Bwfc v Southend

Couldn't agree more, And., Bridcutt, our most creative central midfielder, played at centre back where he was outjumped all the time and reduced to fouls. I am losing faith in this management team. There is little cohesion,no closing down in the right areas, and a reluctance to move forward with the ball, even dribble, something every schoolboy tries to do. Apart from being a bit dozy with the gooals Matthews' kicking was again bad and rarely found a man.Where is Alnwiwck? EFL apart we are now in a position to further our cause in this league, but, apart from talk, I am not sure what Keith Hill and his mate Flicker are going to achieve. Once we get two goals ahead and the opposition pull one back you feel sure they are going to equalise, even get the winner.

How did we win that?

Two outstanding first time shots and a massive defensive mistake saw us score 3 times and win but the quality was awful.

I accept that in the grand scale of things, the result is of prime importance but we were outplayed today by the poorest side in the league.

The first 10 minutes were dreadful in that we hardly crossed the halfway line; Southend had all the possession.

It was no surprise to fall behind but what a poor goal to concede. Southend won a corner. Ball comes in, Matthews, probably rightly, stays on is line but not one defender jumped to try and head the ball so an easy header for the Southend man to score. I think it was Earl’s man but he just did not move.

The Southend goal scorer then got terribly hurt in yet another Southend attack and was carried off but they still dominated.

Nothing improved and Southend had masses of possession. Their no 7 absolutely ran our defence ragged and 1-0 was a pretty fortunate score.

Out of nowhere, we equalised with a good first time effort from Dodoo. There did not seem to be anything on but he took the ball and quickly shot into the corner of the net from 15 yards.

We still did not improve and time entered the 6 additional minutes when Luke Murphy suddenly let fly with a wonderful shot to give us the lead. Southend complained madly because the linesman had flagged Darcy offside but the ref allowed play to continue, I think because a Southend man had played the ball to Darcy. It should not have affected them as there must have been 10 more passes before the ball came to Murphy.


So we went in 2-1 up despite a really poor quality performance.

I, naively, always expect some form of improvement after the half time break but it never happens. What Keith Hill says to them does not inspire them.


The second half followed the pattern of the first until the Southend defender made a terrible mistake 30 yards out and let the ball run past him for Daryl Murphy to run and score well. In all honesty, he had done absolutely nothing up to that moment but a goalscorer is a goalscorer and he took it really well.

We still could not get on top. Southend did fade a bit but we kept giving away free kicks. Endlessly – I don’t know whether Campbell has trained them to fall but in the 80th minute they got yet another one. The ball was floated in, as usual we failed to win it, a header came in and somehow Matthews just missed it. I may need to see it again but it looked a dreadful goalkeeping error.

So 10 minutes to go and 3-2. Panic stations! Southend had all the play – corners, free kicks etc – but we somehow staggered over the line.

A win is a win and 3 points are welcome but as I say often, our standard of passing is abysmal. We have lost all the flair that came with Keith Hill’s early games.


Marks:-

Matthews - 4 Excellent catch of a high ball in the last minute but before that some serious flapping. His distribution was pretty poor. I haven’t seen the TV yet but what was he doing for Southend’s second goal?

Emmanuel - 5 He seems to have lost that bit of flair and drive that he had earlier in the season.

Earl - 5 Just did not jump for Southend’s first goal.

Wright - 5 We have a problem defensively with high balls into the box. He wins very few of them.

Bridcutt - 4 100% not a centre half. A couple of excellent long passes but he got caught regularly defensively.

Murphy L - 5 Great shot for the second goal but otherwise a very average performance where our midfield was second best to Southend.

Lowe - 4 Oh dear. I know that many people love him but I struggle to remember an accurate forward pass from him today. As with the comment above about Murphy, our midfield were dominated.

Dodoo - 5 Great shot for the first goal but little else.

Darcy - 4 A real struggle where he was outmuscled today.

Murphy D - 5 Almost an anonymous performance but he scored. If he plays as poor as that every game but scores, I will be happy.

Verlinden - 4 Massive disappointment. He had a few runs but the final quality ball was missing.

2 school of thoughts. 1 being remember August when we were 5 down every game. If you would have said at that time "bolton will start to win but fans will complain about the style" you would say shuddupayourface no way will any fan bemoan the style.


2nd thought is that "least we have a club" feeling does wear thin. I dont think Keith has come here to finish bottom. So im baffled as to his "Southend have a roster of superior players" stance.

I think Hills got enough in the bank to call it straight and say it was poor and it will/must get better.


All being said though does any Liverpool fan, pundit or player care that they were off the pace in a lot of games. Not really. Wins a win. Just hope Keith knows deep down that papering over cracks is not what we need. Need players to be accountable and learn from mistakes. Those goals plus the Accy goals are plenty to work on.

Chip, you couldnt pay me to cut short my xmas celebrations for a day out in Baltic Sunderland. If we struggled with set pieces against the worst team, then Jurassic Parkinson will be licking his lips. His caveman teamtalk calved into rock. "You hoof. You head. We score"