Post-Match Thread and Ratings Southend United 2-3 Plymouth Argyle

[blue pilot]

I know we're missing our first choice back 4 & keeper, but for me the problem is in midfield. Dieng was actually at fault for the second goal' he missed a simple challenge in front of the East Greens, he saw Hendrie was out of position, and the ball went forward from that.
Feels like the worst midfield in about 10 years, cant tackle, cant pass, don't track runners and absolutely no leadership anywhere on the pitch, no one shouting or organising, unacceptable. Where are the Barratt's, Timlin's, Leaonard's etc?
One question, the management have known the desperate need to get more players in for about 2 months, why are we halfway through Jan and still no sign of anyone? we should have had players lined up to come in on Jan 1st.

 

[Harry Bullocks]

Because it's Southend United...we never rush in ….patience...until 20.55 ish on 31st Jan

 

[LBBlue]

If you read between the lines from what Powell has said -I think we have had players lined up - but they might not have wanted to come or gone elsewhere and others might not be let go now. I'm sure they all have agents touting them around.

 

[AndyT]

Football is a harsh business. You either have the quality or you don’t. I’m all for bringing through players but they are not all going to cut the grade

Yes, but judging them on two matches is a very small sample size.

 

[southendkid]

we should have had players lined up to come in on Jan 1st.

Unfortunately we're not an attractive club, it's expensive to live here meaning a northern club offering similar wages has an advantage, the town itself doesn't particularly have much to do unless it's beach weather and our ground doesn't exactly scream to potential signings that we're a club on the way up. As a result we're the Plan B for most players we're going to be interested in, and hence they'll only sign for us if no one else is interested in them.

 

[Kris]

I'm getting fed up with this nonsense about injuries being the reason for shocking performances. Every season is the same, we will always have injuries to key players, a few years ago the injury list was so bad that the entire training regime was reviewed to see if there was an underlying cause to them all in terms of the facilities, training undertaken etc.


Of course I’m not disputing that we have a long injury list, but presumably the players actually on the pitch on Saturday weren’t injured? Presumably Powell isn’t suffering an injury that forced him to leave the touchline when we went 3-0 down? Presumably it’s not a surprise to Powell that he has players missing through injury – I don’t imagine that he plans tactics all week and then submits a team sheet containing Keirnan, Coker, Hopper, Barret etc, only to be amazed when he is told at the last minute that none of those players is available, meaning he just has to chuck players on at random. Managing a football team the size of ours in adversity is literally the job of any coach at this level, we don’t have unlimited funds and a squad of 60 internationals to call upon, but don’t tell me that we can’t put on a better show than this with the players that we do have available. There was no motivation, no bite, no sense of unity and no confidence and that’s nothing to do with the players who aren’t playing and everything to do with those players who are.


Powell needs to do significantly better with what he has at his disposal, the players that are available are hardly bad players, and I can’t believe that this is the best that can be got out of them.


The only other thing I will say is that the players looked so dispirited and disinterested from the start that I do wonder if the rumours flying round the stand were true – and pay is not currently as forthcoming as it should be.

Although I agree with the sentiment of your post, there's not much Powell can do if he has to pick five reserves in defence whose individual errors are costing us cheap goals, whether needless back headers by Hendrie, lightweight challenges by Elvis or naive distribution by Bishop.

Our squad is like a weather forecast at the moment. Heavy drivel at the back with occasional storms further up the pitch and a light breeze in the north easily countered by sunny spells gradually moving south. Performances lukewarm for this time in the season.

 

[Kris]

I know we're missing our first choice back 4 & keeper, but for me the problem is in midfield. Dieng was actually at fault for the second goal' he missed a simple challenge in front of the East Greens, he saw Hendrie was out of position, and the ball went forward from that.
Feels like the worst midfield in about 10 years, cant tackle, cant pass, don't track runners and absolutely no leadership anywhere on the pitch, no one shouting or organising, unacceptable. Where are the Barratt's, Timlin's, Leaonard's etc?
One question, the management have known the desperate need to get more players in for about 2 months, why are we halfway through Jan and still no sign of anyone? we should have had players lined up to come in on Jan 1st.

It's quality we need, not quantity. I'd rather bring in three talented players than a whole team of mediocre ones. Northampton brought in about 11 players this time last year, made the whole process look easy and then plunged to relegation.

 

[Shrimpers are Magic]

Unfortunately we're not an attractive club, it's expensive to live here meaning a northern club offering similar wages has an advantage, the town itself doesn't particularly have much to do unless it's beach weather and our ground doesn't exactly scream to potential signings that we're a club on the way up. As a result we're the Plan B for most players we're going to be interested in, and hence they'll only sign for us if no one else is interested in them.

Don’t believe it’s compulsory to live in the town. We are 40 minutes away from one of the great cities in the world by rail and I’m quite sure we have roads.

 

[southendkid]

Don’t believe it’s compulsory to live in the town. We are 40 minutes away from one of the great cities in the world by rail and I’m quite sure we have roads.

All of the south is expensive in comparison to the north. If you go up north it's pretty easy to find pubs where it's £2 a pint and rent is much, much cheaper for a house of comparable quality to one around Southend (let alone London). Premier League players aren't going to care because they earn stupid money but if you're a league one player then you don't have an unlimited pool of money, so if a northern club is interested in you then the cheaper cost of living is going to appeal.

 

[Shrimpers are Magic]

All of the south is expensive in comparison to the north. If you go up north it's pretty easy to find pubs where it's £2 a pint and rent is much, much cheaper for a house of comparable quality to one around Southend (let alone London). Premier League players aren't going to care because they earn stupid money but if you're a league one player then you don't have an unlimited pool of money, so if a northern club is interested in you then the cheaper cost of living is going to appeal.

So go for a southern placed player.

 

[Shrimper]

I know we're missing our first choice back 4 & keeper, but for me the problem is in midfield. Dieng was actually at fault for the second goal' he missed a simple challenge in front of the East Greens, he saw Hendrie was out of position, and the ball went forward from that.
Feels like the worst midfield in about 10 years, cant tackle, cant pass, don't track runners and absolutely no leadership anywhere on the pitch, no one shouting or organising, unacceptable. Where are the Barratt's, Timlin's, Leaonard's etc?
One question, the management have known the desperate need to get more players in for about 2 months, why are we halfway through Jan and still no sign of anyone? we should have had players lined up to come in on Jan 1st.

In a fantasy world maybe but for a club like us that's not how it works. Our targets often have other suitors or teams who haven't decided yet if they want to part with them. Not to mention they may keep them as they're selling a similar player and don't get me started on finances.

 

[Rayleigh boy]

All of the south is expensive in comparison to the north. If you go up north it's pretty easy to find pubs where it's £2 a pint and rent is much, much cheaper for a house of comparable quality to one around Southend (let alone London). Premier League players aren't going to care because they earn stupid money but if you're a league one player then you don't have an unlimited pool of money, so if a northern club is interested in you then the cheaper cost of living is going to appeal.

I think london based players hate getting sent up north - it pretty primitive up there - cheap for a reason ...

its alright for northerners but horrific for anyone who is from the beautiful south

 

[Grapevine]

A few stats from Saturday.....some I found surprising some I didn’t....but some of the comments I read after the game were over emotional perception driven rubbish and I just think we need a dose of rationale now and again.....

The players to complete the most passes over the 90 mins are (intentional efforts to reach another player) :-

Sam Mantom 31 - 8
Tim Dieng 30 - 5
Elvis Bwomono 23 - 6
Stephen Hendrie 22 - 6
Isaac Hutchinson 22 - 5 (70 mins)
Michael Kightly 18 - 6 (70 mins)
Dru Yearwood 15 - 5 (not inc KOs)
Michael Turner 12 - 7
John White 11 - 4
Simon Cox 11 - 10
Charlie Kelman 6 - 3

Percentage wise top of the tree was Tim Dieng who had a pass completion % of 86% while Isaac Hutchinson was the only other player in the 80s with 81% completion.

Elvis Bwomono, Stephen Hendrie and Sam Mantom all had 79% while Dru Yearwood and Michael Kightly had 75%.

Bottom of the pile? Simon Cox only had a 52% pass completion rate!!!! While Michael Turner, 63% and Charlie Kelman (albeit based on 25 mins) 67% make up the bottom 3.

Isaac Hutchinson also played the only pass of the game that created a clear cut goal scoring chance (Simon Cox headed over)

Dribbling figures were alarmingly low. Isaac Hutchinson topped the figures for most dribbles (based on more than 4 touches while travelling with the ball) with 5 dribbles, Michael Kightly was next with 4 and Elvis Bwomono and Harry Bunn each had 4.....however barely any of the dribbling attempts by any player resulted in positive completed passes / shots.

Tim Dieng topped the headers with 13 headers. Followed by John White and Michael Turner (11), Simon Cox 8, Stephen Hendrie 7, Isaac Hutchinson 5, Elvis Bwomono 4 and Dru Yearwood 3!

The most staggering figures come from how many times we aimlessly cleared the ball or kicked it upfield to compete for...

Between Bishop / White / Turner we made 56 aimless punts upfield!!!! Now some of these were under pressure and were good old fashioned clearances but of the 56 Bishop had 33 of them and all but 3 he was under no pressure on the ball or it was a free kick / goal kick!!!

In fact Nathan Bishop only threw the ball out 8 times in the entire game (5 first half and 3 second half) of those 8 times we retained possession 6 times. Unfortunately of the two where we didn’t one resulted in a goal!!

However this gives you an idea of how often we had the ball unopposed and CHOSE to miss out the midfield players and aimlessly go long and hit an area.....

Now considering who we are aiming at....Cox - attributes are all technical. Hutchinson - attributes are all technical. Kightly - attributes are all technical. Bunn - attributes all technical. It makes no sense!! Tim Dieng has the highest pass completion rate and the highest headers...I would suggest that we either focused on playing into midfield OR when Nathan gains possession Dieng moves to the target area and the player in that position drops inside to cover? Surely that’s obvious?

We want to see creative goalscoring players but we are playing in a style that makes that impossible. The mere fact we are getting excited by a shot from the halfway line emphasizes that!! It should worry us more than please us as it’s a result of extreme opportunism and a fair slice of luck rather than good play!

We are actually playing to our weaknesses rather than our strengths and then questioning why our creative players and forwards aren’t flourishing!!!

The problem we have is we are stuck in the middle. We have some very good players technically. Players that would like to get it down and play football. We also have several players not suited to this at all and they prefer to play percentages and limit mistakes. Throw into the mix that we are missing so many key players and results haven’t been great a key ingredient for any type of footballer playing any type of football goes missing.....CONFIDENCE!
It’s ok moaning about how many strikers come back to haunt us....maybe that’s more a measure of how we play rather than how they do? We simply don’t create enough and I’m afraid part of that is down to crowd reaction and impatience.

The problem we have as a society is we expect instant. We want a coffee we put a cartridge in a machine and it drip feeds hot water through an element and it’s in the cup! We don’t even have to boil a kettle anymore!!! We want to find out a football score it’s on an app on the phone. Someone asks you a question google it an you know know. You want a new album download it instantly on amazon!!!! Football isnt like that!!! It takes time effort failure, lots of failure and it has infinite variables over which no one has any control.....it’s a team game for example so one player has no control over 21 other players decisions and outcomes....the weather, the wind, the bounce...it’s all variable yet we are expecting consistent and we are expecting the get the expected outcome....we aren’t geared up for witnessing failure and simply can’t seem to understand the difference between trying to do the right thing and failing and failing to be able to do the right thing!

If we want players to be creative we have to allow for failure. A player trying to create will generally fail more times than he succeeds...we celebrate the one that works. The dribble and pass that opens up a defence. But how many times has that player needed to try and find that opportunity and failed? If he’s under pressure each time he fails he will gradually take less risks....the logical outcome of that is less attempts less success....take this conclusion into 7/8 players and we have a problem.....

Also, some of you need to think very seriously about what you wish for in terms of the management staying / leaving. It’s not great at the moment. We all know that. But consider the constraints the management are working under.....

You have a very highly respected manager and management team, who conduct themselves with huge dignity at all times. Who have never ever disrespected or embarrassed your club in any way and who are working very very hard to give you the product you want with a very limited tool box.

They don’t rant and rave, they don’t conduct themselves like thugs they show respect to opposition players and staff and all officials good or bad. They want to win more than any of us and believe me this period will be killing them inside.

Would you take a Steve Evans? A renowned thug a convicted cheat. A crook? He shows passion from the sidelines.....he usually gets results in some form or other....

Ask yourself.....would you want to work for him??

Ask yourself what would happen to a Kelman, a Hutchinson, a Bishop, a Klass, a Dru if someone like that was in charge of your football club........

You have a staff that care deeply not only about the results they get but also the future of your club and the reputation of your club....long term not just for two seasons while they make a wage.....

We need to stop questioning the need for three management staff!! How many of us have managed a side at any level? I have....let me tell you even in non league almost everyone of able to will have at least two assistants....the things that need doing and the pairs of hands you need on a match day is ridiculous.....not always things you see from the outside....however it’s Monday to Friday you need staff.....working with a first team squad of upto 26 players is impossible to always do all together...so working in units...individually.....attacking and defending....small sided games and full scale games...all require coaches to break down.....

Again, we are very lucky....Damian Matthew and Kevin Keen have huge experience and their CVs suggest they are among the best around. Trust them. Let them work!!!

 

[Evening Echo]

DRU Yearwood could become just the third ever 18-year-old to reach 50 games for Southend United when the Shrimpers host Plymouth Argyle at Roots Hall tomorrow.

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[Evening Echo]

TAYLOR Moore has been ruled out of Southend United’s clash against Plymouth Argyle with a hamstring problem.

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[Evening Echo]

SOUTHEND United manager Chris Powell felt Charlie Kelman’s wonder-goal was the only plus-point in the Shrimpers’ 3-2 defeat against Plymouth Argyle.

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[Evening Echo]

SOUTHEND United host Plymouth Argyle at Roots Hall this afternoon. Follow the action live here.

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[Evening Echo]

AN UNBELIEVABLE late effort from 17-year-old striker Charlie Kelman was not enough to stop Southend United suffering a 3-2 defeat against Plymouth Argyle this afternoon.

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[Evening Echo]

SOUTHEND United manager Chris Powell feels the Shrimpers are short of confidence at home.

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[Evening Echo]

PLYMOUTH Argyle manager Derek Adams felt Southend United were flattered by the final score-line at Roots Hall on Saturday.

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