Post-Match Thread and Ratings Southend 0-0 Exeter

[RobM]

Vernon is awful. End of for me.

 

[DTS]

Dull game - We tried hard but really are a poor side

Mildy - 7 - Kicking was poor but made a few vital saves

Francis - 9 Never seen him better. Did everything you could ask
Barrett - 6 - Nothing wrong but nothing great
Baldwin - 7 - Marginally better than Barrett
Malone - 2 - Thats being kind - How he plays instead of Herd I dont know

Laurent - 6 - A few nice bits but not enough
Granty - 8 - Considering been injured thought he was superb
Moussa - 6 - Ran a lot but did little else
Scannell -7- Did a lot of hard work and put in a few decent balls

Vernon - 4 - I think he is ****. Feeble and slow
Patterson - 6 - Tried hard and some good link up play

 

[TravellingBlue]

For me Grant was our most effective player today with a good performance. Scannell is wasted on the left wing and Laurent completely ineffective. Once again I see two strikers putting in a shift, but cannot remembera single pass to either one in the whole game! Paterson looks a class act, I am sure if we can supply him he will get us goals. Baldwin was excellent at the back and apart from a couple of scarey episodes in injury time, didn't think Exeter were really a threat.

 

[TravellingBlue]

For me Grant was our most effective player today with a good performance. Scannell is wasted on the left wing (much better on the right) and Laurent completely ineffective. Once again I see two strikers putting in a shift, but cannot remembera single pass to either one in the whole game! Paterson looks a class act, I am sure if we can supply him he will get us goals. Malone's distribution was poor but Baldwin was excellent at the back and apart from a couple of scarey episodes in injury time, didn't think Exeter were really a threat.

 

[ElstreeBlue]

It was like having two sets of players out there.

The positive ones:
Mildy - fantastic performance. Save in the second half was world class. Should have been a goal. Thankfully linesman flagged for offside on the follow-up or it would have been a goal.
Francis - one of his classy games, particularly going forward. Left the right back slot unattended a couple of times, though.
Barrett - excellent, some great defending, except 1 or 2 shaky moments. Amazing what having a decent central defensive partner can do for his own game.
Baldwin - as with Barrett.
Moussa - still very classy even if confidence looks a bit low. Deserves to be playing with better.
Grant - excellent, all-action display, some steady passing. All the more impressive when you consider he wasn't fit.
Scannell - shows quite a few flashes now of what a winger should be doing. Shame none of our other attackers could be bothered to break sweat to get anywhere near his decent crosses.

Negatives:
Malone - seemed to try, but I'm sorry. Really poor a lot of the game. Would much prefer to see our own left back, who I've never seen have a bad game yet.
Laurent - one or two great runs, but doesn't do the teamwork thing. Not good enough. Can't carry passengers. Need committed players (if we had a choice, of course).
Paterson - Won't be too harsh. He's young. But unfortunately never looked like being the killer finisher we need to get us out of this. Needs to work harder when we don't have the ball.
Vernon - go back to Col Ewe. Absolutely no commitment. Chased shadows. Never seemed to jump for headers. Never genuinely closed the opposition down, like say a Revell or Harrold did. Really seemed like he wanted to be anywhere else but playing for us. Who knows why, but we need players in our team who give it their all.

Comments only for the above. But one mark: 10/10 for Blue Voice - terrific. Well done, especially staying so positive with everything else going on. Tried to join in as much as I could too!

Terrible to see the heart being ripped out of our wonderful club. Couldn't help but think today: what have we been left with? How much worse can/will things get from here? What's Ron Martin's plan if/when we go down, crowds go down, etc? One by one, good players, part of our management team has left us. How much lower is this going to end up? Will we even have a club to support at all in 5 weeks' time? 1 year? 2 years? Even if we have a club, which players, in which division, any penalty points? How much longer will even Tilly stick it out? A dreadful, depressing situation. Ron Martin seems to have no answers, even though he is such a great great talker. No doubt some people will be won over when he speaks again on Monday week. Sorry - actions speak louder than clever words, and a lot of people are now really sad about what's been done to our club. There seems to be no clear plan and hasn't been for a while, except "Watch this space. Everything will be all right. Just trust me." Not good enough. Everything's not all right now. The good things we had just get fewer and fewer. There seems no way out of this to "continue our upward spiral on the pitch". No doubt some of our positives described above will not be with us soon.

Feel so much for Tilly and Barrett. Southend men through and through. Awful for us to watch what's happening. Must be awful for them too, and it's showing. The two people left that really seem to care so much about what's happening. Maybe some of the other players too, but these two "Southend men" really stand out for me.

Well done to all those of the fans, players and management who tried so hard today. Keep it going. We should continue to back the team for as long as they keep giving their best in these difficult circumstances.

 

[rlb999]

Haven't seen them for a while, so interesting the see the changes. I thought Malone looked weak, the two up front were pretty dire (I'd have taken James Walker over both of them!), and Laurent didn't seem to want to leave his own half.
There was a bit of creative potential from Scannell and Moussa, but when Francis is your main attacking threat, that shows you've got problems. We could have played until 7 and not scored.

Mildenhall - 7 -
Francis - 7 -
Barrett - 6 -
Baldwin - 6 -
Malone - 4 -
Laurent - 6 -
Grant - 7 -
Moussa - 7 -
Scannell -7-
Vernon - 5 -
Patterson - 5 -

 

[bigmolt]

At times it looked like we were crying out for a Rio Alderton figure to lead us to the promised land. :'(

nice one. . . . . .

 

[wiggy]

Dull game - We tried hard but really are a poor side

Mildy - 7 - Kicking was poor but made a few vital saves

Francis - 9 Never seen him better. Did everything you could ask
Barrett - 6 - Nothing wrong but nothing great
Baldwin - 7 - Marginally better than Barrett
Malone - 2 - Thats being kind - How he plays instead of Herd I dont know

Laurent - 6 - A few nice bits but not enough
Granty - 8 - Considering been injured thought he was superb
Moussa - 6 - Ran a lot but did little else
Scannell -7- Did a lot of hard work and put in a few decent balls

Vernon - 4 - I think he is ****. Feeble and slow
Patterson - 6 - Tried hard and some good link up play

Can't really be bothered but for what it's worth


Mildy 8 under Lee Turners guidance is a reliable decent keeper that deserves better
Francis 9 too good for us and deserves a decent club
Scannell 8 come on a bundle at the wrong time to gell into a decent team
Barrett 7 probably his level, only one that treats it as a cup match every week
Rest, 5 very average, no better than League 2
Ron Martin -10 you should be ashamed how you have let the playing side go to pot!

 

[RobM]

Mildy8

Flaps at crosses and kicks like a girl

 

[devonexile]

Mildenhall - good quality Lg 1 keeper - made one great save - just annoys me for no good reason...

Malone - enthuisiastic young footballer learning the game -

Baldwin - adequate Lge 1 defender -got a very limited game

Barrett - adequate Lg 1 defender who can play with excellent intensity to raise the game

Francis - clearly a player capable of playing at a highr level than this

Scannell - has ability but his game has barely any worth off the ball - he is like a youth player getting his first few games ... will do well for a small league 2 club -

Granty - put his career on the line for the club - risking further injury when playing unfit

Moussa - a highly talented 20 year old who should be playing with quality players and developing his attcking game. didn't shirk a challenge or miss a header - had an no platform to hurt the opposition - sometims hes better out wide - unrested all season -

#Laurent - needs the ball early in space - suddenly seems to be trying to learn to play a defensive game - which hes terrible at ... yet hes generally a threat but not today -
Vernon - game front man who doesn't carry any threat -

Paterson - 19 year who might make the grade as a good Billy Paynter by the time hes in his early 20s - no threat -

Spencer - ditto Paterson -

Tilson - stood alone on the touchline - I think his confidence is slipping as Ron chips away at everything he has acheived -

SUPPORT - fantastic - didn't let the frustration slip out - let Tilson know we're behind him.

Bench - ?

Exeter - 30 odd professionals - supporters on the board - should have won -

Revell, Walker, Betsy - a centre half - all would have helped -

David Webb - why not head up a consortium ?

Protest - good work - love the "wheres the money" the perfect chant for our times -
why should RM screw it up and not take some heat ?

what next the great escape ? need a goal scorer .... JFC Macca Grant Moussa - someone better learn where the net is ..... freekicks and corners need a fox in the box -
Spencer can finish ....

desperate times -

Scannel should do well with us then next season.

 

[bilbyboy]

Brush was sacked. Did we see a different set up today? NO
Did we see a change in tactics today? NO
Did we see anything different today? NO. Oh sorry, we did, we saw Tilly without Brush, so what was the point of sacking the man?
The team today were as poor as many of us expected them to be. One big plus, i saw Johnny Herd warm up 3 times.
We just about deserved a point, i am surprised we came away with that.

 

[Clinton Baptiste]

Sad that not just the good players we've lost have been replaced by mediocre ones but even the mediocre players we had have been replaced with worse. Revell no worse than Vernon or Paterson, Betsy no worse than Laurent, could go on.
We really do have a pitifully poor squad, and if we go down I can see us struggling to get out until someone comes in with some serious investment. Hell I could even see us become another Luton or dare I say it Chester.

 

[Smudger]

Brush was sacked. Did we see a different set up today? NO
Did we see a change in tactics today? NO
Did we see anything different today? NO. Oh sorry, we did, we saw Tilly without Brush, so what was the point of sacking the man?
The team today were as poor as many of us expected them to be. One big plus, i saw Johnny Herd warm up 3 times.
We just about deserved a point, i am surprised we came away with that.

Spot on. I really thought that Dave Webb would have totally reorganised the whole club by now.

 

[DTS]

Can't really be bothered but for what it's worth


Mildy 8 under Lee Turners guidance is a reliable decent keeper that deserves better
Francis 9 too good for us and deserves a decent club
Scannell 8 come on a bundle at the wrong time to gell into a decent team
Barrett 7 probably his level, only one that treats it as a cup match every week
Rest, 5 very average, no better than League 2
Ron Martin -10 you should be ashamed how you have let the playing side go to pot!

Wiggy,

are you giving Granty 5 or have you forgotten him?

 

[Boreham Shrimper]

We just need to find the back of the net, but Lee Barnard scored 17 goals for us and if you take that away, it's a big ask for the strikers here.
The likes of Leeds and Norwich have got a lot of firepower. We only have Scott Vernon, Matt Paterson and Scott Spencer; that is what we have got and that is what we have to work with.
We have to keep encouraging them now.

I think that says it all really. He sounds quite downbeat about things and resigned to the fact that we have a very substandard strikeforce in terms of trying to get us out of this mess. I haven't seen much of us this season but I think it's clear for all to see that Barney was the difference for us in the first half of the season and, now that he is gone, it is very difficult to see where the goals are going to come from. Obviously the midfield has to take its share of the blame in terms of not having had anyone chip in with a useful number of goals this season but frankly having a topscorer on 3 goals just isn't good enough.

I really feel for Tilly at the moment. I can't remember even having heard him so depressed. He's right though. Nothing can be done and it doesn't look as though we're going to be able to sign any more loanees given our financial situation. The only thing for it is to get right behind the boys and to hope and pray that they find a way to dig us out of the mire.

 

[wiggy]

Wiggy,

are you giving Granty 5 or have you forgotten him?

Forgot him, 8 as it happens, another bloke like Barrett gives his all for the cause but didn't think the loanees put in much more than 60% maybe Baldwin more, don't get me started on that young so called Southend United prospect Moussa.......!

 

[ms brush]

Brush was sacked. Did we see a different set up today? NO
Did we see a change in tactics today? NO
Did we see anything different today? NO. Oh sorry, we did, we saw Tilly without Brush, so what was the point of sacking the man?
The team today were as poor as many of us expected them to be. One big plus, i saw Johnny Herd warm up 3 times.
We just about deserved a point, i am surprised we came away with that.

Totally agree!

Brushy being sacked was a totally futile exercise, as today's performance showed. The effect was that the Players and Tilly looked even more at sea than they have been recently, and losing Brush as well as Doogie within a week has meant that we have lost a lot of experience overnight.
I didnt see Webby anywhere (may just be that I missed him) and I cant see how anything he could do between now and the end of the season! We are completely broke, we dont have enough players and we cant bring anyone in either. How can Webby possibly do anything different to what Brushy would be able to do in these circumstances??

I cant help thinking that Brushy pointed a few facts out, and got sacked for his trouble - conveniently in the same week as the negative publicity over the winding up order, where HMRC pointed out that we are insolvent (and I believe we are, sadly!). Its far easier to blame the management team and the players than look at the root cause - which is the 'vision' and costs for Fossetts Farm has overridden the small matter that you need a club and a team to play at the new ground... I think that the supporters are the only reason why Tilly hasnt walked (yet!)

Today was awful - despite some decent individual performances from several players, particularly Anthony Grant, but yet again we were threadbare and unsurprisingly lacking as much confidence as we are bodies. If we are still here after the next court hearing, its League 2 for us!

 

[Richard_Cadette]

What worried me most today was not the result - it's the fact that we were, yet again, desperatrly hanging on a for a point at home to a woefully poor Exeter side who are above us purely on goal difference - in the same way we were against Wycombe. Now, OK, we had a run of 3 games against Franchise, Norwich and Charlton, where we ought to have got at least 4 points out of those with our performances, but we have simply not taken that forward, and have played two teams in the last week in the same position as us, and failed to trouble the scorer.

Positives today - well, not too many to be honest. Grant looked hungry on his return, and added plenty of bite in the centre of the park. Moussa did OK, but again, what dissapointed me was this was a good chance of Mouusa to move into a central role, which he desperatly wants, and stamp his authority on the game, and he didn't do that. OK, I know the options ahead of him were not great, but he didn't to enough offensively for my money.

Negatives - Malone.... How is he still in the team?!?!?!?.... Excellent idea to remove M'Voto and play a left back instead of a make shift one... but pick the right one, in Herd.... What exactly does Malone offer compared to Herd? He is weak defensively, is almost a non entity going forward, and his passing is almost as off the radar as Macca's!!

Vernon and Patterson, for me, won't succeed as a partnership. Individually, they can serve a purpose - both hold the ball up well, both are quite physical, and both could be excellent foils for a goal scorer, but together, they lack any real spark - they are too similar. Now for me, Patterson and Specner ought to be given a 3-4 game partnership to see if they can produce. Patterson looks the better out of the two, and if you align him with Spencer for more than just 10 minutes, you may be surprised at the results - I think there is mileage in them two playing together.

Overall, hugely dissapointing though - we are fast running out of games with only 11 left, and with two of them being away at Saints and Leeds, we can basically call it 9 games to save our season - 18 points from 9 games? Not for me i'm afraid, just can't see it. Today's evidence would suggest both teams will meet again next season, but in the 4th tier of English football, and that's sobering thought.

MOTM - I guess Grant, and again for effort, Francis. Just a quick word for Mildy's save in the second half - absolutely sensational stop, one of the best i've seen, and on a par with his save in the dying seconds at Chelsea last season.

 

[Andyhsufc]

All I can say is that if we stay up, it will be a miracle!! We have got a side bereft of confidence, quality and leadership.


Mildy - 7
Francis - 7.5
Barrett - 6.5
Baldwin - 6.5
Malone - 6
Laurent - 5
Moussa - 7
Grant - 7
Scannell - 7
Patterson - 6.5
Vernon - 6

 

[Andyhsufc]

Brush was sacked. Did we see a different set up today?
Did we see a change in tactics today? NO
Did we see anything different today? NO. Oh sorry, we did, we saw Tilly without Brush, so what was the point of sacking the man?
The team today were as poor as many of us expected them to be. One big plus, i saw Johnny Herd warm up 3 times.
We just about deserved a point, i am surprised we came away with that.

We played a straight 4-4-2 and Mvoto was dropped. There are two changes for you! It is not as if we have got a 30 player squad and can change the entire tram at a drop of a hat!