Post-Match Thread and Ratings Southend United 0-2 Wycombe Wanderers

[IloveShrimp]

My attempt a ratings:

The midfield of 4 defensive minded players was a shocking decision imo, especially as we had two attacking minded ones available. A slow centre back in midfield in a must win game.. you couldn't make it up. They had absolutely no inclination to get forward and stood and watched as the ball was pumped long to isolated strikers, one of whom is a midget and the other wearing a face mask and must of been scared of being injured. When Humphreys did attempt to head the ball his face mask slipped constantly stopping his movement.

When defending we left no-one... nope no-one up the pitch...In a must win game! really? Wycombe left two players up and had a more positive attitude.

Bishop 7- not a lot to do except pick the ball out of the net!
Demetriou - 7 until he went off - looked like he wanted it!
Elvis - 7 he tried and went forward on several occasions but with no support from Mantom
Hart - 8 think the injury affect his game, but he had desire
White - 4 slow and backed off constantly, hoof ball
Lennon - 4.5 slightly better than white
Mantom - 3 out of position but poor, watched a lot as the ball pumped long and only supported the attackers once or twice
Kightley - 2 for wearing the correct colour kit. Absolutely shocking, how did he get selected over Dru?
Dieng - 3 won a few headers but no bottle or desire, no interest in getting forward to support the attackers
Kiernan - 3 see Dieng
Cox - 6 tried hard but nothing created for him
Humphreys 8 led the line with no opportunities being made for him. Very brave to even be playing with a damaged face

Bond 4 - he turned up and was honest in the post match interview. How he selected that midfield was unbelievable. Not sure if the midfield players ignored his instructions, but what a shambles!!

Us as a team - 3 - no pride, no passion no skill from most. We got what we deserved..... i.e. NOTHING!

Edit: Oh and one shot all game!! Pathetic

Akinfenwa - oh to have a player like him! He is old, and was patched up but gave our players a lesson in football, attitude and desire.

Wycombe as a team compared to us 8, they wanted it more!!

 

[Rayleigh boy]

as i left the ground walking along the pitch in front of the East stand I noticed the WW manager Ainsworth sitting in the back row of the dug out - alone - totally drained looking - taking in a big moment in his career. Just quietly recovering from what had clearly been for him a massive game and a highly intense experience .... a guy completely committed to a club who had ground out a significant result..

good on him - it looked like that he had given everything as I think his team did -

the SUFC **** show continues with Bond blaming the players - players who are unfit and and don't contribute all season while taking lovely wages - Kiernin, Lennon, Bunn, Hyam - players from up north who would probably love to go back Mantom, or from France - or who have seen better days at big clubs - Turner, Kightly,

there a couple who are good solid pros - White - Macca - and Humphries deserves total respect...

but we still don't have a goalkeeper -

Elvis was Man of the Match ... he was not even selected ...

Any club can get out of this relegation fight - any one who has the desire .

 

[Spaceman Spiff]

To be fair to Bond, I think his post match interview was illuminating. He said he didn’t see that coming - probably from some players who have talked a good game to him and looked good in training... then been total gash on the pitch and bottled it big time. His next team will be interesting.

Dieng, Kightly, McLaughlin and Mantom can all **** off and never be seen in a Southend postcode area again ever, as far as I’m concerned.

 

[LBBlue]

Having done six out of the last seven Roots Hall games and with the last two booked in we thought we'd give the little run up from Dorset today a rest.

Instead we went to much more local Yeovil for our footie fix in their 'must win' game v Creepy. It was utter garbage, no passes made their man, no shape to play, seemingly minimal player passion, and played in front of just over 3,000 with only a handful coming down from Surrey to give the arena zero atmosphere.

It was a sobering reminder of what League 2 soccer is often like. Oh dear.

I think we all got a reminder of League 2 soccer today at Roots Hall - both sides would struggle.

 

[Rayleigh boy]

To be fair to Bond, I think his post match interview was illuminating. He said he didn’t see that coming - probably from some players who have talked a good game to him and looked good in training... then been total gash on the pitch and bottled it big time. His next team will be interesting.

Dieng, Kightly, McLaughlin and Mantom can all **** off and never be seen in a Southend postcode area again ever, as far as I’m concerned.

i wonder how many of them have actually moved into the area .... i wonder how many drive loads and stay in flat/hotel for training a few days and really don't give a toss

 

[Rayleigh boy]

the manager says we were

"out fought"

"out worked"

"they wanted it more"

is it unreasonable to hold the manager responsible ?

 

[THE SEVENTIES NORTH BANK]

as i left the ground walking along the pitch in front of the East stand I noticed the WW manager Ainsworth sitting in the back row of the dug out - alone - totally drained looking - taking in a big moment in his career. Just quietly recovering from what had clearly been for him a massive game and a highly intense experience .... a guy completely committed to a club who had ground out a significant result..

but we still don't have a goalkeeper -

Elvis was Man of the Match ... he was not even selected ...

Any club can get out of this relegation fight - any one who has the desire .

We have one who was POTS , but he's not being picked. Not just blaming the goalkeeper as there are problems all over the pitch, but now you mention it, I was very disappointed with young Bish today. I have said before he lets a lot of soft goals in. Today for the first he went to his knees before the shot was fired and it went over him, just over his finger tips. If he stayed on his feet, he may have saved it. The second was a joke as he didn't even put out an arm, as it looked like he thought it was going wide. He didn't really have much to do apart from the goals. White wound me up first half as he hoofed four times to Cox, and gave them the ball back. No lessons learnt then all season. If he hoofed it to Humphrys I would understand. Moore, Oxley and Yearwood are probably our best 3 players along with Cox. They need to play all the remaining games. Kiernan needs to go back to being a centre back. Kightly needs to never play again for us.

 

[Up the Shrimpers]

Charlie Kelman was in the 'Blue Voice' section today. I wonder if he was joining in with the 'You're not fit to wear those shirts' chants

 

[yogi bear up the cagire]

Like everyone else I was massively disappointed with our performance today. ‘No one ever drowned in sweat’, Lou Holz an American college football coach once said and there was never a chance of that today! We were outplayed and outfought by a poor Wycombe team that was nevertheless much better than we were and thoroughly deserved the win. We never threatened, didn’t play constructive, passing football and so never looked like getting the win we surely targeted.

We seem to cede the midfield to whichever team we play at home. Our midfield lacks a general and our midfield too often drops back into the defensive line so that when we do gain possession there is no one to pass out to other than our forwards who then have the unenviable task of chasing long balls. Why we don’t play Klass at the base of a diamond or behind a midfield 3 I don’t know.

As for passion, I believe that the players care and want to do their best but we are out of confidence and don’t seem to have a system to play to. All is not yet lost but I fear it soon will be. May be a rebuild with our young players in league 2 will be best in the long run.

Can I ask you which midfield were you refering to? I'm under the strong impression that we don't actually have one at the moment.

 

[Ricey]

Charlie Kelman was in the 'Blue Voice' section today. I wonder if he was joining in with the 'You're not fit to wear those shirts' chants

https://twitter.com/x/status/1117155625404911617

 

[Magnum PI]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1117155625404911617

Kerman must be deluded. I can’t see us ever winning again..

 

[Chrisb]

Can I ask you which midfield were you refering to? I'm under the strong impression that we don't actually have one at the moment.

Dru just has to start the next game. How can Dieng be selected ahead of him ? Dru likes to make forward runs and is very difficult to get off of the ball. Yes, he hasn't been the same player he was last season (and I believe playing alongside Timlin helped him so much) but his effort and enthusiam are way ahead of the midfielders selected today. That's the area that has been our weakest all season and (apart from Hyam) has had less injuries.

 

[Colchester John]

End of the season can’t come soon enough for me, a season that promised so much at the start has just been one error after another. Poor tactics and squad selection too compounded by lack of leaders and quality and naturally not helped by our injury list. Today we are managed by a complete nincompoop who apart from a couple of grunts and a few whistles, lacked any passion and was out-shouted by the Wycombe bench.
I have never been so sad after a game. Dimi didn’t look fit, where was the class and drive in midfield? Dru was needed and in my opinion so is Klass. Why do we play a natural defender in midfield along with Dieng who just loves to foul (clearly there is class there – somewhere). In my opinion we have a squad of which based on today’s debacle will be out of the door this summer. We seemed void of tactics today and hey! Let’s pass the ball to John White, he will lump it 50 yards to one of their players but we can re-group again!
I’m speechless as to just how bad it was today, Hutchinson, Kelman and Wabo would have tried harder and be proud to wear Southend United shirt. I still have faith in us staying up but it is down to the management to select a team that will fight to the end but under Bond I don’t see that happening. Nobody wanted Steve Evans, I believe he would have made the squad play/try harder. Bond, thanks for everything, you are not the real deal; pick up your P45.

 

[OldBlueLady]

I thought the first half was quite even, Dieng and White or Lennon were doubling up on Akinfenwa and getting him rattled - and it worked for that first 45 minutes. Whatever changed at half time which meant that was no longer the case, is the reason Bayo was able to score two goals against us.

We all knew he'd score today though, didn't we? He always does, and you can't begrudge him it because he knows the score, he takes the abuse from the crowd and turns it on its head. I would LOVE him to have signed for us a few seasons back when he left Wimbledon.

So, the first half, despite not creating much, we were fairly comfortable in containing the threat. The problem was, as it's been all season, that there was no creativity going forward, apart from Sam Hart getting a couple of decent crosses in, and a couple of goal mouth melees where no Blues' feet or heads could connect with the ball to get it in the net.

For me, our two full backs, Elvis and Sam Hart were our best two players . Kiernan isn't the right player to play as a defensive midfielder, and, with Mantom and Dieng on, we were just far too defensive all round which invited pressure - if I can see that, why can managers and coaches not? It was the same under Powell.

I thought Humphrys did ok, and he grew in confidence.

Not going to bother with ratings, I always get pulled to pieces as people think I'm over generous.

As Kevin Bond said in his post match interview, Wycombe wanted it more, and they got their reward.

 

[eastling]

Well that was a horror show! Must win game and we start with a ridiculous starting 11. Dieng and Kiernan in centre of midfield, a paceless Kightly and Mantom as wingers. That starting 11 alone showed how keen the new management and players were at one to keeping us in League One. Pathetic! The first 10 minutes or so we were completely second best and Gareth Ainsworth was effectively imploring the Wycombe support to keep the chants up (wish we could remove the roof of the North stand btw!). Then some stern shouting from sections of the ground in support seemed to give the players a bit of a kick start and we started to compete but we seemed clueless when we played to ball into forward positions. Dieng, Humphreys all guilty of tame efforts towards goal.
After HT, we just fell asleep. Wycombe really should have had a penalty awarded to them but kept the pressure up whilst our non existent midfield allowed Wycombe players at will to pick up loose balls and move towards goal. The introduction of Acquah for Humphreys weakened us and it was no surprise the Beast popped up with the first goal. A cross was not dealt with and a clinical finish from him to put them one up. Then the second goal was a total shambles. Non existent defending allowed another cross in which somehow looped off the Beast and in. After that we really did give up. A couple of crowd urged forays up front but a combination of resolute defending from them and tame hot potato after you Claude football from us meant we would go yet another home game without scoring.

I personally think we've had it. KB is hardly inspiring from the touchline. I've seen more animated lamp posts. His starting 11 farcical.

Bishop 4 - Probably could have read the goals better. Not helped by crosses being allowed into the danger area. Distribution poor.
Hart - 7 - MOM for me. Never stopped running. Great last ditch tackling especially in the first half. Showed desire unlike many of his team mates. A few mistakes.
Lennon - 5 - OK. A few nervy moments including a miscommunication with Bishop which led to a needless corner in the second half.
White - 6 - Hoofed a fair few balls up field when he had more time but in general ok. Both him and Lennon looked vulnerable when balls whipped in from wide positions.
Demetriou - 6 Looked up for the game and was desperately upset to be injured again which showed he cared
Kightly 3 - Could not really perform a role in that midfield with his non existent pace. Not effective at all.
Kiernan 4 - In unfamiliar territory and was a farce he was asked to play there. Dwelt on the ball far too long. Difficult for him to play a forward pass but of course he's really a Centre back!
Dieng 2 - I've never known a defensive midfielder to be so lacklustre. Barely puts a tackle in and rarely gets a yellow which is a given for this sort of player. One point for being on the end of a cross in the first half.
Mantom - 4 - Again out of position. Could not influence much and gave up a ball in the second half as lost even though it was in play. Had started ok and closed down effectively but influence drained away quickly.
Cox - 6 - Ran around and first touch was surprisingly poor. Had a flash of forward play but him and Mantom kept being in each others way. Probably ****ed off by now by some of the **** served up by midfield
Humphreys - 6 - Gazzaesque mask and tried to put himself about and general did well. However, his confidence in front of goal was poor. Too many touches and not confident. In one passage of play in the second half he was clean away, Cox went him in support but by the time he got into the position we he needed to hit a first time cross he bottled it and the chance was lost.

Subs
Bwomono (Demi) - 6 - Young Elvis made a difference in that we had some attacking outlet when he came on and was influential in winning a corner shortly after. At fault for the two Wycombe goals though given the cross came in from that side.
Acquah (Humphreys) - 3 - He's a young lad but this wasn't a game for him. Once he came on it wasn't long before Wycombe scored. Couldn't win anything up top.
Macca (Kightly) - 3 - No real point. No distribution to him and found it difficult to get into the game.

Kevin Bond - 4 - Too docile. Looks like he hasn't slept for weeks and could easily be mistaken for Julian Assange. The starting line up was crazy. I cannot see how he can motivate this lot to win another game this season. Him and Keen looked a right pair on the touchline like Edward Smith on the bridge of the Titanic.

Fans - 10 - We didn't boo til the end which give how many games we've lost this season at home is admirable.

Wycombe - 9 - Deserved it. They knew it was a big game for them having not won in 77 days and sought to put that right. Which they did collectively; fans, manager, players.

 

[geoffmundo]

In a 'must win game' you don't set up the team with an attacking formation - incredible!

 

[Fitz]

What’s our longest run without a win....14 now and counting.....I can’t see us winning again this season so that will be 18!

 

[OldBlueLady]

Fans - 10 - We didn't boo til the end which give how many games we've lost this season at home is admirable.

Might not have booed but some of the chanting would have been heard by players.

 

[NZamba Legend]

26th April 2008 was Kevin Bond's last win in England as a manager. I hope if we go down, we get rid and try and bring Paul Hurst in.

Jesus wept. Too much ****ing perspective

 

[Austin the Shrimper]

As soon as I saw Dieng in the team sheet I knew we were ****ed. Worst Southend side I can remember, we are going down without a wimper.