Southend United v Torquay United - 16/3/13

[nickbrod]

After the shambles last Saturday against Oxford I, like many, felt that League football was over but the heartening display in midweek at Dagenham made me change my mind so I travelled to Southend.
Having driven home and contemplated what I saw I can tell those Gulls' fans who weren't there that Alan Knill has turned us back into a football team.
There was shape, desire and most importantly a team who believed they can win a match. My only worry is how they will perform at home.
We, despite a very vocal home support (plus drum) in a segragated area behind the goal where we were, sang our hearts out and for most of the second half quietened our singing rivals.
We really need to be behind the team on Tuesday against Chesterfield without any negativity.
Labadie has a knee problem but we need him to be on the pitch as he has made a big difference. Chappel did well and I can see him getting better. My only negative was another needless booking for Rene - number 13. Soon these will match his goals total and boy do we need him on the pitch.
Football League survival is definitely in our hands but we need positive home support to achieve it.

[Jeff]

Now I've had the chance to mull over todays game, there were quite a few positives (and some negatives) to highlight - and I'll be interested to read the views of others at the game.

Lets start with the positives:

Labadie - Awesome. Think of all the cliches to describe a central midfielder - box to box, great engine, loves a tackle, composure. This guy has the lot. Also seems to have brought an extra 10% out of Mansell as well. My only concern is that I noticed both today and at Dagenham he plays with some heavy strapping around his left knee/thigh. I hope this isn't a potential injury problem.

Chappel - didn't get into the game at first, but once he did it was good stuff. Showed great technique in the first half to get the ball out of his feet and get a shot away. Second half he was not afraid to run at people and take them on. Can see how he can do a job either out wide or in behind.

Cruise - looked more settled into the full-back role today. Was noticable that Southend barely went down that wing in the second half as Cruise had their measure of their winger

Macklin - starting to see glimpses of what he can do now. He clearly spent his injury lay-off in the gym working on his guns, but now he has a bit of fitness back he's showing signs of a good mix of pace and power. Nowhere near a game changer yet, but I think he could be close to a starting 11 spot. One thing I have noticed is that he is good at winning free-kicks in dangerous positions. We've got Labadie and Saah - if we were able to get Downes and even Morris back into the side that would give us quite an armoury from set pieces so this is a good option to have

Bodin - creeping back to his best. Some great runs and close control. I get the feeling if he gets a goal (can't even remember when he last scored) it could be the start of a good run.

The Centre-halves - I can't believe that when he first came to us Saah was a donkey, mistake after mistake. Another flawless showing today. MacDonald was partially as fault for the goal in backing off too much, but otherwise he was sound and is not afraid to put his head in where it hurts. Now we have Saah and Downes/MacDonald behind Mansell and Labadie, I think the spine of our team is sorted.

Now for the not so good news...........

Craig - I wanted to see him played in behind, but never again. Not strong enough to play centrally in L2. The ball was in the air a lot and I don't believe he won one header. Passing was not up to scratch either. What also struck me is when he was subbed, his kit was pristine yellow. This reminded me back to the Leroy promotion season, when we played away at Lincoln on a foul January afternoon. When Jason Fowler was subbed off, his kit was pristine but you could forgive him that for the ability to slow the game down, and pick a wonderful pass. When the players came over at the end, Matt Hockley was pretty much caked in mud as that was what his game was all about. What I'm getting at is that L2 is all about the tryers. If you're not going to cake yourself in mud (a la Hockley), you need to be pinging inch perfect passes around like Fowler used too. Craig is neither of these.

Oastler - another shaky display at right back. Looks to have a glacially slow football brain. Poor decisions, cheap mistakes. I hope we see Leadbitter back for the home games when we should be looking to get on the front foot.

Howe - doesn't look interested. Has also restarted drifting wide again, leaving nobody in the centre. Two or three times today we crossed to an empty penalty area.

Based on all the above, what I'd like to see for the Chesterfield and York games - given that Bodin is away - is our front 4 to line up with Howe as the "target man", in front of a supporting 3 of Macklin, Jarvis and Chappel. I think this would give us the direct pace and approach of the two wide players, whilst utilising the nous of Jarvis to support Rene through the middle. That way, if Rene decides to drift wide, Jarvo can get in and around the box to finish things off. We really missed that today.

[Dockers Pal]

Now after 6 matches Knill has gained us 3 points. In their first six matches Ward at Bristol R gained 13 points, Sheridan at Argyle gained 8 points, and Scott (Shots) and Hill (Rochdale)each gained 6 points. So Knill remains the least successful of these recent appointments. However since York changed managers their form seems to be getting worse than ours.

Positives today we matched the home team for shots, corners and possession.
Negatives - bookings to key players, and worrisome injury to Labadie

Possible positive trends - Shots and Barnet have each lost their last two matches. However on points scored in the last 8 matches we need to get at least 48 points and expecting that will do is risky as most teams will pull something out when threatened with relegation. So I would say got to aim 50 points minimum - it looks a big ask but hoping everyone else fails is not a strategy.

Pressure - there are definitely 6 teams threatened with relegation and the ones who play well and are managed well under pressure will most likely get the points.

We need to be the fabled 12th man. The team seems to be at last performing - with the our loud support we need to cheer the lads across the finishing line. Tuesday is a difficult fixture which is all the more reason for us to go for the win.

[AustrianAndyGull]

Thanks so much for that Jeff, appreciated mate. I'm interested in seeing some other reports of the game too but from what you say overall it's a definate positive. As for Labadie, he is proving to be the midfielder we needed AND the striker we needed rolled into one! Plus it is very interesting to see how Bodin has improved over recent months given that we have been struggling more than ever, his early to mid season form when we were under no pressure was atrocious but he seems to be getting better the more the heat is turned up so it would seem. I'm not going to go out and buy the lad a card, bunch of flowers and take him out for a kebab just yet mind as he hasn't even scratched the surface but credit where it's due and i hope it can continue and he can start scoring some goals again. I think if he got one then more would follow. He'll be out for a couple of games now though but i wish him well with Wales. Well done Billy. (Help! someone call Yvette Fielding, there is a malevolent poltergeist that has somehow taken control of my typing finger and is making me type stuff! ).

Jeff, just a quick question. I'm sure i saw you at Accy but wasn't sure as i can't remember what you looked like too well but were you wearing a black jacket, jeans and white trainers mate?

[Jeff]

Jeff, just a quick question. I'm sure i saw you at Accy but wasn't sure as i can't remember what you looked like too well but were you wearing a black jacket, jeans and white trainers mate?

Yeah that sounds like me mate

[AustrianAndyGull]

I saw you walking down the main road because i passed you on the same side going in the opposite direction towards the shops and i thought it was you from what little memory i had. I was going to ask if you were Jeff but decided against it as you might have thought i was a bit odd. Don't worry, i wouldn't have wanted to be your best friend for the day but just to say hello and exchange a few words. I was parked up on thefirst corner on the road up from the ground ( i had a turquoisy cloured citroen xsara picasso ) and i saw you again walking past. Don't worry mate, i'm not stalking you! It just crossed my mind that's all as i recalled the rant i did from the other year and i knew you were going again.

[bobby93]

Yikes, I wrote a long reply and pressed 'submit', only to find that I wasn't logged in.

Anyway, I pretty much agree with the majority of Jeff's points.

Very impressed with Bodin today, and the new lad showed promise. Also thought Macklin was dangerous, which I never thought I'd say. To sum up, on the basis of that second half in particular, we are not a BSP side.

[Bitchie Renault]

So glad I went to this one, that's the best I've seen us play for a long time. We looked like a genuine team where every single player made a valuable contribution. It goes without saying that we are still in deep poop in the league, but if we play like that in most of our remaining games we should be ok.
Probably the only sour notes from the day was the very silly booking for Rene and their goal. Thought we made it too easy for them to score and MacDonald possibly stood off Eastwood a bit too much. Having said that, there were two contoversial moments in the build up, we could've been awarded a throw in and a foul but neither were given, maybe that's why our players switched off a bit.
But apart from that, an excellent performance all round, could easily have won the game with Bodin's well created chance near the end that just caught the toe of the defender on the way into the goal, the keeper was beaten.
Thought Mansell, Ladabee, Saah, Bodin were the pick of the bunch. Also thought Craig showed what he can do back in the middle of the park, he's still got a couple of areas of his game to work on, but the boy can pass and with Ladabee and Mansell covering ever blade of grass it gives him the time he needs. One more thing, Oastler who I don't rate that highly, had one of his better games, in truth I think the balance, tempo and approach of the team was so right that everyone felt a part of it.
Well done lads, well done Knill and well done to the travelling gulls.
Tuesday night will be tricky, and next Saturday is massive. Would happily take 4 points from those, to keep momentum and confidence we have to beat York and avoid defeat v Chesterfield.