was worse than a 4 and no-one better than a 7. I do purposely make a point of not reading all the posts before i mark as i do not want to be influenced by others overly critical or over the top opinions and patronising responses, but too mark as i see and not as others have seen. Which on this occasion was wrong as i overawarded White for effort and commitment. I also underawarded Brunt for which i thought on the night was still MOTM but a performance that flitted in and out of the game. If i could mark now, White would go down a mark to be a 5 and Brunt up a mark to a 7. Lesson to self to not mark straight after the game, but wait a day or two.