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EastStandBlue

Life President
Joined
May 29, 2005
Messages
15,519
Being at Uni, my only Southend outing since September was Forest away which wasn't a particularly good performance aside from Leon's red card, but my obersvations today were:

No creativity
Without Bailey/Gower, we really are incredibly uncreative. Black gets dragged in too central, Maher has lost something of his game and Morgan is, well, naff. We were left with Charlie and Leon creating their own oppurtnities which, quite frankly, they failed at today.

Maher
Poor. Gave the ball away an awful lot with misplaced passes and was caught in possesion on more than one occasion. Perhaps he knows that he's second fiddle to a preferred midfield partnership of Macca and Bailey, but on todays offering he's done nothing to overt that theory.

Fragility
Today we looked incredibly fragile at the back. No idea if this is a continuing problem, but every attack in the first half Oldham looked like scoring despite being distinctly ordinary going forward.

Wings
No point playing wide players today. Black continually got dragged inside, especially after Macca's sending off, and Morgan was about as useful as a chocolate teapot. Was pushed off the ball too easy and when he produced a product it was poor... No better than JCR and a poor mans Wayne Gray, if we pay good money for him in January i'd be disappointed on todays offering.

Some good points:-

Charlie Mac
Puts it about and engineers himself space up top. with Bailey i feel him and Leon can be a very productive partnership.

thats about it i'm afraid. In a game spoiled by a needlessly pedantic ref we didnt do an awful lot wrong, but we certainly didnt do an awful lot right.
 
I have to disagree. I thought defensively we looked ok apart from the goal, especially second half and Collis has only had to make 1 or 2 saves of any note.

Thought Charlie Mac was disappointing as well. He seemed to have little idea of the position of those around him and the less said about Leon's finishing today the better.

Black was poor and we did miss both Gower and Bailey but I don't think it was the disaster it can be made to seem.
 
Disagree with the Maher comments. some of his passing today was very incisive. However, the fact that the movement today was vitually non exsistent makes his task difficult and ends up with the ball goint to where the palyer should be, but invariably isn't.

Also thought Leon played today just like a loan player now fully signed up.
 
Thought Maher was poor today. Usually a big Maher fan but seemed too willing to just lob the ball up aimlessly today.
 
Wiggy's Ratings!

Collis 6 excellent first half save, have come to the conclusion that we have 2 excellent shot stoppers at the club but Collis is very poor in most other areas. Don't want to drone on but he will never be better than Flavs low down and is inferior kicking, organisation and aerially believe it or not, time for a change
Hammel 6 usual good corners and free kicks, worth his place just on that
Hunt 5 done nothing wrong particularly but can't have his negativity
Barrett 5 lay off took it's toll and unusually poor today
Clarke 7 pick of the defence, now a good reliable defender
Maher 5 crabby and still feel we play better without him
Macca 6 not as industrious as usual but got stuck in at times
Black 6 done ok in places, been off and will get better given the chance
Morgan 5 terrible at striking a ball and is he really any better than Hoops, don't mind him though
MacDonald 7 put through some decent little lay offs and runs around a lot. Not sure he is quite good enough though
Clarke 7 still showed his quality and strength despite missing a couple, need another like him rather than borderline League 1/2 merchants
 
Collis 6 excellent first half save, have come to the conclusion that we have 2 excellent shot stoppers at the club but Collis is very poor in most other areas. Don't want to drone on but he will never be better than Flavs low down and is inferior kicking, organisation and aerially believe it or not, time for a change
Hammel 6 usual good corners and free kicks, worth his place just on that
Hunt 5 done nothing wrong particularly but can't have his negativity
Barrett 5 lay off took it's toll and unusually poor today
Clarke 7 pick of the defence, now a good reliable defender
Maher 5 crabby and still feel we play better without him
Macca 6 not as industrious as usual but got stuck in at times
Black 6 done ok in places, been off and will get better given the chance
Morgan 5 terrible at striking a ball and is he really any better than Hoops, don't mind him though
MacDonald 7 put through some decent little lay offs and runs around a lot. Not sure he is quite good enough though
Clarke 7 still showed his quality and strength despite missing a couple, need another like him rather than borderline League 1/2 merchants

Woops, was meant to be a new thread, it is now!
 
For what it is worth, I thought the goal we conceded was a very poor goal to ship defensively, with Barrett and Hunt at sixes and sevens, and Collis beaten at his near post. Collis pulled off some decent saves, but still looked reluctant to come and claim corners. The defence was up and down, Barrett was below his usual standards, and we took too long looking at each other at times when the ball was loose in our box for my liking.

Midfield, Morgan, if he's a wide player then Wigan will storm through and win the premiership this season. Gave Hammell very poor spport outlet wise, and his control was like Wayne Gray. Maher tried hard, but was hampered by the frontr two, more about that later, McCormack, once again suckered into the early challenge, and after the same thing happening last season, when he and MAher were on yellows, and Tilly did nothing, no surprise to see him eventually walk. Black, again drifted too many times inside, and he and Morgan were the main reason for an overall shapeless and hap hazard collective midfield performance. Anyone now who does not see what Mark Gower brings to the party, get to the club office and ask to see 5the video of yesterday's game.

The front two. Leon - worst performance in a Blue shirt. I do believe he may still be suffering from the injury, but his movement ranged from non-existent to poor, his first touch was lethargic, and at times held onto the ball too long, which didn't help those making the runs on the wings. Also the amount of times that he got caught offside standing still was very poor, and distribution and ball retention for the most part was Sunday League. A game I think he'd like to forget. I do also agree with those on here that have pointed out that if Harrold or Hooper had put in performances like that they'd have got slated. Bad day at the office. MacDonald, battled well, and offered the most movement, got into some good positions. When with the ball linked well with the midfield with his back to goal, but when in the channels and looking to get round the back of the defence, some poor balls into the box. I thought he was promising though, and the chaos, shape wise behind him didn't help him.

Gower's late withdrawal hurt us, and Macca's early booking topped it off. Around the area in block U where I sit, we were all begging Tilly to take him off after the hour, as an hour with MAcca and having him avaiolable on boxing day, with Moussa being able to come into the middle was preferetial for us, than the ineffectual Macca that was out there for the main part. Sadly it didn't happen and the red just finished off a bad day.

So Bailey back on Boxing Day, and Gowers back trouble will hopefully disperse. Mind you with his fitness problems, hopefully he'd fail a fitness test and he'll see out his day's in Blue. Overall we neeed a little more creativity elsewhere as yesterday, as we shape disapeared so did the chances we created, which is why we came closer to getting the goal in the first half, than when we were pushing all the panic buttons we could find from 55 minutes onwards.

To try and finish on a positive, we did create chances, particularly in the first half, and with new signings already on the horizon hopefully we will be a little less predicatble from January onwards, and we are still in the top 8 so a run could see us back in the mix by the end of the season.

UTB
 
I think our midfield was the biggest problem yesterday. McCormack and Maher are both defensive midfielders, meaning there is always a sizeable gap between our strikers and midfield. McCormack is very mobile, making a few good runs, but Maher seems very immobile, and it does concern me that we seem to play better when he is not in the team, (and i am a Maher fan). Black again proved that he was a poor purchase with another inadequate performance, his final balls were very poor indeed, and Morgan was hopeless too. I thought the strikers did ok, McDonald created chances for Leon who just didnt put them away. Its unfortunate, but it was only a matter of time before Leon had a bad game.
I think in January we need a winger or 2, as Gower is the only decent wide player we have. Lets hope Scannell will fit right in.
 
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