Team for tonight

[haveaguiness]

The only mitigating circumstance for this, is the case of the Andy Cole (or Wayne Gray to apply it to Southend). He'll miss loads, but create a lot of chances to, whether that be through pace or skill. Those ones are harder to judge. Personally I rated Wayne Gray, but you wouldn't back him to score....

he scored he fair few one on ones though in all credit to him. i still think we should have kept wayne grey, he is better than alot of the other stikers we replaced him with, ie harrold,paynter and at the moment walker.
He had ridiculous pace and if we could of got him playing in the winter months he would have been an even greater assest. made alot of eastwoods goals in our 2 promotions.

 

[Yorkshire Blue]

Agreeing to disagree is what this forum is all about.

I agree with a couple of your points, but HRK is probably just as, if not stronger than walker, and alot of that is with his positioning and control not letting the defender have a chance of getting the ball. But the bit about holding the ball up, i honestly feel you have completely wrong. Walker gives it away far too often. HRK hardly ever misplaces a pass and is great under pressure.
I do feel walker can do a job for us, i just feel that the job is down the middle and at the moment that would be coming off the bench. Last 25-30 minutes just to run with the ball and confuse and stetch the defense, even if we are 1-0 up, so the other team has to defend rather thanbe able to attack.
He is, at the moment, not going to score 10-15 goals a season, 5 if we are lucky i recon, but i always feel putting him on the wing to accomidate him in the team is wrong, especially when we have players that are more adapt at hanging on to the ball.
And as for the tracking back bit, yes it is a little concerning but walker doesnt exactly bust a gut to track back either, he is a striker why would he want to track back.

HRK is a lot stronger this season, but he gets rid of the ball a lot earlier so he doesn't actually use his strength. Walker takes a lot more touches, which gives time for support to get forward. He also draws defenders in, which creates space for that support to run into. No-one else in the team offers that.

I'm not overly concerned about a player losing the ball in the final third/quarter of the pitch by a player trying something. If you run at someone and get tackled, the ball may still fall for you, and even if it falls for the opposition they still need to clear it. That said, losing the ball on the half-way line, or misplacing a simple 5 yards backwards pass does make me tear my hair out.

 

[haveaguiness]

HRK is a lot stronger this season, but he gets rid of the ball a lot earlier so he doesn't actually use his strength. Walker takes a lot more touches, which gives time for support to get forward. He also draws defenders in, which creates space for that support to run into. No-one else in the team offers that.

I'm not overly concerned about a player losing the ball in the final third/quarter of the pitch by a player trying something. If you run at someone and get tackled, the ball may still fall for you, and even if it falls for the opposition they still need to clear it. That said, losing the ball on the half-way line, or misplacing a simple 5 yards backwards pass does make me tear my hair out.

Thats a good point, he does allow support to get forward, but how often does he find that support? he gives the ball away far too often which is why people are getting frustrated with him. There is also a point of keeping the ball too long and he seems to do that aswell a lot of the time. There are stengths and weaknesses to his play, but currently he strengths aren't enough to have him in the team, because his weaknesses mean we keep losing the ball

 

[steveo]

I'm a fan of James Walker.

I think he adds a lot to the current team. We're a better balanced team with him in on the left. He's got a lot of faults, he can be a frustrating player and I'm not sure he's going to be quite the star that Ron Martin thinks he will be, but I think he makes us a better team as he adds qualities that we as a team lack without him.

Got to disagree with you Yorkie. He had a lousy first half against Hereford, his first touch is poor and he cant beat a player. The only thing he has got is pace, but so has my dog.

If Tilly wants to keep HKR why not put him in the team?

 

[HudsonNo1]

Pretty simple selection really....

............Federici...............

Francis...AB....Clarke.....Harding

Betsy....Cristophe...Sawyer....Walker

...........Barnard......freedman.....

Although i'd like to see HRK in instead of Walker, i just think he can create so much more oppertunities, also his alot more exciting on the ball.

 

[Yorkshire Blue]

I didn't expect to my view on this would be a popular one.

I'd be interested to see this season's stats on how we fare with him in the team, compared to without him, because for all his faults, I think he makes us a better team.

 

[Nobby Snide]

Uncalled for really..just use his name

appologies...no insult intended..just couldnt think of the name off the top of my head....


ok, large black man from France up front to replace, slightly off form, injury prone white man of possibly aerian descent who is English..is that better?;)

 

[Nobby Snide]

Spot the deliberate mistake! I think Wycombe may have something to say about your choice of right back!

yea, second **** up in as many posts..well spotted..no one else did----Francis, not Hunt...too busy playing Football manager, getting reality and fantasy confused.

 

[SUFCStu]

Ferd

Francis Barret Sano Hardling

Besty Christophe Sawyer Kanu

Barney Dougie.

 

[Ricey]

Pretty simple selection really....

............Federici...............

Francis...AB....Clarke.....Harding

Betsy....Cristophe...Sawyer....Walker

...........Barnard......freedman.....

Although i'd like to see HRK in instead of Walker, i just think he can create so much more oppertunities, also his alot more exciting on the ball.

Spot on with this one and I have to agree would much rather see HRK play instead of Walker. Although you never know he may prove us all wrong tonight and break the curse of borient with a sterling performence and some cracking goals??

 

[Jedi Shrimper]

To be honest I'm not one to slag off players, but.....

Walker is poor. A good barometer for a striker is - if he's on a one-on-one would you expect him to score. The answer with Walker is unfortunately not. Its a good test:

Walker: No
Kanu: Yes
Eastwood: Yes
Barnard: Yes
Freedman: Yes
Harrold: No
Paynter: No
etc.

The only mitigating circumstance for this, is the case of the Andy Cole (or Wayne Gray to apply it to Southend). He'll miss loads, but create a lot of chances to, whether that be through pace or skill. Those ones are harder to judge. Personally I rated Wayne Gray, but you wouldn't back him to score....

You conveniently left out Hooper there. After his time at Southend you'd say....
Hooper: No

Yet the League One scorers charts say otherwise...

Walker is not poor. He has area's of his game that will improve with experience, finishing and decision making being those.

 

[Yorkshire Blue]

I didn't expect to my view on this would be a popular one.

I'd be interested to see this season's stats on how we fare with him in the team, compared to without him, because for all his faults, I think he makes us a better team.

As no-one seems to have taken up my invitiation, I've looked them up myself and I've got to say I'm a little surprised by them.


We've won 3 games this season and Walker has started 3 games this season - which are the 3 we've won.

In all, Walker has played 271 minutes out of the 630 minutes that we've played, during that time we've scored 6 and conceded 5.

That works out scoring 2 goals a game with him in the team, and conceding 1.66 goals a game.

Without him we've scored an average of 1 goal a game and conceded 2 goals a game.

Robson-Kanu has played 283 minutes and we've scored 3 and conceded 8. That is an average of just under a goal a game scored and about 2 and a half conceded a game.

Obviously it is a very small sample size, but it doesn't contradict what I was saying about James Walker making us a better balanced team.

 

[leeblue]

I think HRK looks the better player but we seem a better team with walker playing, I personally like walker and think he is going to be a good player for us, as YB pointed out above the stats do back this but as someone once said you can prove anything with stats

 

[duncan bulgaria]

As no-one seems to have taken up my invitiation, I've looked them up myself and I've got to say I'm a little surprised by them.


We've won 3 games this season and Walker has started 3 games this season - which are the 3 we've won.

In all, Walker has played 271 minutes out of the 630 minutes that we've played, during that time we've scored 6 and conceded 5.

That works out scoring 2 goals a game with him in the team, and conceding 1.66 goals a game.

Without him we've scored an average of 1 goal a game and conceded 2 goals a game.

Robson-Kanu has played 283 minutes and we've scored 3 and conceded 8. That is an average of just under a goal a game scored and about 2 and a half conceded a game.

Obviously it is a very small sample size, but it doesn't contradict what I was saying about James Walker making us a better balanced team.

Southend are a completely diff side home and away ( totally diff) the games we have won with Walker starting are mainly home games so i wouldn't say thats a fair comparison .

Walker on his day is a real handfull , on a off day he's woefull , would like a bit more consistancy from a midfielder , if thats where walkers going to be played . Kanu adds that so for me he should start .

 

[OldBlueLady]

Dont think it will be this, but its what I'd go for...

GK. Federici
RB. Francis
CB. Clarke
CB. Barrett
LB. Harding
RW. Betsy
CM. Christophe
CM. Sawyer
LM. Kanu
CF. Barnard
CF. Freedman

SUBS: Joyce, Sankofa, Macca, Revell, Walker

First 11 kind of picks itself at the moment and the only question mark in terms of will he/wont he is Walker IMO.

That's the team I'd pick as well, but I'd ahve the subs slightly different. For me, I don't care whether he plays or not, just to have Macca on the bench will be a huge morale boost and get a huge reaction from the supporters, so he's there, with Joyce, Grant, Rev and Walker.

 

[sufcalways]

Is Scannell injured? or is he just not in anyones squad wishes ?

 

[Jedi Shrimper]

Hmm personally I'd rather have Grant on the bench than Macca (ned Sankofa on there for defensive cover). I'd much rather have a sub we can use, and Macca isn't anywhere near match fitness and it would a big risk to play him. That said he'll probably come on and score the winner now.

 

[Yorkshire Blue]

That's the team I'd pick as well, but I'd ahve the subs slightly different. For me, I don't care whether he plays or not, just to have Macca on the bench will be a huge morale boost and get a huge reaction from the supporters, so he's there, with Joyce, Grant, Rev and Walker.

If you don't care whether he plays or not, you just want him there fore a morale boost, we might as well include him amongst the BlueBelles.

 

[leeblue]

macca in the bluebelles now theres half time entertainment, who would he kill with a monster tackle though?

 

[OldBlueLady]

If you don't care whether he plays or not, you just want him there fore a morale boost, we might as well include him amongst the BlueBelles.

What's wrong with wanting him there for a morale boost and to get the crowd roaring? Don't think he should be risked if he's not quite ready, and there are always 2 subs surplus to requirements so what's the issue? You're quite often a bit tetchy in your responses to me, and I don't see why.