Post-Match Thread and Ratings Southend United 0-3 Walsall FC

[WestStandBlue]

Ladapo is worse than Theo Robinson

 

[McNasty]

We only played 2 kids, one of them (Yearwood) was one of the only players that looked remotely threatening today, Harrison was poor but to be fair to him he's a striker being played out of position on the wing.

Wasn't Ladapo playing ?

 

[Massimo Giovanni]

At half time and 0-0 the game seemed set to be a goalless draw with little memorable plays. A few of our players seemed "not at the races" but Wlasall seemed content to sit back and hope their big centre forward got a break. Cox, Tims, Dru seemed our 3 players who wanted to make things happen but not much from the rest, Fred Ladapo looked very off the pace.
2nd half and goals change games; Harrison should have buried an easy chance in front of an open goal but obviously didn't.
We looked the more likely team.
SCP got ready to make changes then Ozthingy scored an individual goal.
We make some changes and seemed to be in the ascension but , imo, soft free kick and its 2 nil.
Again we seem to be more in possession but little threat.
3 nil and a very good individual hat trick.
We huffed and puffed.
Some bad things, the side side passing seemed back, the young lads didn't stake a claim to a starting shirt, the shooting boots seemed to have gone; good is that Kites and Woody are match ready.

 

[southendkid]

Wasn't Ladapo playing ?

I suppose compared to the average age of our squad he's young, but I wouldn't call a 25 year old a kid.

 

[eastling]

A tale of a game no one appeared to have wanted. First half sluggish play from both sides, Ladapo missed a simple header to put us in front and give the home crowd a lift. He didn't even jump and was very lethargic.

The change at ht should have been Harrison and Ladapo for Fortune and Kightly. This cost us as Harrison missed a sitter at 0-0. From then on Walsall seemed buoyed and cut out our wing play. Their no 10 hits a shot, Oxley misreads it and from then on only one winner.

The last time we cleared snow to get a game on we lost two nil to Rotherham. Best not to bother in future!

 

[RHB]

What a difference two weeks make. We went from hungry 'up for its' against Portsmouth to second best for nearly all of today's game. The fact that the club and volunteer supporters got the game on was a marvelous effort but it was clear from the kick off that this was not going to be a scintillating affair as both sides struggled to find any rhythm. It would be unfair to pick out any one player for criticism as no one covered themselves in glory, in either half. The return of Kightly and Woody offered some improvement, and with hindsight maybe Kightly should have started, but there you go.

Bottom line we lost 0-3 to a side probably no better than us because we defended badly to concede those three and up front we were looking for things to happen rather than making them happen. At least Mr Powell has another week to think through what he now wants from the side. Rather than dreams of a late charge for the play-offs, the 50 point target is now paramount. Kudos to the Blue Belles today, they must have been freezing their whatevers off out there, but they still did their routine.

 

[Greenelk]

Lots of players guilty of appalling passing today. I know the pitch doesn't help, but we seemed almost panicked when we got the ball. Harrison looked out of his depth (appreciate he was being played out of position), I don't remember Ladapo winning a single header, and the lack of pressing for large parts of the game was painful to watch.

I also thought that SCP left it too late to make the subs as well sadly. Lots for him to take in after that, certainly

 

[Firestorm]

Said to Mrs FS at half time that A Phil Brown second half would see us well beaten, and that it would be a test of CP to get anything out of the game.
Unfortunately PB’s team turned up....

 

[McNasty]

I suppose compared to the average age of our squad he's young, but I wouldn't call a 25 year old a kid.

When you are my age, most people who are not quite dead are kids to me.

PS I didn't realise he was 25.

 

[united we stand]

I can’t even begin to describe how utterly disgusted with that performance I am. Talk about throwing it back on the faces of the fans and staff who had worked so hard since the crack of a sparrow’s fart to get the match on. The attitude was a disgrace across the board and they all looked like they were disappointed that they had to play in the end.

Alarm bells rang in the first 10 minutes for me. There was absolutely no aggression or intensity to our game. Where was the “quick out of the blocks” high pressing and “in their faces” intensity of the last 5 games? It disappeared. We’ve seen from those first 5 games under SCP exactly what he is drilling into the players on the training pitch and today they have just ignored him.

What makes it even worse is that Walsall are quite probably the poorest team I’ve seen this season, apart from Oztumer.....who pretty much IS their team. If we had turned up today with the same intensity, attitude and will to win of the last 5 games then we’d have dispatched them with ease.

At least Powell will have learned more from that than he did from the victories. That today should have shown him the extent of the clear-out needed in the Summer.

Oxley 5 - poor kicking and should have done better with first 2 goals.

Demetriou 6 - ok, tried to get things going down the right.
Ferdinand 6 - despite conceding 3 goals, didn’t really put a foot wrong. Could have done better to combat Oztumer’s movement for 3rd goal.
Turner 6 - as above.
Coker 6 - decent enough, tried to get things going down the left.

Harrison 5 - tried but not a winger.
Timlin 4 - poor. No big tackles, didn’t press without the ball and too many misplaced passes.
Yearwood 6 - does neat things with the ball and tackles well, went off the boil a tiny bit at the end as everything around him fell apart.
McLaughlin 5 - didn’t look to beat his man or pose a threat enough.

Cox 5 - nothing came off for him today and fed off scraps since nobody was getting the ball into his feet.
Ladapo 4 - a luxury if he carries on playing like that. Off the pace. Doesn’t win enough in the air, doesn’t hold the ball up we’ll enough and static when he should be moving off the ball, running into space, pulling the centre halves out of position etc.

All subs 5 - tried to make an impact but the game was gone.

agree with all that, absolutely zero intensity, you could see it within the first 5 minutes,. even if we had scraped a draw I would still say we were pathetic. Loosing 3-0 to a side of that quality is pathetic. Cox (first half, second half too far away from my vantage point to have an opinion ) was the only player up for it and chasing lost causes and puting in the effort.

They should keep the floodlights on and make the players shovel the snow back on to the pitch !

 

[Bluegoose]

Cox had two chances, Yearwood one. Think Ladapo had one.

Also, for me. I've yet to be impressed with Ladapo. If we keep MAF, then we should let him leave.

Cox almost hit the goal line flag with one, so I guess that was a chance

 

[THE SEVENTIES NORTH BANK]

I don't think I've ever seen one of our goalies kick(Hoof) it long so much. Trouble is there was no proper target man for that to work. Against Wigan and Portsmouth Oxley played it short half the time, so we kept possession more. Then in the middle today it went sideways, sideways, back and hoof. So back to the Phil Brown style which doesn't suit these players.

 

[MisterStubbs]

Firstly, hats off to all those who helped this morning to get the game on. Your efforts didn't deserve such a gutless performance from the players.

Secondly, credit to Walsall. They played the conditions better than us and their number 10 was the difference even without his three goals. He was quality throughout the game, the sort of player we don't have in our squad. I'm surprised he is playing at this level. That said he's first two goals I think you can put down to a combination of poor keeping and pitch condition but nevertheless, hats off to him.

On to us and well, where to begin? Let's start with the obvious.. Freddie Ladapo. Wow. I've not seen such a disappointing performance from a front man and I've seen Theo Robinson play up front for us. From memory, he failed to win a single header, he failed to hold up the ball despite us constantly using him as a target man. He looked some way off the pace, he wasn't anticipating anything and he didn't make their defence worried once. They'll probably never have such a comfortable afternoon. I said at half time I'd be amazed and slightly annoyed if he came back out for the second half which of course he did. The difference when MAF came on was there for all to see. He won headers, he held the ball up and linked up with Cox a couple of times. I don't know what's happened behind the scenes or if MAF just needed a bit of a rest recently but for me he simple has to start up top alongside Cox who again put a shift in today but as I've said many times before, he can't do it all himself. Other than a handful of hopeful balls in to the box we didn't really create anything today and that was a big disappointment. On to the midfield, Stephen Mac put in some dangerous crossed, especially in the second half. He should have had an assist but Shayon Harrison inexperience showed when he blasted his opportunity over the bar at 0-0. Michael Kightly looked a bit off the pace as well when he came on which is to be expected after recovering from a knock, hopefully another week worth of training will see him get back to the sort of form he showed before picking up that injury. Before the game I was quite pleased to see Timlin and Yearwood remain in the middle. They have formed a good partnership and have played well together over recent weeks. Today though, they weren't up to that sort of level again. Time after time they got overrun by the Walsall midfield, Timlin was guilty of giving the ball away far to often.. that misplaced pass (if you can even call it that) put people in the back row of the East Stand in danger! Dru on the other hand whilst having a couple of moments of decent midfield play, breaking up their attacks, finding the spare man etc at times he was guilty of trying to do to much on his own which led to him giving the ball away which resulted in a Walsall attack. I wouldn't want to give up on that partnership in the middle after one poor performance but with the return to fitness of Woody and Wright, both will have to improve after that if they want to remain in the starting eleven. Not much to say about the defence, maybe they could have closed down their number 10 quicker before his first goal and same again for their third, it was far to easy for them to work the ball in to a shooting opportunity. I think Oxley will be disappointed with his part in their first two goals as well. Whilst the pitch didn't help, no keeper should be beat at his near post after flapping at the ball.

All in all, despite a disappointing performance and result to match I don't want to get to carried away. We've been excellent until now under CP. We certainly didn't do anything during the game well unlike we've done in recent weeks but that's football. Today wasn't our day, it's frustrating of course but we move on to next weekend.

Tough to rate the players after that but here we go..

Oxley- 5, could/should have done better with the first two goals
Demetriou- 6, didn't do much wrong in defence but didn't contribute much in attack unlike recent weeks
Turner- 6, again wasn't at fault for the goals but could have closed down the first sooner
Ferdinand- 5, looked to be puffing towards the end of the game, to many stray long balls second half
Coker- 6, plenty of effort but no real threat going forward like others
McLaughlin- 6, put some dangerous crossed in to the mixer second half, other than not much else
Yearwood- 5, tried to do to much on his own, gave ball away in their final third to often
Timlin- 4, I'd like to see his pass completion stats after that, seem to give the ball away at every oppotunity
Harrison- 5, didn't really get himself in to the game, should have done better with his opportunity at 0-0
Cox- 7, plenty of effort as always, he sets the tempo up front but others are slow to follow his lead. Had a couple of half chances he could have made more off.
Ladapo- 3, maybe a bit harsh but I don't think so. Utterly useless, should have been taken off at half time.

Kightly- 5, looked off the pace but is expected after injury
Woodward- 5, same as Kightly.. more training and match time needed before he gets back to his best
MAF- 6, linked up well with Cox when he came on, deserves to start next week ahead of Ladapo for sure

A quick thought on the playoffs. Seen a lot of optimism regarding the playoffs, especially on twitter recently what with games in hand and only what, 9 points off Plymouth with a couple of games in hand once those above us play this weeks round of games but I have to say, the performance today tells me we are a fair way off the playoffs. The lack of quality going forward will be our downfall. I think we'd be much better suited to have as strong a finish to the end of the season as possible and then build on that for next season.

 

[united blues]

Reminded me a bit of the Paul Sturrock days. If we are playing that way because of the pitch and change our style next season then so be it. My neck hurts ..

 

[Barling Magna]

Is that an attempt at humour?

Well spotted .

50+ years a Shrimper

 

[Lord Football]

Horrid

I was in a box. Fourth time I've been in one, and I've never seen us score. So my fault entirely.

From the outset it looked like a group of people who didn't want to be there. That seemed to include many in the crowd. The first half had "0-0" scrawled all over it in a large marker pen. Walsall managed to create precisely nothing, and we did little better. Lapado missed the target with a header and that was about it.

Second half, Harrison missed a good chance and then their little midfielder got three goals curetesy of some unlike Oxleylike goalkeeping. That was it really.

Positives, I like my positivies, were hard to find. Wordy and Kightly back playing, possibly realising that Lapado shouldn't be starting ahead of Fortune and Harrison isn't a winger. I'd expect to see some changes next week. All part of the CP learning process. He'll have now seen had poor this team can be, and he'll be thinking about to stop that happening again.

 

[leroyjean]

I may be imagining this, but I have an idea I saw Cox "congratulating" Oxley on the second goal.

LATER .... Sorry folks (and Simon). I've seen it again on the highlights, and I now reckon he's trying to gee the whole team up, probably throwing a word of consolation at Oxley before turning to the others and clapping his hands by way of encouragement. Mind you today's Oxley quite certainly wasn't the one we've got used to this season.

 

[Depor_Shrimper]

I'm baffled that Lapdog started again given his inability to hold the ball up particularly well or win any headers/flick-ons - something that MAF does rather well in comparison!

Looking forward to next week, perhaps SCP should have a closer look at some of those on the fringes of the squad such as Wabo, McGlashlan and Kyps?

 

[garner&best]

Wasn't Ladapo playing ?

He was on the pitch, but no he wasn't playing

 

[shrimper-james]

Performance and result aside, that was quite possibly the coldest I’ve ever been at Roots Hall, and that’s really saying something.
After we went 0-1 down, me and my Dad suggested shovelling the snow back onto the pitch to get the game abandoned. Wish we had have done now!