Most liked posts in thread: The Southend autopsy

Sums it up for me as well. The whole shape of the squad is confusing, not only to the players but the fans as well. Neither one formation or the other, a back four and two holding midfielders yet no one is picking up players in and around the box, the two headed goals a clear case in point. Doyle completely isolated. Oh for a Josh Cullen or Gary Jones in central midfielder to give some organisation and bite.

 

The defending for those goals... Dear God...

 

I’ve only seen Wright once but have to agree he is garbage

 

Seen goals and almost a carbon copy of each other.

Easy cross into box with no pressure and an easy header into the net.

Not sure on keeper on first one either, seems to dive in installments. Maybe harsh as can only see one angle.

Defence for both is atrocious. 2 of our players around Hopper and he still wins the header easily and we are claiming for a push? Weak.

Second goal.... Not a player within 5 yards of Cox for an easy header. Both crosses from byline and its all to easy.

Burton will beat us Tuesday

 

WINNER

 

Yes. O'Donnell looks good. Probably a step up on Doyle for me. I'm struggling aside from that.

 

Hard to disagree really. Makes me sad though.

 

Fair play to you and thanks for your honest assessment of the game much appreciated.
The radio commentary can be misleading at times but on this occasion you all appear to be singing from the same hymn sheet.

 

Tordoff who allowed Dolan to switch hendrie to a central striker from the wing with stunning effect

 

Too right. That back three of Sinnott, Oliver and Evans were immense. Most of the time it was a 3/5/2.

I’ve always rated that team better than the 98/99 team.

 

Damn you Ron, damn you to hell.

 

Yet we made the see you next Tuesday captain.

 

I guess you are referring to the players calling the coach 'Micky'

 

To be fair to Wright, his time at Southend was disjointed and he came into a poor performing team due to injuries and (frankly) Phil Brown being a bit daft.

When Wright was first at the club he was asked to play wide midfield as an anchor in front of the defence - not his natural role it would seem but we were very short of players and Phil Brown was being Phil Brown. The team as a whole were not performing well and so it is hardly unsurprising that Wright's performance were mediocre - in fact we had let a similar player go during the summer and many wondered if we had simply replaced one average midfielder with another.

Later Wright did get a chance in central midfield and sadly his performances were not much better and then I think he was injured. Towards the end of the season he had opportunities to impress Chris Powell and stake a claim but it never happened - and this was now in a team that was playing well and scoring well (as you saw when we came to Valley Parade and won 2-0 late on in the season).

What does he do well? He seemed to be putting in the effort. Not so well? Creativity and attacking - which is strange since he has scored against Southend when playing for Gillingham!

 

Certain makes you reflect on Shay McCarten and the reason why he didn't perform. Similar player, similar role.

 

To play that role, you don't just need flair and technical ability, you arguably need to work harder than anyone else.

Invariably, whenever we've signed a false striker in the past, Billy Clarke aside, they've lacked that work rate. Billy Clarke isn't a great example either, by the way, but better than we've seen so far.

 

Yer I was also wondering whether to include him but decided my tin hat wasn't thick enough!!

 

No point in CPR for this one, it was stone cold dead.

 

Seriously, are there any positives to take out of this?