Post-Match Thread and Ratings Southend United 2-0 Colchester United

[C'mon you Shrimpers]

OllieSteph44's post 99 rivals Napper's Contagion analysis as the post of the year. Great stuff.

 

[OldBlueLady]

We have a cracking Boxing Day record and yesterday, from the moment they set foot on the pitch, that was not in doubt. The whole demeanour of the players has changed, they now have belief and confidence. Amazing what happens when the shackles of the embargo are taken off!

Pretty sure Macca will have played a part in the pre-match prep, he loves an Essex derby and will have helped the boss realise the significance of it to us fans, hence Mark's comments at the end.

What a match for John White to come back in, didn't put a foot wrong, we now have choices at CB, but Tim Dieng is capable of being the perfect utility player - able to play anywhere we want him to.

Great to see ANG allowed to show what he can do, him and Olayinka in the same team will be exciting, if we're able to see it. Also, the same for Sim Akinola, just need to get him fully match fit now and these lads look ready to play for each other as a proper team unit.

Oxley - 7, that woodwork needs a squad number! Thought he had a good game apart from one flappy clearance, some good kicking
Bwomono - 7, solid performance
White - 8, great defensive display, leads by example
Hobson - 8.5, MOTM, how good it is to see how he's blossomed
Hart - 7.5, love this lad's heart and enthusiasm
Egbri - 7, quieter day for Terrell, but still shows how he's progressed
Demi - 7, can't fault his enthusiasm
Dieng - 8, another great performance and lovely goal
Kyle Taylor - 8, I must admit, I thought we had him for the season, so, if we don't then I'd be talking about extending his loan, key player when on form, as he usually is, ran the show yesterday
ANG - 8, been a while since we've seen someone dribbling like that, McLaughlin seemed to have to be so much more defensive that we rarely saw it
Akinola - 8, how lovely to see a proper forward!

Well done to them all for a great team performance.

 

[Leigh_Seasider]

OllieSteph44's post 99 rivals Napper's Contagion analysis as the post of the year. Great stuff.

Agreed, brilliant post @OllieSteph44

 

[SUBBlue]

Couldn’t agree more with OllieSteph44's observations on the invaluable input from the senior players.

Although great players don’t necessarily make great managers/coaches I’d very much like to see McCormack remain at the club in a coaching capacity, at some level, when he finally hangs up his boots.

I believe his morale, enthusiasm & knowledge would certainly benefit us in seasons to come.

 

[bazzashrimper]

I’ll let you into a little secret....Hutchinson was top of the running distances and high speed distances pretty much 98% of the time in training and matches. The GPS tracker they wear every day confirms this. He covered more ground in pretty much every game than pretty much every player. For all his faults work rate and running wasn’t one of them. ?

Ok. If this is true then I stand corrected on the running. But I bet he wasn’t top of the tackling stats when he got there.

 

[Rayleigh boy]

You do make me smile.

You’ve somehow tried to turn this around from being MMs biggest critic and the person with the most negative outlook on his work to using the situation to somehow demonstrate that you were right all along and MM has somehow followed your advice ?

Whilst the match day tactics have evolved this only demonstrates to me just how little experience you must have on the inside workings of a football club at any level let alone elite.

The “process” and the “project” really has about as much to do with matchday tactics as I had in loading Santa’s sleigh with my 4 year olds presents!

The project and process was about the culture of the football club. The mentality of the players. The training ethics. The timekeeping. The diets. The pre training approach and the pre match approach as well as post game and post training (of all staff not just the players). Did the players follow their re hab programmes as well as their pre hab (injury prevention) programmes diligently and conscientiously. The expectation levels the staff have of the players and the players have of the staff had to change and the demands placed on the expected levels of their performances on the grass, at boots and laces more than at any stadium, had to increase.

This takes time and lots of it, and before anyone gets too ahead of themselves it’s about 15% along the line at the moment. Most importantly it takes characters of a certain type to be in and around your club. In your dressing room. On your training pitch. In your ear and most definitely in the ear of the other players who may not be as experienced or as professional. These players are the ones that reiterate the message. Really hammer it homey day in and day out.

Players like John White, Alan McCormack, Mark Oxley and JD are playing a huge part in the project and the process. Even the likes of Tim Dieng are playing their part and before anyone points out these players were already at the club, it’s the manager and the strength in nos that’s making the difference. These players aren’t being distracted by more powerful influences in the dressing room, they are becoming the majority and are becoming THE powerful influences.

Even early season, these players weren’t on the grass and maybe they didn’t quite trust what MM was bringing to the table at the all important part which is around the club away from the grass. It wasn’t like he was a proven manager with a track record of turning clubs around coming in that they would all immediately fall in line for. These players had seen Bond and Campbell and were rightly sceptical.

Even the loan signings were vital to get right. Players coming in from football clubs that already had a process in place. Players that had the good habits that clubs higher up the pyramid breed in their 8 year olds and ensure are of the highest order by the time they are given pro contracts. Recruitment and education of your players is as much about attitude and ethics as it is about their ability - as we have found?

The process and the project is about all of these things and it’s about how this affects the players that are not the most influential but the most influenced.....

You can criticise some of our younger players that found life tough at Southend but look at the environment we were asking them to flourish in. 5 managers in 24 months. No strategy. Definitely no PROCESS. Talking in riddles. Not talking to them at all.

The senior pros whose responsibility it was to nurture them, to chastise them, to teach them, to bollock them, to make it hard for them to break through so it meant something when they did and most importantly to carry them through games and through periods in games where it was tough and to let them open their wings and fly when it was going well.....just as senior pros had done to them in their youth....let them down, by not showing the right example themselves.

These players like Kelman and Hutchinson needed Alan McCormack three years ago. They needed two more John Whites and two more JDs. They needed a fit and motivated Dieng, a confident Oxley....they got a permanently injured JD, Coker and Mantom, they got a Tom Hopper on the treatment table not a Tom Hopper who could’ve been the best striker in the division, they got a demotivated McLaughlin, a Simon Cox taking care of himself....the list goes on.

The project and the process isn’t wanting and trying to play one way because you’ve assessed the threadbare inexperienced squad that are technically blessed but lacking the leadership physicality and minerals required to play in league 2. It isn’t realising that the players at your disposal right now can really only play one way and that’s to try and use that technical ability and hope it isn’t ruthlessly exposed and it’s not changing the Matchday tactics slightly and being more direct once you have a few more players at your disposal that can carry out that game plan more adequately than others had been able to.

No the project and the process is all the other stuff and turning the mentality of a football club that’s known nothing but losing for pretty much 3 maybe 4 seasons around into one that has some belief and some direction and an identity and strength to match its fanbase.

My bet is you’ll see the return of some different match day tactics over the course of MMs contract that return to a more cultured style of football. That’ll be all part of the project and process that he talks about. But it’s a long long road....right now is a short term way of overcoming some rather large bumps not the end goal.

great post ... it really made me think..

Not sure I buy it 100% but a very interesting analysis.

I suspect the biggest affect on the culture of a football club is results

 

[SU BLUE]

Got to say the form table is good reading at the moment. Long may it continue, if we manage a win against the O’s we will be heading in the right direction

 

[OllieSteph44]

great post ... it really made me think..

Not sure I buy it 100% but a very interesting analysis.

I suspect the biggest affect on the culture of a football club is results

Are the results a by-product of the overall culture of the football club or is the culture of a football club a by-product of the results.....that would be a long debate and should only take place around a pub table with copious amounts of beer....or a custard splat pod ?

 

[DistantBlue]

I think the fact that John White is always captain when he plays tells you that he will be given another contract . Faultless performance from him today ....

I just have so much respect for John White
Even when he has a bad day (which does happen from time to time ) he always gives 100% and never hides
He looks a model pro and his presence in or around the squad must be worth a contract extension in the New Year

 

[Evening Echo]

SOUTHEND United defender John White feels Mark Molesley is starting to change the Shrimpers' mentality.

Read more on this story


Help with Echo links

 

[Strykr]

John whites been great for sure. But he has a manbun so its tricky to get fully behind a contract extension....

 

[in the know]

Are the results a by-product of the overall culture of the football club or is the culture of a football club a by-product of the results.....that would be a long debate and should only take place around a pub table with copious amounts of beer....or a custard splat pod ?

I just wish this were possible soon (the pub bit)

 

[RHB]

I just wish this were possible soon (the pub bit)

Not so sure @in the know , you'd never get a word in.

 

[Chris Powell's mate]

great post ... it really made me think..

Not sure I buy it 100% but a very interesting analysis.

I suspect the biggest affect on the culture of a football club is results

Yes and no.
You have to have a culture in place to start with.
At Fulham, Scott Parker prepared for his side to lose more than they will win this season.
The 'culture' there is making sure the mindset can deal with it and not panic.
You start with a realistic goal and the players to realise it in the hope the results will follow.
At Blues, it looks if we have the personnel up for the battle, and in League 2, that's pretty much everything.

 

[Barling Magna]

You do make me smile.

You’ve somehow tried to turn this around from being MMs biggest critic and the person with the most negative outlook on his work to using the situation to somehow demonstrate that you were right all along and MM has somehow followed your advice ?

Whilst the match day tactics have evolved this only demonstrates to me just how little experience you must have on the inside workings of a football club at any level let alone elite.

The “process” and the “project” really has about as much to do with matchday tactics as I had in loading Santa’s sleigh with my 4 year olds presents!

The project and process was about the culture of the football club. The mentality of the players. The training ethics. The timekeeping. The diets. The pre training approach and the pre match approach as well as post game and post training (of all staff not just the players). Did the players follow their re hab programmes as well as their pre hab (injury prevention) programmes diligently and conscientiously. The expectation levels the staff have of the players and the players have of the staff had to change and the demands placed on the expected levels of their performances on the grass, at boots and laces more than at any stadium, had to increase.

This takes time and lots of it, and before anyone gets too ahead of themselves it’s about 15% along the line at the moment. Most importantly it takes characters of a certain type to be in and around your club. In your dressing room. On your training pitch. In your ear and most definitely in the ear of the other players who may not be as experienced or as professional. These players are the ones that reiterate the message. Really hammer it homey day in and day out.

Players like John White, Alan McCormack, Mark Oxley and JD are playing a huge part in the project and the process. Even the likes of Tim Dieng are playing their part and before anyone points out these players were already at the club, it’s the manager and the strength in nos that’s making the difference. These players aren’t being distracted by more powerful influences in the dressing room, they are becoming the majority and are becoming THE powerful influences.

Even early season, these players weren’t on the grass and maybe they didn’t quite trust what MM was bringing to the table at the all important part which is around the club away from the grass. It wasn’t like he was a proven manager with a track record of turning clubs around coming in that they would all immediately fall in line for. These players had seen Bond and Campbell and were rightly sceptical.

Even the loan signings were vital to get right. Players coming in from football clubs that already had a process in place. Players that had the good habits that clubs higher up the pyramid breed in their 8 year olds and ensure are of the highest order by the time they are given pro contracts. Recruitment and education of your players is as much about attitude and ethics as it is about their ability - as we have found?

The process and the project is about all of these things and it’s about how this affects the players that are not the most influential but the most influenced.....

You can criticise some of our younger players that found life tough at Southend but look at the environment we were asking them to flourish in. 5 managers in 24 months. No strategy. Definitely no PROCESS. Talking in riddles. Not talking to them at all.

The senior pros whose responsibility it was to nurture them, to chastise them, to teach them, to bollock them, to make it hard for them to break through so it meant something when they did and most importantly to carry them through games and through periods in games where it was tough and to let them open their wings and fly when it was going well.....just as senior pros had done to them in their youth....let them down, by not showing the right example themselves.

These players like Kelman and Hutchinson needed Alan McCormack three years ago. They needed two more John Whites and two more JDs. They needed a fit and motivated Dieng, a confident Oxley....they got a permanently injured JD, Coker and Mantom, they got a Tom Hopper on the treatment table not a Tom Hopper who could’ve been the best striker in the division, they got a demotivated McLaughlin, a Simon Cox taking care of himself....the list goes on.

The project and the process isn’t wanting and trying to play one way because you’ve assessed the threadbare inexperienced squad that are technically blessed but lacking the leadership physicality and minerals required to play in league 2. It isn’t realising that the players at your disposal right now can really only play one way and that’s to try and use that technical ability and hope it isn’t ruthlessly exposed and it’s not changing the Matchday tactics slightly and being more direct once you have a few more players at your disposal that can carry out that game plan more adequately than others had been able to.

No the project and the process is all the other stuff and turning the mentality of a football club that’s known nothing but losing for pretty much 3 maybe 4 seasons around into one that has some belief and some direction and an identity and strength to match its fanbase.

My bet is you’ll see the return of some different match day tactics over the course of MMs contract that return to a more cultured style of football. That’ll be all part of the project and process that he talks about. But it’s a long long road....right now is a short term way of overcoming some rather large bumps not the end goal.

That's a really great summary of the process Ollie, but can we have more detail please? ?
.
.
.
Seriously, that is undoubtedly the post of the season.
.

 

[dannypav]

That's a really great summary of the process Ollie, but can we have more detail please? ?
.
.
.
Seriously, that is undoubtedly the post of the season.
.

You say that , but I still want to dig deeper about this Santa and presents thing .....

 

[OldBlueLady]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1343212813901307904

 

[rhrussell]

Great win, but we still need a centre forward who can hold the ball, and hopefully score a few goals thats what is still missing, no more mid fields or winger MM we have enough its up front that require attention.

 

[Evening Echo]

TIMOTHEE Dieng was delighted to secure the county’s bragging rights for Southend United on Saturday.

Read more on this story


Help with Echo links

 

[amsemp]

You do make me smile.

You’ve somehow tried to turn this around from being MMs biggest critic and the person with the most negative outlook on his work to using the situation to somehow demonstrate that you were right all along and MM has somehow followed your advice ?

Whilst the match day tactics have evolved this only demonstrates to me just how little experience you must have on the inside workings of a football club at any level let alone elite.

The “process” and the “project” really has about as much to do with matchday tactics as I had in loading Santa’s sleigh with my 4 year olds presents!

The project and process was about the culture of the football club. The mentality of the players. The training ethics. The timekeeping. The diets. The pre training approach and the pre match approach as well as post game and post training (of all staff not just the players). Did the players follow their re hab programmes as well as their pre hab (injury prevention) programmes diligently and conscientiously. The expectation levels the staff have of the players and the players have of the staff had to change and the demands placed on the expected levels of their performances on the grass, at boots and laces more than at any stadium, had to increase.

This takes time and lots of it, and before anyone gets too ahead of themselves it’s about 15% along the line at the moment. Most importantly it takes characters of a certain type to be in and around your club. In your dressing room. On your training pitch. In your ear and most definitely in the ear of the other players who may not be as experienced or as professional. These players are the ones that reiterate the message. Really hammer it homey day in and day out.

Players like John White, Alan McCormack, Mark Oxley and JD are playing a huge part in the project and the process. Even the likes of Tim Dieng are playing their part and before anyone points out these players were already at the club, it’s the manager and the strength in nos that’s making the difference. These players aren’t being distracted by more powerful influences in the dressing room, they are becoming the majority and are becoming THE powerful influences.

Even early season, these players weren’t on the grass and maybe they didn’t quite trust what MM was bringing to the table at the all important part which is around the club away from the grass. It wasn’t like he was a proven manager with a track record of turning clubs around coming in that they would all immediately fall in line for. These players had seen Bond and Campbell and were rightly sceptical.

Even the loan signings were vital to get right. Players coming in from football clubs that already had a process in place. Players that had the good habits that clubs higher up the pyramid breed in their 8 year olds and ensure are of the highest order by the time they are given pro contracts. Recruitment and education of your players is as much about attitude and ethics as it is about their ability - as we have found?

The process and the project is about all of these things and it’s about how this affects the players that are not the most influential but the most influenced.....

You can criticise some of our younger players that found life tough at Southend but look at the environment we were asking them to flourish in. 5 managers in 24 months. No strategy. Definitely no PROCESS. Talking in riddles. Not talking to them at all.

The senior pros whose responsibility it was to nurture them, to chastise them, to teach them, to bollock them, to make it hard for them to break through so it meant something when they did and most importantly to carry them through games and through periods in games where it was tough and to let them open their wings and fly when it was going well.....just as senior pros had done to them in their youth....let them down, by not showing the right example themselves.

These players like Kelman and Hutchinson needed Alan McCormack three years ago. They needed two more John Whites and two more JDs. They needed a fit and motivated Dieng, a confident Oxley....they got a permanently injured JD, Coker and Mantom, they got a Tom Hopper on the treatment table not a Tom Hopper who could’ve been the best striker in the division, they got a demotivated McLaughlin, a Simon Cox taking care of himself....the list goes on.

The project and the process isn’t wanting and trying to play one way because you’ve assessed the threadbare inexperienced squad that are technically blessed but lacking the leadership physicality and minerals required to play in league 2. It isn’t realising that the players at your disposal right now can really only play one way and that’s to try and use that technical ability and hope it isn’t ruthlessly exposed and it’s not changing the Matchday tactics slightly and being more direct once you have a few more players at your disposal that can carry out that game plan more adequately than others had been able to.

No the project and the process is all the other stuff and turning the mentality of a football club that’s known nothing but losing for pretty much 3 maybe 4 seasons around into one that has some belief and some direction and an identity and strength to match its fanbase.

My bet is you’ll see the return of some different match day tactics over the course of MMs contract that return to a more cultured style of football. That’ll be all part of the project and process that he talks about. But it’s a long long road....right now is a short term way of overcoming some rather large bumps not the end goal.

Fantastic post mate ??