Southend United 0 Millwall 2

[Javea Shrimper]

Text received from the Exec Box gang :

"lost two nil pretty anonymous performance really dudfield looks sharp oh and millwall wrecked saks"

WS

 

[canada shrimper]

wonder where the cs boys were?

 

[Uncle_Rons_Teapot]

well it's only a pre season game hopefully the team can take some experience from this and use it during the season

 

[Javea Shrimper]

No wonder we lost. According to the official site match report, we only had nine players in the starting line-up ...

WS

 

[Uncle_Rons_Teapot]

anyone know the attendance?

 

[Rbs_shrimp]

it was about 2 and 1/2 thousand

 

[BluePartridge]

I thought we played alright just looked a bit too tired. I was impressed with Che's performance, no seriously, he played in front of the Defence I think and looked much better. I won't say more than that because it was a friendly and who gives a flying feck. Oh yeah Daryl came for a few crosses!

 

[blues_r_best]

He went for three crosses and caught three crosses, never seen anything like it.

And Cheese Wilson played very well, by the end as I was walking home,loads of people were shouting out cheese, which Me, Ben, Dan and our mate Andy started in the east blacks

 

[Barmy Army]

Che was amazing.

Darry obviously realised that he needs to improve to get back as No. 1.

No disappointment here.

 

[blue sky]

A few thoughts....
I guess the starting line-up will be pretty close to Tilly's best 11 when the season kicks off. Interesting that the back 4 played a full 90mins.

Bart - he is better than Darryl, commands the box better and looks to move the ball out quickly when he can. A long kick too.
Jupp - staedy performance, managed to get forward more in the 2nd half
Nicolau - Ok performance, but Milwall's 1st goal came down our left.
Barrett - a bit shaky to start but steady game + some decent tackles. Nice to see him get forward in the 2nd half.
Edwards - Didnt make any mistakes, couple of excellent tackles. Will be a key player this season.
Maher - we missed him 2nd half, must be a starter.
Corbett - played centre-midfield in 1st half - IMO not his best position, looked much better 2nd half when played up-front.
Gower - looks slightly short of full fitness after his op, but another certain starter.
Husbands - looked keen + committed. Clearly out to show he's worth a place. I think he's better on the wing than up-front.
Bramble - Ok but nothing spectacular, but had one run at their keeper. Not sure he's in the 1st 11 yet.
"Striking Sensation" Gray- looked lively, chased a lot and decent touch. Prob shaved it over Tes as best forward in the 1st half.

Maher, Tes, and "Striking Sensation" Gray were replaced at halftime by Hunt, Wilson and Kights. Corbett + Husbands went up front.

Wilson did ok as did Hunt but that paring is a bit defensive and I felt 2nd half we missed Maher and lacked penetration in central midfield.

Kights - couple of decent runs and should be happy with his performance

Dudfield came on for Gower and went up front with Corbett with Husbands wide right. Had a decent last 30mins and given a chance to get fit should be in the starting 11.

For me, I'd say this id how things look....

definates..
Bart, Jupp, Nicolau, Barrett, Edwards, Maher, Gower, Dudfield.

Probables...
"Striking Sensation" Gray, Corbett, Husbands.

Possibles...
Flavs, Bramble, Hunt, Wilson, Kights.

I know its on the basis of 1 match and I'm sure things will change by the start of the season, but thats my 2p worth anyway!

 

[Technician]

Quote[/b] (blue sky @ July 21 2004,23:22)]A few thoughts....
I guess the starting line-up will be pretty close to Tilly's best 11 when the season kicks off. Interesting that the back 4 played a full 90mins.

Bart - he is better than Darryl, commands the box better and looks to move the ball out quickly when he can. A long kick too.
Jupp - staedy performance, managed to get forward more in the 2nd half
Nicolau - Ok performance, but Milwall's 1st goal came down our left.
Barrett - a bit shaky to start but steady game + some decent tackles. Nice to see him get forward in the 2nd half.
Edwards - Didnt make any mistakes, couple of excellent tackles. Will be a key player this season.
Maher - we missed him 2nd half, must be a starter.
Corbett - played centre-midfield in 1st half - IMO not his best position, looked much better 2nd half when played up-front.
Gower - looks slightly short of full fitness after his op, but another certain starter.
Husbands - looked keen + committed. Clearly out to show he's worth a place. I think he's better on the wing than up-front.
Bramble - Ok but nothing spectacular, but had one run at their keeper. Not sure he's in the 1st 11 yet.
"Striking Sensation" "Striking Sensation" Gray- looked lively, chased a lot and decent touch. Prob shaved it over Tes as best forward in the 1st half.

Maher, Tes, and "Striking Sensation" "Striking Sensation" Gray were replaced at halftime by Hunt, Wilson and Kights. Corbett + Husbands went up front.

Wilson did ok as did Hunt but that paring is a bit defensive and I felt 2nd half we missed Maher and lacked penetration in central midfield.

Kights - couple of decent runs and should be happy with his performance

Dudfield came on for Gower and went up front with Corbett with Husbands wide right. Had a decent last 30mins and given a chance to get fit should be in the starting 11.

For me, I'd say this id how things look....

definates..
Bart, Jupp, Nicolau, Barrett, Edwards, Maher, Gower, Dudfield.

Probables...
"Striking Sensation" "Striking Sensation" Gray, Corbett, Husbands.

Possibles...
Flavs, Bramble, Hunt, Wilson, Kights.

I know its on the basis of 1 match and I'm sure things will change by the start of the season, but thats my 2p worth anyway!

Great work "BLUE SKY"

IMHO a lot of our cross field distribution was excellent and I am all for bringing the wide men into play... but unfortunately, an equal number of our "bread and butter" passing left a lot to be desired!

We were giving the ball away too cheaply... poor passes were either being intercepted, missing our man or being played behind the forward runs... Tilly & Brushy need to tighten this up!

On the whole though, it was a good game & a good workout so lets learn from it & show Brighton what we are all about!

 

[TrueBlue]

Technician you are security at southend ;)

 

[fbm]

Quote[/b] ]"Striking Sensation" "Striking Sensation" Gray- looked lively, chased a lot and decent touch. Prob shaved it over Tes as best forward in the 1st half.

Are you kidding? The bloke hardly touched the ball!

 

[MightyShrimper]

Maher had a terrible first 10 minutes but he was ok for the rest of the half, cant wait for jay smith and mark bentley to come back to be honest, Maher looked abit lost out there today. Gower had a cr*p game, I hardly remember him in the first half and in the 2nd he looked out of sorts and like he couldnt be arsed. thought Nicolau had a brilliant game, Edwards was brilliant aswell. IMHO, our goalie and defence if fine now, midfield if fine, it was just upfront we went wrong tonight, we couldnt create anything at all, it got the the wings and we didnt know what to do next so it went back to the center of midfield, back to the defence, lump up the field from jupp/edwards and they had the ball again. Kightly was a difference when he came on, he ran at the defence and we started looking that tiny bit more likely we might score. Dudfield was also a plus. At the end of the day it was just a friendly but I was very happy overall, they didnt really trouble us that much, it was only kevin maher who gifted them a goal and a good goal from jody morris. All in all, im very happy.

 

[The Artful Shrimper]

I had the unenviable plesure of sitting next to the legend that is "Kevin", replete with mysterious plastic bag, stuffed with goodies such that the handles were stretching and likely to break. If you don't know him, he'll be at the Dagenham game wearing a Southend and a Dagenham hat...at the same time, no doubt with two seperate scarfs carefully tied together. He goes to 100 matches a season.
As I thought about it and the more I listened to his stories of being abused as a referee in the Sunday league and being taken the pi$$ out of by Dagenham and Southend fans I actually began to warm to him. A football fan, albeit eccentric, that is what makes us Brits stand out from the crowd? and who am I to knock someone with a soft spot for Dagenham as well as supporting Southend.
He told me in the first half how he thought Flavs would be the first choice. I didn't laugh. Ironic that in my arrogance of pity for "Kev", Flavs had a blinding game, coming out for crosses! coming off his line for corners ! and....shouting at his defenders.  Bart also had a good game, what a fantastic problem we now have.
Gower? please don't tell me he has caught the curse of the signed contract? and Gower plays edgy, Gower delivers untimed crosses and half hearted "take em ons" (nice verb Kev).
As the night went on... I listened, I had no choice, to Kevs warblings and assessments. He'd periodically take out a well worn piece of paper with what looked like squashed up Greek writing, touch the end of a sentence with a chewed pencil, and put it back in his pocket.
"We need Bentley and Jay", he says " though I do like Che playing where he is".  I decide to challenge "Kev" but as I look at the field with our now substituted captain Kev who'd had a very suspect game of mixed emotions and wonder how different we'd be if Bentley and Smith were availible i cannot. Che does look good.
We lose two nil, and I have sat next to a bloke at one time we've all probably mocked,though maybe never know, and he will travel all the way back to Rainham no doubt running the gaunlet of far less sympathetic Millwall fans.

A night I suppose I should say I wish I could forget, losing and sitting next to ....well,..."Kevin."

"Kev", I take my hat off to you, but only one of them.

 

[Technician]

Quote[/b] (TrueBlue @ July 22 2004,00:19)]Technician you are security at southend ;)

Jack of all trades, me... and master of none!

 

[Technician]

Quote[/b] (Mighty Shrimper @ July 22 2004,02:29)]Maher had a terrible first 10 minutes but he was ok for the rest of the half, cant wait for jay smith and mark bentley to come back to be honest, Maher looked abit lost out there today. Gower had a cr*p game, I hardly remember him in the first half and in the 2nd he looked out of sorts and like he couldnt be arsed. thought Nicolau had a brilliant game, Edwards was brilliant aswell. IMHO, our goalie and defence if fine now, midfield if fine, it was just upfront we went wrong tonight, we couldnt create anything at all, it got the the wings and we didnt know what to do next so it went back to the center of midfield, back to the defence, lump up the field from jupp/edwards and they had the ball again. Kightly was a difference when he came on, he ran at the defence and we started looking that tiny bit more likely we might score. Dudfield was also a plus. At the end of the day it was just a friendly but I was very happy overall, they didnt really trouble us that much, it was only kevin maher who gifted them a goal and a good goal from jody morris. All in all, im very happy.

I think you contradict yourself with the front pair, when you say they didn't create anything? They need the service from midfield!.

I wouldn't say the midfield was poor at all. Sure Maher had a mediocre game at best, but the industry was there. As I mentioned in another post, our passing and distribution was a little suspect and needs to be worked on.

Both teams IMHO looked to be of a fairly similar standard [was this Millwall's first XI?] and considering they are two leagues above us, is all credit to our management team.

 

[Napster]

Quote[/b] (Javea Shrimper @ July 21 2004,21:45)]Text received from the Exec Box gang :

"lost two nil pretty anonymous performance really dudfield looks sharp oh and millwall wrecked saks"

WS

who said that? sounds like a pretty incisive comment.

 

[TerryintheWest]

Quote[/b] ]I had the unenviable pleasure of sitting next to the legend that is "Kevin"

Then I must have been the other side of you in M114 (wearing the red elonex shirt) next to your son?

Kevin has now joined the Trust I understand.

 

[BluePartridge]

Quote[/b] (The Artful Shrimper @ July 22 2004,07:18)]We lose two nil, and I have sat next to a bloke at one time we've all probably mocked,though maybe never know, and he will travel all the way back to Rainham no doubt running the gaunlet of far less sympathetic Millwall fans.

The thing is we all do pretty much know him as he tells everyone his life story at one point in time.