Post-Match Thread and Ratings Southend United 3-0 Port Vale

[Up the Shrimpers]

I think Gareth Owen scored an own goal against us last season as well, first match of the season I think?

 

[wiggy]

That rating says more about you than it does about Gilbert.

Even i would get better than 2 at left back Mrs.Gilbert!

 

[Sandbach Shrimper]

Only one rating... Gilbert 2.....how he can blame Mohsni for not getting to Anfield is beyond me. He should be playing at Wakering and cutting up the oranges to boot...useless!

Name one specific thing he did wrong today. All of our defenders play it long, that's Sturrock's way. Phillips and Barker are just as guilty of hoofing it to nowhere.

 

[davewebbsbrain]

Name one specific thing he did wrong today. All of our defenders play it long, that's Sturrock's way.

Yep, I was frustrated at barker first half, every time he got the ball it was pumped aimlessly back up the pitch, even when he had time to control and play a pass on the deck.

 

[wiggy]

Name one specific thing he did wrong today. All of our defenders play it long, that's Sturrock's way.

Yeah it is Sturrock's way but this bloke takes the ****. We have got a proper wide winger now, he needs a bit of on floor supply like the right hand side. Gilbert is non league end of!

 

[Earls Hall Blue]

=wiggy;1351844]Yeah it is Sturrock's way but this bloke takes the p-iss. We have got a proper wide winger now, he needs a bit of on floor supply like the right hand side. Gilbert is non league end of!

Gilbert fed him today, you can see with a proper left winger in front of him he will not hoof as much.

The guy even got forward more than I seen for a while & remind me who's cross was it that led to the own goal?

Give the guy a break, he had a solid game today & those giving him stick around me were just doing it for the sake of it

 

[Jai]

Yawn moan yawn moan Gilbert hoof moan 3-0 not good enough moan. Good job most of you didn't watch Alvin Martin/Alan Little's teams.

I couldn't get there today, so I can't judge the performance, but clean sheet, two three goal wins in a week and you'd think we were down for relegation. Cheer up!

 

[Tangled up in Blue]

Yawn moan yawn moan Gilbert hoof moan 3-0 not good enough moan. Good job most of you didn't watch Alvin Martin/Alan Little's teams.

I couldn't get there today, so I can't judge the performance, but clean sheet, two three goal wins in a week and you'd think we were down for relegation. Cheer up!

It was certainly a three goal win today but the last home game (on Monday)was a 1-1 draw against Dagenham,which you've conveniently airbrushed from your account.That other win by a three goal margin was of course on New Year's Eve against AFC Dons.
Like you, I wasn't there today but I did see the game on Monday.That particular performance left me wondering why we're still in the top 3.
By all accounts, Vale are a poor side,on a terrible losing run and have problems both on and off the pitch.Yet they're still somewhat higher in the table than Dagenham currently are.Let's see how we get on at places like Northampton,before we start booking any promotion parties.
I get the impression that this particular PS side (as opposed to last season's)is good at grinding out results,even when they're not playing particularly well.
We won't be relegated this season but I don't think we're a certainty for automatic promotion yet either.
(ps, I saw rather more than I would have liked, of both Alvin Martin's and Alan Little's teams).

 

[DTS]

What has happened to Gilbert? Good passing, good interplay with Martin, pushing way up field, getting good crosses in, one of which their player banged in for the OG.

I would ask what happened to you not Gilbert. Almost every ball was long and aimless. He isn't a bad defender but going forward or any form of passing required and he is found wanting.

 

[GregStarz]

Yeah it is Sturrock's way but this bloke takes the p-iss. We have got a proper wide winger now, he needs a bit of on floor supply like the right hand side. Gilbert is non league end of!

I think the fact that Martin started to get rather stressed with Gilbert in the first half says it all.

Early on in the game Martin dropped short every time to receive the ball but Gilbert hit it long time and time again, Martin got frustrated and in the end just made runs to hopefully win the long ball from Gilbert which was just a waste of time.

I'm NOT a Gilbert one bit but yesterday he was better than normal and did at times play the ball on the floor, he's just very frustrating and the weakest player in our team by miles!

 

[DTS]

You're kidding me? See Sky240286 for a decent assessment of Gilbert. Every time he gets the ball, he never has an option. Entire second half, he'd receive the ball, and have no option, forcing him to hit it long. He did very well considering the complete lack of support he received on the pitch.

He has plenty of options. Sadly he docent have the ability ti find them. His only idea is send it long down the line which is probably safest as when he try's to play it he usually plays us into trouble.

 

[Jay_SUFC]

I would ask what happened to you not Gilbert. Almost every ball was long and aimless. He isn't a bad defender but going forward or any form of passing required and he is found wanting.

It seems some people on here aren't going to accept Gilbert no matter what - but I suggest you actually watch him, whenever he gets the ball most of the time he always looks up and will play it long or short, though I agree most times it is long, but as someone mentioned if he has no options to go short then I ask what is he going do?

You should also notice that defenders don't get much time on the ball at this level as they get closed down pretty quick, so they don't have much time to make a decision, so instinct as a defender should be just to clear your lines.

I would not want my full-backs holding on to the ball too long and then end up losing it in a dangerous position

 

[Cricko]

It seems some people on here aren't going to accept Gilbert no matter what - but I suggest you actually watch him, whenever he gets the ball most of the time he always looks up and will play it long or short, though I agree most times it is long, but as someone mentioned if he has no options to go short then I ask what is he going do?

You should also notice that defenders don't get much time on the ball at this level as they get closed down pretty quick, so they don't have much time to make a decision, so instinct as a defender should be just to clear your lines.

I would not want my full-backs holding on to the ball too long and then end up losing it in a dangerous position

He doesn't have to lose possession..9 times out of 10 he passes it to the opposition.:smile:

 

[bazzashrimper]

On one occasion yesterday Gilbert played it in short to Kalala, who was under pressure and promptly got rid of it before giving Gilbert a telling off. Apart from that, certainly in the second half he had little option other than a long ball. It should be noted that many of his long balls are attempted passes to the forwards feet - certainly Benyon looks quite good at receiving this type of pass, when accurate. Where he does just hoof is when he's closed down or the ball is bouncing.

I thought he played well yesterday

 

[Supa Shrimpa]

There were a couple of times where I thought Gilbert could have gone on another 10 yards or so, drew their midfielder in, then slipped it to Martin (which i think Martin expected him to do). Instead, he delayed, and by the time Martin received the ball he had someone crawling all over him. Alternatively, he just lobbed it over his head. It made it a difficult afternoon for Martin. Still, he got forward more than usual yesterday, and his first job is to defend and clear his lines, and that he does well (better than Prosser in that respect).

 

[fbm]

Ah, the spectrum of opinions...

FWIW, I thought Gilbert had a decent game yesterday, MILES better than Prosser at left back and rarely saw him play it long, which was much more the remit of Barker and Phillips (both who I thought were immense in their defensive duties).

Port Vale were a big strong side and there must be several post mortems about the goals they conceded.

I also don't think we played significantly less direct ball than we have done in the past. However, we now have 2 proper wide men and Martin in particular was always offering an outlet.

It's worth bearing in mind that if the game had been the other way around, i.e rank first half hour, go 1-0 up and then 2 goals in last half hour, we'd all be saying what a greta game that was.

For me, something at the end said it all. A mate tapped me on the shoulder and said "I don't know how you watch that every week." He isn't a mad football fan but watches the odd match at the Hall, mainly when his nephews football team gets cheap ticket deals. But he was right. And this is what I think is the big issue here.

We don't entertain. It's not so much hoofball vs direct ball or keep it on the deck... it's that a PS team is ultimately professional in getting results. Yesterday, the sending off after 64 minutes was the last incident of note in the match. 3-0 up at home against 10 men... I really had hoped we would press on and try to get 4, 5, 6, bring Harris and Mohsni on, tear Vale apart... but no.

We played keepball.

When we are 1-0 up with 10 minutes to go we go for the corners.

When we go away it is perfect. At home, the visitors sit back and the onus is on us to make the game, which we go about in a very matter of fact way. This is why our best performances have been away from home. Roll on Northampton!

It's just not entertaining and we pay our money to be entertained. In the 42 years I've followed Southend, I've seen tons of games where we've entertained and drawn or lost. Under Tilly, how many times did we let in late goals to tun wins into draws or draws into defeats? All because we tried to keep playing football.

It's a tough one. On the one hand, we're 2nd and despite this awful run and terrible performances (apparently), if the Aldershot match had completed as we think it would then we would have taken 10 points from 12.

So, I'll bite my tongue, congratulate Mr Sturrock on turning this club around in the way he has, bow to his superior knowledge of the game (especially how to get out of this division) and pray that soon we do actually start playing like his impressive Plymouth side that walked this league a few years back and remain one of the best visiting sides I have ever seen at the Hall.

Ratings

Morris - 7 - Welcome back, solid performance, nice game to ease back in with.

Clohessy - 7 - Usual effort and commitment.
Barker - 8 - Back to his imperial best and how this performance can differ so much from the one he put in v Daggers I have no idea.
Phillips - 8 - My player of the season. yes, he makes mistakes and doesn't always look comfortable on the ball but I also love his goals.
Gilbert - 7 - Nowhere near as bad as people are saying. Much more solid than previosuly and miles better than Prosser.

Hall - 8 - Lacks a yard or two of pace to be a really good player but two good assists and unlucky not to get one of his own.
Kalala - 7 - Please JP, stick to breaking up the opposition play, which you are superb at, and then give the ball to the nearest Blue shirt to do something with. When you start to try and play football it all goes wrong.
Timlin - 7 - Great engine and a great signing. Had quiet spells yesterday but will be an important player for us.
Martin - 6 - Rusty. Always an outlet, which is good, and showed his pace a couple of times but ball control and distribution not there yet.

Dickinson - 8.5 - MOM - Led the line well, scored and made a nuisance of himself all the time, constantly pressed and chased. Superb.
Benyon - 7 - I'm sure he will be fine but needs a goal soon and in order for him to get that he'll need a chance. Like Harris, we just don't play to his strengths. I'm sure Barry Corr would be the perfect partner for him and Harris but sadly I doubt we'll ever see that.

 

[Wise Head]

Gilbert is good defensively as you only have to look at Prosser at left back to confirm this. However he, Barker & Phillips are the main offenders of hoofball. Martin had a difficult first game as he assumed that his full back would be looking to lay in short balls to him throughout the game, dream on. One thing I notice is that to stop playing long balls foward the midfield players will need to make themselves available by moving off the ball and being free to pass to. At the moment they are often standing stationary and only moving once the ball has been hoofed forward to look to pick up the secondary ball. Any good passing side has lots of players moving all the time to allow the person with the ball to offload it easily and move forward quickly by movement of players.

 

[Muttley]

Gilbert is good defensively as you only have to look at Prosser at left back to confirm this. However he, Barker & Phillips are the main offenders of hoofball. Martin had a difficult first game as he assumed that his full back would be looking to lay in short balls to him throughout the game, dream on. One thing I notice is that to stop playing long balls foward the midfield players will need to make themselves available by moving off the ball and being free to pass to. At the moment they are often standing stationary and only moving once the ball has been hoofed forward to look to pick up the secondary ball. Any good passing side has lots of players moving all the time to allow the person with the ball to offload it easily and move forward quickly by movement of players.

Good Post. The constant talk about hoofball is becoming so BORING
PS as on several occassions made it clear that he doesnt want any of the back line to play pretty football.So with that in mind, he is looking for the second ball to be picked up.So the constant slagging off of the long ball players is a nonsense when its an instruction coming from the manager.Accrington played some of the best football i saw last year, but it didnt get them promotion.So horses for courses.
I would i also like to point out that if you watch the midfield during the match,they very rarely give the back line options of coming short to collect the ball,(other than Grant when he is in the mood) hence no option but to go long.
I understand you purists out there want pretty football but surely promotion is more important.

 

[BaileytheQuitter]

Ryan Hall MOTM for me purely for the two balls for our first two goals. Pure class. What a goal he nearly scored too!

 

[BB Blue]

Just a few points from yetersday game.

Tought Giilbert had a good game. Now he has a winger to pass to (Martin), he was constantly looking to pass to him through out the game. Second half he linked up with him quite well.

Martin has a good touch about him, and when he has a few games under his belt I think he will be a major threat in our promtion fight.

Would like to see Benyon be on the tail of the defenders more, played to deep in the second half.

Diko was my man of the man, showed some good skill, great goal.

Clohessy, Barker, Phillips all 8 out of ten IMO.

Glad to see Morrs back nothing really much to do, but gives me confidence when he plays.

Anyway great 3 points from the boys today.