Post-Match Thread and Ratings Southend Utd 0-1 Bolton Wanderers

[in the know]

Everyone's comments are so very valid. Really interesting reading this week, because everyone's views have validity and there are justified points in almost everyone's opinions.
In simplistic terms , from where we were and who we had at the start of the season, we now have a solid back four with back up that is capable of clean sheets. We have a midfield that's solid with back up that can control that area .
We now need to sort that attacking area out and with back up. We've added akinola ranger Holmes and they're not far off match ready.
The issue I see for the rest of the season is rotating tired legs while trying to achieve a settled side and settled playing style. Very tough to do.
I really do feel if it were possible to play a settled side each match we will be safe. With midweek and weekend games coming thick and fast, I'm hoping it will be odd players rested but like for like with a retained familiar set up.
It's very do'able still, but staying up will be nailbiting.

 

[Paulie Walnuts]

We can blame MM, oxley or whoever but the man who’s ****ed us is Ron Martin pure and simple.

Most of the players we get are injury prone or not good enough why?, who in their right mind would choose us to play for when he can’t even pay people on time.
We are desperate for a new striker and who’s been sold recently?, kelman. Humphreys and Tom hopper all proven F***** goal scorers.

whatever manager we get it’ll be the same **** show until he finally sells up. The sooner the better for all of our sakes.

 

[Rayleigh boy]

I went into detail about what our game plan is earlier in this thread: http://www.shrimperzone.com/forums/threads/southend-utd-0-1-bolton-wanderers.106141/post-2334930

It’s absolutely fine, of course, for fans to disagree with the plan, but so far it’s ensured that we give ourselves a chance of staying up this season.

There were times in the early stages of this season when we’d’ve been 3-0 down at half-time yesterday; the only time recently where we’ve been out of it at the break was Port Vale. That chance Doyle scooped over after Oxley pushed the ball into his path? That would’ve been 1-0 for a start because John White/any defender wouldn’t’ve been getting back to put pressure on them.

The plan is to stay in games for as long as we can, and not be out of touch by half-time to give us the best chance of snatching something. Sometimes it’ll work (Newport away), sometimes we’ll grab a point (Cambridge away), sometimes we’ll still lose games (yesterday). We’re not going to win every game from now to the end of the season after two-and-a-half seasons of barely winning a match. It’s a completely pragmatic approach given we don’t have any forwards with a history of prolific goalscoring in the league.

I expect us to create more chances with Holmes in the squad; he might just provide a moment of magic every now and then. Olayinka will also provide a spark in and around the penalty area once he returns to fitness, but we have to keep things tight to make sure we can make the most of that potential, otherwise it’ll be like Ferguson’s stunning strike at Vale Park; a consolation.

The problem with the very intelligent plan and with all the reasoning and endless defence of MM and his team is the RESULTS

He keeps losing games.

 

[Rayleigh boy]

The most disappointing thing for me was having weathered the Bolton 1st half storm, we started the 2nd on top without creating any real chances. I thought Bolton were there for the taking and I was not surprised that they made their triple change 15 mins into the half. Our most likely goal threat would come from dead ball situations, and unfortunately we wasted our corners and often took quick free kicks which also came to nothing rather than getting the ball in to the box.

Looking back at the Oxley incident again he looks just too casual, there is no urgency maybe he just expected it to go over?

One thing our manager did do was substitute our best dead ball taker .... Clifford.

Corners and free kicks were ****e after that

 

[Robert Baldwin]

If Oxley did not touch the ball then the Bolton man was offside or was this a trick of TV viewing.

 

[OldBlueLady]

Taken a long time to come on here after the disappointment of yesterday. Molesley says it was a "freak goal", so I'll defer to his opinion of seeing it in the flesh and talking to the players rather than castigating Oxley, who has been right on form in recent games, so doubly disappointing to concede like that yesterday. Not one of his better days though all told.

I'm not sure I agree with the criticism of Hackett-Fairchild either, I thought he had a good game last weekend, and a reasonable one yesterday against a determined defence. Problem is the lack of central midfield support alongside - same for Ash Nathaniel-George.

I agree with the poster who said we don't need Ferguson and Dieng in the same side as they offer pretty similar attributes, and Demi, for me, shouldn't be anywhere near a starting line up. I think that Ferguson is the better bet, and that Kyle Taylor should have been in CM to start.

No problem with Holmes coming on, thought he did make a difference, and how nice was it to see a player actually taking opposition players on? Acquah just doesn't cut it with me, and I was surprised to see him ahead of Goodship on the bench.

Defensively, the back four looked quite solid, with John White having a MOM performance. Wasn't surprised to see Clifford subbed, as @rigsby said, he had taken a knock (two I thought) and has only recently come back from injury. Hart is a more than capable replacement, and usually has excellent deadball delivery too.

Felt sorry for Sim, he's not getting the support he deserves - which will surely come with Holmes and Ranger getting up there alongside - and also that the thuggish lump of a defender was allowed to get away with too much.

Oxley - 5
Bwomono - 6
White - 8
Hobson - 7
Clifford - 7
Ferguson - 7
Dieng - 6
Demetriou - 5
Nathaniel-George - 7
Hackett-Fairchild - 6
Akinola - 6

By the way, surely the ref should have checked Bolton's shirts before they came out and been aware of what colour under armour they were wearing?

 

[Strykr]

And just a little bit of statistical background into why that pragmatic approach is required: we've picked up one point this season after being behind at half-time (away to Crawley, when it was 0-1 at half-time and 1-1 at full-time) from nine matches.

It's been goal-less at half-time 12 times this season in the league; we've picked up 12 points from a possible 36 when that's been the case. When it's been level (15 times), we've picked up 16 points, so it's a just over point a game when we've matched our opponents in the first half.

As you'd expect, in the 5 games we've led we've got the most points per game (2 wins, 1 draw, 2 defeats, so 7 points from a possible 15); we've only once led by two goals at half-time (against Col U on Boxing Day), but it's a completely realistic approach to make sure we're not out of the game at the interval because results so far so we don't get much if we are.

What has happened to that progressive attacking full blooded play from the first half at colchester. We went out there and literally said FU and swamped them on the attack.

Obviously we cant do that every time but we need periods of it and it needs to be in the gameplan. Setting out not to lose every week is boring, timid, unadventurous, and walking a constant tightrope as we've just seen one **** up over 90 minutes and its all over. :(

 

[Exiled Shrimper]

What has happened to that progressive attacking full blooded play from the first half at colchester. We went out there and literally said FU and swamped them on the attack.

Obviously we cant do that every time but we need periods of it and it needs to be in the gameplan. Setting out not to lose every week is boring, timid, unadventurous, and walking a constant tightrope as we've just seen one **** up over 90 minutes and its all over. :(

That’s a fair assessment. I think the difference is the opposition; against Newport and Cambridge we were playing teams going for promotion, and Bolton are one of the form teams. The same goes for the previous three home matches; Cambridge (going for promotion), Mansfield and Bradford (in form).

We got early goals prior to that against out of form teams near the bottom (Colchester, Grimby, Barrow). I see this as evidence that Molesley does have a plan, and that we’re able to tinker with it’s implementation and take a few more risks in the first half depending on the circumstances.

 

[Dorsetshrimper]

That’s a fair assessment. I think the difference is the opposition; against Newport and Cambridge we were playing teams going for promotion, and Bolton are one of the form teams. The same goes for the previous three home matches; Cambridge (going for promotion), Mansfield and Bradford (in form).

We got early goals prior to that against out of form teams near the bottom (Colchester, Grimby, Barrow). I see this as evidence that Molesley does have a plan, and that we’re able to tinker with it’s implementation and take a few more risks in the first half depending on the circumstances.

I agree with we need to pick the games where there is more chance of a more attacking plan working. If you look at the table we should be safe on about 44 points, that is 20 points from 17 games.

Okay that is better than we have done so far this season, but then we do have a much better squad now. 5 wins, 5 draws and 7 lost matches will get us there.

 

[Exiled Shrimper]

The problem with the very intelligent plan and with all the reasoning and endless defence of MM and his team is the RESULTS

He keeps losing games.

Really interesting point here.

My personal, opinion is that Walsall (away) was our turning point. It's where we abandoned passing out from the back and playing through the thirds and went to a more direct, hard-to-break down approach.

Prior to Walsall, we'd played 11 matches. At half-time we were ahead in 1 match, level in 3 matches and behind in 8 matches, and we got 2 points from those 11 games (0.18 points per match).

From Walsall onwards, we've played 18 matches. We've been ahead in 4 matches, level in 12 matches and behind in just two matches at half-time. We've got 22 points from those 18 games (at 1.22 points per match).

If we get 1.22 points per match from our final 17 matches (roughly 21 points), it'll probably be enough to keep us up.

 

[Massimo Giovanni]

A reasonable and fair post by @OldBlueLady imo.
Defence is settled and basically sound, hard to beat.
Midfield is unsettled and unbalanced.
Ferguson was good, Tim had better spells, ANG does lots of team work and tracking back AND when he finds his shooting boots will be a player. JD not so effective, and his selection was a bafflement for many.
Not much from RHF today, he seems adrift a times.
If Sim could add goals.............

 

[Barry.C]

Against the grain I definitely thought, after rest, Demi had a much better game today. He was certainly more involved and constantly managed to win possession and get the ball forward from difficult positions. He was one of the few to consistently attempt to also harass their goalkeeper forcing pressure and errors. He didnt keep kicking the ball away or over chirp and wad generally well worth his spot today, in my view bringing considerable experience to the event and I have been fairly critical in the past

 

[Shrimpergonzo]

I can't bear to come on here until the day after the game if we lose. Hopefully I'm a bit more objective than I would have been at 5.30 yesterday.

MM seems to have set us up to stay in games, and to that score he has been pretty successful (see stats. posted above by @Exiled Shrimper ). But for Oxley's error of judgement yesterday, we would all have been on here moaning about another 0-0 draw not being good enough, but here we sit after conceding a goal for the first time this month (the previous goal we let in was against Port Vale on 30th January).

He seems to have fixed our leaky defence, but not the problem of our impotent attack. I thought ANG and Akinola were excellent yesterday, but I lost count of the number of times I shouted "SHOOT" at the TV during the game. Gilks didn't look great yesterday but we failed to test him.

Hopefully some of the signings we've made recently will rectify this - I can't imagine Holmes being so reluctant to pull the trigger when in good positions when given a bit more game time.

Nobody can say we don't have options now - Goodship, Walsh, Halford and Mellis were not even on the bench yesterday. Olayinka should be back soon too and he likes a shot from distance.

My inclination is to have a much more attacking bench moving forwards, in fact I was surprised how defensive minded yesterday's was. We need options to get up the pitch and score. Acquah was brought on yesterday, but I'd have liked to have seen Goodship coming on too.

We move on to Wednesday now, and hope that somehow MM can work out the magic formula for our attacking play as he has done for defence.

I thought the second half was much better than the first yesterday, and having got to half time level we should have been the ones to nick it 1-0, not them. We're not having a lot of luck at the moment...

 

[Tangled up in Blue]

We'll be fine.

Barrow are dreadful. Grimsby aren't great.

4 wins and we're safe.

Hope you're right.

 

[Shrimpet steve]

In your deluded opinion perhaps

No fact

 

[Shrimper]

If Oxley did not touch the ball then the Bolton man was offside or was this a trick of TV viewing.

Think it came off White so onside still

 

[Evening Echo]

MARK Molesley has more options than ever before at Southend United.

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[flangejackrabbit]

One thing our manager did do was substitute our best dead ball taker .... Clifford.

Corners and free kicks were ****e after that

Sorry, not having that one, it was Clifford (unusually) with the terrible dead balls yesterday

 

[wiggy]

MARK Molesley has more options than ever before at Southend United.

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....don't know whether to laugh or cry with this bloke? Halford has shown nothing, Badship hardly prolific and Mellis playing hide n' seek with Louis Walsh.....try to score goals you silly man then ya mate Oxley won't have to take all the flak!

 

[MisterStubbs]

Ricardo Santos, the 6ft 7 defender who got bullied, pushed around and floored by a 5ft nothing striker somehow makes the team of the week. If I didn’t already know the selection process was a farce, I do now. Laughable.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1363520877783097344