Post-Match Thread and Ratings Southend United 2 v 0 Portsmouth

[Cricko]

All the post-match stuff here please ladies and gents.

 

[spoons]

Great win today against a good side, Burton still going well and Morecambe but hopefully we are turning the corner.

 

[leeblue]

Clean sheet....strikers scoring...match report done.

 

[Beefy]

Great result and hopefully mean we can go through the week on here without people breaking down.

 

[spoons]

2 tough away games coming up, Cheltenham on Tuesday then York next Saturday, should know after that whether we are the real deal this season. 6 shots on target and 2 scored which is better than recently.

 

[RHB]

Very good result with forwards scoring who 'can't score', and no Bolger or Mads in defence. Hmmm,.......not sure what that tells me.

 

[southendkid]

Great result, hopefully Coulthrist gets some confidence from that goal (also mrsblue's claim that Shaq's contract says he has to play at least 20 minutes a game has been proven to be rubbish since he only played 5 today).

 

[wakes123]

Just got back - good stuff today. Jack Payne - had money on him first goal scorer last week and same again this week...and he could have opened the scoring today. Thought he had a good game along with Deegan I remember in the 2nd half there were about 3 50/50 balls in a row and he just went 100% into all of them and made them all. Real committed player. Opposite end of that is he could see a few reds. A note finally on Coultihurst...what a composed finish when he got sent through by Worrall, I'll be honest I wasn't very confident when he went in one on one just because his finishing had been poor so far this season but I think he'll start smashing them in after breaking the duck.

 

[mgh]

Great performance today stopped Portsmouth creating anything, thought Thompson was excellent as was Williams but mom Deegan. ..
Bentley 7 solid on crosses
White 6 defended well
Thompson 8 excellent in the air and on the ground
Prosser 8 back to form of last season
Williams 8 strong and put in one great cross near the end
Leonard 6 started to show glimpses of form in the second half
Deegan 9 everywhere today made some crucial tackles and good distribution
Hurst 6 better than of late
Weston 7 good runs and linked up well with Williams
Payne 8 inventive
Corr 6 worked hard without looking too dangerous

Subs 7 great play from Worrall and Coulsthirst for the goal

 

[Jam_Man]

Decent game in the sun, nice to see strikers scoring and Coulthirst getting off the mark so we can stop talking about that for a while at least.

Payne looked lively. Always looking to do something with the ball, has to be careful at times as gave the ball away a couple of times in our own half that put us under pressure.

Williams looked ok at left back, no where near Coker standard but did ok even if he looked very raw and his link up play with Weston second half keystone cop standard at time. Did well at other times though and unlucky not to score 1st half.

To add to it Orient get beaten at home by 10 men to Colchester of all people.

 

[Austin the Shrimper]

Confidence boosting win, we could have scored a few more at end. Really happy for Shaq, it meant a lot to him that goal. Deegan is a battler, really like him in there. Some really promising stuff, let's kick on from here. Come on you blues

 

[dannypav]

I will send my match report / ratings later , but for now I will just say Deegan , Deegan , Deegan.
That is all.

 

[davewebbsbrain]

Decent game in the sun, nice to see strikers scoring and Coulthirst getting off the mark so we can stop talking about that for a while at least.

Payne looked lively. Always looking to do something with the ball, has to be careful at times as gave the ball away a couple of times in our own half that put us under pressure.

Williams looked ok at left back, no where near Coker standard but did ok even if he looked very raw and his link up play with Weston second half keystone cop standard at time. Did well at other times though and unlucky not to score 1st half.

To add to it Orient get beaten at home by 10 men to Colchester of all people.

Funny what different people see. I thought he was on the money, better player than Coker. Strong, fast and never gives up.

 

[manor15]

Great result and a good performance. It was a nervy start but by the end the team seemed to have a lot more confidence and desire, it was a massive improvement on last week. A number of excellent performances as well. 2-0 perhaps flattered us but it was a very good result against a good team with a poor referee on top of that.

Bentley 7.5 Some excellent saves, most were routine but he made 2 or 3 great stops
White 6 Beaten time and time again by their winger, but better going forwards
Prosser 7 Calm and assured, always wanted the ball but a few wayward passes
Thompson 7 Similar to Prosser but dealt with their forwards well
Williams 8.5 Fantastic debut, nervy at the start but grew into it, a real threat going forward and solid defensively
Hurst 7 Best I've seen of him this season, grew in confidence after the first goal
Deegan 7.5 Battled and fought and added bite to the middle. Had to be careful once he got a yellow but he's a proper League 2 terrier.
Leonard 6 Our weakest player today, looks a completely different player to last season, passing was poor
Weston 6.5 Seemed disinterested out wide at times and too one footed for my liking but got at them well
Payne 8 A revelation in the middle and Portsmouth didn't seem to know how to deal with him than to bring him down
Corr 7 Great reaction for the goal, fought hard, but too theatric at times but did well on his own

Worrall 7 Got forward well and did exactly what was needed
Atkinson 7 Chased everything and fought hard
Shaq 7.5 Wasn't on for long, did well for the goal, came close again, let's hope the confidence boost will help

 

[Jam_Man]

Funny what different people see. I thought he was on the money, better player than Coker. Strong, fast and never gives up.

There were times he looked clumsy and a number of times passes to Weston went behind him and off the pitch in the second half, was very frustrating at times. Didn't always seem to know where to be positionally, times he could have been trying to overlap etc and he didnt move.

He did well at times but very raw and no way better than Coker. He is young though and you can see attributes in him that will serve him well as he develops.

I will send my match report / ratings later , but for now I will just say Deegan , Deegan , Deegan.
That is all.

Thought he did well, did all the dirty stuff, broke up play etc. Good player to have in the team with Payne to let him get forward.

 

[united we stand]

Great result, hopefully Coulthrist gets some confidence from that goal (also mrsblue's claim that Shaq's contract says he has to play at least 20 minutes a game has been proven to be rubbish since he only played 5 today).

Cue the change of from must start, to 20 mins to something else and months later total denial. Have we been here before?

Separatemy great to hear the good reports on Thompson. I know he came here highly rated but except against Millwall I have not been impressed so will be very happy to be proved wrong on him

 

[mgh]

Great performance today stopped Portsmouth creating anything, thought Thompson was excellent as was Williams but mom Deegan. ..
Bentley 7 solid on crosses
White 6 defended well
Thompson 8 excellent in the air and on the ground
Prosser 8 back to form of last season
Williams 8 strong and put in one great cross near the end
Leonard 6 started to show glimpses of form in the second half
Deegan 9 everywhere today made some crucial tackles and good distribution
Hurst 6 better than of late
Weston 7 good runs and linked up well with Williams
Payne 8 inventive
Corr 6 worked hard without looking too dangerous

Subs 7 great play from Worrall and Coulsthirst for the goal

 

[Jam_Man]

Cue the change of from must start, to 20 mins to something else and months later total denial. Have we been here before?

Just to play Devils Advocate, as he isnt here to defend himself there may still well be agreements in place where we benefit from him playing and games like today we have to contribute to wages.

Today doesnt actually prove there isnt.

What it does however show is that even if those agreements are there, it means nothing, we arent forced to do anything and can use him how we see fit. Id also say that by the celebrations with him when he scored morale isnt being affected by him either, the team were very pleased to see him score.

 

[Medway Blue]

Today was brilliant but I am going to start with a few gripes, just to get them out of the way, which are to do with Phil Brown and not the players. Despite the last few lackluster displays I really do think (with today being proof) that we have one of the strongest squads in the division, in quality and in depth. But I don't think El Tango knows how to use it to its fullest potential - in fact I really don't think he has a clue what his strongest starting 11 is, nor what formation they would best operate in. I really am not a fan of going with 1 up top because when we have wingers who can put quality balls into the box (and we have 3 in Hurst, Weston and Worrall), having 1 man in the box is going to get us nowhere. Time and time again a ball goes into the box, Corr either gets on the end of it or doesn't but either way, we're crying out for a second striker to win that second ball and we just don't have that with the current formation which means the ball doesn't stick up there and comes straight back.

I also feel that whilst I will always advocate the style of football we play, it needs to be played with more urgency and a higher tempo to be pulled off properly. What happened to pass and move? I lost count of the amount of times today, first half especially, when someone would receive the ball on the halfway line while we were going forward and just dwell on it with his arms outstretched because nobody was giving him an option in front of him, before the ball ended up having to go sideways or backwards. We need people moving and running into space. We want to be unsettling opposition teams with this style of play and getting in behind them especially at home, but the tempo and build-up is so slow that the opposite is happening and the oppo are getting all their men behind the ball so we're hitting a brick wall in front of their box. It can be frustrating to watch at times. I just hope that the manager doesn't undo a more-than-possible promotion bid with his indecision and dodgy tactics.

Despite all this I thought we were superb today. I think the right starting 11 were picked for the wrong formation and it was a well-oiled performance with everyone putting in a shift. Perhaps it would have worked better if Payne had burst forward from the middle more and played off Corr's shoulder because I think that would've worked well and not undone us as long as Leonard and Deegan held position. But until the last 15 mins I thought Jack played a bit too deep. But apart from the first 10 mins I thought we were in the ascendency all game and if Pompey some of the best this division has to offer then we should be just fine as long as Brown doesn't undo us with silly tactics and team selections.

BENTLEY - 6 - apart from one smart stop in the second half, I don't remember him having much to do.

WHITE - 6 - solid but nothing special. Not captain material.

PROSSER - 7 - solid and commanding, important role in keeping clean sheet.

THOMPSON - 7 - ditto.

BINNON-WILLIAMS - 8 - bit of a revelation, defended and attacked well, stood up to the physical nature of the game despite being his first league game, has great technique too.

DEEGAN - 9 MOM - Alan McCormack without the slow speed of thought and **** passing. He was everywhere, snapping at heels, chasing down oppo players (even out wide!), making crucial tackles and interceptions followed by intelligent passes. Positional sense is awesome and he has quick feet and passing ability. I'm a fan.

LEONARD - 6 - Solid and performed the box-to-box role well, strong in the tackle. Decision-making with passes still leaves a bit to be desired and still a bit off-colour.

PAYNE - 7 - stunted a bit by playing too deep first half, think we'd have looked more dangerous if he got forward and played off Corr, but finally got forward in last 20 mins. His small size, pace, agility, balance, dribbling skills and vision really unsettles the oppo and you rarely see him lose the ball, it seems to stick to his feet.

HURST - 6 - Not bad but can see he's short on confidence and not trying the shots or crosses he was last season. Still showed his class on occasion though, especially in last 10 mins.

WESTON - 7 - Couple of teasing balls into the box and good crossing ability, quick running at their full-backs and got in behind them.

CORR - 7 - fighting a losing battle up front on his own because there's no-one to pick up his second balls but he did what he could well and bagged a goal.

Subs:
COULTHIRST - 7 - finally looked dangerous rather than lazy! Got forward, scored a great goal (luckily, since the pass to Worrall was on and he'd have been slaughtered if he'd missed), ran at them. Looked like the goal gave him instant confidence. Maybe not a lost cause after all.

WORRALL - 7 - looked dangerous when he came on, another quality winger who passes and crosses well and has some vision. Did excellently to spot the pass to Coulthirst early and bagged himself an assist as a result.

ATKINSON - 6 - had little to do.

Ref - one of the best I've seen in a while, let the game flow though maybe less so in the second half. Didn't seem to want to be the centre of attention which was refreshing. One gripe, he gave into pressure from Pompey players who crowded him and booked Payne having initially let him walk away without a booking.

Crowd - good atmosphere today, loved the banter between TBV and the Pompey fans, who clearly have a case of Bigclubitis.






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[wakes123]

Funny what different people see. I thought he was on the money, better player than Coker. Strong, fast and never gives up.

Very different player to Coker - more powerful and direct. I think it's difficult to judge to who's better at this early stage. Agree though really good debut from him. Doesn't look like a typical left back?