Post-Match Thread and Ratings Southend United 1-1 Port Vale

[Medway Blue]

What is there to say? Simply not good enough. As if losing to Gillingham who hadn't won in 11 games wasn't bad enough.....dropping points at home to the club with the worst away record in the division and one of the poorest teams I've seen to boot tops it all off.

That was the definition of a "we just have to turn up to win" performance. Lazy, sloppy and unprofessional. Sorry but I just can't see us making those playoffs at the moment and unfortunately we'll only have ourselves to blame. We have the talent and the quality to cement a place in there but losing and drawing against the real guff of this division will ultimately be our undoing.

 

[Evening Echo]

Match report: Southend United 1, Port Vale 1

ANTHONY Wordsworth’s late equaliser secured Southend United a 1-1 draw in a frustrating encounter against struggling Port Vale at Roots Hall this afternoon.

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[Barling Magna]

Poor performance. We had 10 shots whilst Port Vale had 13.We missed Ranger. Enough said!

Need to return to winning ways v. Bristol Rovers next Saturday and v Coventry the following Tuesday. If we fail to get at least 4 points from those fixtures I reckon we will be too far adrift of the play offs.......

 

[Rattus Norvegicus]

At least the choir was rather good ...... that's about the only positive thing I can think of at the moment. :sad:

 

[Up the Shrimpers]

At least the choir was rather good ...... that's about the only positive thing I can think of at the moment. :sad:

I like the announcement that they are all Southend fans. Seconds later they finish their half time bit and most of them go home!

 

[Floval Flyer]

Another 2 points dropped, now 4 adrift of the playoffs - looked lethargic today and lucky to get the point against a PV side that wanted it more, we lacked energy and purpose and only sprang into action after going 1 down.

Points wise we are closer to mid table than 6th...

Deja vu?

Note to the team; Must try harder!!

 

[Chairman Trigg]

After Gillingham you thought the desire to win might return.....Instead of stamping our authority on the game we couldn't string passes together had no width and the players looked as though they had no idea how to get through a packed defence. Unbelievable that a squad so strong should again put in such a poor display with poor commitment. On this showing its mid table at best .
The officials again very poor,just how did their number 24 remain on the pitch and barely get a foul given against ? Never seen such blatant holding!!

 

[Ayrshire Blue]

Had the feeling of an end of season, nothing to play for game. Port Vale were poor finishers but for large parts of that game they wanted it more than we did. Can't be taken seriously as contenders though if we're going to chuck away points against teams battling to stay up. Especially at home

 

[davewebbsbrain]

Back to the early season game plan on pass sideways, slow build up. No ideas, no cutting edge, no real ability to pass to a team mate. Starting to feel like last seasons slide to mid table

 

[Massimo Giovanni]

Lots of poor performances, lack of energy and desire with too many slow, slow sideways, sideways stuff.
From Ted and the back 4 (Coker aside) it was too slow and too many wrong balls which wasn't helped by having no wingers or pace runs into the spaces.
Midfield gave the ball away time and time again.
Fortune and Cox looked more like they had played 3 games in three days BUT got given little to work with.
I bet PB looked at the bench and wished he had McL or Ranger available.

 

[geoffmundo]

Agree with AB.

Port Vale were the better team, but didn't really look dangerous, how they didn't score in 1st half when ball was fizzing all around our penalty area i just don't know. We also headed off the line (Leonard i think?)

Having said that Cox should have scored when pit through by Demetriou, the latters main contribution in the game.

The only players to come out with any credit were Thompson, Leonard and Coker. I felt sorry for Fortune as he seemed to be continually held down or having his shirt pulled but nothing was ever given. Timlin and Wordsworth were poor and even Atkinson looked rusty, you would have thought he had been out 3 months, not 3 games. Only when the first two subs came on we suddenly played with a higher tempo and started running with the ball, particularly Leonard.

Wordsworth somehow was lucky to still be on the pitch following his display, but his only real positive contribution was the goal.

All in all given we conceded when we did, it may turn out to be a point gained rather than 2 dropped. Perhaps we are deluding ourselves if we think we are real play off material.....?

MOM - Thompson.

 

[Fairport]

I think you have to sometimes give credit to the opposition. Vale were well organised, denied us space to play in and we're difficult to break down. If Cox had scored in the 13th minute it could well have been a different outcome. Although we got plenty of crosses in after the break we lacked height until Nouble came on. Wordsworth had his worst game for us but has now scored ten goals which has been a major reason why we are still in with a chance of the play offs. A draw was a fair result today.

 

[THE SEVENTIES NORTH BANK]

Poor performance all round, but what has happened to Wordsworth? I know he scored the open goal, but he's now had 4 stinkers in his last 5 games. Amos is absolutely flying in training. I bet he can't believe it. At least give him 20 minutes in place of Wordsworth when he's playing crap. I promise you it will be a big improvement.

 

[turkishm]

As i said in another thread, to many games where players only give 5 or 6 out of ten, where in the game before they look9 or 10. these players have got to back to back games together. I dont know how you get players to do this, but PB beter find out, otherwise our best players will move on to other clubs.

 

[Sufc.2008]

Wordsworth absolutely dreadful yet again today. What does he have to do to get dropped? I overheard Luke Amos on the phone after the game to Deed Poll, asking to change his name to Luke Wordsworth in hope of getting a game!

 

[turkishm]

Because Wordsworth is a match winner, but only wins a match now and again. Its up to PB, he has decent players on the bench, i think its about time he used them.

 

[RHB]

1st half was a bit painful as we never really got going. This included letting Port Vale have a fair few attempts on goal with some desperate defending from us including a headed goal line clearance. I thought Port Vale looked an average side and you felt that if we stepped up a few gears then they were there for the taking. Sensible use of gears did not, however, appear to be an option today. Still, it could only get better in the second half eh?

Second half, more of the same. Misplaced final passes, losing out on headers, second to the ball often, we had it all. Then PB introduced Mcglashan and Robinson for Timlin and Fortune which seemed to introduce a bit of urgency in the proceedings. Certainly we were at least attacking with a bit of intent. Next sub for us was Nouble for Cox on the 73rd minute. He certainly is a big old unit and put himself around a lot. Then on 78 minutes we did what I had hoped we wouldn't but worried that we might............we let them score from a set piece. Silence interspersed by the occasional 'aw bollocks' featured highly in T block in the West!! After that wake up call I expected us to go for it. We did after a fashion, but not in the way a side pushing for a promotion place should do, cos there was a lot of hopeful stuff going on out there. Finally, Coker did some good stuff out on the left wing and Wordy scored. We then went for the winner with a bit more conviction, but not too much and after 5 minutes of added time we could not find the illusive second goal.

MotM from the sponsors was Lenny. I personally would have given it to Ferdinand but there you go. Very little worked for Lenny this afternoon but to his credit he never gave up.

 

[IloveShrimp]

Poor team selection, tactics and substitutions by the boss I am afraid. Set up a team with no width or pace and two centre midfielders with no pace in wide positions!

I know wordsworth scored but prior to that he was awful, Timlin must feel very hard done by - played out of position and then subbed whilst Wordsworth stayed on!

Our play was back to the slow, sideways and crablike football that I thought (hoped) we had abandoned. We seriously need to learn how to cheat and win free kicks in dangerous positions, just like the other teams do to us! We also need to find a way of breaking down those teams who pack their defence.

Smith 4 - was lucky when Thomson and Demetriou saved him in the 1st half and was a fault for the goal imo. Every shot that goes near him goes in!! If Oxley was playing like he has then the crowd would be calling for his head by now!

Demetriou - 6 - Though he got forward well and had a solid game

Coker - 7 - Better 2nd half when he got forward better

Thompson 9 - Didn't put a foot wrong easily MOM

Ferdinand - 8 - Wasn't troubled all game but som wayward passing

Timlin - 6.5 - played out of position but covered well fr Demetriou on many occasions

Atkinson 6.5 - as for Timlin

Wordsworth 5 - One extra point as he scored, got caught on the ball often and his passing was awful.

Leonard 8 Once again doing Wordsworth's work as well as his own. Thought he was looking tired and took a knock halfway through 2nd half too.

Cox - 6 hardly any influence today, thought he suffered from lack of space due to Port Vale having everyone behind the ball, minus one point for that miss which was easier to score than miss in 1st half.

Fortune - 6.5 as for Cox re lack of space

Robinson - 5 No influence at all, put on the pitch to introduce pace, but be fair to him had no opportunity created for him to do so

Mcglashen 6 As for Robinson except he was slightly better

Nouble 5 - Looked lazy and unfit to me. Was blowing soon after coming on.

Our team performance 5 - Lethargic, I got the impression that some of the players assumed that they only needed to turn up to win!

Brown 5 Poor team selection with no width or pace, how he substituted Timlin and not Wordsworth was beyond me.

Port Vale 5 - Technically the worst team I have seen at Roots Hall this season, but they had more desire than we did.

Ref 5 Poor and fussy - seemed to favour Port Vale

The Choir - 10 Thought they were excellent!

 

[leeblue]

Big poop all round today. Chin up everyone lots of points up for grabs. Looking forward to Bristol rovers next week. Hoping mcgaughlin is back...was he on the pitch with the squad today I swear I saw him doing warm up etc.

 

[OldBlueLady]

First half was as poor a performance as we've shown all season, couldn't pass, got caught in possession, couldn't shrug off troublesome defenders up top. Ferdinand three times played passes that were a good 5 yards behind the person he was aiming at - didn't look fit at all. Demetriou was another who was very poor and kept getting totally out of position. Ted's got to learn to get the ball out quicker. Thompson and Coker I thought, did ok, Thompson my MOTM by a country mile.

Midfield was far too narrow. Bringing Will in was a good shout but keeping Timlin in made it far too narrow. Lenny was frustrated with himself and everyone else, Wordsworth wasn't as bad as some are saying but I'm sure he's another who'll be annoyed with his performance. Cox and Fortune just weren't at the races, the front line looked much better after the subs. Mind you, they weren't getting any help from the officials who seemed to think it was ok for them to be pushed and pulled all over the place.

Substitutions were about right, I know it coincided with going behind but the introduction of McGlashan and Robinson gave us some impetus. I thought Nouble showed a bit of physical strength too.

There's no doubt Port Vale played with more desire and as if they wanted the points, having said that, I'd have been disappointed to lose so a draw was probably a fair result.

No marks out of 10 from me, except Thompson an 8. The rest were mainly all around 5 or 6.