Post-Match Thread and Ratings Southend United 1-3 Blackpool FC

[eastling]

That BBC Essex interview that Bond gave post match was the most bizarre and dire one I've heard from a Southend manager in a long time. Moans about conceding soft goals and that the team is stuck in this pattern. It's the first home game of the season and he's had the summer to address it. To throw Coxy and Batman under the bus calling them 'shocking' was ridiculous. There were scraps offered to them.
The signs are not good. Still early days but improvement is needed and quickly.

 

[LCBB72]

This has got to be a kick up the **** for Kevin Bond .

 

[Bluegoose]

Up front, none of them put their foot on the ball and held it up in the first half. I suspect that's what he's alluding too.

 

[Chrisb]

That BBC Essex interview that Bond gave post match was the most bizarre and dire one I've heard from a Southend manager in a long time. Moans about conceding soft goals and that the team is stuck in this pattern. It's the first home game of the season and he's had the summer to address it. To throw Coxy and Batman under the bus calling them 'shocking' was ridiculous. There were scraps offered to them.
The signs are not good. Still early days but improvement is needed and quickly.

I don't like that Bond has publicly singled out players for criticism (and the wrong ones at that). I noticed when Humphrys came off he and Bond seemed to ignore each other - usually there is some sort of interaction between the manager and the player leaving the pitch.

 

[JD]

Up front, none of them put their foot on the ball and held it up in the first half. I suspect that's what he's alluding too.

That’s all he had to say along with something like “Nothing stuck up top, we didn’t do the simple stuff. It was a bad day, we’ll work hard in training and improve on Tuesday”

Perhaps Bond needs help with how not to lose the dressing room after just 2 games.

 

[mfurok]

Three of the last four performances have been as bad as I’ve ever seen for large chunks of each game.

Totally because of the ridiculous selections, formations and tactics.

Bond proved in these games and his post match interview that he is completely out of his depth.

God help us.

 

[Chairman Trigg]

How bad was that ....15 minutes and we're back to last season .Totally outplayed and out muscled by a physical side..No shots on target first 45 .
Really hoped Bonds pre season would have had us looking like a strong unit with a pattern of play to suit us however the same old problems are still there .

 

[mfurok]

Three of the last four performances have been as bad as I’ve ever seen for large chunks of each game.

Totally because of the ridiculous selections, formations and tactics.

Bond proved in these games and his post match interview that he is completely out of his depth.

God help us.

PS

His pre match interview was utterly bizarre as well.

Did he actually have a verbal interview for the job?

 

[Colchester John]

Well that was ****.

We weren't even that good!

 

[JD]

I don't like that Bond has publicly singled out players for criticism (and the wrong ones at that). I noticed when Humphrys came off he and Bond seemed to ignore each other - usually there is some sort of interaction between the manager and the player leaving the pitch.

As a manager you should always, always back your players 100%, no matter how bad they have played. This isn’t going to end well.

 

[RHB]

Ok, so what I think I saw today. First half, only one side in it and it certainly wasn't us. When we were warming up Mrs RHB commented on Ridgewell's greying locks, not knowing who he was, and ventured that he looked a bit too old to be playing football. On that display I doubt too many on here would disagree with her.

Defensively, Shaughnessy, Lennon and Rolph were comfortable on the ball individually and competed well. Hopefully they will discover the knack of playing together very soon. It didn't help that with the exception of Milligan (who was another class, and probably extremely grateful he signed a contract with us) we got a pretty thorough larruping in the middle of the park first half. Poor old Mantom ran his socks off trying to plug gaps and to his credit he never gave up but we were seriously overrun with the first half formation.

0-3 down and there will be varying opinions on Oxley, my view was that he could have done better for the first two goals and possibly the third.

Second half was better but coming back from 0-3 down was always going to be a tall order and, as it proved, not one we looked like achieving. The sending off was justified and some of the tackles form Blackpool players left me wondering whether the Ref and linos were on sedatives. Looking at our front line, Coxy was Coxy and ran and chased like a man who has had a full pre season, Humphrys was a bit of curate's egg today. Looked like he would barge his way through but often ended up giving the ball away. After his substitution Theo did his normal stuff of running around a lot but today whatever the question was, Theo just wasn't the answer. Kelman looked out of his depth for the time he was on the pitch and then there was Layton. We all hoped he would do wondrous stuff when he stepped on the pitch, but I think he discovered that FL1 will not be a walk in the park. He was tidy but was knocked off the ball a bit. I'm reserving judgement further until he has a few more games under his belt.

So, all in all, we are a work in progress. I hope the manager can make his formational preferences work but 442 might still be the answer. Not totally disheartened because there is talent in the side, but we need to find some collective form and some more bite/invention in the middle very soon.

 

[Micky]

Awful.

Oxley - 3 - would have been lower if not for one decent save.

Ralph - 4 - meh. Some good stuff, some bad stuff.

Elvis - 5 - positive going forward, but still lacks a cutting edge

Ridgewell - 2 - Where is all this experience we’ve been hearing about? Looked like a school boy. Maybe those tight shorts had cut off the circulation to his brain.

Lennon - 5 - meh

Shaughnessy - 4 - meh. Can’t see what all the fuss is about. Looked ok, but nothing special. Giving him the benefit of the doubt due to a **** poor system.

Milligan - 6 - looked good to begin with, then faded quite badly. Got his second wind towards the end, which brought his score back up slightly.

Mantom - 3 - Have given him time, but am beginning to wonder what he actually brings.

Hutchinson - 5 - talented kid, but playing in this League One side, is a step too far for him right now.

Humphrys - 6 - looked positive, but got no service whatsoever.

Cox - 5 - Same as Hump.

Subs;

Theo - 2 - Go. Just go.

Sudoko - 5 - had some decent flashes, but I’m worried this kid is a bit of a luxury player. Even during the warm up he looked casual as ****. Hoping he’ll really turn it on, but I’m not convinced yet.

Kelman - 2 - anonymous really

New Kit - 0 - dog ****

Bond - 0 - Even the most inept among us could see that the 5 at the back wasn’t working. Midfield was overrun & the WB’s couldn’t really push on, without fear of being carved open at the back, meaning the three CB’s were continually pulled out of place. Also, Hooking Humphrys to introduce Theo ****ing Robinson was, is and always will be, farcical. His post-match interview was a car crash IMO, and he sounded like he was missing his carer.

I cannot agree with your scores for Ralph, Milligan and Shaughnesssy. They deserve higher scores than these.

 

[wiggy]

Blamed the forwards for not keeping possesion.

Wonder how SC feels about that?

Edit.Also said we've got to learn how to keep a clean sheet.

......does he not realize that we have got Dracula in goal?

 

[eastling]

Up front, none of them put their foot on the ball and held it up in the first half. I suspect that's what he's alluding too.

It was a bit tricky for them when most of the passes from the wide and mid positions were massively overhit.

 

[Clinton Baptiste]

Betting on our next manager then?

 

[Fairport]

Bond seems to be a coach who likes to keep possession of the ball and pass your way through teams. Today we had 63% possession against 37% for Blackpool. The visitors played it simple and with pace up front fully deserved their win. I haven't heard the post match interview with Kevin Bond but if he has hung people out to dry then that is worrying, that was Phil Brown's downfall.

 

[Richard Hearn]

PS

His pre match interview was utterly bizarre as well.

Did he actually have a verbal interview for the job?

Yes it was.

I was surprised that he didn't just give his name, rank and serial number and leave it at that.

He simply came across as churlish.

But maybe he is just channeling old Colin Murphy programme notes.

 

[NZamba Legend]

Very odd KB calling out Cox and Humphrys in public after two games. Both are rightly popular with supporters. What kind of battle is he starting here? Bizarre. Obviously not a happy camp.

 

[Chrisb]

Very odd KB calling out Cox and Humphrys in public after two games. Both are rightly popular with supporters. What kind of battle is he starting here? Bizarre. Obviously not a happy camp.

This isn't going to go down well with the players or the fans - I doubt that Ron will be too happy either.

 

[Evening Echo]

SOUTHEND United boss Kevin Bond admitted it may have been a mistake to throw Liam Ridgewell straight into the Shrimpers’ starting line-up.

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