Post-Match Thread and Ratings Southend United 0-3 Norwich City

[Benfleet Blue]

What swear filter circumvention? The whole word comes up as asterisks if you type it in, circumvention is when you, yourself take it upon yourself to change a couple of letters so it's obvious what the word is.

Were you at Tranmere or Yeovil? If so you'd know that Moussa last night was clearly better than on either of those occasions. If Ibehre used his fist why wasn't he booked, and if that was a pen, why wasn't Macca booked? As I said I haven't seen replays just my impression at the time.

Scannell does this repeatedly, and has to a number of players, most often Barney. As to Macca getting on the wrong side of officials, well, he does, doesn't he? Shame the guy ran into his elbow as it goes, but didn't think he had a lot of option but to make the challenge in the box.

If Moussa was worse at Tranmere and Yeovil, then I dread to think how bad he was. He really seems to think he's better than he is. He was quite simply awful and didn't look too bothered about it.

As for Simon Francis, he was simply awful. He looked disinterested and really is a liability when defending, not being alert and not looking to mark, challenging when he should be holding up and constantly putting the rest of the defence in trouble.

Christophe and Macca in the middle constantly gave the ball away and really offered nothing going forward. With the 2 of them and Moussa we really were, and indeed are, in a no win situation. And with Tilly still insisting in playing so deep what chance have we got.

I feel so sorry for Lee Barnard who had to come deep every time to get the ball. He simply had now service whatsoever and it's no suprise he won't sign a new contract. Who can blame him.

And as for Macca's challenge in the box, it was between the goal and the corner flag and there was absolutely no need whatsoever for the challenge which was suicidal. Having seen it on SSN it certainly was a penalty.

So many people think we were not 3 goals worse than Norwich but I can't see it. If Norwich had converted their chances it could have been 5 or 6. We were awful, playing so deep that we were always going to be under attack for the entirety of the game.

For ST to say we matched them and things didn't go for us astounded me. He must have a different view from the touchline and with no options it's hardly suprising he doesn't move from the dugout wall. I truly feel sorry for him as he really does the best with what he's got but BBC Essex said that we CANNOT make permanent signings as we are under the transfer embargo. Hope I heard it wrong but they even appeared to state that this applied to January.

Without Laurent we have no width and no hope of servicing the strikers.

Dreadful lackluster performance. Lack of quality, lack of effort and lack of hope. So disappointed to see what has happened to the team and feel desperately sorry for ST who's reputation must be diminshing through no fault of his own.

 

[BILLERICAY BLUE]

Scannell I blame largely for the defeat after he blazed over when it was easier to score. Barney laid it on a plate for him and if he scored when it was easier to do that than miss then we could have attempted to shut up shop.

Disagree with you on that one Dave, thought Barney's ball just pushed him a touch wide, meaning he was stretching for it a bit, which is why it went just over.

FWIW, I agree with Tilly to a certain extent, it was never a 3-0. We were inches away from 3 goals, (Barneys shot in the 1st 5 mins, Scannell's effort and Barneys header), on another day they all go in.

However, we never got to grips with their formation. Hughes at the base of thier diamond, had all the time in the world to pick his passes, and nobody was picking up Hoolahan, who at the tip of the diamond was causing havoc in the space between our midfield and back 4. Would like to have seen Tilly match them up, but that's just my opinion.

 

[borientater]

Holt never stopped moaning all night he was winding up the team and the crowd all night . Bit like Macca used to do for us !!

 

[united we stand]

and Holt sent off for persistant moaning.

Christ- if that was to happen Barney would get sent off every other match ! we can't have it both ways

 

[united we stand]

Scannell I blame largely for the defeat after he blazed over when it was easier to score. Barney laid it on a plate for him and if he scored when it was easier to do that than miss then we could have attempted to shut up shop.

.

can't agree with that , it was a tight angle and I don't think Barney would have done any better.

However I thought in general he was crap, yes lots of runs but never an end product as has been said soooooooo many times before. Having said that they did seem scared of him . Right near the end there was a move where he had FIVE of them on him !

 

[Ayrshire Blue]

Did anyone have a decent view of the goal we scored that was ruled out ? Who scored it ?

 

[GBJ]

Total shambles,Ron Martin out.

graysblue.jr likes this

 

[Mick]

What swear filter circumvention? The whole word comes up as asterisks if you type it in, circumvention is when you, yourself take it upon yourself to change a couple of letters so it's obvious what the word is.

Were you at Tranmere or Yeovil? If so you'd know that Moussa last night was clearly better than on either of those occasions. If Ibehre used his fist why wasn't he booked, and if that was a pen, why wasn't Macca booked? As I said I haven't seen replays just my impression at the time.

Scannell does this repeatedly, and has to a number of players, most often Barney. As to Macca getting on the wrong side of officials, well, he does, doesn't he? Shame the guy ran into his elbow as it goes, but didn't think he had a lot of option but to make the challenge in the box.

Firstly it was a nailed on penalty. No doubts whatsoever.

There is no Law that says if you give away a penalty, you must be booked. The referee obviously felt that a penalty was sufficient punishment for the somewhat reckless challenge. If you are going to continually criticise referees, I think it would be useful for you to get a better understanding of the Laws of the Game and their application.

Unfortunately, I had no decent view whatsoever of the disallowed "goal". There wasn't much of a protest. I'd guess there was no caution because he thought that it was handball but didn't get a clear view so gave the decision on the balance of probability, but wasn't going to caution on that basis.

Mr Crossley had a superb first half and a reasonable second half; the best performance by a ref at Roots Hall for some while. Damned with faint praise? Maybe.

 

[Supa Shrimpa]

I thought it was an even first 60 mins. We knocked the ball around nicely in patches. Once we went 1-0 down the desire seemed to fade away and just knocking it around wasn't enough against an organised team.

Mildy - 7. Arguably our most consistent player at the moment
Francis - 5. He is our David James. Does either brilliant things, or howlers. Unfortuantely, too many of the latter last night.
Morrison - 6. I like him, but two mistakes for the goals
Barrett - 6. Committed !!! Holt gave him a hard time though
Malone - 6. Ok, but i'd rather have our Johnny.
Scannell - 5. Seems too small and no last ball
Macca - 7. Hustled and bustled, but we've seen him better
Christophe 7. Battled hard in the middle of the park
Moussa - 5 Looks totally fed up with playing on the left. Kept cutting inside and it made us lose shape.
Barnard - 6.5. Worked hard again, with little service.
Ibhere - 7. Pretty good. Be nice to keep him for a while
Subs : Walker 6 One tricky run.
Dougie 5. Left mid, when we need a goal ? Behind the pace. Bottled 2 tackles.

 

[canveyshrimper]

Firstly it was a nailed on penalty. No doubts whatsoever.

There is no Law that says if you give away a penalty, you must be booked. The referee obviously felt that a penalty was sufficient punishment for the somewhat reckless challenge. If you are going to continually criticise referees, I think it would be useful for you to get a better understanding of the Laws of the Game and their application.

Unfortunately, I had no decent view whatsoever of the disallowed "goal". There wasn't much of a protest. I'd guess there was no caution because he thought that it was handball but didn't get a clear view so gave the decision on the balance of probability, but wasn't going to caution on that basis.

Mr Crossley had a superb first half and a reasonable second half; the best performance by a ref at Roots Hall for some while. Damned with faint praise? Maybe.

I agree, I didn't have a view of the penalty from my seat, but having seen it since on SSN it was a clear penalty, and quite often refs will view the penalty as sufficient punishment.

I am not quite sure whether our "goal" was disallowed for a foul on the keeper or a handball. As you said there was no concerted protest so it's likely the officials got this right.

I thought the ref was one of the best we've had for a while, he became a bit fussy in the second half with free kick & throw placements, but beyond that he was pretty good.

 

[Clinton Baptiste]

Holt never stopped moaning all night he was winding up the team and the crowd all night . Bit like Macca used to do for us !!

Macca still does! Holt is also captain so is within his rights to question decisions.

 

[Shrimpergonzo]

Disappointed but not despondent after last night.

FWIW my ratings:

Mildy - 8 Playing really well at the moment, that one-handed save in 2nd half was outstanding

Franno - 6 Some decent crosses, but some poor defensive work.
Morrison - 7 Reasonable performance from a young lad
Barrett - 7 Not bad, but not as commanding as we expect
Malone - 6 OK in parts but some of his dead ball work was poor.

Scannell - 6 Talented but tactically inept - wandered out of position too often and needed to get that shot on target after Barney's exquisite through ball
Christophe - 6 A curate's egg of a performance - good in parts
Macca - 5 Couldn't pass water at the moment, and can't shoot for toffee - can we have the real Macca back please?
Moussa - 5 Really disappointing from Franck, we expect more

Barney 8 - Worked tirelessly, little service bit always looks dangerous
Jabba 8 - promising debut up against 2 decent centre backs

Subs

Walker 5 - fresh legs should have given us more and didn't
Friedman 5 - one decent piece of work but mostly poor, I'm one of his biggest fans but I think he should now be made reserve team coach and consigned to being used in the 1st team for emergencies only.


Christophe is now suspended for saturday - Grant is back so we'll see at least one change to the side!

 

[Mick]

Macca still does! Holt is also captain so is within his rights to question decisions.

The captain has no special privileges when it comes to dissent. It is for the referee to determine when reasonable "questioning" becomes dissent. Last night Mr Crossley clearly felt that Holt had not overstepped the mark and without hearing what was said and how it was said, we cannot say one way or the other.

 

[sadsy]

The captain has no special privileges when it comes to dissent. It is for the referee to determine when reasonable "questioning" becomes dissent. Last night Mr Crossley clearly felt that Holt had not overstepped the mark and without hearing what was said and how it was said, we cannot say one way or the other.

Trying to instill into youth players the codes of conduct under the FA Respect programme is hard enough as it is. Professional footballers are meant to be the role models for the scheme , week in week out games on TV and games like last night with persistent moaning makes it even harder to justify.

 

[yogi bear up the cagire]

For someone who could only listen to Blues Player, (and missed the first fifteen minutes of that), I've never read such varied ratings on a match. I haven't got time to do a synthesis but it would seem that there were generally positives for the two young loan defenders, for Jabba and as usual for Barney and Mildy. There were truly awfuls for Moussa and Freedman but for the rest you pay your money and take your choice. An incredible divergence of opinion on the others, especially when it came to Macca and Francis.
Would imagine, viewing the options he has, Tilly must have been dreading the start of December. Things are not going to get any easier on Saturday although Tilly may have one or two more options but as I've said you've got optimistic to believe that we're going to get anything against Charlton, who must have a similar strength squad to Norwich. I think that we have to face the fact that, with the squad we have at our disposal at the moment, there are some teams we really cannot compete against.
The real test for Tilly will come at home to Hartlepool, he will really need to motivate the squad after, possibly, four defeats on the trot. Hopefully he will have a few more bodies to choose from and a win, with a side that is starting to get a little more settled, could mean that we will have a slightly less disasterous December than some of us on here have predicted .......... ..................................we can but hope.

 

[leeblue]

quite simple really, we didnt take our chances norwich did, they were a bit more creative in midfield, if barney had scored one of his three very good chances it would have been a different game, add to that the scannell chance and I do believe 3 nil flattered them

 

[adsmithers]

Mildey- 8, man of the match, Played very well
Francis-7, good going forward and hade a good game. Put some good crosses in the box.
Morrison- 7,Impressed, big and strong, won plenty of headers. Perhaps not the quickest on the deck.
Barrett-6, PLayed ok some good blocks.
Malone-6, tbh people thought he didnt play that well but i thought he looked ok and looking forward to him playing
Scannell- 6. played ok and should start more
Jeff- 6, gave the ball away quite alot but still confident on the ball and won a few tackles
Macca- 4, woeful. very rubbish dont deserve to be in the team on saturday, one good thing was the tackle at the end were he looked like he go the ball
Moose- 6, Just one of those games
Jabo- 6, he did work hard and looked like he could do something for us in the future
Barney- 7, he did look good especially in the second half

Overall i think that we did play well especially the front men and the defence going forward. But if the midfield are not playing well then that is what is normally wrong, no service to barney or jabo and no help for the defence. Also Norwich best players were hoolahan and holt also liked there other centre mid.

 

[South Bucks Shrimper]

Mildy 7.5 Could have moved for the second

I was directly behind the shot. I, and those around me, were convinced it was an own goal as it was not on target when first hit.

 

[sammyboy]

I think the midfield needs a good sorting out. the defense were good but they need backing up from the midfield, and they need to service Barnard who will score if he gets a chance which he is not getting at the moment.

At the start of the season when we were getting draws and we beat Orient, players like Mooooossa and Macca were actually playing quite well.

Moooooossa didnt want the ball last night, his touch was shocking and he was out of position on countless occasions.

Francis had a good game but the early free kicks were **** and over-hit, we need to make more of set pieces.

 

[duncan bulgaria]

My ratings

Mids - 8.5 , two great saves and numerous very comfortable saves where he made sure he never spilt the ball , kicking not the best though

Francis -5.5 Same old Franno really , good one moment , woeful the next

Morrison 6.5 Defended well at times but teh front two ended up getting teh better of him and Barrett.

Barrett 6.5 Same as above

Malone - 6 Still unsure on him , was just very ordinary tonight .

Moussa - 5 worst game i've seen him have , just not interested last night and totally inaffective .

Macca - 6 Tried hard but was out classed and out passed by two better CM's .

JFC - 6 Outclassed as above

Scannel 6.5 Drifted in and out of teh game although had a stormer compaired to Moose , couple of decent runs but doesn't posses the pace we need .

Barney 7 Some good hold up play from him and got into a couple of decent position , should of notched in teh first 15 minutes ...may have been a different game had he .

Jabo - 7 Quite liked his general hold up play and won more headers last night than Revs did in his whole time here , unfortunatly him and Barney were both dropping deep there fore posing not much threat as our midfield fail to ever go beyond our front 2 .

subs - 5.5 - no impact


Ref 7.5 thought he handled the game well tonight .


Couple of thoughts , Norwichs winger was a class player last night and shows exactly what we are missing in our midield , he was so comfortable running with the ball and broke with pace and purpose . Our dead ball delieveries were very poor last night , too many over and under hit .