Swindon v Southend matchday thread.

[pauld]

The bloke is just so bloody boring and has no passion.

I used to love Sturrock's cheeky character and he bought the best out of players.

I don't give a fuck if he's boring or not. I'm more concerned about the fact we can't fucking win a match for shit.

Thought you weren't coming on here tonight?

Nah i thought "fuck it. I'm so pissed off i may as well join in the anti-Malpas stuff"  

Heh, thought you might

[Boeta]

A passionate manager brings a passionate team which equals success.

Does Arsene Wenger personify passion? Does he fuck.

Ralphy, you'd do well to read this.

In essence:

I might not have explained myself either. I’m trying to draw a distinction between what sports fans and commentators would LIKE to be the essentials for victory, with what the evidence suggests ARE the essentials for victory. It’s the difference between what sports fans watch sport in order to feel - and what sportspeople need to feel in order to win.

http://www.morethanmindgames.co.uk/passion-and-commitment-vs-skill-and-composure/

[Batch]

Ok, not read this thread et, will do so after posting to see if people agree with my assessment.

70-75 minutes, we were fucking shit. The game was like watching paint dry. But the thing that really pisses me off is that there was nothing out there. The players may think they are working hard but in reality they were going through the motions.

Then Zaboub came in. And we started playing a bit. We created 3 excellent chances to an undeserved draw or even a win. I can't work out why things changed when Zaboub came on  because despite the effort he had little end product. But maybe it was the woeful McGovern going off.

Finally saw what people were saying about Byrne today too, flapping his arms around like a spas on acid because Brez took a little while to kick the ball out. In the end it landed on one of our players feet.

Anyway. MOM - McNamee. Smith and Minge also did OK too.

[Simon Pieman]

I thought Smith sucked today

[Bogus Dave]

I thought one option to liven it up would of been to move commingues to right back, and bring smith off for nicho/zaboub. Not that smith had a bad game, though he wasn't brilliant, But it would of made us more attacking down the wings

[normy]

We were absolute shit with the exception of McNamee and the Minge. At the beginning of the season I thuoght our defence would keep us up - now it could send us down. They've got the jitters all over the place. If Vincent was fit I'd make him captain and put him at the centre with the Beast.
The midfield was dog shit - all of them - including Peacock who came on. Corr could not even be fucked to put in any effort.
Now for the tactics. JPM again was useless - a defensive midfielder who can't tackle. I'm also pretty pissed off with Cox taking on the role of target man. Surely he should be playing off the big man not the other way around. Paynter / corr play way too far back - particularly if you're 1-0 down at home. We never got enough men forward. As for Zaboob coming on and playing down the right FFS - move The Minge over and play Zaboub behind McNamee.
Southend won because they hunted as a pack whereas our midefield as usual neither supoorted the front or the defence.
I'm not far off having enuogh of MM. I still think he should have until X mas but each week sees my position weaken.

Very good summary of a dire display. However, I'm not sure about Malpas. Let me play devil's advocate, and blame the players, not him.
Carlisle was the most enjoyable game I've seen for years, and we were very unlucky. Our passing and approach play was excellent, the system worked, and only finishing let us down. Today, we looked like a relegation outfit, sluggish, bad passing, jittery, little combined movement. Have they forgotten how to play in a few days? A big negative factor was Corr. He looked off the pace, argued with Cox, failed to hit the target with a close range header, and it encouraged long hoofballs. However, I would guess that most of us would have played him instead of Sturrock, so no blame there. The bitter cold was harder to bear when most of them "appeared" not to be trying to play football. Thank goodness for McNamee's runs and good crosses, the only thing worth watching today.

[Simon Pieman]

The problem today was that we didn't do the basics right. How many passes went astray in the whole game? Southend simply had 3 players pressurising the man on the ball all game. Had we been able to pass it a bit they could never have sustained that level of work rate.

Decision making was appalling. Sometimes you need to just whip the ball in the box and hope someon gets on the end of it. Half the time I think the players didn't want to do that in fear they would fuck it up - passing the buck. Only it made us fuck up even more.

Their keeper wasn't big, how the hell did we not test him more?

This is silly stuff that my mates would have a go at me for not doing in a kick around down the park. Professional footballers? They'd make better careers as clowns!

[Batch]

It's a confidence thing Pie. The have none at the moment. People hide and don't want the ball. They just go through the motions. We had no guts for most of today.

[swindon-chap]

How Ifil is a professional footballer with his ball control is beyond me. Yes, he can defend (until recently), but how many times does he cock up possible attacks every game. Whenever we looked like sustaining any sort of pressure, Ifil/Hasney/Smith cocked up terribly and the emphasis was back with Southend.

We really need taller midfielders, because we lost EVERY 50/50. Southends squad was an example to follow.

[Bogus Dave]

How many central defenders do you know with the ball control of ronaldo?

Ifil's control is nothing really shocking, he's just low on confidence. People booing every mistake he makes isn't going to help him

[DMR]

We really need taller midfielders, because we lost EVERY 50/50. Southends squad was an example to follow.

People have been saying how wonderful Peacock is at this lark... today made a total mockery of that when he came on.

[Simon Pieman]

Well if they suddenly want some guts tell them they won't get paid if they under-perform, or at the very least be dropped the next game.

I get the impression most of the players think they can do no wrong. They didn't seem too upset at the loss after the game.

I liked it that when McNamee chased down the ball and it got played off him and went out for a goal kick some fans in the town end clapped his effort. Seemed to be lacking today for the other players, with the exception of a couple of others.

[Iffy's Onion Bhaji]

Tbh though people saying it's a lack of confidence etc but if it was then why did they play so well against Carlisle and piss poor today? The confidence should be there after the Carlisle game but i guess 1 good performance a month is good enough in the players eyes.

[swindon-chap]

How many central defenders do you know with the ball control of ronaldo?

Ifil's control is nothing really shocking, he's just low on confidence. People booing every mistake he makes isn't going to help him

Well Southend's centre backs actually controlled the ball today, like most of the teams we've faced this season, I'm not saying Ronaldo-like, but just with the ability to pass the ball 10 yards, and not overhit the ball every time.

[Simon Pieman]

How many central defenders do you know with the ball control of ronaldo?

Ifil's control is nothing really shocking, he's just low on confidence. People booing every mistake he makes isn't going to help him

Well Southend's centre backs actually controlled the ball today, like most of the teams we've faced this season, I'm not saying Ronaldo-like, but just with the ability to pass the ball 10 yards, and not overhit the ball every time.

Problem is their midfield gave them passing options, ours went missing...