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Southend United (H) League 1 Saturday 20/10/07.

Reports and reaction from the 2007-08 season as Walsall finished 12th in League 1
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Young_Tong
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Sat Oct 20, 2007 4:32 pm

All credit to Southend, they were really good today I felt. Leon Clarke is a top quality striker and deserved his goal but the first was a poor defensive error from us.

We were also caught out in possesion too often.

That's all I have to say about that right now!

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Dave Gittins
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Sat Oct 20, 2007 4:45 pm

We were caught out in midfield again today, personally I felt we missed Mattis big time. Anyone know about Ishy yet? Not even in the squad.

Both goals were down to defensive mistakes, conceding possession far too easily.

I must have a gripe about the moaning old bu.........sorry perisher behind me, he didn't shut up all match, had an opinion about everything and all of it totally wrong. One of his classics was when we had a corner first half and Sonko went to take it. His comment: "Mcdermott should take it because he's small!". Didn't have a good word to say about anyone or anything all game.

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ws3
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Sat Oct 20, 2007 4:45 pm

Young_Tong wrote:All credit to Southend, they were really good today I felt. Leon Clarke is a top quality striker and deserved his goal but the first was a poor defensive error from us.

We were also caught out in possesion too often.

That's all I have to say about that right now!


I will say more.

We played like a team that couldn't have cared less. Utter, utter rubbish. For a completely different reason to the Huddersfield game I couldn't pick a man of the match.

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Whitti Steve
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Sat Oct 20, 2007 4:49 pm

Dull as dishwater today, although I thought Soutend looked a decent side, got their goals and then kept the ball and defended well. We missed the pace today. Although it wouldn't have made any difference - the Ref was truly awful - over fussy and only added 3 mins.... 5 subs= 2.5 mins - 2 talkings to players, endless timewasting from their annoying keeper :twisted: :twisted: :twisted:

Oh well - bring on the Rugby

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Kiansmom
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Sat Oct 20, 2007 4:53 pm

Dave Gittins wrote:We were caught out in midfield again today, personally I felt we missed Mattis big time. Anyone know about Ishy yet? Not even in the squad.

Both goals were down to defensive mistakes, conceding possession far too easily.

I must have a gripe about the moaning old bu.........sorry perisher behind me, he didn't shut up all match, had an opinion about everything and all of it totally wrong. One of his classics was when we had a corner first half and Sonko went to take it. His comment: "Mcdermott should take it because he's small!". Didn't have a good word to say about anyone or anything all game.


Better than the group of chavs aged about 12 that sat behind us. All we heard most of the game was F B C and W words.In the end I told them to shut up :twisted:

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ws3
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Sat Oct 20, 2007 4:54 pm

Dave Gittins wrote:We were caught out in midfield again today, personally I felt we missed Mattis big time. Anyone know about Ishy yet? Not even in the squad.

Both goals were down to defensive mistakes, conceding possession far too easily.

I must have a gripe about the moaning old bu.........sorry perisher behind me, he didn't shut up all match, had an opinion about everything and all of it totally wrong. One of his classics was when we had a corner first half and Sonko went to take it. His comment: "Mcdermott should take it because he's small!". Didn't have a good word to say about anyone or anything all game.


Phew! I thought you must have been in front of me for a bit until you said that.

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priestley_saddler
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Sat Oct 20, 2007 5:05 pm

We were poor today, no doubt about it. However, I'm not disheartened by it. We started the match with 6 players 21 or under, and brought a 7th one on in the 2nd half. Southend were very good defensively and we never really had a sniff. Sonko didn't have his best game, we missed Ishy on the left, and this left Mooney isolated. It wasn't through lack of effort though, more lack of quality, lack of experience and lack of consistency. All of which will come over time and I feel we must take the rough with the smooth this season. We'll have games like Huddersfield and Doncaster, and we'll have games like Oldham and Southend.

To come back to a point I made yesterday. I said we should give someone like Macca a chance in midfield today and DD was right to give him a chance. I stand by that point but I think Macca tried to hard and didn't do a lot today, I now feel we may need to bring that midfielder in. Does anyone know who gave the ball away for the 2nd goal?

Ince - Something tells me Mooney thought he was at fault for the 1st goal :lol: In the 2nd half he did something I haven't seen him do all season, he came off his line after a through ball, kept coming instead of stopping half way, and took man and ball out. Conceded a corner but probably prevented a 3rd goal.
Weston - His distribution of the ball appears to be up there with Roper. One of the more experienced players today and should have stood up and been counted, however he must now find his place under threat.
Fox - I think he's the most improved player this season and seems to be playing with confidence. This was one of his quieter games but was still one of our better players.
Gerrard - If I could have a pound for everytime he and Dann passed the ball backwards and forwards to each other today I could probably pay my mortgage off now. Seemed to struggle today, but I think that was more down to the wuality of the opposition.
Dann - See Gerrard. Got caught in posession once or twice but never gave up.
Sonko - The worst game I've seen him play. His pre-match meal must have left him feeling bloated and he certainly didn't have the same impact he had on previous games.
Bradley - Picked up an early booking and seemed reluctant to make challenges after that. Unlucky not to connect to a Mooney knock down with a diving header.
Dobson - Game passed him by. It almost looked like he didn't trust the rest of the midfield and panicked. Again, another experienced man who went missing (especially when we went back to 4-4-2) when he should have been showing the kids how it's done.
McDermott - Played on the left and, as I've said above, appeared to be trying to hard. Had our only shot on target in the first half. Rightly brought off at half time but his time will come, he will learn from the experience and should get another chance in a few games time.
Deeney - Tried hard, did look the most energetic of the midfield, but I don't think he's a midfielder. Went up front after the break but never threatened.
Mooney - If we could replicate his passion and desire and commitment and give it to everyone else then we'd have a hell of a team. Chased everything down, even in the last minute, and was rightly given sponsort MOTM.

Subs

Wrack - Another experienced player who watched the game pass him by. Should have done better with a volley in stoppage time.
Nicholls - The only thing I remember him doing is chasing down one ball and conceeding a throw. Did he touch the ball other than that?
Hall - Came on and played on the left, then switched flanks with Sonko, but never looked like doing anything to bring us back into the game.

The ref - :lol: :lol: :lol:

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Dave Gittins
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Sat Oct 20, 2007 5:06 pm

ws3 wrote:
Dave Gittins wrote:We were caught out in midfield again today, personally I felt we missed Mattis big time. Anyone know about Ishy yet? Not even in the squad.

Both goals were down to defensive mistakes, conceding possession far too easily.

I must have a gripe about the moaning old bu.........sorry perisher behind me, he didn't shut up all match, had an opinion about everything and all of it totally wrong. One of his classics was when we had a corner first half and Sonko went to take it. His comment: "Mcdermott should take it because he's small!". Didn't have a good word to say about anyone or anything all game.


Phew! I thought you must have been in front of me for a bit until you said that.


Were you in Row M of the WBBS family stand block E?

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Jorge14
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Sat Oct 20, 2007 5:13 pm

Money Out. He never does anything but criticise fans. He's arrogant and over-rated.

Sorry, I thought I'd get the pathetic over-reaction in before anyone who actually means it does it.

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Fray Bentos is God!
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Sat Oct 20, 2007 5:13 pm

Jorge14 wrote:Money Out. He never does anything but criticise fans. He's arrogant and over-rated.

Sorry, I thought I'd get the pathetic over-reaction in before anyone who actually means it does it.


Dobson is a genius

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Atomic Rooster
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Sat Oct 20, 2007 5:24 pm

One word to discribe todays game FRUSTRATION but thats why we will not finish in the play offs or go down either the kids will be inconsistant its the same one's thats been outstanding the last few games was poor today

latviancheese
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Sat Oct 20, 2007 5:25 pm

Tell you what, that Mooney is past it.

Why is he playing the kids?

He's left out my boyfriend Ishy, sack him.


Etc , Etc, Etc.

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Jorge14
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Sat Oct 20, 2007 5:33 pm

Fray Bentos is God! wrote:
Jorge14 wrote:Money Out. He never does anything but criticise fans. He's arrogant and over-rated.

Sorry, I thought I'd get the pathetic over-reaction in before anyone who actually means it does it.


Dobson is a genius


Baldness = success.

philthesaddler
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Sat Oct 20, 2007 5:35 pm

Poor performance against a good side = defeat.

We simply didn't turn up

Southend were decent, but not out of our league.

We didnt use the wings like we have lately. Now did we keep the ball like we have lately.

Result = no possesion in the final third.

no possesion in the final third = little chances.

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Dave Gittins
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Sat Oct 20, 2007 5:40 pm

philthesaddler wrote:Poor performance against a good side = defeat.

We simply didn't turn up

Southend were decent, but not out of our league.

We didnt use the wings like we have lately. Now did we keep the ball like we have lately.

Result = no possesion in the final third.

no possesion in the final third = little chances.


For once Phil, I agree with you.

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Fray Bentos is God!
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Sat Oct 20, 2007 5:47 pm

Jorge14 wrote:
Fray Bentos is God! wrote:
Jorge14 wrote:Money Out. He never does anything but criticise fans. He's arrogant and over-rated.

Sorry, I thought I'd get the pathetic over-reaction in before anyone who actually means it does it.


Dobson is a genius


Baldness = success.


I shaved my head and im still a fick cook!

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WFC_Rob
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Sat Oct 20, 2007 5:55 pm

Today has left me with nothing more than a feeling of emptiness.
We were beaten convincingly in the end by a side who were simply better than us all over the pitch. They were nothing special, but played to their strengths and had players all over who were comfortable on the ball which seemed to make one hell of a difference. Just goes to show how it's not that hard to put together a side capable of mounting a serious promotion challenge on a relatively low budget. Yes, they've just come down from the Championship, but they have maintained a certian continuity and defensive soundness which I expect will see them bounce back at the first attempt.

Enough on Southend, what about us?
I think we lacked tempo, width and flare in our performance today. Southend were happy to let us have plety of the ball in our own half as they were confident that we would eventually lose patience, lump the ball forward to Mooney and they'd be able to gather and hit us on the break. To an extent, that's what happened.
Weston could be blamed for the first goal after his man lost him far too easily. I'm going to go against the majority and suggest that Clayton Ince was not at fault for the goal at all. They positioned 3 of their players around him which meant that he couldn't do what he usually does and claim the ball in the air. Credit goes to their manager for that as he's obviously done his homework (probably watching us last Friday) and realised the need to deliver quality ball into an area Ince couldn't reach.

We didn't ever look like scoring. Sonko was poor until the last 10 minutes, and we didn't get anywhere near enough service to Mooney throughout the game. Deeney is an intelligent footballer who should have played a vital part in a decent performace for us today, but he seemed uncomfortable playing behind Mooney. Bradley was largely disappointing too, I thought.

Weston and Dann for me, had poor games. This may or may not divide opinions but I thought Gerrard was the player who stood out for us today. He was having to cover all over the place as Weston and Dann left holes for them to take advantage of. I seriously think that without Gerrard, we'd have lost by at least 4 today.

Dobson wasn't as bad as people seem to enjoy saying he was. I thought he got himself involved and stuck to what he's good at. The problem today was that Deeney and Bradley didn't make enough forward runs to link up with Mooney as they did last week. In turn, that meant that Dobson was under more pressure.

I couldn't leave without mentioning the referee. They were wasting time from about 50 minutes onwards and this went completely unpunished until 2 minutes from the end. What's the point in booking their goalkeeper when he's already wasted the time. To add only 3 minutes onto the end of the game summed things up.

I wouldn't blame Money for today. He made the team selection on the basis of recent results, which is understandable. We were beaten by a better side, simple as. That is disappointing, but it's also the way things go from time to time. If anything, I'd suggest that we need to bring in a couple of players. If Mooney gets injured, we've got no-one who can do his job. Similarly, we now lack someone who can play in the Mattis role. Add that to the fact that Nicholls again proved he isn't good enough, and the squad looks pretty bare. I fancy us to get something from Bournemouth next week, purely because they're not very good and we're more suited to getting results away from home at the moment. Touch wood. :D

Oh yes, and to the girl sat in the Floors to Go middle tier, block 5, row D who squealed very little than "spread out" at the top of her voice whenever things went wrong, please don't sit near me again. Evidence in support of the argument that women have no idea about football. :wink:

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Sat Oct 20, 2007 5:59 pm

I thought we looked scared today. Gave the ball away too cheaply, which lead to their second goal, lacked confidence to get forward and create something and generally looked not with it. We need a quality midfielder to replace Mattis and someone really needs to get on Mooney's knock downs/flick ons. On the plus side (I'm really trying hard to find one), they only beat us because of our mistakes, which isn't bad considering they're touted as a promotion side.

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Sat Oct 20, 2007 6:34 pm

The problem was midfield - none of the players who were in midfield today can be happy with their performances.

For long periods we passed the ball along the back four - whenever midfield had the ball it seem to go either square or back - with the forwards having to make do with service from long passes from our defenders. I am not sure why none of our wingers ever managed to get past a full back, why there were very few balls from midfield to our forwards' feet, or why most of our midfielders rarely ever tried to carry the ball forward at all. The style of play - and I suppose that pressure from Southend was partly responsible - led to us fans being quiet for long periods.

Sonko had a poor game. If Mark Wright ever played that bad for us then I do not remember when. Even in games when he was being slated by a lot of fans, and actually being booed, he used to get over three or four decent crosses. That is more than Sonko did today. I know that wingers are often inconsistent, but I wonder if we all made up our minds about him based on his peak performance, rather than waited to see how he would average out over a number of matches.

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Whitti Steve
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Sat Oct 20, 2007 6:41 pm

Bernie wrote:The problem was midfield - none of the players who were in midfield today can be happy with their performances.

For long periods we passed the ball along the back four - whenever midfield had the ball it seem to go either square or back - with the forwards having to make do with service from long passes from our defenders. I am not sure why none of our wingers ever managed to get past a full back, why there were very few balls from midfield to our forwards' feet, or why most of our midfielders rarely ever tried to carry the ball forward at all. The style of play - and I suppose that pressure from Southend was partly responsible - led to us fans being quiet for long periods.

Sonko had a poor game. If Mark Wright ever played that bad for us then I do not remember when. Even in games when he was being slated by a lot of fans, and actually being booed, he used to get over three or four decent crosses. That is more than Sonko did today. I know that wingers are often inconsistent, but I wonder if we all made up our minds about him based on his peak performance, rather than waited to see how he would average out over a number of matches.


Se;ective memory mate - Mark Wright had plenty of poor games. I would agree however that today sonko was poor - the problem is obvious.... he is no longer hungry :lol: DONT FEED HIM until after the match

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Sat Oct 20, 2007 6:55 pm

We were poor today, very poor, and the lack of depth in the squad is alarming. You don't go from heroes to zeroes in the space of a week so I won't panic, but the absence of Mattis and Demontagnac destroyed us. Dobson's hideously exposed without a player like Mattis alongside him, McDermott was completely out of his depth, Deeney doesn't look ready to start matches yet, Sonko was just taken out of it by the opposition, Gerrard and Dann both kept making mistakes - pretty terrible.

If we're going to play 4-5-1 then we desperately need another midfielder, and if we're going to play 4-4-2 then we desperately need another striker. The squad is just too thin on the ground. Money's signings haven't helped, and he seemed to hasty to let some of the players go at the end of last season. Mark Wright would have walked into that team today, for instance.

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PT
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Sat Oct 20, 2007 7:34 pm

Men against boys. Was going to happen at some point. Mooney was my MOTM. Not the end of the world. A delve into the loan market this week methinks - unless of course the manager has locked himself in his bedroom, is playing his music really loud and telling anyone who comes near his door "go away- I hate you"

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YGA Saddler
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Sat Oct 20, 2007 9:06 pm

PT wrote:Men against boys. Was going to happen at some point. Mooney was my MOTM. Not the end of the world. A delve into the loan market this week methinks - unless of course the manager has locked himself in his bedroom, is playing his music really loud and telling anyone who comes near his door "go away- I hate you"


Exactly what I said towards the end. The frustrating thing is, this is going to happen alot more this season and Im worried that some fans wont be able to "stick with it". I walked out after the game feeling angry and annoyed that after 4 decent performances and results we didnt bother today. Sonko, Dobson and Weston were truly awful today and these are supposed to be setting the example. I thought Mooooooney was outstanding again.

The ref and Southend keeper killed the game off and it never really got going.

Bring on a very poor Bournemouth side.

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redsaddler
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Sat Oct 20, 2007 9:21 pm

I couldn't leave without mentioning the referee. They were wasting time from about 50 minutes onwards and this went completely unpunished until 2 minutes from the end. What's the point in booking their goalkeeper when he's already wasted the time. To add only 3 minutes onto the end of the game summed things up.


The officials were a bit of a joke, weren't they? In the first half someone behind me shouted, "Get a grip, ref!" and the ref turned round, looked towards us and just shrugged!

Then the people in front of me thought that their second goal was offside. Debatable perhaps, and to be honest even if they had added 3 hours we still wouldn't have scored.

cal wfc fan
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Sat Oct 20, 2007 11:11 pm

Dave Gittins wrote:We were caught out in midfield again today, personally I felt we missed Mattis big time. Anyone know about Ishy yet? Not even in the squad.

Both goals were down to defensive mistakes, conceding possession far too easily.

I must have a gripe about the moaning old bu.........sorry perisher behind me, he didn't shut up all match, had an opinion about everything and all of it totally wrong. One of his classics was when we had a corner first half and Sonko went to take it. His comment: "Mcdermott should take it because he's small!". Didn't have a good word to say about anyone or anything all game.


I had some like that sitting by me, never shut up moaning all game. Trouble is, the lads have increased the expectation of some "fans" and those "fans" were forgetting who we were playing!! Only a few months ago Southend were a championship side, two leagues above us!

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Duke
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Sun Oct 21, 2007 5:51 am

The easy thing to say is we missed Mattis and Ishmel of course we did . but the fact is with so many young players in the squad we are going to have days like this its a part of the learning process .
The back 4 had very little cover from midfield , an Mooney had no support upfront. lessons must be learnt.

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Sun Oct 21, 2007 6:10 am

Hopefully it was just a bad day at the office.

Southend came with a game plan to not let us get a high tempo going by sitting back and keeping the ball and slowing everything down when they had a chance. It wouldn’t have surprised me if their first aim was to make sure they came away with a point and anything else was a bonus. I thought Dobbson had no one around him willing to help him out and Southend had two players closing him down straight away. We badly missed somebody to play alongside Mooney who put in some fantastic balls during the second half that just needed touching into the net.

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Duke
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Sun Oct 21, 2007 8:32 am

Can't make out what happend to Weston , againgst Huddersfield he was bombing down the wing getting in some very useful crosses, yesterday he appeared reluctant to move forward and always looked to pass the ball back to Gerrard who wth Dann struggled to find any outlet.

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Sun Oct 21, 2007 9:05 am

Fray Bentos is God! wrote:
Jorge14 wrote:
Fray Bentos is God! wrote:
Jorge14 wrote:Money Out. He never does anything but criticise fans. He's arrogant and over-rated.

Sorry, I thought I'd get the pathetic over-reaction in before anyone who actually means it does it.


Dobson is a genius


Baldness = success.


I shaved my head and im still a fick cook!



Excellent :P

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Fray Bentos is God!
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Sun Oct 21, 2007 9:47 am

Ill go along with the bad day at the office and alarming squad depth. Midfield was poor and the slowing down of the game (ive seen people with strokes move faster than their keeper) killed us off

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