Post-Match Thread and Ratings Southend United 0-1 Boreham Wood

[flangejackrabbit]

Awful. Just dreadful. Until KM at least tries a good old fashioned 4-4-2, and let's the player's have a go, it'll forever be mid table mediocrity for us. But I don't think he will. He seems to love a 3-5-2, a 3-4-3 or a 4-3-3. It's negative, try not to lose football. When we go behind, we're in big trouble! It clearly doesn't work.

I don't get the 4-4-2 obsession on here. By now, most of our players will never have played it in their lives. 50%+ of promotions from the NL since I started taking notice are three at the back formations and most of the others are 4-2-3-1.

 

[flangejackrabbit]

I don't why so many people on SZ seem to think 4-4-2 is a magic formation, it was popular until someone noticed that if you stuck an extra man in midfield then you could mark the opposition midfielders out of the game with ease. In general it only works with long ball or counter attacking football now, neither of which we want to do.

Literally posting pretty much the same as you were writing...

 

[rayleigh dan]

Yes today was awful and about the only player to rate more than a 6 was Miley, but let's put some perspective here:

Most of pre-season was planned with Dalby up front. A hold up, back to goal type of player.

Dalby leaves.

Hyde is in and the preceding week in training is no doubt about how to play with Hyde up front - an experienced and tough NL forward who can lead a line on his own and give it out physically.

8 minutes in and Hyde is injured. On comes Wreh, a lad totally not suited to leading the line on his own, a lad who is inexperienced and who needed a partner. All the previous weeks of planning go out the window and we have no one on the bench who can slot in to the Hyde role. We huffed and puffed but looked very average but let's give the Management Team a break as this team was not of their first choice.

Having said that I thought that Clifford and Hussin were really poor today.

I didn’t make it today, thankfully as it turns out, I was on a mates stag do, but Husin being poor doesn’t surprise me. He was well below par in the two pre season games I saw. Powell was probably the stand out player in those games too. What’s the point of pre season analysis if you’re going to pick your favourites to start regardless?

 

[BEERMONSTER]

Open your eyes and see that the players out there today are negative and weak…,why would it improve with 3 strikers that are complete sick notes rarely available .
Powell is one of the better ones but will he ever have an end product?….Bridge you never know what your going to get, world beater or passenger, sorry, far better teams in this division!

I don't think your response addresses the essence of my post. It being there is still time to tackle issues. I agree with your comments on the players mentioned, although I think Powell could still develop the end product. I also concur with your correct if slightly obvious observation of there being better teams at this time. Our struggle is to attempt to close the gap in squad ability with those teams and doing it within the constraints that KM has to work with. It might not happen but there is at least time to try.

 

[Danshrimper]

The players we signed from lower leagues .....looked like we signed them from lower leagues

We only signed 3 players from lower leagues and 2 of them didn’t even play…

 

[nick12]

From the spiel we were fed, anyone from the book of targets would have done. A very reliable player in his prime but that has gone. Today showed that very little has changed since Phil and the managers style doesn’t exactly give me confidence. All summer he has had to work on this and we still look very weak and bereft of attacking ideas and forwards. Expected far better from the bullish ramblings but looking further than today can see no better than last year!

Glad you feel so optimistic I doubt Liverpool have given up on the Premiership after dropping 2 points today.

I will stick with looking on the bright side and keep my belief that we will improve on last season

 

[stewart]

for all off bridges ability ,the one thing he dosent possess is the ability to score goals, im sorry KM but unless you can get in a proven goalscorer quickly you are going to have 5000 supporters on your back ,plus a hard man in central defence

 

[bluethroughandthrough]

3 things

1) we have a strong squad but not played to their strengths. Clifford for example was a great promising left back. Looks lost as a lwb hence going backwards
2) the 5 at the back formation (it's never 3) means square pegs in round holes. Yesterday's game demonstrated why it doesn't mean defensive strength or attacking opportunity
3) it is one game but the warnings were there in pre season and last season. My previous prediction remains as I see no progress other than better players for the future - Maher gone at Xmas after same same issues and no forward progress (bit like him as a player).

I'm yearning us to play a 4231/442/433 formation and wonder how long we will persist

 

[bluesfansince1952]

I listened to the game online.
Overall it seemed a disappointing performance although I comfort myself by reflecting that historically many of our most successful seasons began with a loss.
Listening to the commentary it seemed that Powell's name was constantly mentioned which suggests he was at least busy.
Hyde's injury was unfortunate, and, left me reflecting that one of Dalby's strenghts was his durability. He was invariably fit to play and could go the full ninety minutes. Perhaps it will that quality that will be missed most of all.
KM has been quoted as saying he wanted a smaller squad but with the inevitable injuries that come from normal wear and tear that could see our resources stretched to a dangerous level.
I would suggest that to be successful with a relatively small group of players it is vital the squad has an excellent physio close at hand.
Do we even employ a physio right now?
This was the first match in a long, hard, exacting and demanding season. I suspect we will improve as the season goes on (injuries allowing!). Even if we do better than anyone expects we will still be losing a few more matches.
Patience and a sense of proportion is required.

 

[RHB]

In Maher we trust, well apart from @wiggy. And to be fair to @wiggy he has been consistent in his total dislike of anything to do with our head coach. I just find some of the comments on here absolutely puzzling. How do we morph from from some of the sycophantic pre season support of our coaching team to screaming Mr Angry types so easily after just 90 minutes plus a shed full of injury time?

Everyone is entitled to an opinion but it would be quite impressive if we gave our coaching team time to absorb what they saw yesterday and work out changes to improve things. I believe they will, but it's going to take a while to get the balance right with so many new players in the squad. @OldBlueLady hit the nail on the head over the departure of Dalby, which in turn was compounded by the injury to Hyde. We are a work in progress and we will get better but it won't happen overnight, any of you on here that have managed staff know that you can't blend a team instantly, it happens with practice. So if it's true in your working life it's true at Southend as well.

 

[BALDY]

Even though I wasn't at the game thank God no home players suffered any serious injury.

 

[Exiled Shrimper]

I don't get the 4-4-2 obsession on here. By now, most of our players will never have played it in their lives. 50%+ of promotions from the NL since I started taking notice are three at the back formations and most of the others are 4-2-3-1.

These are excellent points. Also to be considered is the fact that we’ve spent an entire pre-season (and much of last season) focussing on 3-4-3, so it would be foolish to rip that up on the basis of one competitive fixture.

Further to that, our recruitment has been based around the tactics the coaching team want to employ. There are versatile players that could fit into multiple systems, but Powell and Mooney, for example, are best-suited to roles as inverted wingers in a three up-front; Fonguck is most comfortable in an advanced central midfield position but can play on the left of an attacking three; Scott-Morriss is reportedly better deployed as a wing-back than a full-back. The biggest challenge for us is linking the midfield effectively with the front line to ensure it is a 3-4-3 and not a 3-6-1, especially at home.

Yesterday’s match was disappointing, for sure, and there’s still much to work on, but others have made the valid point that our preparations were hit first by the late departure of Dalby and then the early departure in the match of Hyde, leaving us with a rookie centre-forward leading the line alone. Powell’s half-time introduction mitigated that a little (he and Wreh appear to have developed the semblance of an understanding as a partnership which is encouraging as well), but at the cost of Mooney dropping deeper into the hole between them. I wonder if Maher will think about starting those two up front together at Solihull (subject to any recruitment in the forward positions), but with Fonguck between them and the midfield pairing to link the play, and then using Mooney and Bridge off the bench.

 

[Holy Joe]

In Maher we trust, well apart from @wiggy. And to be fair to @wiggy he has been consistent in his total dislike of anything to do with SUFC our head coach. I just find some of the comments on here absolutely puzzling. How do we morph from from some of the sycophantic pre season support of our coaching team to screaming Mr Angry types so easily after just 90 minutes plus a shed full of injury time?

Corrected for you

 

[Whispering Bob]

A galling opening match. After a sprightly start, Hyde went off, and we ended up playing the ball too slowly, and too predictably. We still seem to be lacking leaders on the pitch. Hobson was probably the pick for me and Powell livened us up after his introduction. He actually moved off the ball and produced our first shot on target. But then he tried too hard, wayward shots, running down blind alleys....and dives. The best two passes all afternoon came from Zak Brunt (the first leading to the only goal). Their keeper made three smart saves (including a Pat Jennings type one- handed catch) .
And finally onto the opposition. Their manager was much lauded during their cup run. Yesterday he simply instructed his team to hoof the ball long and orchestrated dark arts. Players were dropping like flies, off the ball, whenever we were building pressure. It was constant, and was tolerated by a very weak referee. Worse still were the cowardly late hits, career ending tackles. I have seen many teams do such numbers on us in the past, but this team of thugs managed to do a number on the game of football itself.

 

[Boreham Blue]

When jd is back in two weeks time I'd have him at lwb behind Tom to provide experienced guidance during the game. Help him with his position I g in the game. Make that left side secure . That's if gsw is adequate at rwb!! Depends if experienced enough.
It was pointed out to me early in preseason we have a lot of young inexperienced players who could struggle and it's turning out that a team loaded with naivity and inexperience is going to get bullied and find it hard to cope in this league. It's a physical league with no protection from part time refs.
For me, as much as I like watching Powell's tricks in the warm up and respect his physique and desire to please, he's a bit of a head down no end product non team player. Good impact sub maybe at best. I hate saying that because he's obviously a nice guy and id like to see him set up loads of goals up with crosses and stuff.
Murphy and cardwell are months away from match fitness, and to be honest Murphy isn't a physically robust player either.
As everyone sensibly suggests , we need a decent reasonably mobile lump at the back. And a decent sized reasonably experienced forward. Cash flow is an issue as ever so it will be loans.
Not many desirable players (if any) will touch southend due to having enough common sense to check out what goes on. Things have improved a bit thanks to Tom and the 3 amigos but it's common knowledge in playing circles that sufc is sometimes akin to a circus of slapstick **** ups and misdemeanors.
I hope we get some experience in quickly because JD, Nathan R and Steveee can't carry the team between them once they cross the white line.
We need players that know the dirty tricks employed in lower leagues and that are capable of not being 'managed' by the opposition during the game and will put a foot in.
I do feel that if everyone was fit we would be one of the strongest teams, but that's never going to be possible when a lot of players aren't physically used to being full time pro.
Id love to watch us play teams off the park, hopefully in 12 games time we might, but for now id happily watch us outbattle , outdirty, and get in the face of opposition and take 3 points from our home games at least then read the oppo's forum about how we contrived a win.

What position would you play Tom then? Left side of a front three?

 

[palexander]

Incredibly tough watch in what must have been pretty dreadful conditions to play in, had the feeling of a pre season game the pace it was played at.

Soon as Hyde went off we were in trouble. For the punt on raw talent we took on Wreh, I don’t think he was brought in to lead the line in the first team just yet, desperately need at least one striker this week but you do fear it’s going to be a young kid from an academy somewhere, when we really need some experience and nous. Tbf I was quite impressed with flashes of wreh, particularly his movement off the last defender, always looked to make little moves to create space either for himself or for the attacker on the ball. Feels like he’ll be useful away from home especially.

As for the rest of it, Husin was really poor, thought Taylor showed excellent drive especially second half and wouldn’t mind seeing him given a go in mf based on that performance.

We really need to get Clifford out of the team as he doesn’t suit the wide role. Hopefully with lomas on the bench, he’s not far away and can get him in and Ralph out there.

Miley looked pretty decent and have no complaints there.

Biggest disappointment was Mooney for me. Comes with a big reputation and has played a lot of games at this level. Thought he was pretty anonymous and when he did get on the ball he tried Hollywood passes that didn’t come off. This isn’t like a rookie we’ve brought up from NLS or something, so yea, was worried he offered nothing so far. I’m sure he’ll come good.

Really sobering day all round, not helped by more awful refereeing and compounded by a 3 hour drive back to Colchester due to problems on the a12. Day to forget.

 

[MisterStubbs]

Awful. Just dreadful. Until KM at least tries a good old fashioned 4-4-2, and let's the player's have a go, it'll forever be mid table mediocrity for us. But I don't think he will. He seems to love a 3-5-2, a 3-4-3 or a 4-3-3. It's negative, try not to lose football. When we go behind, we're in big trouble! It clearly doesn't work.

You could probably count on one hand the amount of teams not just in this league, but those above it actually use a 4-4-2 system these days. A lot of teams play with 3 at the back now and well, 3 defenders marking 2 attackers.. you can see where I’m going with this. It’s an old fashioned formation which I think you’ll only see every now and then.

 

[bertbert]

You could probably count on one hand the amount of teams not just in this league, but those above it actually use a 4-4-2 system these days. A lot of teams play with 3 at the back now and well, 3 defenders marking 2 attackers.. you can see where I’m going with this. It’s an old fashioned formation which I think you’ll only see every now and then.

Boring Wood many yellow red card to come.

 

[rigsby]

A word about the ref. We have seen a lot worse last season. Yes they fraudulently went down to stop us gaining any momentum but the ref can’t do anything g about that. Making the pampered little princesses a protected species allows them to cheat.

Until football changes the rules to either play on with them laying on the floor or injury time is doubled. Then this tactic has arrived at this level and get used to it.

The first sending off could have been a straight red but he was still sent off with a second yellow.

 

[DistantBlue]

We didn't turn up in the first half and only got going when Powell came on.. Boreham were a filthy side that bullied us all over the park then went down like snowflakes and time wasted. They deserved at least the 2 Reds. We didn't get many shots on target and need to improve up front and attack a lot faster and stop keep playing pass the parcel.

Over to you guys.

A perfect description Cricko of a most imperfect day