Simon Francis - much improved

[Hazey]

Was this really THE Simon Francis today. Much, much, much improved on previous displays, kept his concentration and for me a contender for MOM.
Keep it up :D

 

[Cricko2]

Was this really THE Simon Francis today. Much, much, much improved on previous displays, kept his concentration and for me a contender for MOM.
Keep it up :D

Was alot better Hazey .....First 20 mins a little shakey, but settled down very well....Good game overall and much improved as you say.:)

 

[Jam_Man]

First 20 minutes wasnt just shakey it was truly abysmal and on no account should he have been man of the match.

He did however grow throughout the game and the performance from then on was good.

However as a defender you need consistent performance for 90 minutes....

 

[leeblue]

Didnt think he played very well at all, gave the ball away a lot hardly stopped any crosses coming in, slight correction he did put a couple of good balls into the box.

 

[Hazey]

Amazing how opinions differ. I thought he was very good in possesion and didn't give it away too much......

Off topic but, Sodje is looking shakey lately

 

[Ricey]

Fantastic game for Francis! Not the greatest of starts but with some blistering runs, great balls and good tackling he put on a 70 minute MOM performence.

 

[Jam_Man]

Amazing how opinions differ. I thought he was very good in possesion and didn't give it away too much......

Off topic but, Sodje is looking shakey lately

Depends on where you sit, I sit in SE East stand so he is right in front of me first half so I notice him more obviously.

His passing etc were woeful to start with and their left winger had so much space, especially for the goal, it was a joke. He was getting run ragged and I thought we could end up conceding 2 or 3 more from that wing.

However to be fair he then put in a couple of decent challenges and interceptions and he did play much better when he could have quit.

Fantastic game for Francis! Not the greatest of starts but with some blistering runs, great balls and good tackling he put on a 70 minute MOM performence.

Matches last 90 minutes though, you cant play well for 70 minutes and be in contention :)

JCR was far better than him first half, although quieter in 2nd. Clarke did well, apart from the customary "Calamity Clarke" rick when he let their striker clean through.

Thought Maher was probably our best player today, so many crunching tackles cant believe he wasnt booked.

 

[smudgster]

Talking to Hammell after the game he reckons he will be back for Ipswich.

 

[Hazey]

Good news, Hunty did well today though. Maher was class today, his passing ability is brilliant

 

[essexblue]

he got lucky second half, got caught cold and had hold of the shirt/man and could of conceeded a penalty, played some good balls into dangerous postions so not all bad..... but can do better !!

 

[RobM.]

Eh? He gave their 27 acres of space for the first goal and as ever gives the ball away to cheaply.

 

[Super Shrimper]

thought that francis was pretty bad today throughout spent more time in the left midfield position then right back and was at fault for the first goal and was at fault for the geoff horsfield chance which he should have finished. backing off and letting the cross get in provided them with great chances and he offered them too many.
defending wise he was terrible
attacking wise not too bad

 

[Cricko2]

so not all bad..... but can do better !!

Are you a school Teacher?;)

 

[shrimpled]

Wasn't at fault for the first goal IMO. Right infront of me in the south upper he had to go to their player as sodje was nowhere, he got back into a decent position and was unlucky not to deflect the cross, had a good game i thought.

 

[Sandbach Shrimper]

Was this really THE Simon Francis today. Much, much, much improved on previous displays, kept his concentration and for me a contender for MOM.
Keep it up :D

Strange, I thought he was awful in the 1st half. He was constantly beaten by their left winger and caught out of position. 2nd half didn't really have much to do thankfully. I like Francis but today he was poor.

 

[Southendsleeper]

Strange, I thought he was awful in the 1st half. He was constantly beaten by their left winger and caught out of position. 2nd half didn't really have much to do thankfully. I like Francis but today he was poor.

Have to agree

Muscled off of the ball too many times

A curious choice for man of the match

 

[Chaz SUFC]

There were moments when he was muscled off the ball but that happens to almost all players in football.

Apart from that, i felt he played very well. Not a contender for MOM but still a nice performance from a player who hasnt been seeing much action for the blues this season.

 

[SouthendersTrueFaith]

Strange, I thought he was awful in the 1st half. He was constantly beaten by their left winger and caught out of position. 2nd half didn't really have much to do thankfully. I like Francis but today he was poor.

I also like Francis but agree with everything you said..

Not sure how people can say the first goal wasn't partly his fault.Yes the marking in the middle was shocking but Francis was given the run around before the cross was sent over.

 

[Beefy]

I'm usually a big fan of Francis but I really started to see today what other people on here have been saying about him all season. His defending was abysmal. Their first goal came from him completely failing to close down his man and, sadly, that was far from being his last mistake. The frustrating thing about him is that he's clearly got a huge amount of talent. A number of times today he'd dig out last-ditch blocks and interceptions that you'd be expecting the forward to win but then he'd throw it away by making a schoolboy error on a far more basic position.

Going forward he's class, and he may well be the best crosser of the ball that we have, but defensively there are huge question marks still.

 

[Jam_Man]

On a poisitve note he does at least have those redeeming qualities.

Some of the interceptions and challenges he did make were superb, and his control on the ball can be excellent.

Hopefully with experience and time his defensive abilities will improve as he has the technical abilitity but possibly not the experience and understanding of where to be at any one point.

As Ive said above first 20 minutes he was all over the shop but I thought after that he did get into the game and played fairly well.