Player Ratings

[Barmy Army]

Griemink - 8 - Without him it would have been 3 or 4 nil, possibly at fault for the goal in terms of positioning, but they should have never been allowed to get to the position that they were in

Wilson - 7 - Decent performance good defensively and some nice passing on the attack

Barrett - 8 (MOM) - Rock at the back doing all that was asked of him, only one who seemed to give a damn and show some passion

Edwards - 7 - Had a torrid time trying to mark a faster Asamoah but did what was required of him

Hunt - 7 - Good job defensively but tended to wander forwards too often, leaving us somewhat exposed at the back

Pettefer - 7.5 - Very good performance from him doing all that he could to try and get the ball and then choreograph some sort of attacking move

Maher - 6.5 - Not a lot of stand-out stuff from him, distribution was ok, but never took the opportunity to run at the defence with the ball

Bentley - 6 - Battled but didn't do a lot else. Pretty good in the air. Can't help thinking I'm being too harsh on him

Bramble - 5 - And I'm being generous. Woeful, poor passing, no pace, poor execution

Gray - 7 - Battled as he is being renowned for doing, and actually tried to take the game to Mansfield at times

Eastwood - 5 - He really needs to learn to pass the ball, and when he is going to, do so earlier. Tended to get the ball and run 15 yards towards our own goal in order for him to retain possession when a pass would have been better

Dudders - 7 - Looked lively. Him and Gray up front next time please.

Guy who came on the pitch - 7 - Showed some passion but poor execution of an attack on the Lino.

 

[sismith]

Bart 8
Wilson 7.5
Barrett 8 MOTM
Edwards 6.5
Hunt 7
Petts 6.5
Maher 6
Bentley 6
Bramble 5.5
Eastwood 4.5
Gray 6

Dudfield 7

Other comments:

They looked a lot fresher (cos they didnt play sunday) and that showed esp. in the last 20
We ironically looked tired and Tilly should have made some subs half way through the second half latest.
We missed Gower

 

[sufcintheprem]

Perhaps you should note:

Maher - Always the player pressing the opposition midfielders when they had the ball. Bossed teh midfield and forced Mansfield in to playing long balls all night long. Hardly missed a pass or tackle all night.

Cheese - looked like a professional footballer at last. No running away and dealt well when Mansfield aimed their attacks to his side at the start of teh second half.

Bentley - probably the worst game by him in a Blues shirt that I've seen. Not sure what was missing but he needed to settle more.

Asamoah - far too quick for his own good and a play-acting little .... Needed to be better marked and Mansfield wouldn't have offered anything all game.

Bramble - what do you expect when you put a right-footed striker on left wing? Petts looked just as adept left wing as right. Still, Tes managed to make our best chance of the first half and left everyone in the box wondering how the ball hadn't gone in.

Disallowed goal - couldn't see it but, as I'm a Southend fan who was sat in a Southend stand, it was definitely a fair goal

 

[Barmy Army]

Quote[/b] (sufcintheprem @ Dec. 28 2004,17:42)]Perhaps you should note:

Maher - Always the player pressing the opposition midfielders when they had the ball. Bossed teh midfield and forced Mansfield in to playing long balls all night long. Hardly missed a pass or tackle all night.

I can make 100% accuracy if all I have to do is pass the ball backwards everytime.

Cheese - looked like a professional footballer at last. No running away and dealt well when Mansfield aimed their attacks to his side at the start of teh second half.

Bentley - probably the worst game by him in a Blues shirt that I've seen. Not sure what was missing but he needed to settle more.

Asamoah - far too quick for his own good and a play-acting little .... Needed to be better marked and Mansfield wouldn't have offered anything all game.

Bramble - what do you expect when you put a right-footed striker on left wing? Petts looked just as adept left wing as right. Still, Tes managed to make our best chance of the first half and left everyone in the box wondering how the ball hadn't gone in.

A bit better than what he gave is what I expect. One creation of a chance doesn't equal a good game in my book

Disallowed goal - couldn't see it but, as I'm a Southend fan who was sat in a Southend stand, it was definitely a fair goal

Bentley or Dudders whoever was laying on the floor, was offside and headed the ball back. As soon as it went in I knew it was disallowed.

3 points dropped for me.

 

[sufcintheprem]

Quote[/b] (Barmy Army @ Dec. 28 2004,17:47)]

Quote[/b] (sufcintheprem @ Dec. 28 2004,17:42)]Perhaps you should note:

Maher - Always the player pressing the opposition midfielders when they had the ball. Bossed teh midfield and forced Mansfield in to playing long balls all night long. Hardly missed a pass or tackle all night.

I can make 100% accuracy if all I have to do is pass the ball backwards everytime.

what game were you watching? Still, can't be bothered to fight the good fight in the Maher debate.

Cheese - looked like a professional footballer at last. No running away and dealt well when Mansfield aimed their attacks to his side at the start of teh second half.

Bentley - probably the worst game by him in a Blues shirt that I've seen. Not sure what was missing but he needed to settle more.

Asamoah - far too quick for his own good and a play-acting little .... Needed to be better marked and Mansfield wouldn't have offered anything all game.

Bramble - what do you expect when you put a right-footed striker on left wing? Petts looked just as adept left wing as right. Still, Tes managed to make our best chance of the first half and left everyone in the box wondering how the ball hadn't gone in.

A bit better than what he gave is what I expect. One creation of a chance doesn't equal a good game in my book

Where did I say he played well? All I said was that he was asked to play out of position against a guy who played for Chelsea last year. Seems very harsh. Imagine playing Barrett Right wing. Wouldn't work. Clearly playing Bramble left wing doesnt either.

Disallowed goal - couldn't see it but, as I'm a Southend fan who was sat in a Southend stand, it was definitely a fair goal

Bentley or Dudders whoever was laying on the floor, was offside and headed the ball back. As soon as it went in I knew it was disallowed.

was a joke. I had an appalling view![i/]

3 points dropped for me.

maybe 3 points dropped. Give Mansfield some credit. They came out, worked really hard closing down and always made sure they gave Eastwood a sea of white and orange to beat in front of him.

As it was, Gray still made chances and I think we were worth at least a point.

Take heart from the fact that BBC called it a shock as opposed to another time Mansfield came to town and a certain Iyseden Christie ripped us to shreds.

Still fourth too. Chin up.

 

[Barmy Army]

I can agree with all of your comments other than the Barrett on Right wing bit, they're totally different players. It's easier for a striker to play in the midfield than a defender, it's the mentality.

Mansfield frustrated us and hit us on the counter attack, but I still wish we would have gotten at least a draw, in a game that we thought we would breeze through.

But like you say, still 4th

 

[east stand drummer boy]

Bart 8, kept us in the game
Wilson 5.5, poor today i think!
Barrett 8 MOTM, as always solid.
Edwards 7, solid at the back not the same though missing spinner alot
Hunt 7, good solid game as ever!
Petts 6.5, tried his hardest.
Maher 4, should have come off i think when he was heavily limping didnt do f**k all if u ask me!
Bentley 6, tried all the way through very unlucky with header!
Bramble 5.5.Tried hard but sorry to slow to play at this level
Eastwood 4, will this boy pass the bloody ball rather than take it round two and f**k the last one up.
Gray 7, treid his hardest all the way through things just didnt happen today.

Dudfeild, tried and tried and still nothing works!


Additional, today untill the last 15 minutes we seemed to have no push or attacking sense it seemed to me that the extra day had helped mansfeild alot!

 

[Richard Hearn]

If Eastwood isn't scoring goals he contributes nothing. By half time it was clear he wasn't going to. Dudfield was the only forward who seemed to cause a very solid Mansfield defence any problems in the box. Surely he MUST start on Saturday? And why not replace Bramble on the right with Nicolau? And we didn't lose because of a disputed off side we lost because we played into Manfields hands for 80 minutes.

 

[Wickford Blue]

I think that Fredy has been reading his own press too much. If you could rate him on effort i.e. chasing down etc he would score zero.. If the ball was played to him no problem but a yard either side, forget it. Really needs to be consistent in this part of his game as he has done it before.
Really disappointed with today, could moan about disallowed goal but Mansfield got what they deserved, worked their socks off (ala Tilson), closed down, forwards chased, harried etc (take note Fredy) and generally made life difficult for us. Even so we were the better footballing side but still need to put in the hard graft.
My Birthday today and for the third year running we have lost on the 28th....if there is a match next year I am not coming....still at least Rawle did not score

 

[Guest]

Quote[/b] (seenyeva kryevyetka @ Dec. 28 2004,18:34)]If Eastwood isn't scoring goals he contributes nothing. By half time it was clear he wasn't going to. Dudfield was the only forward who seemed to cause a very solid Mansfield defence any problems in the box. Surely he MUST start on Saturday? And why not replace Bramble on the right with Nicolau? And we didn't lose because of a disputed off side we lost because we played into Manfields hands for 80 minutes.

Fair comments. We showed a disgraceful lack of passion and inventiveness chiefly through the donkeys that are C(sh*t) Wilson, Tes Amble and Carl "what does he actually do?" Pettefer. Was gutted that we couldn't manage a shot on target today and if some of you think that is a promotion side then you are clearly deluding yourselves. Some of our players are not even good enough for this division, let alone the one above....

 

[Alex]

Quote[/b] (east stand drummer boy @ Dec. 28 2004,18:25)]Bart 8, kept us in the game
Wilson 5.5, poor today i think!
Barrett 8 MOTM, as always solid.
Edwards 7, solid at the back not the same though missing spinner alot
Hunt 7, good solid game as ever!
Petts 6.5, tried his hardest.
Maher 4, should have come off i think when he was heavily limping didnt do f**k all if u ask me!
Bentley 6, tried all the way through very unlucky with header!
Bramble 5.5.Tried hard but sorry to slow to play at this level
Eastwood 4, will this boy pass the bloody ball rather than take it round two and f**k the last one up.
Gray 7, treid his hardest all the way through things just didnt happen today.

Dudfeild, tried and tried and still nothing works!


Additional, today untill the last 15 minutes we seemed to have no push or attacking sense it seemed to me that the extra day had helped mansfeild alot!

wilson poor? he was superb, one of his best games and a close contender for man of the match

 

[Guest]

oh well chins up guys, scunny drew, thats a good thing. Lets just see how the rusden game goes. we need a win, desperatly if we are gona keep up with the top3!

 

[Upminster Blue]

Quote[/b] (Guest @ Dec. 28 2004,18:40)]

Quote[/b] (seenyeva kryevyetka @ Dec. 28 2004,18:34)]If Eastwood isn't scoring goals he contributes nothing. By half time it was clear he wasn't going to. Dudfield was the only forward who seemed to cause a very solid Mansfield defence any problems in the box. Surely he MUST start on Saturday? And why not replace Bramble on the right with Nicolau? And we didn't lose because of a disputed off side we lost because we played into Manfields hands for 80 minutes.

Fair comments. We showed a disgraceful lack of passion and inventiveness chiefly through the donkeys that are C(sh*t) Wilson, Tes Amble and Carl "what does he actually do?" Pettefer. Was gutted that we couldn't manage a shot on target today and if some of you think that is a promotion side then you are clearly deluding yourselves. Some of our players are not even good enough for this division, let alone the one above....

You clearly weren't at Wycombe. Two games in two days caught up with us, especially against a fresh and hardworking Mansfield team. Mansfield's day off on Sunday made all the difference.

The game could have gone either way and we were worth a point. Dodgy disallowed goal and two strong penalty appeals turned down. That's the way it goes sometimes in a tight league. At least we stuck in there and kept going - you can't ask for much more. The key thing is to bounce back against Rushden & Diamonds.

Even putting aside the disallowed goal the ref was poor, allowing Mansfield to get away with some fairly physical play which stiffled our flare players. The reaction of the normally fairly ref friendly crowd at the end said it all - especially the guy who got onto the pitch after Dudfield's disallowed goal and tried to lump the linesman!

As for Pettefer, some people really do not get it. He is not a winger and should not be compared with one. Every successful team needs their share of grafters/hod-carriers and Pettefer is one of ours. He works hard, never hides and is neat and tidy in posession. It would be suicide to play with two out and out wingers in this league (which is why most teams dont!). Shame Gower wasn't fit today, he would have made a difference.

Pettefer was not helped today by Hunt. Hunt's ok defensively but going forward lacks confidence and the ability to pass - lost count of the number of times he played the easier pass for him which put a teammate in trouble.

Thought Wilson was one of our better players today - put in a number of crunching tackes and got forward when possible.

Bramble at least worked hard but nothing much happened for him.

Chins up, we're still 4th with two winnable games coming up. Question is, would you have taken our currenr position this time last season or after five games of this season? If yes (the answer of any reasonable fan!), there's nothing to moan about. We're moving in the right direction and Rome wasn't built in a day - have faith!

 

[Welsh_Shrimperz]

Apart from Mansfield defeat, we has an good December, taking 10 points from 5 games, looking at the team we playing in Dec, I would have taken 10 points if I was offer them.

After the 1st 5 game of the season, to be 4th by end of the year look unlikely but its happen, forget the today game, the Wycombe game with hard pitch & we had to work hard agasint an good Wycombe side & win, but Mansfield had not played on Sunday, we look flat today & tried, 2 game in 48 hours has caught up with us, with Mansfield having 12 days rest, its shown today.

An first Double of the season agasint Rushden on 1st Jan 2005. I hope by December 26th 2005, we be cheering on the team as they thump C********r 5-2 in front of 12'000+

 

[Andy_S]

I think I must have been watching a different game to some people! I can't be bothered to go into the disgraceful disallowed goal or the 3rd poor home performance in a row, so I'll just add my ratings:

Griemink 6.5: Made 2 or 3 saves, but they were saves that you'd expect all keepers to save. Misjudged 2 crosses which luckily he recovered to claim, whilst kicking was yet again shown up to easily be his weak point. The clash with Edwards possibly had a bearing on the goal, as he didn't even attempt to dive.

Hunt 6.5: Defensively not bad, but offers zilch going forward which means Pettefer really should be swapped to the left as we have even less creativeness on the right than normal.

Edwards 7: A couple of misplaced headers but on the whole looked more solid than Prior had been. Made a couple of great last ditch tackles but he was always going to be caused problems by Mansfield's one dimensional 'hoof it down the channel to Asamoah' tactics.

Barrett 7: Solid enough game, along with Edwards, dominated the big lump Barker.

Wilson 7.5: Much better. Linked well with Tes in the first half but didn't offer as much going forward in the second half.

Pettefer 7: Still don't like him on the wing but he had a far better game today. Worked his socks off and was lucky that the steward softened his fall in the first half as he could've been nastily injured.

Maher 7.5: Played really well in the first half but had less influence in the second half as Mansfield recognised his threat. Always chased and harried.

Bentley 7: Got stuck in and launched into a couple of vital challenges. I had a perfect view of his lunge at Murray and if the ref had the same view then Bentley would've been off. Soured his performance somewhat.

Bramble 7: I might be a bit biased when it comes to what Tes does but I can't believe the apparent stick he's getting on here. For a right footed striker playing on the left wing he did a good job. One magnificent cross in the first half which Bentley should've scored from and he added a vital physical presence when the going got tough. Worked really hard and IMHO was wrongfully subbed when it clearly should've been Freddy who was replaced.

Eastwood 5: Not his day, which was possibly a good thing for us as there was a Watford scout in the directors area making notes on him. Some of the usual nice touches but he really needs to go back to his Swansea performance when he got into the box regularly. Mansfield knew about him and were always on hand to close him down when he got the ball from deep.

Gray 6.5: Worked hard and showed incredible strength on a couple of occasions. Needed to take notes on Asamoah on how to use his pace though.

 

[Welsh_Shrimperz]

I hope Watford can bugger off as they got nothing in their pocket - unless they can pay money & exchange 3 good players for him, we may think about it, I rather have clubs with million in their pocket, that how much he worth, Fredy need get back to basic as most of team see him as threat now - he can show skills only if we are winning, but at this level, he get close down easily & have to learn to let the ball go at right time. To be fair he only just started the first 2 & half month with us, will get better with more expriernce.

I reckon fredy is the keys if we make the Play-Off final, I have seen another team get promotion at cardiff after they got player who score in an tight game.

 

[Adrian C]

Quote[/b] (Andy_S @ Dec. 28 2004,19:39)]Bramble 7: I might be a bit biased when it comes to what Tes does but I can't believe the apparent stick he's getting on here. For a right footed striker playing on the left wing he did a good job. One magnificent cross in the first half which Bentley should've scored from and he added a vital physical presence when the going got tough. Worked really hard and IMHO was wrongfully subbed when it clearly should've been Freddy who was replaced.

Hate to be picky but Tes is, as far as I'm concerned, very much left-footed.

...but on a good day will use his right just as well. unfortunately yesterday was not one of them but I also thought he worked hard without achieving much. He constantly had 2 players round him and looked a little lacking in confidence.

Yesterday's game seemed to lack the creative spark from Southend to get it going. Gower was obviously missed but is it good to rely on the creativity of just one player? No one else seemed to have that yesterday, although plenty tried hard enough.

AC

 

[Its Only A Game]

Quote[/b] (east stand drummer boy @ Dec. 28 2004,17:25)]Maher 4, should have come off i think when he was heavily limping didnt do f**k all if u ask me!

I've never been a huge maher fan but 4 is complete b******s. It amazes me just how thick some people can be.
It should be at least a 7.

 

[Guest]

I honestly thought Maher looked composed yesterday and I can't actually remember (although I might be wrong), him making a single major mistake.
As for Tes, it was by no means his best performance, but it was no where near his worst. In the secon half especially, he was always looking for space and was always drawing out defenders with his runs into the corners.

Finally, I thought it was not the worst performance from Bentley as some people have said. OK, his first touch and distribution let him down at times but I don't think anyone else on that pitch could have matched him for determination.

Griemink-6/7
Hunt-6
Barrett-8
Edwards-6
Wilson-7
Bramble-6
Maher-7
Bentley-7
Pettefer-6
Eastwood-6
Gray-6.5

 

[BILLERICAY BLUE]

Quote[/b] (Andy_S @ Dec. 28 2004,19:39)]Bramble 7: I might be a bit biased when it comes to what Tes does but I can't believe the apparent stick he's getting on here. For a right footed striker playing on the left wing he did a good job. One magnificent cross in the first half which Bentley should've scored from and he added a vital physical presence when the going got tough. Worked really hard and IMHO was wrongfully subbed when it clearly should've been Freddy who was replaced.

Hooray, somebody else who saw the same game as me, and didn't just pre-judge without even looking.