Post-Match Thread and Ratings Southend United 0-3 Doncaster Rovers

[wakes123]

Knew today was going to be a disaster when I saw only one change Rea for Worrall. I immediately said where's the width? Could understand if we had injuries but both Worrall and McLaughlin on bench? What was Brown trying to achieve?[/QUOTE]
There was too much space in the middle of the middle of the park against Millwall - they just played right through us (especially the 4th goal), I guess he was trying to counter against that. Didn't work though.

 

[OldBlueLady]

So annoyed by that, all that talk about changes and what do we get? Rea in for Worrall, and that's it! I said the defence needed changing after shipping 4 against Millwall, it's even more imperative it's done now after shipping 7 in 2. Lenny was doing absolutely everything except driving forward, because people were going out of position so he was dropping in where all the defenders kept going forward - that's not what he should have been doing in my book, he's the one creative one with the ability to drive and is wasted covering defence especially when Barrett kept taking so long to get back.

Bentley - 5.5, don't know if transfer stuff is getting to him or what but is hesitant in coming to claim balls in, and without the height and strength of Bolger or Prosser in front of him, he's now being exposed. I also thought the penalty should have been given against him anyway as he'd already fouled the player
White - 5.5, didn't do anything massively wrong but, in common with others, the passing wasn't great
Thompson - 7, MOTM, some important and decisive heading and some forward runs down the left of all places!
Barrett - 5, needs a rest, God love him!
Coker - 5, still not right, took a knock early on at same time as Atkinson. Dead ball stuff is still off
Rea - 5, why, just why?
Atkinson - 5, mercifully subbed as he'd done nothing right before that
Leonard - 6.5, had to cover just about every role on the pitch bar striker and GK
Payne - 6, looked quite exciting at times but just failed to actually make any threat out of things
Hunt - 5.5, won a few flicks on with no-one near him, hate to say it but looks a shadow of the player that scored two the other week
Mooney - 5.5, him and Hunt didn't seem to have any understanding going at all, it was as if they'd only just met!

Subs:
Worrall for Atkinson - 6.5, if he didn't start I really don't see why McLaughlin shouldn't have, we were so narrow with neither of them on. I did hear there was a reason Worrall didn't start but I'm not going to comment on speculation. He did ok when he came on and at least gave us a bit of a threat
Deegan for Rea - 6, pointless substitution. Like for like in theory, when what we needed to push forward
Pigott for Mooney - 6, did ok when he came on (and I was infuriated by the people behind booing when he did come on!) but again, we should have gone 3 attacking up front and lost one of the defence

Just a day of strange decisions and strange on field matters.

 

[jaffa1]

"Leonard - 6.5, had to cover just about every role on the pitch bar striker and GK"


Thought he too look laboured and tired......

 

[OldBlueLady]

"Leonard - 6.5, had to cover just about every role on the pitch bar striker and GK"


Thought he too look laboured and tired......

Hardly surprising as he's had to cover everyone's position in both recent games!

 

[davew]

PB definitely got it wrong today playing 3 holding midfielders, the whole team looked poor. It's down to him to sort out maybe a few he would have liked to play are not 100% fit, with a bit of luck I think he can find a winning formula again as long as players give 100% . No need to panic yet

 

[Kevin Hogg]

Something to praise. Over 7,000 turned out after getting tonked by Millwall. Contrast that to promotion chasing Gills attendance 6,446 against well supported Bradford City.

 

[dannypav]

It's difficult for me to be critical of a newly promoted team sitting in 7th at the start of 2016.
Like most , I would have snapped your hand off for that before the season started and I honestly think we have done so well to be where we are.
So what's going wrong ?
Players tired , losing form , others working us out , playing with injuries , Brown useless ?
Maybe a combination of the above plus one or two more things ?

I admire trying to fit Payne into the side as he is an attacking threat , but omitting Worrall and/or McLaughlin leaves us very narrow at home and therefore teams can easily stifle us in midfield as we try to go through that very congested area.
Mooney and Hunt are IMO very clever players , but got very little service today.

People on here sometimes take extreme umbridge at our 'big names' being singled out for criticism , but players should not be blindly praised , whoever they are.
So with that in mind , let me give my views in 3 who have at various times been our most consistent.

Coker - is he still carrying an injury ? If so , he needs to be left out because IMO his last few performances ( including Col U ) have been way below his standards.
I concede ( as someone mentioned previously ) he had little options without a wide man , but defensively he has been all over the place.
Top player , but looking a shadow recently and painful to watch.

Barrett - 3 games in 8 days is too much at his age and again it is hard to watch a true SUFC hero suffering.
Give him a rest Brown , it's not like we don't have cover !

Bentley - again I don't want to criticise too much , as he is a top player who will hopefully perform much higher , but I really do think his mind is wandering a little ( and who can blame him ).

Let's hope Brown can steady the ship and bring in one or two in the coming weeks as this still has the possibility to be a very good season for us.
i expected a 'bounce back' after Millwall and the fact that we got next to nothing is the worry for me.

anyway , the cat has been kicked , so we go again.

 

[Jam_Man]

Knew today was going to be a disaster when I saw only one change Rea for Worrall. I immediately said where's the width? Could understand if we had injuries but both Worrall and McLaughlin on bench? What was Brown trying to achieve?

Unfortunately playing Payne and two strikers is going to leave us exposed somewhere.

Whilst that sounds "delicious" on paper we have now been thrashed twice at home and as good as it was to beat Col U they arent exactly the best of teams.

Anyone still want to complain about "clean sheet policies" ?, because we need to get back to basics and having to score 3 or 4 goals to get a point isnt going to work.

 

[shrimperjon]

Very disapointing. Think the team was beaten before the game started. General feeling in the east stand was one of confusion when team was announced. PB talks about quality and strength of the squad but then fails to use it. We were so narrow and had no width. Attacking options were limited. Thought the front two worked hard with no service of note. At the back, possibly the worst I have seen them play collectively as a unit. Bentley no confidence, both white and Coker looked unfit and AB and Thompson looked disorganised. However they had little or no support from the midfield. Atkinson and Leonard need a rest, both were poor today. Not Rea fault, but he is playing out of position. Payne had the odd break but ran into cul de sacs all the time, but he at least had a few attempts at goal. PB talks in the press about making changes and then neglects to do so, a big week required, maybe a few new faces in, a few out. Regardless, the starting line up requires a shake up. But we have lost just 7 league games all season and sit 7th in the table. Not all that bad.

 

[tallboyblue]

The warning signs were there at Colchester. We may have won but if Colchester had taken their chances in the early stages when our defence was all over the place we could have been three goals down in the first 20 minutes.

 

[rigsby]

Unfortunately playing Payne and two strikers is going to leave us exposed somewhere.

Whilst that sounds "delicious" on paper we have now been thrashed twice at home and as good as it was to beat Col U they arent exactly the best of teams.

Anyone still want to complain about "clean sheet policies" ?, because we need to get back to basics and having to score 3 or 4 goals to get a point isnt going to work.

Don't know everyone's so upset. The corresponding home games last season produced three 0-0 draws. This season we have seen 12 goals and we still have the same 3 points from 3 games with a decent away win on Boxing day.:winking:

 

[Kris]

It's difficult for me to be critical of a newly promoted team sitting in 7th at the start of 2016.
Like most , I would have snapped your hand off for that before the season started and I honestly think we have done so well to be where we are.
So what's going wrong ?
Players tired , losing form , others working us out , playing with injuries , Brown useless ?
Maybe a combination of the above plus one or two more things ?

I admire trying to fit Payne into the side as he is an attacking threat , but omitting Worrall and/or McLaughlin leaves us very narrow at home and therefore teams can easily stifle us in midfield as we try to go through that very congested area.
Mooney and Hunt are IMO very clever players , but got very little service today.

People on here sometimes take extreme umbridge at our 'big names' being singled out for criticism , but players should not be blindly praised , whoever they are.
So with that in mind , let me give my views in 3 who have at various times been our most consistent.

Coker - is he still carrying an injury ? If so , he needs to be left out because IMO his last few performances ( including Col U ) have been way below his standards.
I concede ( as someone mentioned previously ) he had little options without a wide man , but defensively he has been all over the place.
Top player , but looking a shadow recently and painful to watch.

Barrett - 3 games in 8 days is too much at his age and again it is hard to watch a true SUFC hero suffering.
Give him a rest Brown , it's not like we don't have cover !

Bentley - again I don't want to criticise too much , as he is a top player who will hopefully perform much higher , but I really do think his mind is wandering a little ( and who can blame him ).

Let's hope Brown can steady the ship and bring in one or two in the coming weeks as this still has the possibility to be a very good season for us.
i expected a 'bounce back' after Millwall and the fact that we got next to nothing is the worry for me.

anyway , the cat has been kicked , so we go again.

To me it looks like he's playing through the pain barrier and needs to be rested. He barely crossed the halfway line in the first half and his movement in general came across as laboured. Think O'Neill should come in and allow Coker to take a rest to let his injury fully heal.

 

[Welly7]

Today was worse than Millwall and I didn't think I'd be saying that. After Monday I expected a reaction, especially when PB only made one change from that team.

Clearly the diamond didn't work. The mf looked so close together it was no wonder they lost possession again and again and again. Rea in the holding role was as guilty of this as anybody, whereas Lenny looked shattered and offered very little today. It's no secret that PB likes to consider himself a tactical coach and he looked to outwit Fergie jnr with the formation switch but the 352 outdid him today (just as it did in August with Walsall.)

White was poor and received some stick In his defence there was little help in front of him. Prior to this and the Millwall game I thought White was playing well so do we oust him now? I'm not so sure. Willo has been playing well too IMO, but after a couple of poor displays is his time up as well? Coker hasn't looked the same for 6 weeks now but we've stuck by him when he's clearly not playing to the standards he's set himself. Bentley has made two terrible gaffs in two games now...is his place up for grabs now also?

To suddenly call for major changes is fine but does that reflect the league position we are in? I don't think it does at all. Yes, I'd make changes for Swindon (I'd have also made them for today btw) but not wholesale changes. We are not now a terrible side and the league table backs this up.

 

[les@donr]

Coppinger, Grant & Keegan ran the show, Les.

In comparison, we played three defensive minded midfield players who can't pick a pass out.

Evina at left-back was terrific going forward, whereas our full backs were not.

... and you guys knew how to work on a set-piece .. Another area we are clueless at.

Player for player, there probably isn't a huge amount of difference, but we had so many players off their game today and a bizarre set-up of Rea, Leonard and Atkinson in the defensive part of the diamond.

I'll always back PB in most instances, but man alive that was a formation scared of shipping goals, rather than playing for a win.

Two players who were massively disappointing today were Mooney and Bentley.

Payne was the only one to come out of today with anything like a pat on the back.

All in all - dire!

AndyT, thanks for the feedback, sadly, I wasn't able to get to the game.

Copps and Grant are attacking midfielders and Keegan is becoming a set piece specialist. Sounds as if your midfield was over run therefore not able to supply your front line. We've had bad games, Boxing Day against local rivals Scunny being the most recent, score 0-1, the performance was poor. As a result DF switched formation to 3-4-3 for both Oldham and Southend away. I'd imagined will do his own reflecting and change the formation accordingly for the next game.

 

[AndyT]

.. Yep, Keegan broke the play up really well.

It's probably not clear on those highlights, but that shot of his actually hit the post, otherwise would have been a cracking strike!

Coppinger was a class act and everything we didn't have in midfield today .. composure, awareness and picked out pass after pass for the supporting wide players and Williams and Tyson upfront.

 

[rayleigh dan]

2 up front with Payne behind, just doesn't work. Leaves us short in midfield or lacking width.

Barrett even though he is a legend, his legs have gone. You can't ship 4 goals and not change the back four, now 7 in 2 games.

Spot on, I said in the pre-match thread that playing Payne plus 2 up is asking for trouble, what does Brown do? Predictably sticks his head in the sand and pretends the Millwall game never happened.

I mentioned the words 'embarrassing' and 'gutless' after the Millwall game, today they was even more true against average opposition who we gifted all three goals to.

Bentley 4 - horrendous defending for their third gave us no hope of a comeback. He's confidence seems shot at the moment, he's rooted to his line more than Flahavan and seems reluctant to take responsibility for any ball coming in to the box :sad:.
White 5 - The formation didn't help but he looked lost at times tracking inside to cover his man. No one took responsibility for the player overlapping.
Coker 5 - Ditto White, looks another who's confidence has disappeared.
Barrett 4 - as much as I love Adam for the second game in a row he looked completely out of his depth, sadly I think we need to look at other options now.
Thompson 6 - Probably the pick of the defence but was at fault for the first goal.

Rea 6 - I actually thought he was ok, attack wise he offered nothing but defensively he did well for the most part. I was surprised he was sacrificed for Deegan who I personally thought played worse.
Leonard 5 - One good run early on flattered to deceive, he seemed to play a too attacking role for the formation, for me he needed to sit deeper and give Rea a hand.
Atkinson 4 - Constantly gave the ball away, was he injured prior to kick off?
Payne 7 - The only player who looked threatening attack wise, however he offers nothing defensively hence my opening comment.

Mooney 3 - I've lost patience with him now, he spends most of the time standing around with his hands on his hips expecting something to happen for him. Every forward ball he either doesn't bother to challenge or dives looking for the foul. I don't want a lazy cheat playing for my team thank you.
Hunt 5 - Some nice touches and wins far more in the air than Mooney but still lacked a real goal threat, probably should have scored with a decent chance late on.

SUBS

Worrall 5 - Not sure why he came on over McLaughlin after a poor showing on Monday, despite his endeavour
he offered little.
Deegan 4 - Personally I thought he was crap, should have kept Rea on IMO. Passion does not equal giving away stupid free kicks and yellow cards despite what some in W block might think.
Pigott 5 - Effort was there but no real quality.

I hope Brown holds his hands up and admits he got the selection wrong today, if Payne starts then it has to be with only one striker. I predict a lot of the fringe players get a chance next week, surely we can't play this badly for the third game on the spin?:unsure:

 

[les@donr]

You're spot on Les, our midfield diamond first half kept performing a magical disappearing act and the whole side struggled with your quick passing and movement.

Thanks for your great posts lately and best of luck for the rest of the season, although based on today's performance I think it's us rather than your lot that need the luck!

Hi Manor15, thanks for your compliments on my posts. I always enjoyed visiting and posting on the Shrimperzone, I find posters both respectful and honest about their own team and the opposition. I have never experience any bad feeling towards my on Shrimperzone, you are a great bunch of fans, and you support a great team. You will get over this blip and will be around the playoff places come May.

Regarding today's game I had mentioned elsewhere prior to today's game that DF plays a quick style of football, getting the ball from defence to attack as fast as possible hence the 3-4-3 formation, the midfield counterattacking the opposition's midfield and the attacking trio putting pressure on opposition's defence. I think this will now be the formation DF will use for the rest of the season, as it appears to work well with the players we have, most of whom massively underachieved under PD. We now play a pressure game under DF, rather than the slow and boring play under PD, with no clue what to do with the ball. When DF took over we were 2nd bottom, certs for relegation, we are now 11th, and if we continue with the current form, could make the playoffs by the end of the season.

 

[les@donr]

.. Yep, Keegan broke the play up really well.

It's probably not clear on those highlights, but that shot of his actually hit the post, otherwise would have been a cracking strike!

Coppinger was a class act and everything we didn't have in midfield today .. composure, awareness and picked out pass after pass for the supporting wide players and Williams and Tyson upfront.

I think Copps likes playing Southend, he seems to raise his game when he plays against you, no idea why. Keegan is becoming a midfield controller we used to have in Wellens who has moved on to Oldham. Grant is a young lad from Everton who seems to thrive in the system that DF plays, he has scored some cracking goals since being at Rovers.

 

[BedfordShrimper]

As i live away from Southend i dont make a huge amount of games. Ive seen 4 this season. A 0-0, 0-1, 0-2 and then 0-3 today. I havent seen a goal yet this season. Think im a jinx ����

 

[Hawkwell Blue]

Extremely poor performance again today. I thought we looked tired and lustre and was really expecting more than one change following the Millwall defeat.
I think other teams now know how we play and do their homework well on us but we have got to be that little more wiser to it.
I personally feel PB did get a couple of things wrong today especially with the line-up.
I was also saying earlier to someone in the ground I feel we miss Timlin and that some of the information coming from the club these days regarding players is very short in supply.
With all things said we are still 7th and don't think we need to start panicking yet

Think you might mean lack lustre, lustre is a good thing.