Post-Match Thread and Ratings Southend United 0-2 Millwall

[manor15]

Pretty poor performance as Neil Harris gets his first win over us as a manager. Millwall will play Oxford for a shot at Wembley. Focus entirely on the league now.

 

[David Icke]

Mooney and Pigott as a forward line - ye gods. What an insipid pairing. Mooney is about as inspirational as Clement Freud. Pigott as we all know dosent want to be here and thinks we are beneath him. Give Williams a run in the side, get Hunt back and prey, and get a couple of forwards in who are enthusiastic ASAP. Payne is wasted when Mooney and Pigott are in the side. And while I'm in grrrrhhh mood, I'd rather not see Atkinson play too many more matches. Atkinson is yawnkinson in my book.

 

[Evening Echo]

Match report: Southend United 0, Millwall 2

SOUTHEND United’s dreams of returning to Wembley were dashed by Millwall in the Johnstone’s Paint Trophy at Roots Hall tonight.

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[Massimo Giovanni]

For much of the game this was a good performance by us.
We knocked the ball around, Wozza got a great shot (and save) away after 15 minutes and they had nothing.
And then Atko, who had a good game until then passed back without looking and we never cleared it from there, we got flustered, panic, and they scored.
After that we lost confidence and Millwall got theirs.
This continued into a second half broken up by off sides by Mooney and lots of flapping by us at every corner of theirs. (Our corners were woeful).
2nd goal I felt Bentley should have saved.
Game over really, subs made little difference except another Mooney fluff and a few more off sides.
Millwall fans wrecked a few seats and hoardings and any "profit" from the nearly 6,000 crowd will go on that and the fifty cops bill.
After an hour PB must have wished he had Hunt and Timlin on the bench.
Just the league now and 3pts off M'Wall at the end of the month please.
Ref was again poor.
Can someone explain offside rule to Mooney please.

 

[RHB]

Not too much to say really. 94 minutes of my life has just passed by with a lot of huffing and puffing but no houses blown down. I feel a little bit sorry (now) for Atkinson. He didn’t mean to give the ball away leading to their first goal I’m sure, but by doing so, that for me was the turning point in the game, 0-1 and catch-up. Jack was a constant menace for the Blues but you just knew we were stuffed after that first goal and then Bentley should have done better for the second. Mooney? You would have thought that he would understand the offside rule by now, apparently not.

I can’t be arsed to award ratings. Let’s hope we approach Bradford differently.

 

[Massimo Giovanni]

Not too much to say really. 94 minutes of my life has just passed by with a lot of huffing and puffing but no houses blown down. I feel a little bit sorry (now) for Atkinson. He didn’t mean to give the ball away leading to their first goal I’m sure, but by doing so, that for me was the turning point in the game, 0-1 and catch-up. Jack was a constant menace for the Blues but you just knew we were stuffed after that first goal and then Bentley should have done better for the second. Mooney? You would have thought that he would understand the offside rule by now, apparently not.

I can’t be arsed to award ratings. Let’s hope we approach Bradford differently.

You must have been doing your match report as I did mine, it reads like we saw the same game.

 

[wakes123]

Bentley - 7 - made a few good saves, could have done better for the second goal it appeared but I didn't have the best view of it
White - 6.5 - no big mistakes I can remember, but nothing special either
Barrett - 6 - made a few mistakes at the back and took a ridiculous shot on in the first half which missed by miles. Done well with the one on one in the second half though
Thompson - 8.5 - MOTM - excellent performance I thought, only shining light of the night
Coker - 5 - what was he doing for his booking mucking about with it at the back when he should have just cleared, not a great night for Cokes
Worrall - 7 - pick of the midfield made some threatening runs down the wing
Atkinson - 6 - ran around a lot, but didn't seem to do much else
Leonard - 6 - some really good defending in the first half but far too many misplaced passes throughout the game
Hurst - 5 - just seemed slow and too many corners straight in the keepers hands
Payne - 6 - some exciting moments as there always is with Payne but got bullied off the ball too often
Mooney - 3.5 - how many times was he offside? How did he miss that late chance when Pigott set him up? Poor - needs to be dropped now


Subs - Pigott keeps hold of the ball for too long when there's a pass on. Rea done ok when he come on...don't think there was another sub.

Oh well, focus on the league now.

 

[Supa Shrimpa]

Two people of SZone with the same views. Whatever next !! :winking:

 

[Clinton Baptiste]

Mooney has had a problem all season with being offside. Problem is he is so slow he has to try and get that extra yard.

 

[Parold]

I actually thought that PB made the sub too early tonight. We were doing ok at the start of the second half but the formation change saw them start to run the midfield.

 

[davewebbsbrain]

Entertainment for the night was the old boy who sat next to me. Nice enough bloke but ranted most of the game. He went to the loo 5 mins before the end and even his 2 mates had to laugh at his rants. My son thought he was hilarious too, as hilarious as Mooney. He needs a long rest from the first team. (Mooney, not the old boy)

 

[Jedi Shrimper]

Game really turned on the first goal. Up until then we were the only team in it, for the first 20mins Millwall couldn't handle Hurst & Payne. Bad mistake from Atkinson and a failure to clear it led to the Millwall goal and then Millwall really controlled the game from then on. Oh and our set piece delivery was terrible -far too predictable and too many straight to the keeper. Linesman on the west side was awful, how did he give Pig offside near the end when the millwall player passed it to him? Summed up the night really.

Bentley 7 - Some great saves as per. Could he have done better for the 2nd goal or did it take a deflection?
White 6 - solid if unspectacular.
Coker 6 - Bit of a silly booking, less influential than usual.
Barrett 6 - a lot of hugging going on, a few mistakes but still leads the defence well.
Thompson 7 - Pretty impressive I thought.
Atkinson 5 - Loss of concentration led to the game changing goal.
Leonard 6 - Good defensive work not great going forward.
Hurst 6 - Started off very well but faded out of the game.
Worrall 7 - Our most consistent threat going forward.
Payne 6.5 - A thorn in Millwall's side, less effective once they figured out they could bully him and get away with it.
Mooney 5 - Lacked any real threat.

subs
Pigott 6 - Stronger and had more attempts at goal in his time on the pitch than Mooney managed all game.
Rea 5 - Damage already done when he came on and we went 3-4-3.

 

[Tinks]

Not too much to say really. 94 minutes of my life has just passed by with a lot of huffing and puffing but no houses blown down. I feel a little bit sorry (now) for Atkinson. He didn’t mean to give the ball away leading to their first goal I’m sure, but by doing so, that for me was the turning point in the game, 0-1 and catch-up. Jack was a constant menace for the Blues but you just knew we were stuffed after that first goal and then Bentley should have done better for the second. Mooney? You would have thought that he would understand the offside rule by now, apparently not

I can’t be arsed to award ratings. Let’s hope we approach Bradford differently.

Cannot disagree with that at all.
I thought the first twenty minutes we played quite well and we have got to leRn to put away chances when we are on top of the game.
The second half I felt we looked panicky at times and we desperately need a striker who can score (along with other clubs who are also lookin).

 

[Magnum PI]

Tonight was the most clearest evidence all season of our need for a striker. Not only did everything break down with Mooney but he offered no attacking threat. Pigott did more in ten mins. Has to be a change on Saturday. Browny looked very upset with Mooney when he fluffed the sitter near end. A dropping is imminent.

On on the whole we bossed the first half and just didn't take our chances. Games change goals and the second one was the real killer. Also no idea what Brown was trying to achieve with the final sub. White offered us an attacking threat which we missed.

We have nothing to fear over Millwall. Confident we will do the double over them at Christmas. They can have Wembley. Nothing could emulate last year anyway. I will take a playoff final.

Ref much better tonight. No complaints whatsoever.

 

[Blues 'n twos]

We need to play 2 up front, and as much as I like Payne, he cannot be 1 of them. He was out muscled by the 2 big centre halfs all night, he was busy and a threat running at them, but I see him more as the attacking midfielder, and currently this leaves Mooney as a lone striker, isolated. When Hunt played with him he was a different class than he has been of late, and he looks as frustrated as BBBC did last season.

 

[Magnum PI]

...or even goals change games.... :'(

 

[Magnum PI]

We need to play 2 up front, and as much as I like Payne, he cannot be 1 of them. He was out muscled by the 2 big centre halfs all night, he was busy and a threat running at them, but I see him more as the attacking midfielder, and currently this leaves Mooney as a lone striker, isolated. When Hunt played with him he was a different class than he has been of late, and he looks as frustrated as BBBC did last season.

Nah. Mooney was terrible tonight. Payne will be fine. His touch let him down a bit tonight but he created our most fluent opportunities.

 

[Blues 'n twos]

Nah. Mooney was terrible tonight. Payne will be fine. His touch let him down a bit tonight but he created our most fluent opportunities.

I agree Payne creates chances, but a striker he ain't, Mooney was dire tonight, and has missed having a strike partner worthy of the title. Jury still out with Pigott, we need more options up front and leave Jack in the midfield.

 

[shrimperjon]

Played well for the first 30 mins, but once they scored there was only one team winning that game. We created some good openings but fail to hit the target too often. Our set pieces are also woeful, either to near the keeper, or fail to beat the first defender, as for Leonard's long throws ... Pointless. Surprised people are giving Bentley 7/10, we thought he was poor tonight, at fault for the second goal, missed a couple of punches, didn't dominate on crosses and pushed the ball into play rather than out of play on at least two occasions. He made a few good saves but wouldn't give him more than a 5 or 6. Best players for us probably Payne, Worrall, Thompson and AB. A bad day at the office for the rest. Need Timlin and Hunt back in the side.

 

[Firestorm]

To me a couple of players had off days, Atkinson and Barrett, Mooney was poor, which against a strong well organised Millwall side with a really decent striker was never going to be enough.
Rea looked composed in the time he was on , id like to see him alongside Thompson, who I thought was our motm, on Saturday.
Pig for Mooney too.
Jack kept the Millwall defence occupied but he should mix it up a bit, get on the shoulder of the last man, harry them make them mark him the drop into the advance Midfeild position , pull the cb out of position or give their midfield a question. Then run at them from deep. Make the opposition think about whats next ...

personally I would change the corners too, I am a big fan of the ball to the penalty spot area with the centre backs running in late and attacking it, again change that around who makes the run from , say four, on the 18 yd line. Make the defenders think , rather than taking up stock positions. Mix it with a later wide runner with a really long corner and the opposition will be looking around at the corner rather than concentrating on the man immediately in front of them.