Post-Match Thread and Ratings Southend United 0-0 Crawley Town

[Barling Magna]

If it's the moment I'm thinking of I thought Acquah did well to hold off his man and let the ball run through to another player, rather than avoiding it.

Agreed. Acquah did well there.

 

[Barling Magna]

I’m not having a go at Acquah I think he’s been unlucky with some of his chances. But I’m also not avin that. Praising a player for letting the ball run in the box from a long ball.

I get it though defending a player at all costs because you think everyone is judging them unfairly.

I’d probably play Acquah from the start. I just want to see a bit more aggression!

Maybe we're talking about different incidents? The one I recall Acquah definitely held the ball up and eased it on, but I thought it was to Olayinka rather than Goodship....

 

[Onion_Bag_Dave]

Maybe we're talking about different incidents? The one I recall Acquah definitely held the ball up and eased it on, but I thought it was to Olayinka rather than Goodship....

Potentially a different moment .
Goodship fell over to try to win a penalty and they cleared it easily. I don’t want to double down on one moment. But it stood out for me. Two guys who would consider themselves strikers / goal scorers. Just melted in the box it was 2 v 3 in the box.

Summed it up a bit. Lack of desire / aggression.

I think we can change it though.

 

[Barling Magna]

Potentially a different moment .
Goodship fell over to try to win a penalty and they cleared it easily. I don’t want to double down on one moment. But it stood out for me. Two guys who would consider themselves strikers / goal scorers. Just melted in the box it was 2 v 3 in the box.

Summed it up a bit. Lack of desire / aggression.

I think we can change it though.

Fair enough, that was definitely a different moment. I remember being annoyed at Goodship for that. The moment I'm referring to was closer to the end. Strangely though the best example of ineptness or lack of confidence in the penalty area was provided by Crawley when Nadesan bizarrely opted to pass square to another player when eight yards out and he should have buried it in the back of the net.

 

[yogi bear up the cagire]

Local guy, lives in Rayleigh ( i think? ), but National league very different from EFL. IF the inevitable happens, imo we need someone who's experienced that division & has contacts at that level?

Always easy in retrospect but it's something that should have been put up in VERY large lights about nine months ago! Nevertheless, you are right, it's as important now as it sadly was then.

 

[rigsby]

I doubt that team today was much of Brown’s choosing as he rightly will have listened to RD and Fagan, perhaps more the intent was the best he could express to them. Fully expect a couple more changes to creep in for the next game and I wouldn’t be surprised if Acquah comes back in. Halford makes Emile look lightning quick and our service into the area wasn’t good enough for Halford to get his head on to, so many balls put in just not clearing the first man.

I personally didn’t see a great deal more threat in attack today but did think we rode our luck more at the back. Let’s see if he can get the balance right with another week of training.

Still looking for a saviour in front of goal, it might be Oxley going up for corners soon!

That was the most frustrating part of the day. We started lively and had some good balls in from the right RHF with his pathetic eyes closed header and their lad saving them with a scoop over the bar at near post.

From then on they were to flat to give Halford a chance. Put a bit of air on it and let him attack it. Even he he doesn't win it its far more difficult to defend than a flat nonsense of a cross.

 

[Chris Powell's mate]

I doubt if he can play the piano either in that case.

I guess not, unless he can do without the pedals!

 

[Chris Powell's mate]

Virtually any striker with legs that move would have profited from Crawley's defensive howler in the first-half. I don't blame Halford...............just the person who has led to him being thought of as the most viable option up front.

...which leads me to another request from, any Zoner who knows what's happened to Akinola?
Injured? Dropped? Sulking?
I might have missed it, but can't see any news on him.

 

[Exiled Shrimper]

...which leads me to another request from, any Zoner who knows what's happened to Akinola?
Injured? Dropped? Sulking?
I might have missed it, but can't see any news on him.

Mark Molesley mentioned Akinola in his final interview as manager: https://www.southendunited.co.uk/news/2021/april/team-news-crawley-town-h/

Groin injury, was resting until Friday, when he may have returned to training. I haven’t studied the pictures from Friday’s training to see if he was involved.

 

[Dorsetshrimper]

Too early to judge PB and probably not enough time to make significant changes.

He has a squad that has zero confidence when it comes to hitting the back of the net.

If we can get more balls into the box and more players busting a gut to get there too, maybe we can get enough goals to just maybe stay up.

And doing that while not weakening the defensive part of our game.

I thought there were a few signs of that yesterday. There will always be times when players could have done better. Hitting the post means only an inch or two off target. Shanking it when not using their preferred foot.

In normal circumstances you would expect professionals to be able to get more shots on target though. I know BBC stats can be inaccurate but apparently we only had one shot on target out of 12 in total

 

[Derbyshire Blue]

That was the most frustrating part of the day. We started lively and had some good balls in from the right RHF with his pathetic eyes closed header and their lad saving them with a scoop over the bar at near post.

From then on they were to flat to give Halford a chance. Put a bit of air on it and let him attack it. Even he he doesn't win it its far more difficult to defend than a flat nonsense of a cross.

Agreed, I was hoping for Halford to start yesterday as I think there’s a goal or two there if we can get the service into him in the air, at least from set pieces. If we work on the delivery then keep him in but a week isn’t much time to improve an area like that.

 

[Shrimper44]

Another disappointing result. On balance Crawley deserved to win. They had the better of the game, and the better chances. Best performance by far from Ricky Holmes in a blue shirt perhaps the only positive to take from today. The back 4 were also good but that really isn’t the problem and hasn’t been for months.

We don’t score enough goals, because there are no goalscorers in the squad. It’s why we were going down under MM and why we’re probably still going down under PB.

4 points behind Col U and we still have to play them. The task isn’t impossible but looks increasingly unlikely. Exeter smashed Cambridge 4-1 today, I can’t see us getting much there next week. And Col U have a fairly favourable game at home to Walsall. The difference could well be more than 4 points by the time the Essex Derby comes around.

I wasn't expecting much before the Forrest Green Rovers game but looked what happened there. Let's hope its the same at Exeter.

 

[fleabag1]

I think me and my mate could score about 5 goals if we was upfront all season and we shoot a lot more. Also I think we should stick oxley up front as well because he can kick the ball hard and bully the other team

 

[kentblues]

No, I think you must have been watching a completely different game.

In the first half: Cordner made an excellent goal line clearance from a shot that was going in the top corner. Also, Nadesean had an opportunity to make a basic pass to the other striker for an open goal but overhit it.

In the second half: Oxley made an excellent save from about 6 yards out.

That’s 3 clear cut chances for Crawley that all should have been taken. Just the 1 for us with RHF. So how was I the one watching a different game?

Ferguson hit the post? RHF actually managed to miss from 5 yards out twice in the same effort, and we had a similar instance where we just needed find a completely unmarked player for a “a tap in “ and didn’t. (Although admitted the unmarked player was RHF). I think it was very even and could have gone either way.

 

[Medway Blue]

Ferguson hit the post? RHF actually managed to miss from 5 yards out twice in the same effort, and we had a similar instance where we just needed find a completely unmarked player for a “a tap in “ and didn’t. (Although admitted the unmarked player was RHF). I think it was very even and could have gone either way.

Absolutely this. I couldn't bring myself to waste the energy responding, so thanks for doing it for me!

 

[Austin the Shrimper]

I’d love to see Ferguson shooting more. Surely with the strike he has, that should be a tactic to get him in those shooting postitions more often and set him up?

 

[Massimo Giovanni]

I’d love to see Ferguson shooting more. Surely with the strike he has, that should be a tactic to get him in those shooting postitions more often and set him up?

I doubt he would over complicate taking a pen.

 

[Strykr]

[/QUOTE]

I’d love to see Ferguson shooting more. Surely with the strike he has, that should be a tactic to get him in those shooting postitions more often and set him up?

Yep that should be a big part of the gameplan imo. He should be on the edge of the box every time with a taylor or macca covering behind.

 

[Evening Echo]

SOUTHEND United striker Simeon Akinola missed Saturday's 0-0 draw with Crawley Town due to illness.

Read more on this story


Help with Echo links

 

[Boreham Blue]

Whatever happens in the rest of the season it’s likely to be close and could come down to a missed chance in a game like yesterday. I do think that the Akinde last minute refusal could be the key to our relegation as I’d expect him to have made the difference.