Who's our best player?

[SARF]

I remember baileys first league game.. awesome air shot and in general he had a ****er.. i alos remember Brush consoling him after a dire performance..they obviously saw his potential.. At th emoment I thing Leon is our best player but goals scorers always top the polls.. The other Clarke aint too shabby at the moment

 

[number11]

Bailey has been different class , but Leon has added the goals - so which player is most IMPORTANT then ??

Being important is different than being the best !!!

Best : Bailey/Clarke (P)
Important : Leon
Disappointment : Gower (can give so much more - no this is not a slag off before anyone bites - it is a feeling that we are missing his peak form !!)

Odd thing about Gower......his first season here where we struggled to stay up he was the standout player and rightly won player of the year.....the next year he was in and out the side by the end of the season, and lest not forget was dropped for the crucial play offs. Year after he was a bit hit and miss and I cant really remember a great contribution and i thought he would struggle with the step up in class to the championship. However he excelled there and was one of our main attacking threats, despite us struggling. Basically he has had his two best seasons in struggling teams and average ones when the team was doing well.....pretty strange for a winger really. Either that or he just REALLY doesnt like League One.

 

[Yorkshire Blue]

Odd thing about Gower......his first season here where we struggled to stay up he was the standout player and rightly won player of the year.....the next year he was in and out the side by the end of the season, and lest not forget was dropped for the crucial play offs. Year after he was a bit hit and miss and I cant really remember a great contribution and i thought he would struggle with the step up in class to the championship. However he excelled there and was one of our main attacking threats, despite us struggling. Basically he has had his two best seasons in struggling teams and average ones when the team was doing well.....pretty strange for a winger really. Either that or he just REALLY doesnt like League One.

Or alternatively Gower is actually very consistent and the team is inconsistent around him?

I still think Gower is amongst our better players, even when he appears to be playing badly he's still got the touch of class about him.

 

[Yorkshire Blue]

Come on YB, don't leave us hanging :p

I know very few people bother backing up claims with explanations or evidence, but I like to actually justify my theories, rather than just posting the first thing that comes into my head...

I've a few things I need to do this afternoon, but once I've done them I'll have a look through the goals we've conceded this season and see if it supports my theory.

 

[Beefy]

But best player? Still Maher for me.

I'm not going to launch myself on an anti-Maher rant but I just don't see what you could base that on rationally. Kev has been a fantastic servant for the club and I'll continue to give him every bit of support whenever he wears the Southend shirt (which I'm sure he will a great many more times) but in just about every standard you could test a player against he's been completely surpassed by both of the current central pair.

For me, it's between McCormack & Gower for best player in the squad. Bailey obviously looks a bit special too though.

 

[Jam_Man]

I still have this slight concern that in actual fact, he might be a bit average?

He turned the game for us against Gillingham, but other than that I haven't seen too much at the Hall thats made me rate him much higher than Harrold. Had he not been on that run of goals too, Harrold would have taken that penalty the other week and maybe then he'd have gone on a bit of a run?

I'm not saying he's bad or that he's not our best striker, as some of his control and strength are great, but I still have some reservations over whether or not he's a "confidence" player who's maybe on a bit of a roll right now rather than in his more typical form...

I think if you watched Leon Clark for 80 minutes a game you could be led to believe he was very average, he looks slow and clumsy at times and nothing to be impressed by.

However, look at his goals that he has scored, one tap in a couple of pens bu the rest have all been pretty much quality strikes and the fact he has scored so many cant be ignored.

He has the ability to have a moment of pure class then the next time a moment of pure toilet.

Watching Eastwood he always looked like he had class, the way he could control the ball and run with it, plus the finishes, Clarke doesnt look as accomplished. Yet he has a good goal scoring record and not just big bloke headers or tap ins, plus has shown he has great vision with some of his passes.

He has something about him and if he can raise the rest of his game to anywhere near the moments of brilliance then we will have some player (if he signs!)

 

[Beefy]

Leon Clarke is the kind of player who will look very poor if things aren't going well for him as he's obviously a big lad and I don't think that running is really his thing. I missed the Gillingham game so the first couple of times I saw him (Donny & Tranmere) I was rather disappointed as he didn't do anything really. I didn't see much of the much-vaunted vision and he clearly didn't look like he was that interested in playing as a targetman. I think I was expecting Eastwood & Collymore rolled into one and got Richards & Tolson instead.

I was very impressed with him against Crewe though where he really played a selfless team role, dropping off, hassling the defenders and getting involved outside the box. And you can't argue with that goalscoring rate.

 

[seany t]

I think if you watched Leon Clark for 80 minutes a game you could be led to believe he was very average, he looks slow and clumsy at times and nothing to be impressed by.

However, look at his goals that he has scored, one tap in a couple of pens bu the rest have all been pretty much quality strikes and the fact he has scored so many cant be ignored.

He has the ability to have a moment of pure class then the next time a moment of pure toilet.

Watching Eastwood he always looked like he had class, the way he could control the ball and run with it, plus the finishes, Clarke doesnt look as accomplished. Yet he has a good goal scoring record and not just big bloke headers or tap ins, plus has shown he has great vision with some of his passes.

He has something about him and if he can raise the rest of his game to anywhere near the moments of brilliance then we will have some player (if he signs!)

Agreed, and the biggest plus of his game so far is how he's helped bring other players into the game from midfield and gelled so swiftly. I'm really glad he's doing so well for us - just hope the run continues!

 

[Jam_Man]

Kev has been a fantastic servant for the club and I'll continue to give him every bit of support whenever he wears the Southend shirt (which I'm sure he will a great many more times) but in just about every standard you could test a player against he's been completely surpassed by both of the current central pair.

The quality Maher brings to the team is the ability to get hold of the ball and get it on the floor and bring our wide players in. I think McCormacks weakness is his passing which Maher certainly beats him in, but then McCormacks work rate and drive could outweigh that.

I think Maher was probably our most consistent player last season but this season he doesnt seem to be having the same impact, possibly because the level of football makes it harder to do so.

With Bailey and McCormack we lack some of that passing but with together they may well offer a better combination than either of them with Maher.

 

[seany t]

The quality Maher brings to the team is the ability to get hold of the ball and get it on the floor and bring our wide players in. I think McCormacks weakness is his passing which Maher certainly beats him in, but then McCormacks work rate and drive could outweigh that.

I think Maher was probably our most consistent player last season but this season he doesnt seem to be having the same impact, possibly because the level of football makes it harder to do so.

With Bailey and McCormack we lack some of that passing but with together they may well offer a better combination than either of them with Maher.

Is there room in the team for 5 in midfield and Clarke up front, with Maher in the middle spreading the play and the other two guys chipping in going forward / defending? Though it was nice to see Hooper nipping in and picking up the scraps against Crewe...

 

[Beefy]

The quality Maher brings to the team is the ability to get hold of the ball and get it on the floor and bring our wide players in. I think McCormacks weakness is his passing which Maher certainly beats him in, but then McCormacks work rate and drive could outweigh that.

I think Maher was probably our most consistent player last season but this season he doesnt seem to be having the same impact, possibly because the level of football makes it harder to do so.

With Bailey and McCormack we lack some of that passing but with together they may well offer a better combination than either of them with Maher.

I think McCormack is a better passer of a ball than you give him credit for. Eitherway, Kev is good on the ball but I don't think he's as good as he thinks he is and I'd far rather he leave those long cross-field balls to Gower who has a far better range of passing.

Maher's real strengths are in his intelligence and his reading of the game. He isn't the biggest tackler in the world, mainly because he doesn't need to be. He reads the game so well and always knows where to position himself on the field so that he ends up making a huge number of interceptions. He can also spot a pass but is often lacking the ability to actually complete it. It's his heart and his brain that have got him as far in the game as he has got rather than his ability.

 

[Clinton Baptiste]

Yes but too many of Mahers balls are long ones over the top or chipped passes designed for strikers with pace which we dont have anymore. Probably why he has been so ineffective this season. We need more drive from midfield which Macca and Bailey give us.

 

[Jam_Man]

Is there room in the team for 5 in midfield and Clarke up front, with Maher in the middle spreading the play and the other two guys chipping in going forward / defending? Though it was nice to see Hooper nipping in and picking up the scraps against Crewe...

No.

Clarke isnt a target man and having him lead the line is putting a square peg in a round hole.

 

[Jam_Man]

I think McCormack is a better passer of a ball than you give him credit for.

Never been impressed with McCormacks passing, for me he is the poorest passer out of our midfield and gives the ball away too much. Luckily he is the one who wins it the most so makes up for it.

Agree with the stuff about Maher though. His short passing and the way he spreads play is generally very good and he is capable of sublime through balls, however he does try too many of those little clips over the top which 9 times out of ten go nowhere, even more so with our current batch of strikers.

 

[Pubey]

Never been impressed with McCormacks passing, for me he is the poorest passer out of our midfield and gives the ball away too much. Luckily he is the one who wins it the most so makes up for it.

Agree with the stuff about Maher though. His short passing and the way he spreads play is generally very good and he is capable of sublime through balls, however he does try too many of those little clips over the top which 9 times out of ten go nowhere, even more so with our current batch of strikers.

agree, mccormacks passing is the weakest part of the game but as long as he can pass it to gower, bailey or maher then im happy!

 

[Blueshrimper]

Clarke does look a bit lazy at times,however I don't think people can say he does nothing other than score goals. Hes hold up play is brilliant and I can think of quite a few golas that he has set up since he has been on loan here.

 

[WestRoadShrimper]

Still think it has to be Bailey. Don't think he's put a foot wrong after a shocker in the friendly again West Sham.

 

[Reg Martin]

Bailey has been best player at matches I've seen - on a slightly different note, I'd like to suggest Lewis Hunt as most under-rated player in team, though maybe he has started to win a few people round recently

 

[BoyWonder2]

I think the best player in the squad is Maher but the two guys really impressing me at the moment is Macca and Bailey. Our midfield is a joy to watch when they are on song with Gower in there, or even Black.

 

[Kris]

Kevin Maher's biggest strength is that he makes things look so easy, to the point where you take it for granted. He has by far the best first touch of anyone in the squad, for example, but it often goes unnoticed because he usually receives passes in deep areas where the only subsequent pass is a short and unspectacular one. As a result, people tend to forget these touches and only notice when he gives it away, which is actually pretty rare.

I also believe Maher has the best vision and footballing brain in the squad. For example, could anyone other than Maher have had the vision to play that superb driven volley across the box to Adam Barrett against Doncaster? I personally think not.

However, I agree with Jam Man that ultimately our best midfield combination probably doesn't include Maher at the moment. While McCormack and Bailey are inferior to our skipper technically, they are more mobile than him and provide more drive and energy higher up the pitch. And results speak for themselves.

To go back on topic, I personally don't think we have a best player at the moment but that can only be a good thing. In the past we've had to rely on the likes of Maher and Freddy to be on song in order to bring the best out of the team but now Tilly appears to be moulding a squad and a style of play in which the team is more important than the sum of its parts. That is very encouraging.