Post-Match Thread and Ratings Southend United 1-1 Northampton Town

[Cricko]

Post your Match Reports and Ratings here please.

 

[Medway Blue]

Meh. Not a bad performance but disappointing to drop points at home against a side that were well and truly there for the taking.

You get the impression that, in the knowledge that the squad depth is poor in the middle of a bit an injury crisis, the lads are subconsciously holding back from going all out. Because it certainly seemed to me that Blues never really pushed to get out of second gear and had more in the tank to give which just wasn't coming out. The manager seemed to mentally settle for a point with his 2nd and 3rd substitutions too - Sawyer and Hall were the only players who looked like creating something.

Still, that's another point on the table. I believe the squad are being given a day off from training on Monday to keep them fresh and with a week til the next game, hopefully the lads will be fitter and less jaded next time out.

Let's hope the run continues!

 

[Thorpe Groyney]

Disappointing game. The plusses are that last season we would have lost games like these, and that the crowd didn't get on the team's back. Little in the way of entertainment or urgency so it was a very difficult one to get the supporters going. I genuinely don't mind quiet, though, as at least it isn't booage.

Unbeaten in 8 and 6 draws on the trot now for Northampton, so the result isn't too bad. Even so, you still feel it's a case of 'If only' ... they'd raised their game by just 5% ... they hadn't waited to fall behind to show a bit of a spark ... that corner early on had gone in.

Frustrating but there you are, that's football.

 

[Chairman Trigg]

Thought taking off Sawyer was a mistake ,and from that moment a point was going to be the most we could hope for.Barker and Eastham the pick of the players today.On the plus side Gilbert is looking beginning to settle in ,kept things simple well done!

 

[OldBlueLady]

Northampton looked quite composed and their physical approach stood them well against the flair of our players, which nullified most of our attacking moves.

Evans - 7, good, solid 'keeping, some excellent catching and varied his kicking
Clohessy - 6, wasn't able to get forward so much again and our forwards are suffering from the lack of his quality deliveries
Coughlin - 6, solid again, but McKenzie looked to be too much of a handful for his old legs when he was brought on
Barker - 7.5, quality again, composed under pressure
Gilbert - 6.5, did well against his former side, looks so much more confident than at the start of the season
Hall - 6, very little chance to do anything, other sides seem to have identified him as the danger and deal with him accordingly
Easton - 8, MOTM, agreed with the sponsors, in the thick of everything and very unlucky not to connect with a couple of good lay offs from Corr
Sawyer - 6, seemed very quiet, still think he's playing too deep
Grant - 6.5, improved and looked dangerous on the break but lacking in creativity
Sturrock - 5, very ineffective today, if he'd been ill then he shouldn't have started, simple as that
Corr - 8, ran Easton close for MOTM, thought he was excellent, challenging for everything, looking to set others up and chipping in with his 15th goal

Subs:
Crawford for Sturrock
Soares for Sawyer
Comminges for Hall - 6.5 all round, they all did some good when they came on, Harry needs to watch himself though. Refs won't like his challenging

Officials - 6, fair enough and I really liked the West stand lino!!!

 

[davewebbsbrain]

Thought taking off Sawyer was a mistake ,and from that moment a point was going to be the most we could hope for.Barker and Eastham the pick of the players today.On the plus side Gilbert is looking beginning to settle in ,kept things simple well done!

Was he playing for The Cobblers?

 

[Clinton Baptiste]

Not a game that will live long in the memory bank. Proof that Luggy needs to get a couple more bodies in, Crawford and Sores did nothing when they came on and Blair has an absolute stinker. Maybe give Asante a run?

On the plus side, defended well again. Chris Barker again pure class, won the ball virtually every time he went for a challenge. Thought Clohessy had a very good game too and Peter Gilbert is finally looking a very good full back.

Corr was superb too, really put himself about, love his attitude and showed if you put the ball in the danger areas he will score goals. Hall again with the assist, mustve provided a good 9 or 10 of Corr's goals.

 

[Welly7]

Although he tired towards the end, I thought Hall's set-plays and general crosses into the box were of real quality today.

 

[Onion_Bag_Dave]

Really happy to see Harry come on and get some decent minutes under his belt, where I thought he actually did quite well for his limited amount of match time. Shows Sturrock rates him, which I'm glad about.

Evans - 7 Kept us in the game in the second half with a punch and a massive boot challenging their player on a 1 on
Clohessy - 6.5 Played well, but a bit difficult for him in the 2nd half with the ***** area of the pitch he had to be in.
Barker - 9 Different class.
Coughlan - 8 Again proving he is still here for the football, some absolute classic smashing headers.
Gilbert - 8 Thought he looked well up for it, and probably his best game of the season, which I'm please about.

Hall - 7.5 another quality cross and teased and tricked the Northampton players into tackles, where they should have been booked but weren't.
Sawyer - 7.5 Love him
Easton 9.5 Absolutely committed, couldn't have done much else.
Grant - 7 Did some great stuff, but also some sort of rubbish stuff.

Corr - 8 Look lazy for about 10 minutes but in the end he really battled hard! Looked really dangerous with the ball at his feet. You can't challenge and chase everything.
Sturrock - 7 Looked and a bit injured, still did some good stuff, and a back heel in our best move of the match which resulted in a decent shot from Hall I think. But not his best performance, I think he will benefit from a rest.

Soares 6 not really enough time to mark him, but he put in 1 or 2 important tackles, and also tidied up from Leon McKenzie in the left hand corner after Barker lost his footing.
Crawford - 7 really pleased for him, shows if you keep your head down and don't moan you get your chance, he's probably worth a shot, and he had a shot from range which went quite a way wide, but he reminds me of Eastwood when he gets the ball and he was also unlucky being sandwiched by two defenders when a massively good cross from Ryan Hall came over.
Comminges - 6 Didn't do much really, but did his job when he came in.

Atmosphere today was awful. And I've got a lot to say on the matter but I can't be bothered at the moment.

Quite a good point. We probably would have lost it a few months ago.

 

[Smiffy]

Lets hear your take on the atmosphere Dave...

 

[united we stand]

Lets hear your take on the atmosphere Dave...

I'll take the bait, and there are two sides to every story so I am happy to stand corrected but.......
mouthing of to your own supporters in an agressive, unconstructive way doesn't really help. W was the busiest it has been for sometime, this was an oppotuntiy to show those who were there, who normally don't go/sit somewhere else what a great atmosphere it can be in W this was an opportunity lost.
We missed you on the drum, today proved again (IMO) just how important that drum is when used correctly.

being positive, I didn't hear one piece of abuse aimed at one of our own players. I know what was happening on the pitch did not give us much to get us going, but there has been good atmospheres before when we have been crap

 

[Jack The Flag]

When used correctly? No other person stepped up so in the 2nd half I took over, the first time that I'd ever used/played a drum so .... If you got a problem why don't you come over and have a go

 

[haveaguiness]

Really happy to see Harry come on and get some decent minutes under his belt, where I thought he actually did quite well for his limited amount of match time. Shows Sturrock rates him, which I'm glad about.

Evans - 7 Kept us in the game in the second half with a punch and a massive boot challenging their player on a 1 on
Clohessy - 6.5 Played well, but a bit difficult for him in the 2nd half with the ***** area of the pitch he had to be in.
Barker - 9 Different class.
Coughlan - 8 Again proving he is still here for the football, some absolute classic smashing headers.
Gilbert - 8 Thought he looked well up for it, and probably his best game of the season, which I'm please about.

Hall - 7.5 another quality cross and teased and tricked the Northampton players into tackles, where they should have been booked but weren't.
Sawyer - 7.5 Love him
Easton 9.5 Absolutely committed, couldn't have done much else.
Grant - 7 Did some great stuff, but also some sort of rubbish stuff.

Corr - 8 Look lazy for about 10 minutes but in the end he really battled hard! Looked really dangerous with the ball at his feet. You can't challenge and chase everything.
Sturrock - 7 Looked and a bit injured, still did some good stuff, and a back heel in our best move of the match which resulted in a decent shot from Hall I think. But not his best performance, I think he will benefit from a rest.

Soares 6 not really enough time to mark him, but he put in 1 or 2 important tackles, and also tidied up from Leon McKenzie in the left hand corner after Barker lost his footing.
Crawford - 7 really pleased for him, shows if you keep your head down and don't moan you get your chance, he's probably worth a shot, and he had a shot from range which went quite a way wide, but he reminds me of Eastwood when he gets the ball and he was also unlucky being sandwiched by two defenders when a massively good cross from Ryan Hall came over.
Comminges - 6 Didn't do much really, but did his job when he came in.

Atmosphere today was awful. And I've got a lot to say on the matter but I can't be bothered at the moment.

Quite a good point. We probably would have lost it a few months ago.

I think this pretty much sums up your whole post! He will be an OK player but he isn't even a similar type of player to Eastwood let alone anywhere near as good. I don't ever think that something is going to happen when he gets on the ball, but he did put himself about when he came on today, but never looked like scoring. We didn't play that well today but we battled hard and got a point despite looking very tired at points. How can you be giving 8's and 9's out when we a. didn't win and b. didnt dominate the game.

I love you positive attitude but that is just Rose Tinted to the max.

Baker is far too good for this league and never looks under pressure. Why on earth Plymouth wanted rid of him I don't know. I think the week of this week will be good for the players to help freshen them up, they have just looked like all the games have caught up with them the last couple of games

 

[Strykr]

Lets hear your take on the atmosphere Dave...

that made me laugh :)

The atmosphere was **** poor tho, no singing anywhere really,very league 2!

Average game, could have won could have lost, they were classic league 2 all 6 foot 5 and built like brickshithouses!
I thought they all looked a bit knackered, but honestly cant fault them for effort. shame we didnt win, but after going a goal down, i couldnt see how we were going to score!
Not too much damage done in the table.

Barker was superb, sawyer, corr and hall lively, Easton was good too.

Onwards and upwards.

 

[Winkle]

Northampton looked quite composed and their physical approach stood them well against the flair of our players, which nullified most of our attacking moves.

Evans - 7, good, solid 'keeping, some excellent catching and varied his kicking
Clohessy - 6, wasn't able to get forward so much again and our forwards are suffering from the lack of his quality deliveries
Coughlin - 6, solid again, but McKenzie looked to be too much of a handful for his old legs when he was brought on
Barker - 7.5, quality again, composed under pressure
Gilbert - 6.5, did well against his former side, looks so much more confident than at the start of the season
Hall - 6, very little chance to do anything, other sides seem to have identified him as the danger and deal with him accordingly
Easton - 8, MOTM, agreed with the sponsors, in the thick of everything and very unlucky not to connect with a couple of good lay offs from Corr
Sawyer - 6, seemed very quiet, still think he's playing too deep
Grant - 6.5, improved and looked dangerous on the break but lacking in creativity
Sturrock - 5, very ineffective today, if he'd been ill then he shouldn't have started, simple as that
Corr - 8, ran Easton close for MOTM, thought he was excellent, challenging for everything, looking to set others up and chipping in with his 15th goal

Subs:
Crawford for Sturrock
Soares for Sawyer
Comminges for Hall - 6.5 all round, they all did some good when they came on, Harry needs to watch himself though. Refs won't like his challenging

Officials - 6, fair enough and I really liked the West stand lino!!!

Agree with most of that except that "Evans" does not give me the feel good factor as his kicking is preety poor (has to have mostly two touches) and should have done better for the goal in my opinion. Saywer seems to have the weight of "Expectanty" on his shoulders and seemed to go in his shell abit after giving the ball away in midfeild that led to there goal. As a game it never got going and I tend to agree with luggy when he said the players looked leggy!

 

[Onion_Bag_Dave]

Lets hear your take on the atmosphere Dave...

Well, without the 'incumbent' playing the drum, the singing doesn't start, so that proves that the theory that the drum is useless is wrong.

Apart from the front 6 ish rows, in W Block there is not much singing in Block W, I just can't understand, if you want to go and stand over there with TBV why don't you sing your heart out? Not for 90 minutes that's just not possible. What's the point of standing block W if you are just going to look at your feet.

But I sometimes go and stand there and I fully get involved, like I do WHEREVER I sit.

It annoys me so much there aren't actually words to for the emotion I feel. Looking around me again it was absolutely dead. I don't care however much you all think that I'm just slagging the quiet ones off. It's a fact.

Apparently there are only 4 of us in Block V that want Southend to come on. I just do not understand why you want to go to football and stare like the living dead into the football for 90 minutes.

I fully disagree that there isn't a right way to support football. The only way is to fully get behind your team. However I accept that not everyone wants to sing and shout the whole games, but come on, what about for a fraction of the game, when we get a corner?? What about the odd clapping a long to a chant? It's not hard is it?

Nearly everyone in that ground is fanatical about Southend United so that is why I cannot understand the fact that how quiet it is.

On several occasions Chris Barker (who has the makings of an absolute legend of Southend United at the back) broke down their forwards and came away with the ball. Only about 2 percent of the whole ground enjoyed it and felt the need to shout out some words of appreciation. There are so many more examples.

80% of the ground don't actually applaud or shout words of encouragement for more than 5 minutes a game.

Give me all the red rep and condescending comments you want, every other point of discussion I see both sides of the argument. APART FROM THIS.

WAKEY WAKEY!

It sickens me!

On the other hand, a good result today.

 

[Onion_Bag_Dave]

I think this pretty much sums up your whole post! He will be an OK player but he isn't even a similar type of player to Eastwood let alone anywhere near as good. I don't ever think that something is going to happen when he gets on the ball, but he did put himself about when he came on today, but never looked like scoring. We didn't play that well today but we battled hard and got a point despite looking very tired at points. How can you be giving 8's and 9's out when we a. didn't win and b. didnt dominate the game.

I love you positive attitude but that is just Rose Tinted to the max.

Baker is far too good for this league and never looks under pressure. Why on earth Plymouth wanted rid of him I don't know. I think the week of this week will be good for the players to help freshen them up, they have just looked like all the games have caught up with them the last couple of games

LOL! It isn't rose tinted, when he gets the ball he has the same body shape to Eastwood, that is in no way rose tinted. LOL! LOL! LOL!

Why do you have to win to get high scores? If you battle and work hard and do your job properly?

If we lost 4 - 0 and someone played with as much domination as Barker did today, why couldn't he get an 8?

 

[Badger74]

Well, without the 'incumbent' playing the drum, the singing doesn't start, so that proves that the theory that the drum is useless is wrong.

Apart from the front 6 ish rows, in W Block there is not much singing in Block W, I just can't understand, if you want to go and stand over there with TBV why don't you sing your heart out? Not for 90 minutes that's just not possible. What's the point of standing block W if you are just going to look at your feet.

But I sometimes go and stand there and I fully get involved, like I do WHEREVER I sit.

It annoys me so much there aren't actually words to for the emotion I feel. Looking around me again it was absolutely dead. I don't care however much you all think that I'm just slagging the quiet ones off. It's a fact.

Apparently there are only 4 of us in Block V that want Southend to come on. I just do not understand why you want to go to football and stare like the living dead into the football for 90 minutes.

I fully disagree that there isn't a right way to support football. The only way is to fully get behind your team. However I accept that not everyone wants to sing and shout the whole games, but come on, what about for a fraction of the game, when we get a corner?? What about the odd clapping a long to a chant? It's not hard is it?

Nearly everyone in that ground is fanatical about Southend United so that is why I cannot understand the fact that how quiet it is.

On several occasions Chris Barker (who has the makings of an absolute legend of Southend United at the back) broke down their forwards and came away with the ball. Only about 2 percent of the whole ground enjoyed it and felt the need to shout out some words of appreciation. There are so many more examples.

80% of the ground don't actually applaud or shout words of encouragement for more than 5 minutes a game.

Give me all the red rep and condescending comments you want, every other point of discussion I see both sides of the argument. APART FROM THIS.

WAKEY WAKEY!

It sickens me!

On the other hand, a good result today.

You are the greatest fan ever. I looked at V block today and most fans are over 50!!!!
Get a life!!!!
What happened in christchurch this week sickens me not the atmosphere at Roots Hall
Grow up

 

[Welly7]

If we lost 4 - 0 and someone played with as much domination as Barker did today, why couldn't he get an 8?

Because he'd have just played in a defence that had shipped 4 goals.

 

[Onion_Bag_Dave]

You are the greatest fan ever. I looked at V block today and most fans are over 50!!!!
Get a life!!!!
What happened in christchurch this week sickens me not the atmosphere at Roots Hall
Grow up

Calm it pal! Yeah a natural disaster is definitely comparable to the clear meaning of sickening when used to describe what I feel about the atmosphere. There's one person who needs to grow up here and that definitely isn't me matey!