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

[RHB]

A tough result to take as we match Bolton for the whole game, especially in the second half.

Match reports and ratings here please.

 

[D1versity]

Hard to take, Sad to see Oxley will get abuse for today after a good spell in recent games, Cant keep relying on clean sheets to get us through need to be putting them away up top more importantly. Clifford has to be our regular LB going forward, more composure & technically superior to others
Onto Wednesday Night

 

[southendkid]

Same old same old, defensively solid (aside from Oxley's moment of madness costing us a point but as long as it's a one off there's not much point dwelling on that) but absolutely no firepower up front. Hopefully as Holmes regains more fitness we can start creating more chances because there's almost zero threat up front at the moment so we're having to rely on keeping a clean sheet (which admittedly we're not too bad at these days) and then scoring from a set piece.

 

[Murkey_Mouse]

Holmes must start in a 4-2-3-1 formation.

 

[Medway Blue]

Absolutely shocking error from Oxley, who should know a lot better than that. I don't give a **** whether the ball has looped out of play and come back in again - just catch the ball or tip it over. Boy oh boy could that mistake us later in the season.

Otherwise, we more than matched a strong team over the 90 minutes and another clean sheet was a whisker away. Now we need to start being a bit more adventurous whilst keeping the same solid defensive base. That means start Holmes; patch Ranger up and send him out there; or sign Simpson if we have to. Anything to get some goals.

 

[Barling Magna]

We had a poor first half but a much stronger second half. MM's substitutions were aimed at nicking a goal and getting a win. Bolton were very poor in the second half after being very good in the first. Was the wind to blame? It was hardly mentioned by the commentators.

Having looked at the goal several times it's clear that the ball has looped down from height and hit the front of the bar to bounce back into play. Oxley and most everyone else had assumed it would land on top of the net. Realising the danger at the last second Oxley flapped at it but missed it. Only Miller was awake and scored the goal. Difficult to blame Oxley really, just a freak circumstance. The sort of thing that doesn't happen in our favour, ever.

At least Barrow lost too. If Barrow, Grimsby and ourselves lose every match for the rest of the season we will stay up......

The best thing for us to do is say hard luck, move on. No use crying over spilt milk. Get Holmes starting for RHF but otherwise stick with the same eleven at Forest Green on Wednesday.

 

[southendkid]

There's seems to be some confusion over Oxley's howler, people are claiming he pushed it back into play. He didn't. The ball hit the bar.

He put his hands up to tip the ball out but lost track of his position and ended up standing directly below the crossbar. As a result instead of it hitting his fingertips when he jumped to tip it over the ball hit the bar and bounced back into play.

 

[Shrimpet steve]

The problem we have now is we have signed all these players and will also probably sign Simpson but we have a manager who is out of his depth and doesent know his strongest side and continues to play players who have failed for much of the season! Hart,aquah,demitriou to name a few!! It wont happen but I believe a change in manager would see these players flourish.And that's what we need right now! Its Funny how we got better and he went to a 5 at the back and lost 4 in a row and then he reverts back to a back 4 and we win draw and become more solid!! He has to get it right and quick because we cant rely on barrow and grimsby loosing every week although they are pretty crap too!!

 

[amsemp]

That one really hurt. Really bad mistake from Oxley. I don’t know what he was trying to do, but I’m sure he won’t need telling. He’s been excellent lately so I’m sure he’ll be hurting as much as we are, if not more.

But looking at it with a bit of perspective, without that one individual error, that would’ve been a good point and we’d have all been happy with it given Bolton’s obvious quality. We kept things neat and tidy in the first half and dominated in the second. Couldn’t manage the goal, but Akinola had some brilliant moments. Would we have found that goal in the second half with a fully fit Ranger and Olayinka on the pitch? I reckon we would’ve done.

I’m pretty ****ing miserable after that given what could’ve been, but being realistic, we’ve still taken 4 points in 3 games that no one really expected us to take. Barrow lost, and I think there’s some real green shoots coming through now with our performances. Plenty of positives to take from today. Keep the faith Shrimpers ??

 

[Austin the Shrimper]

We don’t look like scoring.. that’s the biggest worry. Need to find some goals or we are going down.
Yes Oxley ****ed up.. but we were only getting 0-0 until then anyway.
Team chemistry off. JD shouldn’t be playing. Ferguson and Dieng I don’t think should be in same team, too similar. ANG has no end product. Sim isolated.
We need to improve because I think based on season so far.. we deserve to go down.

 

[Jcd]

Just a gutting one to take all round. Need to stop letting football ruin my Saturdays but this one really feels like a sucker punch

 

[kentblues]

Holmes must start in a 4-2-3-1 formation.

As must Ranger even if he is only 70% fit. We simply can’t carry on with a set up and personnel that delivers a goal every 2 or 3 games. Holmes, Ranger, Akinola all need to be playing. The others are not playing badly- we played some nice stuff today and were competitive. And Olayinka is back soon as well.

I would be very tempted to take a punt on Simpson too given the above.

 

[Medway Blue]

The problem we have now is we have signed all these players and will also probably sign Simpson but we have a manager who is out of his depth and doesent know his strongest side and continues to play players who have failed for much of the season! Hart,aquah,demitriou to name a few!! It wont happen but I believe a change in manager would see these players flourish.And that's what we need right now! Funny how we got better and he went to a 5 at the back and lost 4 in a row and then reverts back to a back 4 and win draw and become more solid!! He has to get it right and quick because we cant rely on barrow and grimsby loosing every week although they are pretty crap too!!

It doesn't matter what the **** our strongest side is, none of them can stay fit for long enough. I e got no problem with having a big squad and doing some intelligent rotation to keep players fresh. I'm sure he'd love to be able to trust players to stay fit.

 

[in the know]

2nd half we were dominating and in control looking confident and comfortable. Don't know Why MM needed to feel he had to change it. Probably promised Holmes minutes but maybe should have gone with the flow instead of messing up our rhythm. Yes it was ox's error but for me MM has unfortunately caused that loss for us.
Saw a lot of criticism for a few players during the game, but thought we looked balanced and against a massive side we were doing well.
Like ANG but he's got to give not keep. If keeps, he needs to win free kicks not lose the ball.
We deserved the draw , the players until the subs deserved the draw (not saying it was the subs fault).
Unless Clifford was injured that was unneccasary and weakened us. Holmes sub was about the only one understandable .
MM should know the teams around us were losing and got the draw for a good point not gamble losing that one.
Not usually too critical of MM. Today he lost us the game in my thinking.

 

[Joolz]

Everyone makes mistakes, but that was a shocker, embarrassingly bad.

Performance was easily worth a point against a side going well, but with no goal threat we are leaving ourselves open to such situations.

 

[sufc4life21]

I'm not going to be to critical. Bolton in the first half I thought were pretty good to be fair and should have been couple up...... second half we did well to get back into the game and I would of taken the point. Oxley just tip the bloudy ball over and not chance it! Barrow lost so we are kinda lucky from that aspect. I feel for the next game holmes and ranger have to start in my opinion, we need something different and thought holmes done ok when he came on.

 

[Lincoln Shrimp]

Didn't deserve to lose that game but we never looked like scoring. One of the midfield 3 needs to get forward more to give us more bodies in the box.
I was looking forward to seeing some driving runs into the box from Ferguson when he signed but he seems to be playing much deeper than I had anticipated.
ANG.....just pull the bloody trigger when you have the opportunity..... please!
John White was faultless today and my MOTM.
Pressure now on the team to get 3 points on Wednesday. Draws aren't enough in our position.

 

[tottenham541]

Just seen the goal, how amateur is that of the OX, should be fined for that, any other keeper would of jumped with one arm at full stretch and tapped that out for a corner b4 it hits the bar.

 

[Chairman Trigg]

We just have to somehow start scoring some goals .Today another example of how we now compete ....... but fall behind deserved or not it's virtually game over .

 

[Blues4LifeDan]

Why did Clifford come off? Thought he and Akinola were our best players.

Demi simply cannot carry on playing in our midfield. He just doesn't have the legs anymore. Broken record writing that but it is having to be said time and time again because he keeps playing.

The fact Bolton took off Maddison, Doyle and the west ham winger showed that we were frustrating them. We look a lot more solid, just need that end product.

P.S. ANG please please please shoot!