Post-Match Thread and Ratings Southend 1 Crawley 1

[wiggy]

Lots of overreaction on here as expected. Firstly I’ll point out it was a terrible second half, one of the worst for a while, and I’ve come away very angry. Chris Powell’s tactical decisions in the second half were wrong, and the players messed up so many chances first half it looked like they thought it was a training game.

But, seen comments on here about how we haven’t improved since under Brown, or Chris Powell is a terrible manager and this and that, but 10 wins out of 18 last season, after 8 consecutive defeat under Brown doesn’t scream a manager who has no clue. A few tactical mess ups here and there happens to all managers, and today it cost us. But to say he’s got no capability to manage at all, just isn’t correct.

On a side note, thought Hendrie was excellent today, won almost all of his tackles and can whip in a mean cross, much unlike Coker, who I like, but often chooses to step inside followed but stepovers galore. Think if he had a striker on the 6 yard line every time they’d benefit from Hendrie’s crossing ability

...agree with the the last bit about Hendrie....brilliant crosser of the ball and much prefer him to Cokers 3 step overs then nothing....just need a bloke like they had yesterday to get on the end of them!

 

[Evening Echo]

SOUTHEND United goalkeeper Ted Smith was forced to miss Saturday's 1-1 draw with Crawley Town after suffering a slight knock in training.

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[HypoTypo]

SOUTHEND United goalkeeper Ted Smith was forced to miss Saturday's 1-1 draw with Crawley Town after suffering a slight knock in training.

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Unlikely to be included Weds then ?

 

[SHRIMPERPETER]

Unlikely to be included Weds then ?

Probably,be Bishop start and Bexon on the bench I reckon

 

[mfurok]

AS SCP when posed this question in his post match interview "you have to give credit to Crawley."

Remember the words of Mandy Rice Davies.

 

[bazzashrimper]

Hope Theos shot didn't hit any of you.

That one sailed way over our heads

 

[davewebbsbrain]

...agree with the the last bit about Hendrie....brilliant crosser of the ball and much prefer him to Cokers 3 step overs then nothing....just need a bloke like they had yesterday to get on the end of them!

Have to agree with you. Likes to play the early ball and is rather good at playing the ball into a channel for whoever is there. Definitely a decent player in there who we wil hopefully see if he’s given a decent run at LB

 

[Austin the Shrimper]

Let’s not forget Chris Powell kept us in league one last season, Phil Brown has been sacked from league 2 Swindon Town. I think we have made progress

 

[rayleigh dan]

Let’s not forget Chris Powell kept us in league one last season, Phil Brown has been sacked from league 2 Swindon Town. I think we have made progress

I thought PB would have done better at Swindon, after all in League 2 with us he finished in the top 6 twice and ultimately got us promoted.

I never warmed to him as a character (a bit too Bertie big bollox for me), but if I had to rate the Southend managers over my 30 years of support, he'd be easily in the top half.

 

[Boreham Blue]

Can’t help thinking we need to try and secure a free agent who can do the holding role up front at least to get us to the January window. We missed Hopper so much and even if it’s someone short on fitness and we sign them for a couple of months they could do a useful role when we need a change of tactic like Saturday. Darren Bent type even if we can’t get him?

 

[buffalowolf]

With the strikers we have available definitely not 1 up front ,still believe either 3-5-2 or 5-3-2 is the way to go .

 

[Benfleet Blue]

That's not Powell's fault tho. The tactic was correct, the application wasn't

Firstly I think it was proved under PB that it was an absolutely incorrect tactic. You have to have a great defense to be able to do it and with the pace of White and Turner it is ridiculous. CP is the manager. The Manager instructs the players, and to sit back and invite pressure just doesn't work for us. The result proves that. Additionally, with the players on the park, when they equalised we simply had no answer and no possibility of winning. We virtually camped in our own half for the majority of the 2nd half and it was an absolute shambles.

 

[Blues4LifeDan]

We're still in the hat, plenty of other League One sides aren't!

 

[AndyT]

Three to be precise, Dan.

I know, I was surprised, as well that there are 21 sides still in the draw, the maximum there could have been.

 

[Tangled up in Blue]

Remember the words of Mandy Rice Davies.

I do indeed.Though I'm willing to give SCP the benefit of the doubt not having seen the usual iFollow pictures and making do with about 20 seconds of the Beeb's "highlights" yesterday. Still Kightly scored a good goal. I know you think SCP is a defensively minded manager but IMO it's more down to circumstances than anything else.Let's wait and see what happens in January.

 

[united we stand]

People moaning about Powell's tactics when taking Theo off and bringing Dru on?

Spot on tactic for me. Theo doing nothing and we are being over run in midfield. Sacrifice a striker to bolster the midfield.

Dru did nothing when he came on, we lost all resemblance of shape and the players looked even more clueless.we looked even more crap and we were crap before. To add insult to injury after 20 minutes I was going to add to the match thread that it’s a shame so few came because we were playing so well !

...agree with the the last bit about Hendrie....brilliant crosser of the ball and much prefer him to Cokers 3 step overs then nothing....just need a bloke like they had yesterday to get on the end of them!

agree with that, I thought he had a great game and I think hopper would thrive on thoses crosses

 

[blue pilot]

Too many 7's and 8's being dished out by some posters, yet criticising a poor performance. most were a 4/5/6 I thought....

Oxley: 6, still keeps us in games more often than not.
Demi: 5, Thought he had an off day and surprisingly done for pace by their left winger.
Hendrie: 5. A 6 in the first half, 4 in the second, distribution got worse as the game went on. We miss Coker, surprised a few on here don't see that.
Turner: 4. Off the pace and shocking distribution, just punts it forward. A season too far maybe?
White: 4, should of swapped with turner to mark their 9, reminded me of a late career, Barrett, far too much holding/grappling and seemed to get caught out of position. On borrowed time?
Dieng; 5. largely anonymous I thought. If you're the midfield ball winner then get involved, if you.re the creative one then be creative.
Mantom: 7, one of our better players, at least put a shift in, tried to disrupt in midfield and find a blue shirt.
Kightly: 6, took his goal well but faded badly after the break. Doesn't try to bet his man enough. Sorry but as the highest paid player in the squad I expect a bit more. Another on borrowed time?
Mcglaughlin: 4, a shadow of the player who first came here. Poor distribution, doesn't beat the defender enough, 'bottled' a few 50-50 challenges on Sat. Might be time to move on?
Cox: 7, never stops working but often tries to come short which leaves a big space to push up into that other midfielders or wide men dont fill. Clearly not the right player to be up top on his own, why we persisted in hopeful long balls up to him is a mystery.
Robinson: 3, seen enough, poor touch, poor decision making, time to go.

Subs:
Bunn: 5, best wide player we have but struggled with the 4-5-1 we went to when he came on, needs to be looking for more than 1 player ahead of him.
Dru: 5, thought he was the wrong change on sat, just clogged up the midfield with 3 in the centre. Sure he's one of the best passers we have but every time he got the ball and looked up there was no one ahead as Cox had often come short or had 2 of theirs round him, works far better in a 4-4-2 or 3-5-2.

Powell: His team, his tactics, poor selection and trying to cling on at 1-0 with 20mins to go was always asking for trouble. Team needs a big overhaul, half a dozen ins/outs after Christmas.

 

[Evening Echo]

SOUTHEND United headed into Saturday’s FA Cup clash with Crawley Town having previously suffered four first round exits in succession.

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