ozzy-shrimper
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- Sep 21, 2006
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See better football watching Ryman Prem sides, dire.
F***ing useless. Awful. Useless. What else is there to say?
Clohessy was the stand out player. How we could do with a player of his quality in the LB position. Great pace, good going forward and good defending.
Defence was shakey throughout. However the absence of midfield didn't help, we missed having a holding midfield to give any sort of protection. Ball after ball came through tot he defence without a challenge, rubbish. 2 games in 3 days might have been a bit much for Phillips and Barker.
Midfield were poor. Timlin tried to get the ball down but made a poor mistake for the goal. Great goal however. Leonard demonstrates how we need another attacking winger, someone, anyone with pace. Please.
Up front.
Well.
What is the point?
Why was Dickinson there? Long ball to a 6 foot 3 player who can't head, can't run with the ball or shoot. Should have scored the header towards the end.
All in all it was just a disgrace. How on earth we are in the top three I can't understand, but I guess that shows just how dogsh*t this league is.
Fair play to Dagenham who were bright, energetic and got the ball into good positions. If I were a Daggers fan I'd be upset with a point, should have had all 3.
Finally...
Do we need Bilel?
Yes, and back as quickly as possible. The lack of passion and fight is awful without him in the side. I don't care if he is a liability.
I would rather have too much passion than none at all.
Useless Southend, totally useless.
I can swallow watching 'direct' football if it brings results, but what I can't handle is what I saw today - that is a side of lesser quality totally outplay us. How we came away with a point I don't know - the past 6-8 weeks, we seem to have lost that hunger, graft and passion that were the ingredients to see us top the table.
If we have a side who gives everything on that pitch, I can to watch week in and week out and be proud. Today Dagenham simply wanted it more and that hurts me more than any style of football, or who is playing etc etc
Is there a bit of an over reaction after todays result and performance?
So what do we do then guys? I've seen us a fair number of times this season. We've usually won or drawn, but I've not seen us play well yet. But we're third in the league. We've got Paul Sturrock as manager who's career has generally been about delivering results, irrespective of the way his teams play.
If we're really honest, would we be where we are if we had played 'football' all season? I don't think we can say that.
So whilst fans are cheesed off (I am too) would you honestly trade it for a lower league position? I'm not sure I would. The latter months of Tilson where we played OK but generally got mullered were more frustrating.
One thing i never get, and this goes for Tillys Blues too and a whole of opposition sides so its not just a pop because we didnt win today
Why do we need 11 players defending a corner?? who is Hall going to outjump to clear the ball? leave him on halfway, which'll mean 2 defenders staying back to watch him and thus allieviate a bit of pressure on our goal as well as the obvious Daniels/Morris collects the ball and clears quickly into their half and hope Hall can latch onto it (this is an area where the hoof/long pass can be effective IMO)
Your estimation of distance is woeful. The first shot he blazed over was on the edge of the area. The header was outside the six yard box, and whilst the ball in was excellent, it didn't have a great deal of pace on it. That said they were both decent chances, and I would have hoped he could have finished one of them. I think Grant's chance at the end was the easiest of the three, he had time to pick his spot, get the ball out of his feet and failed to do so. Why no stick for him?
Other than these chances I thought he and Benyon looked very sharp together, and given they've probably only had one or two training sessions together, there's reason for optimism about their potential partnership.
I don't know where to even start with that. It was so poor, and very painful to watch.
This style of football is just so, so frustrating. Our squad is oozing with quality at League 2 level. Man-for-man, pound-for-pound, it is easily one of the best squads in the division. So why are we playing the long ball all the time? It's inaccurate and it's speculative. There were three or four glimpses toay of what could be done with the ball on the deck, and in those three or four moves, we absolutely carved Dagenham in two. I could see it, the people around me could see it.....so why can the manager not see that we will do far more damage by keeping it on the deck? What does he see in the long ball style played today that makes it seem worth perservering with to him? What does he see that the vast majority of us do not?
In some ways I can see the reasoning behind the style of play. Get the ball into the final third of the pitch as quickly as possible, put the opposition defence under pressure, run the channels and play our football there. The aim is noble enough. But League 2 players do not have the technical skill, nor do they have the accuracy of pass, to pull it off consistently well. Therefore, what could be an effective style of play ends up being 'hot potato' football. Some players just seem to want to get rid of the ball as quickly as possible, as if they are afraid of making a mistake or getting tackled.
Too many players receive the ball at their feet and, without even looking up to see where they are aiming, swing a foot through it. Too many players also, for some reason, leap up and header a ball forward when it is in the air - at the time, there are no opposition players around them, they are under no pressure. They could bring the ball down, put a foot on it and pass it accurately along the floor to the feet of a team mate. But no, instead, and in the name of getting the ball forward as quickly as possible, they just put a head on it aimlessly and it all turns into a game of head tennis which invariably we end up losing. Both the aimless long ball and the aimless header results in a very frustrating and very cheap and needless relinquishing of possession. That is why we have never dominated and will never dominate possession or have tons more shots as opposed to the opposition. Every time we have the ball, we just give it straight back to the opposition and put ourselves under pressure.
I don't understand where the difficulty lies in seeing this for the management. Surely it is of some concern to them? We have been doing it for months, and doing it today undid us on two fronts. Firstly, we didn't have enough possession of the ball and so didn't have enough chances to score because we kept coneding possession with aimless and inaccurate long balls and secondly, we foolishly kept the style of football up for the last 15 minutes and allowed Dagenham to build up the pressure on our penalty area. I keep saying it - Dagenham might have smelt blood towards the end, but what can the opposition do to us if they do not have possession of the ball? The answer is NOTHING. So why keep giving the ball straight to an opposition which is in the ascendency and smelling blood? We might as well pick the ball up, put it at their striker's feet, tell Luke Daniels to stand aside and invite the striker to kick it into our open net. It is utterly, completely thick and stupid. For God's sake, get the ball down, pass it to feet, keep possession, get the opposition doing the chasing, frustrate them and see the game out.
Don't get me wrong, I love Sturrock and appreciate what he has done here so far, but he is supposed to be a top-notch coach with years of good experience - where the heck are his observational skills? It defies belief that he is not seeing what the majority of us seeing. He should be observing when the style is not working, and he should have seen first hand enough times this season that playing that style of football, continually conceding possession and putting pressure on ourselves for the last 15 minutes of a match when 1-0 up and looking shaky is stupidity personified. To me, it's basics an I can't believe that it's not basics to the manager as well. Now is the time to put a Plan B into action and to play our stuff on the deck more, because with players of this calibre we will carve most teams at this level to shreds if we get it down and play the pass and move style.
Anyway.
Daniels 6 - Couple of good saves and claimed some crosses well. Kicking leaves a little to be desired and wish he'd look for a throw more often instead of kicking long all the time to a player who rarely wins anything in the air.
Clohessy 7 - Very good performace from Mr. Consistently Reliable. Good tackling, great defensive positioning, worked hard, got up the line well. Crossing a little disappointing sometimes. Worked well with Leonard.
Barker 4 - Unusually poor today, positioning and committment in the tackle were both lacking and lost concentration several times, almost gifting Dagenham a couple of goals. Didn't look at all confident.
Phillips 7.5 MOM - Looked a little shaky first ten minutes but thereafter he dominated in the air and was strong in the tackle. Positioning good too. Saved our skins twice, once with the sliding block after Barker's mistake and once when their winger got into the left-hand corner of our penalty box and was shaping up for a clear shot on goal. Dispossessed him excellently. Effectively did the job of two centre backs and carried Barker for much of the game.
Prosser 5 - Didn't do anything wrong but didn't do much right either. Managed to let Daggers' right winger ghost past him and get to the ball ahead of him having started behind which was frustrating, and also is one of the more guilty parties for the aimless hoofs forward.
Hall 6.5 - Showed glimpses, crossing was good, ran well. Makes the wrong decision sometimes, especially passing inside when the overlap is on.
Grant 5.5 - Fairly anonoymous - was he playing? Shocking miss at the end, too.
Timlin 6.5 - Cracking goal. You won't see technique much better than that. Frustrating sometimes because his vision is excellent and he can see runs that others can't but his execution of his passes leaves a lot to be desired. Peach of a ball right into Hall's path on the wing with the outside of his left foot came off, but they are few and far between! Ran a lot, tackled well. Would have gotten a 7 but loses half a point for the shocking mistake which led to the equaliser.
Leonard 6 - Solid. Works well with Clohessy, they often swap positions. Has a good cross and a great long throw. Concedes possession a little too often and lacks the composure to put in a good cross on the run.
Benyon 6 - Little to do. Holds it up reasonably well when he gets a chance even though it's not his job, has a turn of pace about him and harries the defence well but, just as I suspected, he does NOT fit into our style of play. We need him in the box, not running the channels.
Dickinson 6 - Led the line well, worked hard, is clumsy and awkward and therefore was difficult to mark. A couple of irritating misses, and cannot take a player on for toffee. He goes past his man, but leaves the ball behind! Odd.
Subs:
Ferdinand 5 - Offered little, conceded possession too often and got a silly booking.
Harris 6 - Showed some nice touches and pulled their defence about a little but came on when we were under pressure and was never going to get the service.
This frustrates the life out of me too, although I have to say I don't feel Hall is too bad defending. But if we left Hall - or now Benyon - up then it would give us that option of a quick break.One thing i never get, and this goes for Tillys Blues too and a whole of opposition sides so its not just a pop because we didnt win today
Why do we need 11 players defending a corner?? who is Hall going to outjump to clear the ball? leave him on halfway, which'll mean 2 defenders staying back to watch him and thus allieviate a bit of pressure on our goal as well as the obvious Daniels/Morris collects the ball and clears quickly into their half and hope Hall can latch onto it (this is an area where the hoof/long pass can be effective IMO)