Post-Match Thread and Ratings Southend United 0-0 Tranmere Rovers

[Ricey]

Double digits and a clean sheet, it’s not a win but still undefeated in 2020

You know the drill people.

 

[Strykr]

Im gonna go with 'meh'


But at least we didnt lose.

 

[Ex-Member1]

Couldn't go today. Grandson reports match of some entertainment but very little quality. At least a clean sheet. Get in. Onwards and upwards

 

[davewebbsbrain]

Prince Harry is a crap ref, some may say a cheat

 

[GBJ]

Slowly but surely, the green shoots are appearing.

Sadly they’re far too late to affect this season, but it’s a minor positive, regardless.

 

[delr]

over an hour since the final whistle and only 4 posts says it all

 

[Ricey]

Slowly but surely, the green shoots are appearing.

Sadly they’re far too late to affect this season, but it’s a minor positive, regardless.

It’s all about taking a positive attitude into next season and having something to work with.

 

[eastling]

The remembrance of Chris Barker was exceptional and well observed.

The rest? Hmm two very poor teams who couldn't hit a barn door. The ref was absolutely shocking for both sides.

 

[Westcliff DGS]

Didn’t think we were too bad, maybe time to change one of the front two. Humphrys not scored since October I don’t think and hopper for a few games or so.

 

[RHB]

A lot of effort, and for once a defensive performance which meant Tranmere weren't going to score, sadly, neither were we. Tranmere's instructions were pretty clear, if there was any danger deck the opposition player, waste as much time as possible, argue every decision that goes against you and if the ref is lenient get away with blue murder. How Neil Danns stayed on the pitch is totally beyond me, but there you go. And if you are fighting for every point then we shouldn't be surprised if they do that lot. As for the penalty, well, it was a nailed on one, the keeper pushed Hopper in the back in the box and probably the only people that didn't see it were the ref and his assistants.

So after that have we improved? Well yes we have because we are fitter, harder to beat and now keep going for the full 90 minutes. Are we going to get much better? my jury is out on that as our inability to attack with purpose is one of the things that hasn't improved. Just leaves the man of the match award, and that goes to Sam Mantom who played his heart out the whole game. A special mention to the Ox who looked an ok keeper today, one block in the first half when their forward was in on goal was great to watch and he left their player poleaxed to boot, I liked that. He also caught balls in the area and generally looked sound. And finally a little mention for Kiernan, if only you had defended like that the whole season Rob we might not be in the ****e we are now in. Co-incidental that it's January obviously!

Obviously, Chris Barker has already been mentioned but I would reiterate that the crowd, both sets, observed the minute's silence with respect and it was heartening that Tranmere joined in the minute's applause on 39 minutes. If you were watching Chris, that was for you mate. RIP

 

[Westcliff DGS]

The remembrance of Chris Barker was exceptional and well observed.

The rest? Hmm two very poor teams who couldn't hit a barn door. The ref was absolutely shocking for both sides.

he was poor but they got the netter end of the decisions, their keeper on hooper and Danny’s should have been off

 

[Spenser]

If that performance was in the middle of a 'normal', mid table season the main complaints would be the ref and our failure to see off a pretty negative oppo. I saw no evidence of players not trying or being the worst players ever to wear the shirt etc etc.

OK Tranmere aren't great but they were good enough to score 3 against a Prem team last weekend.

My brief views....

Oxley - couple of good saves from long shots and an excellent block on the edge of the area in the first half.

3 CBs. Solid, perfectly acceptable performances, Dieng was the pick.

Demi and Milligan kept Woodyard quiet and shut him down.

Mantom put in a decent shift.

Elvis and Macca - OK, no complaints.

Hopper worked hard and kept possession well at times

Humphrys. Nothing came off for him. There is ability in there somewhere.

Sol. I actually think the formation was right bearing in mind how Tranmere set up. Kelman for Humphrys was an understandable sub at the right time imo.

So not all doom and gloom.
This season is toast but I genuinely don't believe the squad is as poor as the horrendous results suggest.

Maybe there has been more going on than meets the eye.....!

 

[Evening Echo]

AN eventful week for Southend United ended with a drab 0-0 draw against fellow strugglers Tranmere Rovers at Roots Hall.

More...

 

[united we stand]

A lot of effort, and for once a defensive performance which meant Tranmere weren't going to score, sadly, neither were we. Tranmere's instructions were pretty clear, if there was any danger deck the opposition player, waste as much time as possible, argue every decsion that goes against you and if the ref is lenient get away with blue murder. How Neil Danns stayed on the pitch is totally beyond me, but there you go. And if you are fighting for every point then we shouldn't be surprised if they do that lot. As for the penalty, well, it was a nailed on one, the keeper pushed Hopper in the back in the box and probably the only people that didn't see it were the ref and his assistants.

So after that have we improved? Well yes we have because we are fitter, harder to beat and now keep going for the full 90 minutes. Are we going to get much better? my jury is out on that as our inability to attack with purpose is one of the things that hasn't improved. Just leaves the man of the match award, and that goes to Sam Mantom who played his heart out the whole game. A special mention to the Ox who looked an ok keeper today, one block in the first half when their forward was in on goal was great to watch and he left their player poleaxed to boot, I liked that. He also caught balls in the area and generally looked sound. And finally a little mention for Kiernan, if only you had defended like that the whole season Ron we might not be in the ****e we are now in. Co-incidental that it's January obviously!

Obviously, Chris Barker has already been mentioned but I would re-itterate that the crowd, both sets, observed the minute's silence with respect and it was heartening that Tranmere joined in the minute's applause on 39 minutes. If you were watching Chris, that was for you mate. RIP

Thats exactly how I saw it,
We were a little too defensive be for my likening, hopper and macca were has then not as far up the pitch as I would have liked
We didn’t give up and we battled really well.
Mantom played well as you said and kiernan was VERY good. Elvis demonstrated again that defensively he is too lightweight. I would have liked to have seen Kerman come on earlier.
Interestingly I left the hall really angry. I’ve seen us let in 3,4 and 7 goals and thought “ we are crap what do I expect”. Today the effort was there is not the quality. My anger and is aimed directly at the officials. We are not going to seek a clearer penalty, a clearer red card and a clearer second yellow all season. He is feb had an opportunity to give two yellows instead of the red and bottled it.
If the referee had simply given the correct decisions on the above, then I it could have been a Different story. In another season when the crowd was bigger and not resigned to loosing or drawing at best there would/should have been a lot more pressure on n the ref

 

[Clinton Baptiste]

Players suddenly playing well with January on the horizon. Most will jump ship at the first opportunity.

 

[Boreham Blue]

If that performance was in the middle of a 'normal', mid table season the main complaints would be the ref and our failure to see off a pretty negative oppo. I saw no evidence of players not trying or being the worst players ever to wear the shirt etc etc.

OK Tranmere aren't great but they were good enough to score 3 against a Prem team last weekend.

My brief views....

Oxley - couple of good saves from long shots and an excellent block on the edge of the area in the first half.

3 CBs. Solid, perfectly acceptable performances, Dieng was the pick.

Demi and Milligan kept Woodyard quiet and shut him down.

Mantom put in a decent shift.

Elvis and Macca - OK, no complaints.

Hopper worked hard and kept possession well at times

Humphrys. Nothing came off for him. There is ability in there somewhere.

Sol. I actually think the formation was right bearing in mind how Tranmere set up. Kelman for Humphrys was an understandable sub at the right time imo.

So not all doom and gloom.
This season is toast but I genuinely don't believe the squad is as poor as the horrendous results suggest.

Maybe there has been more going on than meets the eye.....!

Pretty much agree with all of that.

Good effort put in by everyone and hard to find a poor performance.

Beginning of 2nd half was the purple patch but we failed to benefit.

Thought Oxley followed two good games with a very good one today.

Frustrating that we were a back 5 rather than a back 3 too much - Elvis should be released in this situation but again I’m disappointed with him (and can’t understand another PoTM award).

Also frustrated with Sol’s tactics. We should have been going flat out for a win near the end and yet still no one left up for corners. If Kelman had stayed up Oxley can try and get him running at the defenders.

 

[Massimo Giovanni]

A strange game to have to summarise.
In the line up there was no surprise, and in the way the team played too, very predictable, hard working but not much guile.
The first half had few notable incidents, a poor giveaway by Milligan after a few minutes which might have cost us but after that Milly got better but still very sideways and back, made some tackles! Their keeper could not kick and a clearance broke to Hump empty goal but he was half asleep( he seems to have real concentration issues) and he fluffed his attempt at a long range open goal.
Hopper gets pushed by gk in pen box but ref ignored it, bottled it really, Demi made his views clear and Sol was incredulous with 4th official too.
Tranmere had a few shots and great intercept save by Oxley after Elvis poor pass give away.
We had NO, Zero attempts on goal.
2nd half, no change but we pushed forward more, especially Macca and Mantom, we had some goal attempts saved!
Was it 6 corners and 3 free kicks? All free kicks went high or wide from good positions and all corners likewise failed to work their gk.
Despite both the oppo CBs being on yellows the ball was not put past them or close to them to force an issue. Hoppy put Hump in but soft effort saved. Macca had good effort saved.
Elvis faded badly, we looked set up for a late disaster but thankfully it did not happen this time.
Another thing, why was Ox so consistently slow in releasing the ball?
Subs? Too late really and taking Demi off seemed only to happen as he was on yellow.
This was a MUST WIN game but few on the pitch and Sol seemed to know that.
Lastly, was that our youngest bench for a league game when Goodship was the oldest?

 

[Fairport]

A few positives from that game, 1. Clean sheet 2. Decent commitment from the team.
3. Excellent performance by Sam Mantom
4. Best efforts I have seen this season from Milligan and Dieng.
5. Attendence of 5900 plus was decent considering the state of the club.

 

[half1234]

I agree with a lot of the above, but, would make the following observations.
Penalty shout in the first half nailed on.
Very difficult if not impossible for the 2 strikers, ran their socks of with virtually no decent service from midfield. WE HAVE NO playmaker, i thought it would be Milligan, but no, in fact my only complaint is Milligan seems to be the irst name on the team sheet each game, he, unfortunately provides very little, Mantom to me has beern a revelation since coming back from injury. You can see the absolute frustration on Humps face, he tries and chases forever.

 

[Leigh_Seasider]

Ok so my observations below

- We were still in the game up till the last whistle
- We no longer roll over for teams and we give them a game now.
- Hopper and Humphrys just doesn’t work
- Good games for Macca, Mantom, Kiernan and Oxley.
- Kelman was like a man possessed after he came on. I’d have subbed Humphrys at HT.
- Ref was s**t and that was a pen (Hopper).
- Two free kicks on the edge of the box, first Macca takes a shot wide, second Milligan blazes over. Why didn’t we go for the top corner?
- Humphrys was too slow to everything. I like him, but his head seems elsewhere.
- Clean sheet - much needed
- Now in double figures
- Excellently observed and emotional minutes silence plus applause for Barks.