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

[Tommy2holes]

Possibly, but I must admit I'm not sure White would have stopped their goal, he certainly didn't towards the end of last season. For what it's worth I thought Demetriou was perhaps our best prayer today, I can certainly appreciate why he was ****ed of being subbed, especially for Ryman league wannabe Williams.

He didn't appear particularly saintly when subbed

 

[OldBlueLady]

Agreed, we have two shorter than average centre halfs, Mooney, who ducks almost every high ball, leaving Leonard as the tallest player on the pitch, yet when we have a corner we leave him on the half way line defending?!

This infuriates me. Currently, Demetriou and O'Neill are playing last "men", but, like today when both had been sbbed, Lenny is "last man". It's because he is so adaptable - quick and able to make a good defensive tackle, but I do feel we miss his presence when we have an attacking corner.

 

[Evening Echo]

Blues' draw with Bristol Rovers in pictures

PICTURE gallery from Southend United's 1-1 draw with Bristol Rovers.

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[rigsby]

Possibly, but I must admit I'm not sure White would have stopped their goal, he certainly didn't towards the end of last season. For what it's worth I thought Demetriou was perhaps our best prayer today, I can certainly appreciate why he was ****ed of being subbed, especially for Ryman league wannabe Williams.

I agree Demetriou had a good game, he had lots of the ball in the first 20, shame he and O'Neil never crossed the ball like they did on Tuesday. Nothing wrong with him wanting to stay on, but it was clearly tactical and not for the way he was playing.

We have gone three at the back before with Thompson on the right side and that still leaves us with more height, which our team desperately needs. We did pull a goal back so can't see why people are unhappy with the decision.

Whatever you think of Williams he has come through the system and we aren't spoilt for choice at the moment with Ranger sitting in the stand for 6 weeks. So perhaps all of you people booing in the East stand need to remember that it won't do a young player any good. Or maybe, like many strikers before him, he has been judged and condemned and therefore your out to prove your point.

 

[RHB]

Whatever you think of Williams he has come through the system and we aren't spoilt for choice at the moment with Ranger sitting in the stand for 6 weeks. So perhaps all of you people booing in the East stand need to remember that it won't do a young player any good. Or maybe, like many strikers before him, he has been judged and condemned and therefore your out to prove your point.

I totally agree that players should not be booed, young or old, but I really doubt whether Williams will ever make the grade with Southend.

 

[davewebbsbrain]

Dear oh dear. I knew I would come on here and find Mooney and Williams being scape-goated. Honestly, if you actually watched Mooney's movement today you would know this was a player trying to work channels where other players didn't bother, coping with a guy who wanted to wrestle him the whole time while getting no help from the officials, making some intelligent runs both with and without the ball into space and trying to get on the end of crosses but smaller men jumping ahead of him. Williams too, today, did better than he's being credited for. Having said that, I still don't think he's anywhere near ready for L1 and a loan out to a top Conference or L2 side is a must.

Oxley - 7, criticism of his kicking because it was better in one half than the other? Hmm....wonder if the wind might have had any effect there? :facepalm:Did ok, looked far more confident than against Gillingham, in either game.
Demetriou - 7, guy clearly has a temper. Refusing to shake a team-mate's hand is not the way we do things at Southend. He also gets into more than his fair share of flare ups on the pitch with oppo players. Having said that, he impressed down the wing today. Defensively, he's not as good as White.
Thompson - 7.5, pick of the defence today.
Barrett - 6.5, three games in a week too much for him.
Coker - 7, got forward more today, which was good to see.
O'Neill - 6.5, bit of a luxury we can't afford as his natural instincts are defensive, and we need the creativity up front.
King - 6.5, does some things well, then makes mistakes. Doesn't seem able to pick a decent forward pass. Too inconsistent at the moment, and would rather see Bridge in there.
Leonard - 8, MOTM, good to see him driving forward and not afraid to shoot. We need to see more of this.
McLaughlin - 7, flashes of speed and skill, but Gavin Ward took a huge dislike to him and he was targeted a bit.
Mooney - 7, hard worker, difficult being the target man when it's as windy as it was and we still insisted on pumping high balls forward. Chased balls that others gave up on, and won them.
Cox - 7, want to see him in the middle more.

Subs:
McGlashan for O'Neill - 7.5, made a massive difference, ran at them with pace. Crosses were a bit hit and miss.
Bridge for Mooney - 7, did well when he came on, want to see him given more opportunity.
Williams for Demetriou - 6.5, better, but still needs to learn.

Your friend and mine - Mr Gavin Ward. Mr Fussy. Today was one of those "sod off and don't ever come back" ones.

What about Leonards woeful pass across the park about 30 yards out in the first half straight to a Brizzie Rovers player? Agree Lenny had a good game, especially further up the field, but that pass was a shocker

 

[Kevin Hogg]

I just do not think Williams has either the technical ability or mobility to make it. With his low center of gravity you have to be quick to turn and move (Maradona and Messi are extreme examples) while Mr W is a little ponderous. He has strength and works hard...but that appears to be it.
I so want him to make it ...and in his defence I do not think a few minutes here and there (usually when we are chasing a game) is going to be enough for him to develop.

 

[Gt Yarmouth Shrimper]

Why is oxley getting so much criticism. He made two very very good saves, had no chance with the goal, kicked very well and came for crosses and off his line. But to give him 5 is ridiculous, he was far better than that

Agreed, he was very good. I also felt McGlashan injected a sense of urgency into the team when he came on.

 

[Voice of Reason]

Why is oxley getting so much criticism. He made two very very good saves, had no chance with the goal, kicked very well and came for crosses and off his line. But to give him 5 is ridiculous, he was far better than that

Be careful what you wish for,just seen gills goalie drop another two clangers in yesterday s game.pretty sure he was our first attempt to sign a new number one

 

[Kevin Hogg]

Be careful what you wish for,just seen gills goalie drop another two clangers in yesterday s game.pretty sure he was our first attempt to sign a new number one

To be fair - Just Edinburgh has called him publicly on both but said it is the first and only time his keeper will have such a poor game and that he is normally excellent.

 

[Pak Power]

I think we are missing bbbc whilst defending set pieces. His height helped out the defence , and our other forwards lack the height to help out at the back when required

 

[Danshrimper]

To be fair - Just Edinburgh has called him publicly on both but said it is the first and only time his keeper will have such a poor game and that he is normally excellent.

This is the same keeper who made a mistake against us in each game allowing McLaughlin to score his 2 goals so I'm not sure about it being the 'first and only' time.

 

[OldBlueLady]

What about Leonards woeful pass across the park about 30 yards out in the first half straight to a Brizzie Rovers player? Agree Lenny had a good game, especially further up the field, but that pass was a shocker

Yes, I did see it, you can't mention everything though. I also noticed many occasions where either Thompson or Barrett were marauding at the wrong end of the pitch and Lenny dropped straight into their vacant places in the defence.

I get very frustrated that we all too frequently make umpteen passes across midfield when players are calling out (as McLaughlin was many times in the first half) for a direct pass. I know it was windy, and that a few of them were caught out a few times, but it's not just yesterday that we see that kind of thing happen. I think we do tend to look for the right hand side most of the time to attack down.

 

[5scoops]

Dear oh dear. I knew I would come on here and find Mooney and Williams being scape-goated. Honestly, if you actually watched Mooney's movement today you would know this was a player trying to work channels where other players didn't bother, coping with a guy who wanted to wrestle him the whole time while getting no help from the officials, making some intelligent runs both with and without the ball into space and trying to get on the end of crosses but smaller men jumping ahead of him. Williams too, today, did better than he's being credited for. Having said that, I still don't think he's anywhere near ready for L1 and a loan out to a top Conference or L2 side is a must.

Oxley - 7, criticism of his kicking because it was better in one half than the other? Hmm....wonder if the wind might have had any effect there? :facepalm:Did ok, looked far more confident than against Gillingham, in either game.
Demetriou - 7, guy clearly has a temper. Refusing to shake a team-mate's hand is not the way we do things at Southend. He also gets into more than his fair share of flare ups on the pitch with oppo players. Having said that, he impressed down the wing today. Defensively, he's not as good as White.
Thompson - 7.5, pick of the defence today.
Barrett - 6.5, three games in a week too much for him.
Coker - 7, got forward more today, which was good to see.
O'Neill - 6.5, bit of a luxury we can't afford as his natural instincts are defensive, and we need the creativity up front.
King - 6.5, does some things well, then makes mistakes. Doesn't seem able to pick a decent forward pass. Too inconsistent at the moment, and would rather see Bridge in there.
Leonard - 8, MOTM, good to see him driving forward and not afraid to shoot. We need to see more of this.
McLaughlin - 7, flashes of speed and skill, but Gavin Ward took a huge dislike to him and he was targeted a bit.
Mooney - 7, hard worker, difficult being the target man when it's as windy as it was and we still insisted on pumping high balls forward. Chased balls that others gave up on, and won them.
Cox - 7, want to see him in the middle more.

Subs:
McGlashan for O'Neill - 7.5, made a massive difference, ran at them with pace. Crosses were a bit hit and miss.
Bridge for Mooney - 7, did well when he came on, want to see him given more opportunity.
Williams for Demetriou - 6.5, better, but still needs to learn.

Your friend and mine - Mr Gavin Ward. Mr Fussy. Today was one of those "sod off and don't ever come back" ones.

I was starting to think I went to a different game, and I also thought Mooney had a good game won and laid off ball well ,and I don't like him one bit ,,me and my son thought we should have won the game and ref was well off of the game ,,Adam should have a pen when the guy laid on top of him first half ,,,and cox missing some great ball in ,, thought king won a lot of tackles ,,but Bridge did make a difference ,,, now young Jason needs games and lose a bit of upper body weight .needs l2 for half season ,,, the new keeper looks ok great save 2nd half, at least we didn't lose

 

[Southend schoolboy]

The main problem we faced yesterday is that we had 2 forwards who drop deep to pick the ball up to feet between the lines, but for some reason we didn't seem to be capable of passing the ball forward and quickly. Cox and Bridge when he came on both look for the ball to feet but king AND leonard only seem to pass the ball sideways or backwards. Lenny drives forward well but usually to no prevail. As for Brown Bashers, give the man a chance, hes had 4 games, lost ranger to injury and can only work with what hes got, which is not much. If he had the money he would be signing players.

Oxley 7.5-- didn't put a foot wrong, good kicking and solid throughout
Demetriou- 5.5-- Not effective at all, poor deliveries and nothing there with o'neill
Barrett 6-- Solid, too old now to be first choice
Thompson 7-- Very impressive, good on the ball and won everything in the night
Coker 6-- shadow of his former self, needs confidence
O'neill 4-- not a RM, no end productive
Leonard 6-- Good, nothing special
King 3-- I feel sorry for him, but its not hard to PASS THE BALL FOWARD
McLaughlin 6-- works hard, looks much fitter this year, should have scored
Mooney 7-- scapegoat, did very well yesterday with the high lofting balls, give the man a break
Cox 6-- Class but in the wrong team and style of football, give the ball to his feet not his face.

 

[Rattus Norvegicus]

Agreed, he was very good. I also felt McGlashan injected a sense of urgency into the team when he came on.

.......... and too often that was the role that Worrall used to perform ......... it's as if Brown says "we will spend the first 60 minutes tiring them out and then go for a more attacking formation" ..........

 

[manor15]

.......... and too often that was the role that Worrall used to perform ......... it's as if Brown says "we will spend the first 60 minutes tiring them out and then concede from a set piece and go for a more attacking formation" ..........

Edited for accuracy.

 

[Bearded Shrimper]

The main problem we faced yesterday is that we had 2 forwards who drop deep to pick the ball up to feet between the lines, but for some reason we didn't seem to be capable of passing the ball forward and quickly. Cox and Bridge when he came on both look for the ball to feet but king AND leonard only seem to pass the ball sideways or backwards. Lenny drives forward well but usually to no prevail. As for Brown Bashers, give the man a chance, hes had 4 games, lost ranger to injury and can only work with what hes got, which is not much. If he had the money he would be signing players.

Oxley 7.5-- didn't put a foot wrong, good kicking and solid throughout
Demetriou- 5.5-- Not effective at all, poor deliveries and nothing there with o'neill
Barrett 6-- Solid, too old now to be first choice
Thompson 7-- Very impressive, good on the ball and won everything in the night
Coker 6-- shadow of his former self, needs confidence
O'neill 4-- not a RM, no end productive
Leonard 6-- Good, nothing special
King 3-- I feel sorry for him, but its not hard to PASS THE BALL FOWARD
McLaughlin 6-- works hard, looks much fitter this year, should have scored
Mooney 7-- scapegoat, did very well yesterday with the high lofting balls, give the man a break
Cox 6-- Class but in the wrong team and style of football, give the ball to his feet not his face.

i totally agree with you on the bits i've highlighted. It strikes me that Mooney and Cox might be too similar to really work together, both would probably work better alongside someone big and/or quick to stretch the defence to create space or to deal with those balls round their throats that we are so fond of playing.

also, I should have mentioned previously just how hard McLaughlin worked yesterday. he's been written off as a bit of a luxury player but whenever he was needed he sprinted back to help out as if his life depended on it.
he also celebrated like mad when we got the pen. it's fair to say he had more confidence than me but it was good to see the passion

 

[silentshrimper]

A 7 for Mooney?!!

He was awful again, too weak, kept going to the crowd and can't hit a barn door. I can't think of a single chance he created. Was it him who missed a chance in the first half when the ball went fizzing across?

Whilst a 7 might be a little too high, I thought when we got the ball into his feet he actually got a few attacks going for us, a few nice flicks and passes. I was totally underwhelmed by Cox on my first viewing.

 

[Tommy2holes]

Cox is very similar to mooney.

Mooney has much less quality though.