Post-Match Thread and Ratings Southend United 1-2 Aldershot Town

[Supa Shrimpa]

Thank goodness though that the off field shenanigans, failure to be paid, possible winding up and season long embargo has had no effect on the squad whatsoever ( as some seemed to think ) Unbelievable

Thanks Ron

Yep. Seems like they've had enough (and who can blame them !)

 

[Shrimper]

+1

A little band of their yoofs came to the Spread looking for some agg around 2pm. They knocked on the window quite loudly and then quickly went on their way.

It was very intimidating.

Not sure why the plod decided to bring them down West Road

 

[Thundersley]

Defending poor players and tactically clueless manager as we struggle in the NL. Please take me back to Phil Brown finishing 7th in L1.

 

[in the know]

One of the best refs I've seen in the NL games we've played. We were so bad he didn't even have to help them win the game. We self destructed very capably in the second half.
I agree with those who describe cordner as timber bound! Has become way overweight but still dominated and won most balls.
I seem to have watched a different Mooney to everyone else. Apart from the very good through ball, all I saw was sprinting into Hollywood showstyle launches to block passes, interspersed with side to side running and giving the ball away most times. Rarely wins a 50\50 and far too much walking when not involved. Sounds harsh but would have swapped him half way through the first half, not 4 mins from the end. Far too much walking around in the second half.
Why put wreh on with 4mins left!!! What's the point!! He should have been on instead of powell.
Murphy took his goal really well, but unfortunately did little else to affect the result.
Aldershot were not technically skillful or big but were organised , well drilled and very hard working. no play acting or extreme physical challenges. That made them better than us on all 3 counts. They split us down the middle 3 or 4 times in the first half and still we let them keep doing it in the second half by leaving too wide a gap between centre backs.
I actually thought Ralph was our best player today. Won most aerial challenges and drove forward the most (not a lot of competition).
We deserved to lose and sadly got what we deserved today. I
Hate to say it but it appeared we looked mentally and physically drained after the recent months off field distractions.
Time for changes of formation and some players.

 

[Jacob Sladder]

There's no doubt that the embargo is really starting to tell with no new blood to inject any fresh ideas or urgency into the game. Kev & Co have done, and continue to do, a phenomenal job with their hands tied and facing a multitude of external pressures. We just have too many players who have reached the limit of their capabilities it seems. It felt at times like I was just watching the same piece of film over and over again....ball from Hobson across to Kensdale across to Ralph then on to Bridge (who as our one outlet is now on every opponents radar and closed down )and then some attempted jiggerypokery and then....nothing. Or ball played to Hobson who gets rid asap to Scott Morris who is jammed against the touchline so back to Hobson and then back to Arnold (or the previous scene option). I slated Murph in my last post expecting him to get a bace today - well I was half right, but he still lacks a lot for me in the effort and jumping stakes. Frequently, of late, our opponents have harried us at every opportunity and given us no time on the ball. Today there werenumerous occasions where we had one defender trying to get the ball of three of their men, as they happily played it around between them. Says it all when Powell comes on after 62 mins, has a couple of tame shots, runs a lot and gets MOTM....don't think there should have been one really. It's so frustrating to think what could be, if we weren't manacled by the short-sighted and cretinous actions of our Chairman. We're trying hard but it's time to face reality. We will struggle to get any better until changes are/can be made and the deadwood hoofers exit stage left.

 

[overseas shrimper]

+1

A little band of their yoofs came to the Spread looking for some agg around 2pm. They knocked on the window quite loudly and then quickly went on their way.

It was very intimidating.

That sounds terrifying. I hope you're OK.

 

[Maroon Blue]

A tough watch and a tough result to take. To lose to Aldershot again and their boisterous support really grates. You can see on that effort Dagenham doing likewise in a few weeks. Our season is over after that, I was convinced based on the last 2 games, we would win comfortably today. But all the wind and air has gone from our sails and we are running on empty, totally flat. All since the Kacper debacle we have now totally capitulated from that iconic away win at Torquay. To think that was only 3 weeks ago and the joy in our dressing room.

Arnold 5
Hobson 6
Kensdale 5
Ralph 6 MOTM
Scott-Morris 6
Miley 6
Fonguck 5
Mooney 5
Bridge 6
Murphy 6
Cardwell 6

Powell 4
Taylor 4
Wreh 4

Struggled for MOTM no one stood out so will agree with the previous poster. Our captain Nathan Ralph won his headers and did try to push forward and support Bridge. I also thought Murphy played ok and was pleased he scored, some cool finishing. A real ask to get these players up for the run in now, maybe a Tuesday without a game may help. UTB

 

[Shrimper57]

That letter from Gerry Overton is now starting to make sense. So many things on pitch today didn't make sense especially the MoM announcement.

?????

 

[Cricko]

That sounds terrifying. I hope you're OK.

He is still in Trauma but is being looked after by his mum with cake, comics and milk. I will let him know you thought of him.

 

[Leigh_Seasider]

Today simply wasn’t good enough from too many players. Even ones who usually we can rely on. Some look tired or distracted. Concentration was lacking. Set pieces poor again. Not enough invention in central positions or variation in attacking approach. Familiar story. Again Bridge was nullified. GSM offered little from the right.

Goal was a plus, both the through ball and the finish. Why don’t we try that more often?
That was great to see.

Sadly we’ve been undone by another solid well organised NL team. They deserved to win.

Hopefully come summer we won’t have the embargo hanging over us and we’ll be able to recruit freely and give promotion a real shot, with another year of experience of this league under our belt. It looks like we’re gonna fall short this time around.

 

[meerkat54]

It’s no accident the loss of Lopata has effected on the team.
He was a quality player at this level and a good leader and organiser.
We sadly lack a player of his quality in the team now.
I’ve got to say I’m completely fed up with 5 at the back bollacks it don’t work for us with the given players.
Please KM take the blinkers off and change things around and give the Sandats and others a run out. At least we will get a better idea of what they are capable of .

 

[Mad Dog Shrimper]

?????

.....

 

[stewart]

What a shambles of a team effort, absolutely pathetic. I said in the match thread GSM is useless i will stand by that, apart from a long throw in he offers very little, his crossing of a ball is absolutely pathetic, cant tackle cant pass unless its just a short pass and definitely cant cross a ball. Bridge what to say when he gets the ball he twists turns then does it again giving time for the opposition to get back in numbers, The defence was so bad Aldershot had there shooting boots on they could have almost got into double figures. Cannot blame Arnold for either goal but most certainly the defenders, Midfield yes what midfield apart from Miley who again covered so much ground ,if he dosent win our POTY then something definitely wrong , Murphy done well for the 60 minutes he was on , Cardwell chased hard but what a chance he had from that absolutely delightful free kick from Mooney, unlike a lot of you i thought Mooney had a decent game ,lovely pass to put Murphy through for the goal. Need a change of tactics , need also now to forget some of these players Taylor ,Fongduck ,give some youngsters a run,we are not going to make the playoffs as i said quite some time back ,i can see us finishing in the bottom half of the table now,. not going to rate the players because seriously the performance dosent merit rating , Ref was good very little to do. Last time i waste 10 quid on National League TV to watch performances like that. Best player for SUFC today Arnold, he had very little to do . Kensdale had a nightmare of a game as did GSM ,Taylor when he came on , Fongduck walks about too much Bridge sorry wasnt at the races again today. Lot of the players try hard but just not up to it .

 

[davewebbsbrain]

What a shambles of a team effort, absolutely pathetic. I said in the match thread GSM is useless i will stand by that, apart from a long throw in he offers very little, his crossing of a ball is absolutely pathetic, cant tackle cant pass unless its just a short pass and definitely cant cross a ball. Bridge what to say when he gets the ball he twists turns then does it again giving time for the opposition to get back in numbers, The defence was so bad Aldershot had there shooting boots on they could have almost got into double figures. Cannot blame Arnold for either goal but most certainly the defenders, Midfield yes what midfield apart from Miley who again covered so much ground ,if he dosent win our POTY then something definitely wrong , Murphy done well for the 60 minutes he was on , Cardwell chased hard but what a chance he had from that absolutely delightful free kick from Mooney, unlike a lot of you i thought Mooney had a decent game ,lovely pass to put Murphy through for the goal. Need a change of tactics , need also now to forget some of these players Taylor ,Fongduck ,give some youngsters a run,we are not going to make the playoffs as i said quite some time back ,i can see us finishing in the bottom half of the table now,. not going to rate the players because seriously the performance dosent merit rating , Ref was good very little to do. Last time i waste 10 quid on National League TV to watch performances like that. Best player for SUFC today Arnold, he had very little to do . Kensdale had a nightmare of a game as did GSM ,Taylor when he came on , Fongduck walks about too much Bridge sorry wasnt at the races again today. Lot of the players try hard but just not up to it .

U ok hun?

 

[Bearded Shrimper]

I thought it was interesting how we seemed to play fluidly between a back 5 and a 4 with Ralph being a traditional left back. But Bridge and Mooney want to go narrow so we went through the middle but don't have the quality of player or pitch to play tippy tappy. Confidence is clearly low after this recent run, and players are clearly shattered . Decent first two thirds, woeful after that. Just feel like it all doesn't quite work.

 

[stewart]

U ok hun?

sorry mate ,but i have never witnessed such a pathetic performance as that,We made Aldershot look like world beaters totally inept performance Sooner this club is sold and we get some new owners and a cash injection the better. Over 5000 there today ,reckon we will be lucky to get 4000 on that performance next home game.

 

[Mad Dog Shrimper]

Looked not too dissimilar to the Alvin Martin days. Need to consider 442 or some other tactical change.

 

[Blues94]

5 losses in a row. Maher out.

 

[kentblues]

Oh well. Even forced my son to attend as we always win when he goes. Went 1-0 up and just after a steward informed him that his occasional puff on his vape meant another puff and he would have to be thrown out. So he went. And we lost. Sitting outside, in open air we worry about a strawberry and raspberry vape. After he left those around said the rather pleasant aroma was a 1000 times better and less of a health hazard than the hot dogs and pies…this country is truly disintegrating around us.

Rant over…in truth we are moving forward but aren’t yet good enough. As said before if we managed the playoffs we wouldn’t come out on top barring a significant slice of good fortune (and we generally get the opposite).

There is nothing wrong with the formation and how we look to play. The baby shouldn’t go out with the bath water. We just don’t have the quality we need in key positions. In particular, as is our affliction, we have assembled a team where most of the team has a well proven history of not scoring regularly (particularly CMF) and hence, surprise surprise we don’t. I remember with the famed Southend nil teams listing the entire 11’s career games and goals. It screamed this lot won’t score!!! Now it’s not so dissimilar now. If a CM has played 200 games and scored 10 goals don’t expect that to change.

Mooney is not a number 10 (yet at least) but a least it indicated the management team acknowledge there is an issue. But the CM still treat the penalty area as if it’s protected by an electric fence. Imagine a Jack Payne or Wordsworth in the role and you would have 10 goals straight away. Fonguck, skilful player, works hard, can’t shoot, never gets in the box. Taylor…Husin…Miley I excuse - holding midfielder let him get on with it,

Murphy- oh only if he could stay fit. Movement excellent. Has stopped falling over. Clever play. If he and Cardwell stayed match fit I would stick with them and find another couple of quality forwards (but not made of china). Bridge worth his place absolutely- but over relying on him makes us easy to defend against.

In think the problem is we have team of very decent hard working players who play for the shirt. Most are not truly top quality at this level. But if we can add that, and the league is minus Wrexham and Notts County then competing toward the very top is not impossible.

The players who are at a level where they could risk selection for the top 2 - Arnold, Gus, Hobson, Ralph, Murphy, Cardwell. IMO

 

[rayleigh dan]

Probably the worst performance I’ve seen since Maher took over. A few have said we played well in the first half, I disagree. Aldershot had 3 clear chances that they spurned, we took our only 1. Half time should have been used as a wake up call to sharpen up.

Sadly we imploded after the break, at least now Kev can see there’s an issue, you don’t lose 5 on the spin due to karma and bad luck alone. Of course the whole Ron pantomime doesn’t help, but that still can’t excuse how poor the performance was today.

Arnold 5 - Looked slightly slow to react to danger, he maybe could have come off the line quicker to deal with Kensdale’s poor back header before their second.
Scott-Morriss 6 - Probably my MOM, kept going and showed good energy, needs to work on his crossing, it’s very inconsistent.
Hobson 5 - Probably the pick of the back three, but still not great. I think I’m right in saying he got turned too easily in the build up to their first goal.
Kensdale 3 - Had a mare, badly at fault for the second and nearly gave away a third. He’s got great quality, but at this level you’ve got to focus on defending your lines first, it looked like he never felt the long clearance was an option.
Ralph 4 - Really poor, got caught out of position with long balls over the top, and forgot how to even play a simple pass in the second half.
Miley 6 - Pick of the midfield, but nowhere near his best.
Fonguck 5 - Anonymous, I barely noticed him bar a few simple sideways passes. He would have got a 4 but for one good saving block just before he was subbed.
Bridge 5 - Woefully out of form, in the first half he was awful. Perked up a little in the second half but looks subdued, I can’t help but think his heads been turned.
Mooney 5 - First half 7, second half 3. He was our bright spark early on and played a great ball through for Murphy’s goal. Unfortunately after the break, he was a comple passenger. If it was just due to fitness (or lack of), he should have been subbed way earlier.
Cardwell 5 - Didn’t really get into the game at all, but to be fair the service was poor. Helped out defensively with a few towering headed clearances from corners.
Murphy 6 - Looked a bit livelier today and took his chance well. Like Mooney, he doesn’t look fit enough to last 90 mins and probably should have come off a bit earlier.

Subs
Taylor 4 - As others have said, I can’t see what qualities he’s supposed to have. Terrible first touch, poor to react to danger, and only ever passes sideways or backwards. Arguably Maher’s worst signing to date. I thought Fonguck was poor, but he was worse.
Powell 6 - At least showed some desire and got in behind in the channels a couple of times, I still think he’s not a central striker though, he needs to play wide in a front 3 for me.
Wreh - Not enough time to rate.