Post-Match Thread and Ratings Southend United vs Walsall

[Tommy2holes]

I agree I think the JPT is likely to be the only cup final this club will ever play in and we should respect the fact that it has been very kind to us .

I think having seen the quality of our bench last night I think we can challenge at the top and have a good cup run.

 

[Jam_Man]

Thompson was abysmal tonight his positioning was **** poor. He didn't close down his man for the first goal. He looked very poor on the ball. He is not the answer at right back.

Payne is good going forward but he nearly cost us goals. I'd love to see his pass conversion rate because he gave the ball away so much. His shooting was poor aswell. I just think he is a luxury.

Wasnt he playing centre back in a 3 centre back system?

Thompson is a weak link and can't believe he is still here ....on a positive note, Phil has made some cracking signings and i think we will go up!

What the hell has happened !?!?!

We lose a game and Wiggy is positive.

Close the internet, we are done. :smile:

 

[spoons]

I saw us on Saturday but not last night and fear that we are the same as last season. We had 19 shots at goal and only scored the screamer from Leonard. Barnard may look leaner and bright but he cannot find the net. Weston and Coulthirst have added pace but we are always more concerned with defence rather than getting goals.
i know Walsall are a higher level but if we are to go up we should be beating the likes at Roots Hall.
We played a poor game of football at Accrington and must surely improve but we lack any threat of a goal. It is not just the strikers to blame, the midfield is not creative enough, but I guess that is why they are playing for us.
Brown is again talking us up but the truth is, we are short up front.
I hope I am wrong but feel that the next few games will prove the opposite.
Negative, yes but an honest opinion.

 

[Mick]

Personally not unhappy to see us out of this and the LDV. Both can create unwanted games, injury's and distractions which ultimately effect out core goal this season which is promotion.

Absolutely. Wouldn't want to have to play Man Utd again or trudge to Wembley one more time.

A winning team builds confidence and I was disappointed to see us go out although the team acquitted themselves reasonably well, just lacking an incisive cutting edge.

Our core goal EVERY season should be promotion. No reason to abandon the other competitions - just in case we don't make that core goal.

 

[Supa Shrimpa]

I thought the pass conversion for little Jack was excellent in the first 25 mins. He kept things simple.
As he grew into the game he became braver and started to make things happen. The odd pass went astray, but he became a real threat by dribbling forward. A good start by the young lad, who repaid his managers faith in him.

I thought the centre backs did ok. With only 3 of them, if became very tight when we decided to play the ball across the back, when Walsall realised our formation and began to push onto them.

 

[shrimpled]

Impressed by Ibenfeldt, Worrall ( when going forward only I hasten to add), Barnard and Payne.

Leonard had a quiet game bar that absolute scorcher. Coulthirst will get a few goals this season, his finishing was poor last night but he got into great positions throughout and was particularly unlucky with the shot on the turn late on. Simillar to Barney who looked 50% better than at any time last year. Got into scoring positions and was bought down and one occcasion and the keeper made a good save on the other.

What is clear is that 3-5-2 or 5-3-2 whatever you call it doesn't work for us. Worrall is not defensively minded and provided far too little cover for Thompson (which I think help's to explain his low ratings). Smith is fine as a back up keeper and I actually thought he commanded his area better than i've seen for a while. He shouted a Thompson to 'Clear' for the first goal, then Thommo left it.. he did get very lucky with the offside goal mind - although it took a slight deflection.

I actually agree with Wiggy, Brown appears to have made some good signings and we had a strong bench last night. We should do well, we played well enough to win that game last night.

 

[defender05]

The three at the back didn't work for me as we spent most of the time passing the ball backwards to each other and Walsall got in to easy in the wide areas. Once we changed to 442 we looked more comfortable but unless we start at least hitting the target with some of our shooting we are going to be relying on set pieces to score goals.

Player wise for me,

Smith in goal as a backup is OK I could see much on the first goal but the cross got into the six yard box to easy for me, the second one was like Lenny's goal it was hit so well unless it hit him he wasn't saving it.

The defence looked better as a back four than a three but Thompson isn't a right back so it a bit unfair to criticise him for doing a job there.

The midfield in the first half looked a worry but once we started attacking more they settled down and in the second half with Payne and Weston on the wings we looked dangerous. I see that a lot of people have starting raving about Payne but for me he needs to improve his game when we haven't got the ball if he wants to play more.

Up front is still a worry for me, the lad from Spurs doesn't look like a forward he looks like a winger being played out of position and as for Barnard he looks better than last season, not that was not hard, but I still feel we should have spent the money on a proven goal scorer at this level rather than another centre half.

 

[Shrimpergonzo]

Here's my two-penneth on the players on show last night:

Smith 6 - He is definitely our no.2 keeper, and as such a reasonable option to have in emergency. I have no problem with him playing in COC and JPT as he needs game time in order to exorcise his demons from Dagenham last year. He might have done better with both goals last night but I don't think you can blame him for both either!

Thompson 6 - A bit of a curate's egg of a performance from our Northern Ireland international last night. Sometimes I thought he was magnificent and other times really poor. He showed that he is a decent back-up for both right back and centre back.

Ibenfeldt 6 - I thought he was not as good in the air as he should be given his height, but some of his distribution was excellent (one ball for Weston in particular was sublime). Oh, and why on earth does he wear his shorts like a girl?!!!

Prosser 7 - Probably the pick of the back 3, although he didn't look as composed playing that system against an albeit decent Walsall outift.

Coker 6 - I really don't think Ben looked comfortable as a wing-back. He doesn't really like to go past people and so too often looks for a backwards pass.

Worrall 8 - I think he looks like an excellent signing. Great technique and a good engine, covered back well, good cross. Hope his injury is not too bad as on last night's showing he should be starting in place of Hurst.

Atkinson 6 - Didn't really show a lot before he went off injured (his own fault)

Payne 8 - I love this lad, great character and good enterprise. He's still a bit raw and a little lightweight but what a talent - just hope he can develop.

Leonard 7 - What a strike for the goal! Thought he was a bit subdued for the rest of the evening though.

Coulthirst 7 - Showed a good pedigree, if only they could have recalibrated his shooting radar before the game he could have had a hat-trick. Will win lots of free-kicks and hopefully a few penalties with his trickery and running at defenders. Some of the League 2 defenders will be quaking in their boots at the prospect of facing him!

Barnard 7 - Looked so much better than he did last season, great energy and technique, shame he didn't score the one-on-one as the more goals he gets the more confident he will become which means hopefully we'll get the old Barney back.


Subs:

Clifford 7 - Decent enough performance from Connor, I was expecting more however after the rave reviews he got on Saturday

Weston 7 - This guy looks to be a really decent acquisition, looking forward to seeing him start on Saturday.

Hurst 5 - Think the Alice band is affecting his performance. Offered nothing when he came on, needs a spell on the bench I think.


All in all, given that we made seven changes from the XI that started on Saturday (Walsall put out the same starting XI) and experimented with a new system, I think we showed up pretty well against good quality League One opposition. However, experiment over for now, eh Phil? Back to 4-4-2/4-3-3 on Saturday with the following team please

Bentley​

White Bolger Prosser Coker

Worrall Leonard Clifford

Weston Barnard Coulthirst

Subs: Smith, Thompson, Ibenfeldt, Atkinson, Payne, Hurst, Corr

 

[Jam_Man]

I saw us on Saturday but not last night and fear that we are the same as last season. We had 19 shots at goal and only scored the screamer from Leonard. Barnard may look leaner and bright but he cannot find the net. Weston and Coulthirst have added pace but we are always more concerned with defence rather than getting goals.
i know Walsall are a higher level but if we are to go up we should be beating the likes at Roots Hall.
We played a poor game of football at Accrington and must surely improve but we lack any threat of a goal. It is not just the strikers to blame, the midfield is not creative enough, but I guess that is why they are playing for us.
Brown is again talking us up but the truth is, we are short up front.
I hope I am wrong but feel that the next few games will prove the opposite.
Negative, yes but an honest opinion.

We played 343 and played Payne an attacking player, Im not sure how you translate that into not trying to get goals especially when as you say we had 19 shots.

 

[Rattus Norvegicus]

Thompson is a weak link and can't believe he is still here ....on a positive note, Phil has made some cracking signings and i think we will go up!

Are you feeling okay, Wiggy - a very positive post. :omg:

 

[londonblue]

Absolutely. Wouldn't want to have to play Man Utd again or trudge to Wembley one more time.

A winning team builds confidence and I was disappointed to see us go out although the team acquitted themselves reasonably well, just lacking an incisive cutting edge.

Our core goal EVERY season should be promotion. No reason to abandon the other competitions - just in case we don't make that core goal.

We played Man Ure when we were in The Championship. We're now in League 2. The priority has to be getting out of this division, and playing more matches than necessary just increases the risk of injury and loss of form.

 

[Jam_Man]

We played Man Ure when we were in The Championship. We're now in League 2. The priority has to be getting out of this division, and playing more matches than necessary just increases the risk of injury and loss of form.

And beating Man Utd gave the whole team a boost and helped us get out of that terrible run we were in.

Winning cup games can have a positive effect on form, and our bank balance.

 

[DTS]

I would be very happy to see us go up as Champions and have a successful day out at Wembley in the JPT (where did LDV come from?)..........now that would be a good season!!!

The successful run in the JPT cost us Timlin and Tomlin and we blew a big league as we didn't have a decent enough squad. Personally I can do without a pointless cup that is only of interest if you make the final 4.

 

[Shrimper2thecore]

The three at the back didn't work for me as we spent most of the time passing the ball backwards to each other and Walsall got in to easy in the wide areas. Once we changed to 442 we looked more comfortable but unless we start at least hitting the target with some of our shooting we are going to be relying on set pieces to score goals.

Player wise for me,

Smith in goal as a backup is OK I could see much on the first goal but the cross got into the six yard box to easy for me, the second one was like Lenny's goal it was hit so well unless it hit him he wasn't saving it.

The defence looked better as a back four than a three but Thompson isn't a right back so it a bit unfair to criticise him for doing a job there.

The midfield in the first half looked a worry but once we started attacking more they settled down and in the second half with Payne and Weston on the wings we looked dangerous. I see that a lot of people have starting raving about Payne but for me he needs to improve his game when we haven't got the ball if he wants to play more.

Up front is still a worry for me, the lad from Spurs doesn't look like a forward he looks like a winger being played out of position and as for Barnard he looks better than last season, not that was not hard, but I still feel we should have spent the money on a proven goal scorer at this level rather than another centre half.

How many of those do you know for £25k?? :nope:

 

[onceknownasrab]

Damned if you do and damned if you don't. The cup can potentially be lucrative and that is a possibility clubs like ours hanker for.

I often feel PB does not play the squad enough and then bang! Seven changes and an experimental formation. I would have been happier to have seen three changes and accepted that was giving some others a go. I guess its about compromise rather than extremes.

The 'B' team put up a show and gave good effort but to be picky I don't believe a club like ours can afford to be so experimental when pounds, shillings and pence are at stake.

 

[wickfordblue70]

Thought it was a good game last night , and brown would have learnt a lot for the league games , imo Smith not good enough surprised we kept him , we cant play 3-5-2 , mads and thompson will be ok for cover cb-rb ,Barnard looked sharp and run the whole game nice to see , lad from Spurs made good runs offered pace ( just needs to finish now ) Clifford looks like a new player when he came on hope it goes on .maybe played around too much but nice to see some good passing building from back not long ball.These are my few's am sure some will agree disagree .

 

[londonblue]

And beating Man Utd gave the whole team a boost and helped us get out of that terrible run we were in.

Winning cup games can have a positive effect on form, and our bank balance.

No it didn't. We drew our next 2 matches, and lost the 3 after that. In fact our league (i.e excluding the loss to spurs in the next round) record to the end of the year was:

P 10
W 1
D 5
L 4

I wouldn't say it did anything of the sort. Other than the one win, we didn't win again until new years day. Moreover, we got relegated that season.

 

[dannyboy25]

First game of the season for me and I have to say I was quite happy with our performance, its not often I will come away from roots hall after a defeat and not feel deflated. Thought we gave a decent league 1 side a very good run for their money. Worrall looks a decent player on last nights showing plenty of quality on the ball and a very good engine. Payne had a very good game and weston also looked a menace when he came on. Was hard to tell if the fould on Barnard was in or just outside of the box, however the lino def looked to give the Pen .Obviously cant judge too much on one showing but I feel very positive towards this season as we def have more pace and quality in the squad in my opinion. UTB

 

[RHB]

The successful run in the JPT cost us Timlin and Tomlin and we blew a big league as we didn't have a decent enough squad. Personally I can do without a pointless cup that is only of interest if you make the final 4.

We haven't had one, it's only successful if you win it. My post was just day dreaming by the way.

 

[chapperzUK]

How many of those do you know for £25k?? :nope:

Assombalonga's right big toe?