Post-Match Thread and Ratings Southend United 0 Huddersfield Town 1

[South Bank Hank]

Shots on Target
Southend 6
Huddersfield 2

Shots off Target
Southend 5
Huddersfield 3

Corners
Southend 4
Huddersfield 2

Sadly, today was nothing more than a game between two mid-table sides squabbling it out with little quality on show and little to excite the punters. Huddersfield may have scored the goal to secure the points but, in truth, there was little between the sides. Southend lacked the guile and quality for too long to find the break through but our defence wasn't good enough at the other end to keep a clean sheet.

Walker missed a dreadful penalty so will be the obvious candidate to join usual scapegoat Betsy, but the bottom line is we still haven't replaced Nicky Bailey and our midfield still presents a major weakness in the absence of our recent loan signings. Macca needs a strong player beside him and Milsom sadly is not that man.

The one crumb of comfort for Southend will be the difference in our play when Freedman and Barnard entered the field. The former adds a different dimension to our attack, uses the ball with more intelligence than we're used to seeing and adds some welcome experience to the first third of the field. The latter adds the wholly committed instincts of Revell but with greater goalscoring threat.

I believe if they'd been fit to start, we'd have won the game.

 

[Lord Football]

It doesn't get much grimmer than this. A horrid game, a horrid display, horrid weather, horrid everything. It didn't feel right from the moment I walked into the ground. My only surprise was that either of these fairly incompetent sides managed a goal between them.

The first half was instantly forgettable. Huddersfield dominated without any penetration.

The second half started with a goal. Francis losing his man and the ball feel to Craney, who completely unmarked and with no one between him and the goal, couldn't miss. He didn't. Hudders then sat back, wasted a bit of time and did all the usual stuff teams do when winning away. Smithies in the Huddersfield goal made a top save from a Barrett header, did well to scoop out a low Francis cross and somehow punched over Harding's free kick. Sounds good, doesn't it. They were the only three threats we mustered in the final 45. Oh, we had a penalty too. It rates, possibly, as the worst penalty I've had the misfortune to see. Walker literally rolled the ball to the keeper's left who was able to almost bend over and pick it up.

Our performance was littered with stupidity. Misplaced passess, people trying to do quick free kicks and giving the ball away. We need to back to basics, defend properly and support the forwards. As a unit the midfield failed to win many (if any) second balls and as a result we failed to apply much in the way of pressure. Today's performance was that of relegation candidates and if we don't turn it around very quickly, we are going to be heading towards the bottom very quickly. Bright spots of course was the return of both Freedman and Barney.

I've obviously got no complaints on the back of such a woeful performance. Huddersfield, frankly, were little better. I shudder to think what Chelsea will do to us if we play like that in the FA Cup.

Ratings (a view from the Family Stand)

Mildenhall 7 - Did what he had to do well enough. A bit of juggling. Couldn't do anything with the goal.

Francis 6 - Better than previous. Made a lovely run and cross in the second half which Laurent maybe should have converted. At fault for the goal? Possibly.

Harding 6 - Looked a bit shakey early on. Came close with the free kick. A quiet game.

Barrett 6 - Came close with a header. Missing for the goal. Again.

Clarke 6 - Did some good work, but like Barrett, should have been somewhere close for the goal.

McCormack 5 - Out of sorts. Too many misplaced passes.

Betsy 3 - I have absolutely no idea what he was doing today. Too many times he made the wrong decision, played the wrong ball, made the wrong run. I am starting to wonder why we play him.

Stanislas 6 - Good in patches but faded.

Milsom 5 - Better than last week but didn't get as involved as he should.

Revell 5 - Ran around a lot with little end product.

Laurent 5 - Wasn't at the races, but got no service.

Subs

Freedman 7 - Thank God! At least he looked like he might cause a problem.

Walker 5 - He, out of all of them, needs a performance. The crowd are getting on his back and he has to turn it around soon or the writing is on the wall.

Barnard - Not on long enough to make any difference, but the sooner we get him and Freedman playing from the start the better.

 

[Ayrshire Blue]

I thought Huddersfield were a well organised side, was always going to be a tight game.

Their 'keeper was pretty decent and kept them in the game.

Mildenhall 7 - Much better, Looked a lot more confident coming for crosses and his distrubution was good.

Francis 5 - Woeful !! gave the ball away everytime he got it and lost his man for the goal.

Clarke 6 - Why can this bloke not realise that whenever he just punts it forward it's coming straight back at him ?! - A bit of composure please Peter.

Barrett 7 - Typical Barrett performance.

Harding 7 - Started slowly, got forward well and was the pick of the back four.

Betsy 6 - Didn't take on his man enough, gets to the edge of the box and wont shoot !

McCormack 6.5 - Bit better than he has been, still no were near the player he was last year.

Milsom 6 - Didn't think he looked that lightweight as people mentioned he was last week.

Stanislas 6.5 - Few decent runs, one awful corner and the free kick that hit the score board, why on earth did he take that ??

Revell 6 - Worked hard but no service.

Laurent 6 - Great strike in the first half that hit the post although he was offside - other than that was kept quiet.

Subs -

Freedman 7 - Thank god we have him back, a real touch of class.
Walker 6 - Unlucky with the penalty, needs to dust himself down and keep his head up.
Barnard - Good to have him back but little time to make a real impact.

 

[Andyhsufc]

Dreadful performance today. It hit me today what the real problem is; the squad as a whole have endless amounts of endeavour but the quality is lacking to an embarrassing extent. It is good to have a few hard-working players in the squad (in fact it is vital) but we will get nowhere without a few players of real quality in the squad. That is where the Sawyers and Hardings of this world come in.

Mildy - 7 - Did everything right but not really tested. No chance with the goal.
Franny - 3 - Pathetic performance. Gave the ball away every time he received it, lacked any real quality when on the ball and got skinned/outdone every time the winger ran at him. Should be ashamed of that performance imo.
Clarkey - 6.5 - Defensively was solid but lacked composure on the ball.
Barrett - 7 - Defensively solid
Harding - 7 - Defended well. Looked a completely different class to Francis today tbh.
Betsy - 6.5 - Don't really get all the betsy-bashing tbh. I thought he got a few decent balls in and won us a few set pieces (including the pen IIRC). People need to rememeber what league we are in and the fact that Gower was too good for this league.
Macca - 6 - Made a few decent passes and his old energy was back HOWEVER too many of his passes were wayward and something just isnt clicking for him. Was guilty of commiting a hideous tackle in the 2nd half which, imo, was worthy of a sending off.
Milsom - 6 - Same as Macca really. Made a couple of rash challenges which didnt really help us.
Stanislas - 6.5 - Thought he offered us a bit of width in the 1st half but faded in the 2nd. Didnt get enough of the ball tbh as everything was going down our right-hand side (dont know why as not much was happening)
Revs - 7 - Worked exceptionally hard but received woeful service from the midfielders. Really like him as a player as he gives us something different.
Laurant - 6.5 - very quiet game though this was more because of the poor service our midfielders were giving him.

Freedman - 7 - Different class. Only on for 20 mins but set up 2 chances as well as playing the ball which won us the penalty. Great to have him back.
Walker - 6.5 - Thought he looked a lot more dangerous than the starting pair of strikers. Poor penalty but at least he had the bottle to take it. All players miss penalties and the reaction was very over the top imo. I think he will be a decent player for us if his confidence has not been shot to pieces
Barney - 6 - No time to do anything of substance. Again, great to have him back

 

[MatchDayRadio]

You can discuss this thread at 7pm live on www.matchdayradio.com
The only radio station dedicated to Southend United

 

[bertiebigbanana]

Seems to be a lot of people blaming francis for thier goal but in reality it was betsy who once again did not defend his patch and allowed thier players to get in a 2 on 1 situation with francis.

 

[Clinton Baptiste]

Didnt even have to look at the OS to know what Tillys comments would be, bemoaning our luck. YEs the keeper made 3 decent saves but they were saves any professional keeper should be able to make. It wasnt luck that we were 2nd best in every dept, that Huddersfield kept the ball superbly, defender stoically and had 2 good threats up front in Cadamarteri and Roberts. It was a perfect away performance from them,and hopefully Tilly was taking notes on how they played, how you should play away from home.
We were just awful n every dept, midfield is the most disjointed Ive seen under Tilly. You dont get success by constantly changing the perssonel. If we had a bigger squad at the start of the season we wouldnt be in this position. Certainly is not bad luck to have no competition in defence. Cant actually remember the last league game we won, looks a long way away on this evidence.

Mildenhall- 6, little he could do about the goal. Could have Buffon in goal it wouldnt make a difference.
Francis- 4, woeful, lucky to get away in the first half with an error. Made more mistakes in this game than Hunt did in his whole Southend career.
Clarke- 6, some good headers but distribution guff as always.
Barrett- 6, average.
Harding- 7, probably the pick of the team. If he doesnt stay we wil be in even worse trouble.
Betsy- 4, one good cross in the first half but no compsure near the goal, too negative.
Milsom- 5,most one footed player Ive seen, should be able to use both feet in centre mid.
Macca- 5, nowhere near the Macca of last season, constantly gave the ball away or just fouled his man. Get Moussa back.
Stanislas- 6, always a threat going forward but his decision making at times was just awful and set pieces not as good as previous games.
Revs-6, worked hs nuts off but frankly never looked like scoring or causing any problems
Laurent- 5, one good effort but anonymous after that.

Subs
Freedman- 6, improved once he was on but never got a sniff of goal sadly.
Walker- 5, simply not good enough. People used to slate Wayne Gray, Walker is 10 times worse.
Barney- not on long enough but good to see him back, but how long till another injury.

 

[Andy_S]

This is deja vu as it's almost indentical to last Christmas. We're in poor form, we look like a very poor side, we've got Tilly making excuses left and right (poor ones I might add) whilst he stands on the touchline looking like a lost child at the farce that plays out in front of him on the pitch. Today was a carbon copy of the shambles at home to Bristol Rovers 1 year ago. Frankly I don't believe making 7 signings in the window this year like last is going to help us, nor is it going to happen, unless we get special dispensation to field 11 loan players a game. Please, please Ron find some spare cash to sign some permanent players in January so we don't have to go through the transition period for a 3rd time this season.

Ratings:

Mildenhall 6: Didn't really have to do anything apart from pick the ball out of the net and watch the pub players in front of him.

Francis 4: And I'm being generous. He's gone from being one of our most talented players to a complete liability. Oh freaking dear. He's lost the ability to pass water and he seems to have lost all interest in being a professional footballer. Lewis Hunt I thought you were hapless at times but please come back as Francis is making you look like a master of concentration and awareness.

Clarke 6: A bit run of the mill from Clarke. The usual all action display really.

Barrett 6: How in the hell the referee didn't give a penalty for Barrett's wrestling show in the 1st half from a free kick I don't know. One of the most stone wall penalties I've ever seen and we got away with it. I still think his negatives of being in the team far outweigh his positives.

Harding 5: He's caught Francis-itis. He was a talented, steady, solid left back that was way out of our league a few weeks ago. We've soon coached that out of him. Today he was a carbon copy of Francis, letting the ball bounce, allowing forwards to pounce easily and generally looking anything but assured.

Betsy 6.5: His best performance for some weeks yet he still missed 3 or 4 opportunities to put the ball in the box in the last 10 minutes or so, perferring to take an extra few touches to tie himself up in knots and allow the left back to rob him of the ball. That said though, this was a good step towards his early season form.

McCormack 4: Not going to bother stating why I'm giving him such a low mark as it's the same reason every week at the moment. He's seemingly lost all the attributes that once made him an important player for us. How many times is he giving the ball away at the moment? Dear me. Poor. Again.

Milsom 4: He might be able to do a good job in central midfield in the no contact Premier League Reserve League, but in League football he can't seemingly. A total contrast to his performance on the left against Oldham. Whenever he received the ball he was put under pressure and he didn't seemingly know where to go or what to do. Keep him to the left hand side of midfield when Stanislas is unavailable please Tilly.

Stanislas 6: Not anywhere close to the display he put in against Luton. He came into it more as the 2nd half went on and once he had the intelligence of Freedman up there with him.

Laurent 4: Completely ineffectual and should have buried the headed chance he had early on, which probably would've turned it into a completely different game, for himself and the team. Perhaps he's going to be more of an enigma than we first thought.

Revell 4: This was back to early SUFC career Revell and not the one that has impressed me recently. Saying that though the service he was provided was truly abysmal.

Subs:

Freedman 6.5: In that 30 minute half fit cameo he showed just how badly we could've done with him since Orient. His intelligence, his experience, his knowledge, his leadership and obviously his ability is not matched by anyone else in the squad.

Walker 6: Awful, awful, awful penalty, but that I'm afraid is how he takes them, using the lax, casual, waiting for the keeper to move technique. Unfortunately their young keeper read it easily. Apart from that he did ok, nothing more nothing less.

Barnard /: Barely touched the ball did he? Was NOT a happy bunny that Tilly didn't bring him on when the penalty was ready to be taken. Actually, that's an understatement.




Huddersfield were an average side, with a dodgy looking young keeper and one out and out striker, who happened to be Cadamarteri, who had his day long before his off the field extra curriculam activities, yet we never really looked like hurting them. Tilly can make all the excuses he wants on the radio and try and pull the wool over our eyes as much as he wants, but that was a poor, poor display, that I imagine one Mr Martin was not impressed at whatsoever. It lacked passion, organisation and drive. Mostly though it lacked quality and the 1st half especially showed just how woeful our defending can be. It was schoolboy like. Again. The next month and a half on and off the pitch is going to be massive.

 

[Up the Shrimpers]

Crowd today was 8,382 to get that sort of crowd just before Christmas was pretty good it was boosted a bit by the local junior football 'club day' and the £10 tickets by text. Infact that may well be even bigger than our Boxing Day game against Northampton.

Our current average home crowd is 8,186 and that is higher than last season and only 300 off Ron Martin's target of 8,500. Mind you looking at some of our home games from Jan onwards & we will be lucky to get 7,000 for some of those.

 

[* ORM *]

I've not felt so low since watching teams put out by Alan Little in front of around 3,000 fans. For the first time I'm actually starting to ask questions that I'm sure I'll get flamed for such as - Do we have any defenders ? Why were we playing 5-3-2 today ? Can anyone explain the merit of signing loan players who have no intention of signing for us ? Has Tilly taken us as far as he can ? (shock horror, has ORM taken leave of his senses ?)

Far too early to talk relegation but I want to see some SERIOUS activity in the transfer window. I'll happily give up any promotion talk and aspirations if we can sign a new back four.

 

[OldBlueLady]

An incredibly disappointing game, so many hopes on hearing the news that Dougie and Barney were back in contention, yet a completely inconsistent display by the team as a whole.

Mildy - 6, thought he did what he needed to do comfortably, didn't really see the goal to be honest so don't know if he could have done better.
Francis - 6, did a better job I thought, loads of running up and down, worked well with Betsy when boxed in, and got some decent crosses in. I sometimes wonder what he needs to do to get any approval from some of our fans.
Clarke - 6, looked more purposeful, and loved seeing him go up into attack towards the end - maybe that's the solution to the Barrett/Clarke dilemma?!
Barrett - 6, much better than last week, still too much grappling going on though.
Harding - 6, also much better than last week - don't keep letting Stanislas take freekicks though, YOU have been our no.1 freekick taker up to now.
Betsy - 6, like Franno, I just don't get why so many have such a downer on him, worked hard, got in the right positions and got some crosses in, also won the penalty.
Macca - 6, worked hard, determined and desperate for a goal to give him a boost.
Milsom - 5, don't care what his preference is, he's far better on the wing, worked hard though.
Stanislas - 5, a shadow of what we've seen, and I've come to the conclusion that he's too greedy - it's getting all too familiar seeing players in much better positions yet he doesn't give them the opportunity.
Revell - 6, love him to bits but things just weren't right today, although he did pick up a few free kicks for once.
Laurent - 4, poor on today's showing, what's happened?

Subs:
Freedman for Laurent - 7 MOM, sub as MOM? Yes, he made a huge difference, not sure he worked with Revell though.
Walker for Revell - 5, oh dear, had built up that confidence and there it was blown away in a split second.
Barnard for Stanislas - 6, angry Barney, looked really lean and hungry for goals.

Officials - 6 out of 10, not so bad as some we've seen but some very poor decisions again, some dodgy advantages that fizzled out.

TBV - guys, what happened? There was very little noise at all today except that noisy lot in South Upper.

 

[JoshC]

Am I the only person who saw Laurent's brilliant effort against the post?

 

[haveaguiness]

Am I the only person who saw Laurent's brilliant effort against the post?

No but you must be the only person that didn't see the flag go up about 5 seconds before or hear the wistle blow for offside.
Personally today was just plain awful. A lack of commitment, passion and most of all a complete lack of talent on show from southend. For the entire first half huddersfield had us pinned back in our own half. We gave the ball away to cheaply and never got going.

Mildenhall_7.5 Was very commanding today, caught everything in wet conditions and had no chance with the goal.

Francis_3 and that is being rather nice. What has happened to him. He shows in games that when he puts the effort in he is a great defender but he gets beaten far too easily, puts in no effort and is just plain and simply poo at the moment. he needs to be dropped!!!

Clarke_7 Thought he was the pick of the defense today especially in the 2nd half. He blocked everything and didnt actually give any silly free kicks away today. He passing was wayward at times, but milsom kept coming to get the ball from him whiched worked better.

Barrett_6 Lucky is the best word to describe barretts defending at times. When will he stop cuddling strikers??? Apart from that he did well and got stuck in which is a typical barrett performance.

Harding_ 6 seemed to start slowly and got beaten a couple of times but was a rock in the 2nd half if we could have another one of him to play right back please that would be lovely. Was unlucky with the free kick aswell.

Betsy_ 4 im with the people that can't really see what he brings to the team. He seems to run away from the ball when he is defending rather than closing down his man. Lacks pace, skill and only has one cross per game. Needs to be given a rest and let someone else have a go. Can't believe he completed another 90 minutes. Left francis completely exposed 2 on 1 for the goal by giving up chasing him back.

Milsom_ 6 He tried to get on the ball but there was such little movement ahead of him meant he lost it on a few occasions. Is no christophe in that holding role but to be fair playing with macca in the middle at the moment would make alot of players look pretty poor.

Macca_5 Nothing again! no forward runs, no defensive work that didnt result in a free kick. Kept losing the ball and is not the macca of last year. Please macca where have you gone??? picked up his 5th suspension of the season today though for a ridiculous tackle, just so he won't be suspended for the chelsea game. On his current performances he shouldn't be in the team.

Stanislas_ 5 Few moments of magic but he was very poor. Gave the ball away too much. Free kicks per poor, couple of clever slipped passes but no one could read them. Hoped to see more if im being honest.

Laurent_ 5 Similiar to stanislas but just didnt look intrested today. Hopefully just a poor performance and will be back to his best next game.

Revell_ 5 Worked hard, won some flick ons, but never looked dangerous, which he needs to do as a striker. Maybe its the pressure of having freedman and barnard fit that resulted in both our strikers having a poor game today, maybe that or the complete lack of service and support from midfield.

Walker_ 5 Missed the penalty which was so weak the goalie could have dived the wrong way got up and still saved it. If he is going to place them put it a little further in the corner so the goalie cant actually reach it. Took a ridiculous quick free kick which if there player hadnt smashed it down the field, and just passed it to there striker would have meant a one on one with mildy.

Freedman_7 He is just a class above everyone else in this team. Been out for 12 or so games but still looked quicker and sharper than everyone else. He movement is first class but he cant do it all on his own. glad he is back though.

Barnard_ wasn't on long enough but glad to see him back also.

We havn't one a league game since leeds and since sawyer left. Maybe a coincidence, maybe not. He was a driving force in the middle, chasing everything and working hard. We thought macca would ttake that over when he came into the team but there has been nothing. We lost the game in the midfield today because we didnt compete. I cant wait until the christophe deal is finalised and i just hope we can get sawyer back until the end of the season otherwise i can see us struggling in midfield. Not enough class.

 

[JoshC]

No but you must be the only person that didn't see the flag go up about 5 seconds before or hear the wistle blow for offside.

Fair enough :doh: Was still a good shot though...:unsure:

 

[haveaguiness]

Fair enough :doh: Was still a good shot though...:unsure:

Haha it certainly was. shame there wasn't more of it from him today. Still i always had a feeling he was going to be the sort of player that is amazing one week and then absolutely pants the next week.

 

[bazzashrimper]

Milsom 4: He might be able to do a good job in central midfield in the no contact Premier League Reserve League, but in League football he can't seemingly.

When we had sawyer, he wanted the ball but in the final third. Milsom found it difficult to do that with no time on the ball (huddersfield had 3 men in centre mid) so kept dropping back to pick up the ball from the back four. It just ruined our shape completely - when we lost the ball Milsom went charging forward when he should have been tracking back and was out of the game and I cant remember one successful tackle all game. For me, it shows how much we miss Sawyer.

Also, what's going on with free kicks and corners? Harding was doing a decent job with both until 3 weeks ago, but he didn't get the chance to take one til the 88th minute when he got the keeper to make a decent save.

My ratings

Mildenhall - 6. Ok
Francis - 4. Going forward OK, going backward terrible
Clarke - 6. Defended really well. Distribution as per normal
Barrett - 6. Was ok. Couple of decent runs forward.
Harding - 6. Defended well, didn't get too involved going forward. Let him take free kicks.
Stanislas - 6. We struggled to get him into the game. Did ok when involved, but a few times he could have passed earlier. Only a kid, but will need to learn to make better decisions to make it at the top level.
Betsy - 5. Can't beat a man, but crossing ok when given a chance. Doesnt quite fill me with the same excitement as Ricky Otto did!!
Macca - 6. Thought he did ok in the second half. Misses Bailey / Mahers quality alongside him
Milsom - 4. Doesnt look like a centre midfielder at this level. I thought he was ok on the left, but not as good as Junior.
Laurent - 4. Not very good, but worked hard. Missed a sitter.
Revell - 5. Not very good, but worked hard.

Subs
Freedman - 8. Looked a class apart. Gave laurent and revell a showing up when he was able to chest down the 70 yard balls that they weren't able to head. Thank god he's back.
Walker - 5. Played ok. Don't blame him for missing a penalty. Hes not great at shooting and he's not great at being composed - I blame the person who let him take it. Clarke then Walker - reckon we should let mildy take the next one, then Barrett. Move through the team and one day we may be desperate and have harding or Freedman take one.
Barney - 5. Didn't get involved, but it was only a few mins. Thank god he's back.

 

[Shrimper93]

Midfield was shocking today,played far too deep one player I would pick out today was Milsom clearly not central midfielder tried to hard got caught out alot having said that the whole performance was pants. Why did Freedman after picking the ball up let walker take the pen?

 

[sadsy]

The team is playing with absolutely no confidence. There is no competition for places in the back four and midfield is all over the place. I know some on here don't rate Grant but he must play as the holding centre midfield player. He was brilliant at Millwall early in the season. Milsom does look a decent player but play him on the left. Stanislas can then play on the right instead of Betsy who took too many wrong options today. With Freedman and Barney sort of fit again it can't get any worse than today.

 

[OldBlueLady]

Macca_5 picked up his 5th suspension of the season today though for a ridiculous tackle, just so he won't be suspended for the chelsea game.

Don't think so, both he himself, and Barrett told us this was his 4th card. Only reds from reserve games count, not yellows.

 

[Ulysses]

Mildenhall 7.5 MOM
Francis 5 (Sankofa next game)
Clarke 7
Barrett 6.5 (better performance
Harding 6.5
Betsy 5.5 (poor no pace)
Millson 6
Macca 5.5 (absolute tosh!)
Junior 6.5
Revell 6.5 (ran around)
Laurant 5.5 (no service, don't think he likes the cold)

subs
freedman 6.5
walker 4 (worst penalty kick ever)
barnard 6