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

[effy67]

Can't believe how Grant was not man of the match and to see some peeps only giving him a mark of 6 and Bazza giving Patterson a mark of 7 makes me assume I was at a different game.

 

[TravellingBlue]

Firstly I thought Yeovil were there for the taking today, a mediocre team.

Defence, stood up well against an almost non existant Yeovil attack, Baldwin and Barrett are both battlers. Francis competant but Herd did not have his best game, but he is an exciting young talent.

Midfield, imo let us down today. I cannot remember one single pass to any of our forwards today. Macca was not the same player after his injury, Granty at times strolled around about the pitch, he is a talent but felt he didn't give it today. Malone was lost, but he was overshadowed by another simply awful performance from JFC.

Up front Vernon is a good pro who holds the ball up well, Spencer has pace, Paterson determination (I don't get this 'he's lightweight') thought he won some good headers and really got stuck in, as did Crawford. Laurent I'm afraid just seems to have lost all his confidence. Strikers need to be fed, today this just did not happen.

I like Herd's long throw, but every time? Sorry but we have forgotten how to play football, get the ball out wide and put it in the box. Utilise Herd by all means, but not every throw in the oppositions half!

My disappointment today is mainly because I watched us play some great football at Rovers last week, today we didn't even get out of second gear.

 

[united we stand]

I thought he actually defended quite well, and for a small bloke got his head to the ball before the opposition player on a number of occasions. He also cleared the ball effectively a number of times....ok, it may have been by hoofing but at least it worked.

• most (all ?) free kikcs did not beat the first man
• he put it into the stand several times
• he put it skywards at least twice through mis kicks
• you can't make allowences for him being small - the other side doesn't have to put a short arse on just becasue we have on
• he was skinned several times
• His throws acheived nothing (ok not his fault )

apart from all of the above obvious MOM material

 

[Lord Football]

An awful, awful game, possibly the worst I've seen this season (and thats saying something). There was no creativy, no spark.. you know, the usual stuff. And that was just Yeovil. We were worse. I'd have rather have done the gardening if I am honest.

Mildenhall 8 - two good stops at the end, other wise a spectator

Francis 6 - Arguably been our best player recently, but did little today

Herd 6 - MotM, you have to be joking.

Barrett 6 - Showed a bit of passion

Baldwin 5 - Worst performance to date

Grant 5 - Worst performance for a long time. Looked lost.

Malone 2 - Awful

McCormack 7 - Best of the outfield players.

Christophe 2 - Waste of a shirt, again.

Vernon 6 - At least looked like he wanted to do something

Spencer 6 - Enthusiastic, but that was about it.

Subs

Laurent 3 - Took 23 more touches than were needed, as normal.

Patterson 4 - Did little

Crawford 6 - You know I'd start him vs Gillingham.

Ref 10 - Had absolutely nothing to do. Anyone of you lot could have reffed that!

 

[Ulysses]

Mildenhall - nothing much to do but distribution was terrible 6
herd - mix those throwings up looked a bit over the place 6
Baldwin - class act 8
barrett - no leadership 6.5
Francis - best player 8
Malone - rubbish 4.5
jfc - some good tackles 7
macca - lost the plot 6
grant - average 6.5
screetch - nothing on 6
vernon - not much either 6.5

subs
Paterson - pick of the subs 7.5
laurent - good to c him on 7
Crawford - not long Nuff 6.5

tilson - team selection wrong would of brought in sankofa at cb, Barrett to lb and stuck herd on lw

 

[Beefy]

I don't think I can ever, in the 20-odd years since I first went to Roots Hall, recall a game in which we've created as little as we did today. Incredible.

And yet our only attacking plan to change things was to keep substituting strikers. It's not the players upfront who are the problem. If we don't create any chances we aren't going to score any goals.

 

[OldBlueLady]

I don't think I can ever, in the 20-odd years since I first went to Roots Hall, recall a game in which we've created as little as we did today. Incredible.

And yet our only attacking plan to change things was to keep substituting strikers. It's not the players upfront who are the problem. If we don't create any chances we aren't going to score any goals.

I know Beefy, ludicrous to be in the position we're in and yet playing defensively. Laurent should have started in my opinion, at least then we'd have been trying to get stuff forward and not relying purely on Herd's throw as almost our only means of attack. I think there were 3 decent balls from midfield all match.

 

[THE SEVENTIES NORTH BANK]

So many things wrong with the performance yesterday, but the Two that stood out for me was the Two forwards stayed in their position and didn't move about and mix it up, which meant they were easily marked out of the game. The other thing was absolutely no creativity or threat from midfield.

 

[EastStandBlue]

I can't bear to watch Laurent much longer... The most selfish player I think I've seen at Southend and it's completely unjustified. I'm just glad the majority of people seem to be waking up and seeing past the neat little tricks.

I can only echo what the majority have said and conclude that it was the bluntest performance I've seen in a while, and ultimately the buck falls with the midfield. Today, for all to see, was the absence of Moussa. A midfielder who can actually pass the thing is a necessity and we missed him gravely today. JFC was toilet again, Grant dependable as ever and Macca toiled but to little effect.

 

[IloveShrimp]

Well, what a waste of an afternoon that was. Nathan Jones gave us more entertainment than anything that actually happened on the pitch. The players have given up the fight it seems on that showing, so League Two will surely follow. Some questionable tactics again it has to be said though - Grant left wing? Hmm. Christophe should've made way for Laurent to enable Grant to move into the middle. And why we substituted the pace of Spencer for Paterson when it should've been like for like with Vernon coming off, I don't know. We missed Scannell and Moussa massively. The midfield was weak, incredibly narrow and lacking in fight. Can't be hassled to write anything further on the game, as lets be honest there isn't much to be said. As I did mention in another thread, I thought Steven Caulker was solid and exactly the player we should've brought in during the summer.

Ratings:

Mildenhall 7: Made a couple of decent stops late on.

Francis 6.5: Couldn't get forward anywhere near enough due to the total lack of width in front of him. He had two players facing up to him every time he made it over the halfway line.

Baldwin 7: Shoddy distribution as per the norm, but pretty solid defensively.

Barrett 7: One of his better displays and we had a referee that was oblivious to most of the grappling he was doing, which always helps.

Herd 5.5: I don't know what was up with him today, but he was a little shaky. Tilly, on more than one occasion passed the message on to him to relax and take it easy. Possibly as the lowest earner in the team the wages situation is affecting him.

Grant 6: A pretty poor display from him. Although the fact he's a class above McCormack and Christophe, yet he's the one that gets shunted out of position is massively frustrating. The decision to play him on the left for the last half an hour was quite frankly bizarre. Seemed to struggle with fitness towards the end and Tilly's cry to him of "come on, we need you" couldn't have been more true.

Christophe 4.5: I'm sorry, but he was weak and utterly lacking in fight. Again. He's one man you don't really want in your team in a scrap. Can't head, can't pass, can't tackle, can't be bothered. Again.

McCormack 6: Had a decent first 30 minutes of so and then descended into his previous self, giving the ball away cheaply, screwing up passes and finding row C on a regular occasion. At least he put in a bit more effort than his partner in crime.

Malone 6: I've been a harsh critic of him since he signed, because, well, he's been utterly hopeless. But I actually thought he did ok today in midfield. He didn't give us anywhere near the width that I imagine he was told to give us, but he did put in a couple of decent balls and was tidy at times. His lazy walk off the pitch when we were in dire need of the win though summed him up; he thinks he's far better than he actually is and he couldn't give two hoots about being here. It reminded me a lot of Tommy Black being substituted towards the end of his time here, in that he needed the fans to urge him to get off the pitch so we could get on with the game.

Spencer 5: He struggled today. We didn't give him any sort of service that he requires though, other than one decent Francis through ball. Why did every ball into the channel go to the much slower Vernon?

Vernon 5: Had our only attempt in anger on the Yeovil goal, but contributed little else.

Subs:

Paterson 6: Was tidy enough when he came on. Was it me or was he getting a lot of abuse from the East Blacks? Erm, why?

Laurent 6: Had a couple of runs, but still refused to do the simple thing.

Crawford 6: Looked brighter and with more ideas up his sleeve in five minutes than Vernon did in his stint.

I agree with this almost word for word. Except I would have given Grant a 7 and Malone 4

 

[blueveined]

The only reason Herd got M.O.M was because they just cant give it to Grant every time , even though he deserves it !

Interesting comments from a Yeovil fan after yesterday's game -
Southend lacked that creative spark today (Scannell and Moussa). Having said that their two stand out players were Anthony Grant (yellow boots, no. 7?) and Herd (left-back?) who I would happily take off Southend's hands were they in a position to sell.

 

[mattytheshrimper]

Interesting comments from a Yeovil fan after yesterday's game -
Southend lacked that creative spark today (Scannell and Moussa). Having said that their two stand out players were Anthony Grant (yellow boots, no. 7?) and Herd (left-back?) who I would happily take off Southend's hands were they in a position to sell.

remember that is the thoughts of a yeovil fan, no one special

 

[jamesmut2000]

remember that is the thoughts of a yeovil fan, no one special

but they're 7 points closer to staying up than we are - I'd gladly swap positions with them!

 

[GBJ]

My professional synopsis -


A pile of old ****

bollocks to ratings, no-one deserved more than a 3, and that's being generous

 

[ozzy-shrimper]

He's only interested in Herd because of the amount of times the North Bank sang his name!

 

[TBV_Dan]

The only reason Herd got M.O.M was because they just cant give it to Grant every time , even though he deserves it !

I hope that Herd getting Man Of The Match, gives him the confidence boost he needs tbh, it could really help motivate him more in my opinion.

 

[C C Csiders]

my take and marks 24 hours after the game (if that's what it was):

Mildenhall - liitle to do apart from two late saves he would expect to make. Good claims from crosses and corners though - 7

Francis - usual stuff, some good, some not on this planet - 6
Baldwin - so good to see such commitment from a loanee - 7
Barrett - sometimes overly committed which made him look like a Keystone Cop - 6
Herd - nice throws! First half (4), second half (7) - rounded up to a 6

Grant - wasted wide right. Not at his best. Bonus point for staying out of our six-yard box - 7
Christophe - Bleedin' Nora - 4
McCormack - Bleedin' O'nora - 4
Malone - needs shooting. Worst player in the Tilson era - 0

Vernon - did the proverbial - 6
Spencer - Not his best game, but didn't deserve the west stand abuse upon his substitution - 5

Subs: Laurent - Played like Alberto Tomba - 4
Paterson - didn't really notice him - 5
Crawford - put himself about, as you would expect - 6

Ref : a rare good one - 7

 

[ms brush]

Not going to say too much as we were collectively poo, so no point with ratings! Thankfully, Yeovill weren't really any better, hence the 0-0 scoreline.

On the up-side: we didn't let any goals in, and defending wasnt that bad, considering. Thought that Baldwin looked decent, and Mildy made a few decent saves. Grant played well, Herd caused a few problems with his throw-ins and Macca ran around a lot. There was plenty of skills displayed and some good individual performances.

On the downside - actually, lots of downsides! We looked like we are already relegated. We are still not a team, which I cant see is the fault of the players, or Tilly for that matter. Francis, despite his obvious ability, wasn't at his best, the midfield was wayward and strikeforce inept. We are seriously missing Scannell and Moose, there was no decent linking and crossovers and we lacked any width. Laurant coming back should be a good thing, with his creative running, but even that didn't help because the final touch wasn't there.

I don't want to think about it, but I got the distinct feeling that the team were displaying a performance that betrays the inner mood of the club - that we are at best going into administration - which is -10 points, and therefore automatic relegation, or we don't bow to the inevitable in time, we get relegated anyway and take the -10 point reduction next season in League 2, or the club is about to cease to exist at all. In all of these situations, it is inevitable that the players won't get what they are owed in wages they haven't been paid!

Sorry to say this, but I seriously thiink that we have the talent needed to get out of this mess, even in our limited numbers, but we don't have the good will of the playing staff any longer. There is no way that anyone will admit this, but I suspect that we can expect more of the same until the end of the season!!

 

[mattytheshrimper]

Malone - needs shooting. Worst player in the Tilson era - 0

i can't even talk about this bloke. he makes my blood boil. he thinks he's the best player in the squad. he needs a reality check. then show us what you can do.

 

[united we stand]

Spencer - Not his best game, but didn't deserve the west stand abuse upon his substitution - 5

- 7

didn't hear this from the North, WTF is wrong with people . Did he do something to seserve this that I missed ?