Post-Match Thread and Ratings Southend v West Ham X1 23rd July

[CM2 Blue]

Great to be back watching live football at the Hall. It’s been a long time!

Overall, I thought we were in the game for the first hour without really looking as though we had the upper hand. The wholesale substitutions finished the game as a contest.

The partnership between Rush and Murphy looks promising and Deon looks worth going with as he is strong, athletic and hard-working. It looks as though we may have a strike force this season. Dune was impressive but Ogogo was disappointing in the middle of the park. Demi struggled at times and our defence was a bit suspect. Seadon doesn’t look ready to be our number 1 but he was not given much protection, especially in the second half. To judge us on this match though is to misunderstand what these pre-season matches are for in my opinion and I am sure Phil Brown will have learnt much from the performances.

 

[Shrimpergonzo]

My thoughts:

Firstly, as others have said it was great to be watching live football at Roots Hall again after so long - slightly disconcerting that so many chose to ignore the request to wear masks whilst moving to and from their seats though (we did, but I didn't see many others). Also, I would question the wisdom of crowding everyone into the East Stand together when social distancing is still helpful to stop the spread of the virus - still, it made for a decent atmosphere!

Anyway - onto some opinions on the players:

Seaden - contributed to at least two of their goals, I would be very concerned if we had to play him next season except in case of emergency (which probably vindicates MM's decision to bring in emergency loan keepers).

Demi - typical Demi performance, think he'll be a reliable RB unless the winger is very pacey

White - thought he made a couple of stray passes but otherwise what we would expect

Hobson - looked solid and will definitely be 1st choice Centre Back

Sayers - for our 3rd choice LB, and just a kid, I thought he looked OK

Walsh - flattered to deceive a bit, I was disappointed with him

Ogogo - pretty anonymous

Dunne - MoM in the first half - not quick, but whole-hearted and committed. Gets stuck in and can pass too. I liked him a lot

El-Mhanni - good in parts. Good enough to get a contract? I'm not convinced

Murphy - only on for half an hour, but showed enough to see that if he had signed for us in January we may not have been relegated

Rush - fantastic performance, bothered their defence from the first whistle, looked to have good understanding with Murphy too.

Moore (sub for Murphy on 35 minutes) - Did OK, I thought. Depending how expensive he is, he could be a good back up striker.


and then the flurry of 70 minute subs who pretty much all struggled to get into the game. Atkinson sadly looked way off the pace, even before he went off injured, and gave the ball away for one of their goals. Mitchell-Nelson looked a liability. Egbri looked lively, that was about it really - the others didn't really get in the game at all.

Would have liked to have seen the trialist keeper and thought it was odd that PB didn't give him half a game. Not sure why Jack Bridge wasn't involved tonight either.

All in all, it was another good 90 minutes of fitness. PB will have learned a little more about at least a couple of the trialists who got decent game time (El-Mhanni and Moore) - it would be unfair to judge the others on tonight.

What it did show is the lack of strength in depth though and I would expect another CB, another striker and a creative midfielder to be signed before the season starts.

 

[amsemp]

Felt sorry for Atkinson. Came on, gave the ball away which led to a goal and then went off injured. Not the homecoming he would’ve wanted!

Some positives to take from tonight, Rush being one of them. But pretty crappy result to concede 5. Not reading anything into it though. It’s still very early days.

 

[BarryBlue52]

Seeing as everyone's demanding mindless, unconditional optimism (at the expense of reason and logic it seems), I wanted to say I thought Demetriou, White, Dunne and Rush impressed me tonight.

As another poster said, it's just nice to be able to moan about the team in person rather than by ifollow!

Ogogo is horsedung though I must say.

 

[Strykr]

Seeing as everyone's demanding mindless, unconditional optimism (at the expense of reason and logic it seems), I wanted to say I thought Demetriou, White, Dunne and Rush impressed me tonight.

As another poster said, it's just nice to be able to moan about the team in person rather than by ifollow!

Ogogo is horsedung though I must say.

You cant possibly form that opinion about ogogo from half an hour of a pre season friendly Barry.

Are you this seasons Shrimpet Steve?

 

[flangejackrabbit]

Interesting that people think Rush and Murphy worked well together, not a pairing I would have imagined being natural but glad if so.

 

[Medway Blue]

Felt sorry for Atkinson. Came on, gave the ball away which led to a goal and then went off injured. Not the homecoming he would’ve wanted!

Some positives to take from tonight, Rush being one of them. But pretty crappy result to concede 5. Not reading anything into it though. It’s still very early days.

Didn't think he looked like the same man, let alone the same player. Took me 5 minutes to realise it was him.

 

[Jay_SUFC]

Interesting to see a number of comments about masks. I wore one when I first entered the ground only to see that no-one else was bothering. Didn't surprise me though as all through the pandemic people haven't been wearing them in shops, on trains etc - and yet we wonder why the UK has been hit so hard!!!

 

[Evening Echo]

SOUTHEND United manager Phil Brown was 'not unduly worried' by tonight's 5-1 defeat to West Ham United's under 23 side.

Read more on this story


Help with Echo links

 

[Evening Echo]

SOUTHEND United manager Phil Brown felt Blues' five trialists made a mixed impression against West Ham United.

Read more on this story


Help with Echo links

 

[stewart]

Steam coming out of my eyes. We're going down, we're actually going down.

Give it a rest ,its just a preseason friendly to help fitness and to get some mileage into the players legs .

 

[Ricey]

I was there from start to finish, reading some of the bollocks on here, I'm not sure everyone was that's posting on here. First half I though we looked competitive and a bit hungry for the ball. I'd love to tell you which players really impressed me, but truthfully without names on the back it's not easy. Murphy will be a handful for most defences this season when he is fully fit and I thought he and Rushy looked quite a useful partnership for the first 30 minutes. And for that 30 minutes we were more than a match for the baby Spammers. but as the half went on they started to find their players far quicker than we could close them down and speed and skill and finishing told.

Second half produced the most Southend subs that I have ever seen in a game and nearly the whole team was subbed out. And with that came a total ungluing of the midfield and defence and we paid the price. Yeah it was a high score but I'm sure that PB has a far better view of the trialists, some of whom looked a bit useful and some not. Once I can put names to faces I'll be able to offer a more decent view. But I'm a bit happier that the first half saw more effort and cohesion from the Blue shirts than I saw the whole of last season. I also think that Matt Rush, properly handled, can become a regular in Phil's thinking and a crowd favourite, as he worked his bollocks off the whole time on the pitch and caused the back line no end of trouble.

Thanks RHB for the great run down, I wasn’t there and if you go by Twitter and some of the earlier posts you’d think we are already dead and buried. Chris Phillips doesn’t help with his tweet for the post match report with the tag line ‘Worrying night for Blues’ but we all know he loves a bit of click bait.

It’s our second friendly and as others have said West Ham’s youth are decent! We have to remember we are conference now and have an almost new team and have a load of trialists in the team so it won’t gel over night and it’s about learning what works and what doesn’t. We are not don’t have our full starting 11 yet and I expect we have a few more signings to come. Don’t panic! It’s early days yet.

 

[AustScullyPriorPowell]

Let's not panic about this game, it's the first main friendly, playing against a type of opposition we will not play against in the NL, most of their squad probably grew up together as kids.

We used a lot of players, mixing trialists and youth with some of our 1st team, it's never going to be fluid and its all about match fitness, testing players and patterns of play.

The 1st half was ok and sometimes good, I thought White, Demi, Hobson, Murphy, Dunn and Rush all played well. Walsh and the young left left back were OK. I also thought the trialist winger (with the highlights) had something about him and Egbri/Clifford played alright.

We didn't have our main keeper, Coulson, Bridge, Akinola, ANG and Ralph etc so there is more to come.

There are some concerns, Ferguson needs some spark and seemed flat footed, Agogo didn't impress and I never want to see that 2nd half centre back pairing again. Most of the trialists can go barring the winger who deserves another chance.

 

[Willis]

My thoughts:

Firstly, as others have said it was great to be watching live football at Roots Hall again after so long - slightly disconcerting that so many chose to ignore the request to wear masks whilst moving to and from their seats though (we did, but I didn't see many others). Also, I would question the wisdom of crowding everyone into the East Stand together when social distancing is still helpful to stop the spread of the virus - still, it made for a decent atmosphere!

Anyway - onto some opinions on the players:

Seaden - contributed to at least two of their goals, I would be very concerned if we had to play him next season except in case of emergency (which probably vindicates MM's decision to bring in emergency loan keepers).

Demi - typical Demi performance, think he'll be a reliable RB unless the winger is very pacey

White - thought he made a couple of stray passes but otherwise what we would expect

Hobson - looked solid and will definitely be 1st choice Centre Back

Sayers - for our 3rd choice LB, and just a kid, I thought he looked OK

Walsh - flattered to deceive a bit, I was disappointed with him

Ogogo - pretty anonymous

Dunne - MoM in the first half - not quick, but whole-hearted and committed. Gets stuck in and can pass too. I liked him a lot

El-Mhanni - good in parts. Good enough to get a contract? I'm not convinced

Murphy - only on for half an hour, but showed enough to see that if he had signed for us in January we may not have been relegated

Rush - fantastic performance, bothered their defence from the first whistle, looked to have good understanding with Murphy too.

Moore (sub for Murphy on 35 minutes) - Did OK, I thought. Depending how expensive he is, he could be a good back up striker.


and then the flurry of 70 minute subs who pretty much all struggled to get into the game. Atkinson sadly looked way off the pace, even before he went off injured, and gave the ball away for one of their goals. Mitchell-Nelson looked a liability. Egbri looked lively, that was about it really - the others didn't really get in the game at all.

Would have liked to have seen the trialist keeper and thought it was odd that PB didn't give him half a game. Not sure why Jack Bridge wasn't involved tonight either.

All in all, it was another good 90 minutes of fitness. PB will have learned a little more about at least a couple of the trialists who got decent game time (El-Mhanni and Moore) - it would be unfair to judge the others on tonight.

What it did show is the lack of strength in depth though and I would expect another CB, another striker and a creative midfielder to be signed before the season starts.

This sums up my view of the match, apart from Rush, who I felt was ineffective. I’d like to see Murphy and Moore up top, as from last nights showing I reckon there style of play would work well together. I also like the thought of two big, hard working and physical forwards in NL.

Great to be back in the Hall, but please sort out the beer: I want a pint, but can’t stomach that Aussie dish water on tap last night…

UTB!

 

[Mr Browns Ghost]

as you’re not allowed to say anything negative as pre season games are only about fitness, you’ll hear nothing negative from me this morning, however just keen to find out what people’s perceptions are of rational ?

If you are generally mocked if you say a thing negative about pre season performances, why do people want match reports and want to know ‘who played well’

although West Ham reserves (or U18, I’m lead to believe from a few WH mates that team was more U18 than U23) lost to Ebbsfleet and only beat Loughborough University 4-1, when should you be concerned about a 5-1 loss and some of our marking ( of course if you are allowed to be concerned )

what point last season was it obvious that we needed to be concerned

what point though these pre seasons would you be sitting in the stands and saying to yourselves ‘**** we are in trouble again this season’

i noticed Rigsby mocked me last week as I used the word ‘concerned’ that we are going into the season without a coach , looking at that last night I would suggest it’s more crucial than he makes out

So no comments from me about the pre season fitness and run around exercise, but maybe not looking forward to the season as much as I was 6 weeks ago.

 

[Mr Browns Ghost]

Interesting to see a number of comments about masks. I wore one when I first entered the ground only to see that no-one else was bothering. Didn't surprise me though as all through the pandemic people haven't been wearing them in shops, on trains etc - and yet we wonder why the UK has been hit so hard!!!

Let’s keep this thread about football… sick of hearing COVID every news channel every radio station every tweet …. Ffs let’s just be glad we are back … sick to the back of my teeth about hearing COVID

 

[Strykr]

as you’re not allowed to say anything negative as pre season games are only about fitness, you’ll hear nothing negative from me this morning, however just keen to find out what people’s perceptions are of rational ?

If you are generally mocked if you say a thing negative about pre season performances, why do people want match reports and want to know ‘who played well’

although West Ham reserves (or U18, I’m lead to believe from a few WH mates that team was more U18 than U23) lost to Ebbsfleet and only beat Loughborough University 4-1, when should you be concerned about a 5-1 loss and some of our marking ( of course if you are allowed to be concerned )

what point last season was it obvious that we needed to be concerned

what point though these pre seasons would you be sitting in the stands and saying to yourselves ‘**** we are in trouble again this season’

i noticed Rigsby mocked me last week as I used the word ‘concerned’ that we are going into the season without a coach , looking at that last night I would suggest it’s more crucial than he makes out

So no comments from me about the pre season fitness and run around exercise, but maybe not looking forward to the season as much as I was 6 weeks ago.

First league game of last season.

Pre season friendlies dont mean anything really so ill reserve judgement until then.

Some of the negative reactions are totally understandable tho given the last 3 years, we all just want to win again.

 

[OldBlueLady]

Pretty much agree with the postings of @RHB and @Shrimpergarry on both the match and the situation with seating.

For a first match back, I didn't understand why we were all crammed into the East and why so few were wearing masks going in and out. I would have preferred to see the South utilised and have us sitting in alternate rows. A crowd of just under 2,000 could easily have been accommodated in those two stands, with slightly more space given to the West Ham supporters too.

I don't understand why people would be negative about that performance, our 2nd pre-season game against much tougher opposition than we'd normally face at this stage, after less than 2 weeks back. This match was about fitness and assessing trialists, nothing more.

We more than matched them for that 1st 30 minutes, and what a fantastic challenge by Dunne led to Rushy's goal, and what a moment to enjoy for us fans. Murphy looked good and he and Dunne can be part of a solid spine for us once we get their fitness levels up for the season. Matt Rush did great playing off these two. Match started to go wrong for us once Dunne ran out of steam.

I wasn't concerned about Murphy coming off a bit early, Brown wanted to have a look at 3 players in that role, and they all had a similar amount of time on the pitch.

Demi proved he still has the energy for that RB role, but he, like many others, was guilty of some wayward balls, and a reckless challenge which would have gone punished in a proper game too - he needs to watch those.

I was impressed by the trialist lad on the left wing 1st half, with the highlights, I though he had a lot of energy and creativity.

2nd half and wholesale changes after the hour, good to see Atkinson but he was unlucky to take a knock which resulted in him having to be subbed after a very short time. Not as impressive a performance from these, though thought Rob Howard did ok.

Everyone looked a little rusty, and I think everyone made a mistake or two and played at least one wayward pass, but no doubting there were defensive errors surrounding the West Ham goals, not least by Seaden which shows he's not ready. Their #9 was quite impressive.

 

[Westcliff DGS]

Like many i was disappointed last night, however i didn't post as I wanted to reflect before doing so.

Overall i felt the first 30 minutes or so were very bright but when the second goal went in we started to fall away.

too many subs to keep up with in the second half but I understand why and I do think that contributed towards the last couple of goals.

Seaden - was at fault for one maybe 2 of the goals, the forst i have no idea why he didnt hold the ball, instead of pushing it up. It is a modern keeping thing but it cost us. Overall i would say we need another keeper to go with Arnold otherwise there isnt any competition. Season needs a loan somewhere to push him on

Demi - Demi is Demi and will be caught out by pace but positionally he maybe able to deal with that if he hasn't gone too far forward.

White - steady performance noting spectacular

Hobson - looked solid, assured at times will as someone else said probably be first choice CB

Sayers - for me looked worried and out f position early on, got better as th Egan’s wore on but ok for 3rd choice if he was 1st or 2nd i would be a little worried.

Walsh - Oulled out of a lot of challenges, didn't see him go for a header either, but he has pace and of he can cross and get into the box pace can be awkward. Hoping he improves

Ogogo - didnt do much wrong or right was a quiet game

Dunne - based on that performance i wish we had him in front of the back 4 last season, broke things up used his head well and to be honest i look forward to seeing him some more based on that

El-Mhanni - looked lively without excelling on anyone thing on the night. Worth looking at a little more.

Murphy - some good movement, when he is fitter will be easier to judge but promising start

Rush - i maybe the only one but aside from the goal all i saw was a lot of running and no end product. Easily knocked of the ball by their CB’s (he will face bigger ones next season), only challenged the back line for th ball once when closing them down otherwise he would stay to the side. I like Matt but we need more form him. He may be good for the younger teams but this isnt that and he needs to bring more (I expect to get criticised but just saying it as it is), sounds like I am digging him out, which i try not to do to any player, but I am trying to be objective. He is fats, has a good touch, just make more of it is all i am saying.

Moore (sub for Murphy on 35 minutes) - I liked his energy and he got stuck in, Like El0Mhanni worth taking a longer look at.

All the others I couldn’t pick out their names, Atkinson looked gone, i know he did his calf but he looked poor, contributed to a goal too, big lad showed some nice touches but i reckon he needs to start and get 60 minutes before can be judged, Mitchell Nelson looked ok for bits and not for others, the tall lad next to him looked a bit iffy.

BUt all the subs took any rhythm from the team.

SO on reflection it was only the second game PB had to look at everyone so hopefully we moved on from here and he now knows what he needs and doesn't to a degree.

Early pre season is always about fitness, getting to se how the players are and looking at trials ST’s and building a formation. PLenty of games to go so we can get some momentum and rhythm into the players

 

[Leigh_Seasider]

Although it felt good to be back at Roots Hall, we wore masks to and from our seats but truthfully very few others did. Now I know that there is no requirement for anyone to do so now, but we both felt just a bit uneasy in the maskless mad scramble to get out but maybe it will feel easier next time, I do hope so.

Did they stick everyone in the East Stand? With the virus and some people’s worries & concerns, putting fans all in one stand seems a bit daft to me, hopefully just a one off.

As far as pre season games go, some of the reviews do make me smile. These will have no bearing on how we play against Kings Lynn. Yeah you might see glimpses of promise from some players but writing players off as crap based on a 20/30 min cameo in one of these games..crazy. I’m hoping PB sees enough in one or two of these trialists to bolster the squad a bit.