Post-Match Thread and Ratings Southend United 1-1 Bristol Rovers

[manor15]

Would have taken that at the start of the afternoon. Yet another set piece conceded which is worrying and we really didn't threaten going forwards so had a bit of luck to get the penalty and Cox did well to convert. Tactics frustrating, Brown's decisions were a little questionable for me, the formation change didn't really work but when it gets the result you can't complain. For me it got rid of all our width and we looked more vulnerable at the back but it worked.

Oxley 7 Did well, made a couple of decent saves first half
Demetriou 6.5 Ventured forward well but sloppy passing let him down
Barrett 7 Solid and as reliable as ever, can see his lack of pace but today was more of a physical battle
Thompson 7 Last ditch desperate defending at times but solid, took a while to get going but he did deal with their forwards
Coker 7 Did well to adapt centrally and handled their winger well, only criticism was getting caught too far forward at times
O'Neill 6.5 Works well with Demetriou but struggled to really threaten. That said, today was the best I've seen of him on the wing
Leonard 8 Drove forwards like he used to and was the best man on the pitch for me today
King 6 Runs himself into trouble and dead ends, he's got potential but he's not quite there yet
McLaughlin 6 Spent more time rucking with their fullback than on the ball, looked dangerous on it but not up to his recent standards
Mooney 4 Real waste of space, falls over a lot, wins the odd free kick as a result but that's all he contributes
Cox 7 Has the intelligence and some great flicks, needs a partner on the same wave length

Subs
McGlashan 7.5 Got at them and his pace was a threat
Bridge 7.5 Brought something different on with a bit more creativity, linked Cox and the midfield well
Williams 4 No footballing intelligence and no footballing quality, need a striker ASAP

Would expect Atkinson to come back in for King next week to hold things up in midfield. It wasn't a bad result and we were the more fortunate of the two sides, but Rovers weren't that good and it was a winnable game on a different day. Set piece work and a forward necessary please Phil.

Awful and inconsistent refereeing too, spent more time talking than any ref I've seen in a while.

 

[amsemp]

Brown out.

Had just about as much as I can take of this dreadful football. The penalty absolutely saved our arses and we still could've lost it late on with yet more poor defending from a set piece.

Thompson had a decent game and that was about it. We can send King back to Swansea after that performance too. Just isn't happening. Time for a change.

 

[Silencer]

Why would you have taken a point at home to an average Bristol Rovers side?? If that's our ambition as a club we may as well call it a day right now!!!

Pony yet again, Brown changing tactics frantically late on like a teenager playing Champ Manager on his Commodore Amiga!!!!

Poor, just poor

Only bright note was the performance of Bridge yet again, I would rather our youngster play ahead of Swansea's youngster any day of the week

 

[manor15]

Why would you have taken a point at home to an average Bristol Rovers side?? If that's our ambition as a club we may as well call it a day right now!!!

Pony yet again, Brown changing tactics frantically late on like a teenager playing Champ Manager on his Commodore Amiga!!!!

Poor, just poor

Only bright note was the performance of Bridge yet again, I would rather our youngster play ahead of Swansea's youngster any day of the week

Because we have Phil Brown as our manager and I couldn't see us scoring if we conceded. No doubt about it, if we want to be midtable or better than today was a must win game.

 

[mattitouk]

Quite a few on here predicted a draw in the pre match thread, so know big surprise at the final score line. So I'm happy with that overall. That point could prove priceless come towards the end of the season. I still don't think we will struggle though.

We sounded by far the most comfortable team of the first 60 minutes, until they scored. Then their heads drop as usual. & I agree, we got lucky really, and we certainly cant be relying on other teams mistakes or penalties to get our goals.

My concern as always is our lack of conceding goals from set pieces (something we clearly haven't learnt from last season). The other obvious concern, is that Cox and McLaughlin look like our only threat to the opposition. We need another quality striking option and quick.

I wouldn't say Mooney needs to be shipped out, but in all fairness, he should be our 4th option striker, just ahead of Williams. Even young Bridge seemed to have more of a impact than Mooney.

 

[amsemp]

Why would you have taken a point at home to an average Bristol Rovers side?? If that's our ambition as a club we may as well call it a day right now!!!

Pony yet again, Brown changing tactics frantically late on like a teenager playing Champ Manager on his Commodore Amiga!!!!

Poor, just poor

Only bright note was the performance of Bridge yet again, I would rather our youngster play ahead of Swansea's youngster any day of the week

Totally agree.

I think I'll manhandle Brown out of Roots Hall myself if King or Atkinson get another minute of football over Jack Bridge next game.

 

[mattitouk]

Getting off topic again I think, Can we talk about the players performance and rating please.

 

[mrsblue]

We are done !

The club are taking the ****, paying money to watch this shambles is just one bad choice.

Phil and Ron can both do one,this team are going down unless something drastic happens,what is with these loan players,they just have plenty of pitch time even though they are out if their depth.

Too much and utterly shambolic,

 

[Bearded Shrimper]

First half we were alright but no more. Rovers came for a point and I don't mind backwards and sideways when trying to move the opposition around.
We lack quality though in the final third which I think people mistake for us being defensive, we're not, we're just not that good.
The other thing is knocking up long is no good with Mooney and Cox up there. So we need to play to feet and put low early crosses in. O'Neill done alright but checks back too much.

Second half we just drifted until they scored, our heads dropped and we were pony. We couldn't pass, didn't close down, anything. We started to get back into it and Jason Demitriou tried to make things happen, he really impressed me between the goal and getting subbed.

We put pressure on them which is why we got the penalty, it wasn't lucky to me. Lacked the quality to score again and a great block by Coker helped us not concede again but we survived by the skin of our teeth at times.

Ratings
Oxley 6
Some decent saves, doesn't seem to leave his line. Decent flat kicking first half, terrible high kicks second half that went nowhere.
Demitriou 7 bit sloppy at times but really tried to drive the team on.
Thompson 7 alright, didn't lose out physically and played the ball alright but another set piece goal.
Barrett 7 as above, tried hard but stop the mad runs up field.
Coker 7 tried, not enough quality in the final third but alright defending
O'Neill 6 tries hard but sat too narrow and kept checking back rather than crossing
King 6 alright. He makes mistakes but looks like he has some promise
Leonard 8 drove the team on, took the ball from deep and tried to make things happen
McLaughlin 6 worked so hard but very poor quality crosses and kept coming narrow into traffic
Mooney 4 I still believe there's a player there but he's not fast and not strong so don't stick it on his head with a long ball. He's better coming off and getting it to feet.
Cox 7 clearly a good player but similar to Mooney in that he's not fast or tall so needs it to feet

Bridge 7 gave more than Mooney and drove forward but lacks some quality at the moment.
McGlashan 8 tried things, did more than McLaughlin did all game. Pace, tricks, tries to hit the space in behind and cross from the by-line
Williams 5 didn't show much either way really

 

[Massimo Giovanni]

For entertainment rating I award that game 3.5/10.
Mr Ward made most decisions correctly but didn't help the game flow with constant small stoppages and too many long chats with players.
Rovers will struggle this season, they work well but had little craft. They will be fortunate to be gifted free headers from corners every week.
For us there are signs of progress but too much side side side back slow side side.......................etc when the few fast quick moves have shown to get some benefits; possession is fine but doesn't get us much when it is in our half and allows the oppos to get ten men back and set.
Oxley, 7, made some saves, kicked ok, sometimes slow distributing.
Demetreau, 7, got forward, no great end results.
Thommo, Barratt, 7 each, blocked and closed down well BUT they need to marshal the troops at set pieces.
Coker, 6, got forward ok but poor crosses, poor back pass to wrong side of Oxley which led to the corner and their goal.
MacL, 7, good first half but faded and then disappeared after 70 minutes.
King, 6/7, getting better but some poor passing and lacking in confidence going forward.
Lenny, 7, tried some shots but all missed the goal, some close, some not so. He had good spells and M of M for involvement.
O'Neill, 6, not sure on him as a midfielder, either very good or awol.
Mooney, 5, worked better but really what does he add to the team?
Cox, 7, worked hard for the cause but needs a partner.

Subs, too little time.

PB on touch line behaved himself, had club badged blazer! Again little or no guidance on attacking but lots of "close down" "tighter" type stuff. on a positive we didn't come out at 46 minutes half asleep; and PB looked as if he was, mentally, kicking every ball.

Crowd of 6,000. It will be about 5,000 next week!

 

[SS9_Shrimper]

Poor. League 2 standard game in League 1. Not enough dominance from our defenders and desperately missing an enforcer in the middle.


Oxley 7 - Dealt with what he had to well. I still feel nervy with him in goal.


Coker 5 - Didn't provide much going forward, didn't provide much defensively. Miss the pairing of him and Worrall.


Thompson 7 - Pick of the bunch for me. Got a head on to most things and played the ball out of defence rather than hoofing it.


Barrett 5 - His slow feet could have cost us against a better side. Plays a dangerous game constantly holding on to the oppositions shoulders. Surprised he doesn't give more penalties away.


Demetriou 6 - Played okay but couldn't seem to get a decent cross off properly. Looked nervous and like he was trying too hard. There's a very good player in there.


Mcglaughin 6 - Started brightly. Definitely looks more up for it his season. Lots of effort, no end product today. Was hard as they looked as though they had come for the draw initially and put bodies behind the ball.


King 4 - Anonymous. Looked a bit lost. Didn't do much chasing down.


Leonard 6 - Couple of driving runs and good tackles. Did most of the work down the middle of the pitch, but like everyone today it was a another poor day at the office.


O'Neil 5 - Can't attack well, can't defend well.


Mooney 5 - A few flashes of brilliance with a few good reverse passes. Other than the above I hardly noticed he was on the pitch for the first half hour. Probably because he spend most of it on the floor.


Cox 6 - Well taken pen, looks confident from 12 yards. Puts himself in some good positions, but ultimately nothing really came off as we totally lacked any creativity from 20 mins onwards. Went looking for penalties he was never going to get. Couple of nice flicks. Needs to play off of a decent target man.




Subs


McGlashan 6 - What I think most of us expected when we signed him. Buckets of pace and can beat a man with ease, but ultimately when it comes to the crunch his delivery is poor. Saying that, he was one of our better players today.


Bridge 7 - Like this lad a lot. I watched his movement off the ball quite a bit this afternoon. Puts himself in some good positions and always looks to receive the ball. Unfortunately nobody seemed to want to play a ball forward today.


Williams 4 - Conference South player. I would loved to be proved wrong by the lad.

 

[Somerset Ex-TTB]

My god was that dull and boring. Their header was from four yards out, where the **** was Oxley. Thank god they only got three corners. They knew the keeper just stands and watched, so put them all on the edge of the six yard box, and looked dangerous on all three.

It was Barrett's man that scored too.

Demetriu was driving forward and looking dangerous after the goal, linking well with McGlasahan, so Brown brings him off for that excuse of a footballer Williams.

Rovers were very average, and could count themselves unlucky not to win today.

I can't see us looking dangerous until Ranger gets back from injury unless another forward is brought in quick. We still need another centre back that can help us defend set pieces, so we have a midfielder on trial.

I have always supported Brown, but the next 10 days will make or break our season.

 

[Wickford Blue]

I love Adam Barratt but as the Bristol guy hammered his header into the net Adam was on his knees and if any side puts him up against someone like Cox or McGlashan it will be carnage!

 

[shrimperjon]

Simlly, awful boring football.

Got lucky, seen on twitter that we were the better side. Rubbish, who was the better keeper, who made the better saves, who blocked two late chances, Oxley, Oxley and Us

Seemed solid at the back and in midfield, but so laboured going forward, side ways backwards anything other than forward, when we did go forward we just hoofed long balls to the front two who had little chance against solid defending and the strong wind

Conceded the standard set piece goal and although it was a penalty, PB got out of jail slightly with the 1-1.

keeps going on about needing more bodies in but not sure it will make any difference with the tactics he deploys

 

[amsemp]

On a side note, Demetriou was far from a happy boy when being subbed. Refused to shake Leonard's hand when walking past him and completely blanked Brown whilst looking visibly ****ed off.

Also, I thought Williams had a fair game when he came on. He appears to have become the new scapegoat of late which baffles me a bit.

 

[Taters123]

Barrett's man made a feint to go one way and then went the other and Adam was on the floor. Age comes to us all but should not of allowed free header from 4 yards.

when Mooney plays we end up with ten men!
Williams not a pro footballer. Pay him off and let him go. Not the answer

Need players in, others teams are bringing players in!

August is pretty much a write off and our season will start in September, which is wrong but how Brown has let it play out

 

[marlow17101032]

If we can take our chances yeah great
But again ***** football ***** manager
Get rid now for christ sake

 

[Tokyo Blue]

Mooney wouldn't get in to my Sunday vets team............he adds absolutely nothing ,never looks likely to win a header/tackle or score a goal ........everything is halfhearted

 

[Rattus Norvegicus]

I couldn't make this home game ... but it sounds much like the Port Vale game - a real lack of style come the final third and no real ability to "hurt" the opposition. I see that one poster has commented on Division 4 football and that is just what I said last week.

 

[Spenser]

Very ordinary and pedestrian performance against moderate, though physically strong, opposition I thought.
Ratings 5 or 6 across the board, Leonard maybe 6.5

Bristol Rovers came to defend in numbers and try to nick a goal from a set piece and we generously obliged.

We were way too slow to get the ball forward until McGlashan came on and combined with Demetriou to give us some momentum and get behind the packed defence. PB then took Demetriou off which seemed a strange choice to me. I would agree with some earlier posters that he gave the ball away a few times but at that stage he was one of the few who looked like he may make something happen going forward, particularly once he had McGlashan in front of him.

Jack Bridge looked sharp, King played ok for about 70 minutes but gave the ball away in dangerous positions a couple of times late in the game. Williams did nothing to suggest he will score goals at this level. O'Neill remains competent but too defensive for a home match we should have fancied winning.

Cox is clearly class but we had no-one to play the necessary quality passes into him.

A defeat would have been harsh, but we will face plenty of stronger opposition as the season goes on.