Southend scorefred sponsored by 'That's the Spirit'

[Billy the fish]

Sorry but that's totally UNACCEPTABLE. Thank goodness no fans were in they would've been resoundingly and derservedly booed off

Think on the bright side, as I know you always do. The apathy in the town would mean there wouldn’t be many there anyways.

You mean like you who haven’t attended in years ..

[Spiritater]

Sorry but that's totally UNACCEPTABLE. Thank goodness no fans were in they would've been resoundingly and derservedly booed off

Think on the bright side, as I know you always do. The apathy in the town would mean there wouldn’t be many there anyways.

You mean like you who haven’t attended in years ..

[Bradders]

I’d keep Sweeney Clarke and Lapslie, the rest I wouldn’t miss if they moved on, we are short of pace up front.Cook doesn’t look interested even though he is an upgrade on Reid, and despite his goal I can’t take to Bowery.
3rd bottom will be an achievement with this shower of she height

Bit harsh on Gordon, and Bowery is certainly one of our better players. There are a few that I'd retain to make up the squad, and I think that Rawson is a decent partner for Sweeney. So I'd be looking at getting rid of a few fringe players and dropping some of the regulars to the bench. But January isn't the time for big changes.

[cerfjaune]

Supported this club for 40 years. Can't remember not winning a home game before Christmas but glad to salvage a point. Much better second half with Cook on

I can remember when we didn’t even score a league goal at home until New Year’s Eve. That’s what you call bad.

[julianshatnasty]

Supported this club for 40 years. Can't remember not winning a home game before Christmas but glad to salvage a point. Much better second half with Cook on

Supported this club for 37 years. Pretty sure we're in exactly the same league position as we were for my first game.

[Gazmoose82]

Supported this club for 40 years. Can't remember not winning a home game before Christmas but glad to salvage a point. Much better second half with Cook on

Supported this club for 37 years. Pretty sure we're in exactly the same league position as we were for my first game.

Makes you wonder why we bother eh?

[northern stag]

I’d keep Sweeney Clarke and Lapslie, the rest I wouldn’t miss if they moved on, we are short of pace up front.Cook doesn’t look interested even though he is an upgrade on Reid, and despite his goal I can’t take to Bowery.
3rd bottom will be an achievement with this shower of she height

Bit harsh on Gordon, and Bowery is certainly one of our better players. There are a few that I'd retain to make up the squad, and I think that Rawson is a decent partner for Sweeney. So I'd be looking at getting rid of a few fringe players and dropping some of the regulars to the bench. But January isn't the time for big changes.

The fact you think Bowery is one of our better players reinforces my opinion that we are basically she height, Gordon has been played out of position and has been awful for weeks, probably less so today, but the fact we talking about players being less bad says it all

[wayno cordiniho]

Least cloughys stopped us getting spanked by Barrowesque teams but we’re desperate for some quality. Can only get so much out of a limited quality team

[NorthLondonStag]

I think he’s doing the best he can with a poor hand.
What I don’t understand though is continually starting Reid and Bowery. Two points to back that up. First they’ve done not very much as a pairing (that’s being kind). Second things have invariably improved when he’s changed it.

[I am Spartacus]

Comfortably numb after this afternoons performance. Happy with a point, no. Happy with the performance, no. Happy with the side that has had three transfer windows bo accumulated in, no. Happy that we have the players to get us out of this, no.

We are without a shadow of a doubt the most pedestrian Stags side I have ever seen (in 39 yrs as most seem to be playing top trumps with their years of service). The passing and movement is laboured, the crossing is non-existent, the speed in which we close down is almost tortoise like. Other than Clarke, Lapslie, Benning (I still think he can be the player he has been), Charsley and Sweeney I don’t think we have any league 2 standard players in the starting line up. Cook & Maynard have the ability but are demoralized and ultimately perform beneath their abilities due to what is around them.

‘Our Nigel’, IMO has taken this squad as far as the squad are able to. The spine of the side needs replacing, other than Clarke and that is one hell of a task in January.

Utterly deflated this evening. A draw, that feels like a defeat due to the weight of realisation of just how poor we have become inside two seasons.

[Rob]

I think he’s doing the best he can with a poor hand.
What I don’t understand though is continually starting Reid and Bowery. Two points to back that up. First they’ve done not very much as a pairing (that’s being kind). Second things have invariably improved when he’s changed it.

He's starting Reid and Riley because he doesn't rate the other two, I expect if anyone will take them, Cook and Maynard will leave next month. For me, no loss.

[Sedgwick]

I think he’s doing the best he can with a poor hand.
What I don’t understand though is continually starting Reid and Bowery. Two points to back that up. First they’ve done not very much as a pairing (that’s being kind). Second things have invariably improved when he’s changed it.

He's starting Reid and Riley because he doesn't rate the other two, I expect if anyone will take them, Cook and Maynard will leave next month. For me, no loss.

who is Riley?

[chip63]

I think he’s doing the best he can with a poor hand.
What I don’t understand though is continually starting Reid and Bowery. Two points to back that up. First they’ve done not very much as a pairing (that’s being kind). Second things have invariably improved when he’s changed it.

He's starting Reid and Riley because he doesn't rate the other two, I expect if anyone will take them, Cook and Maynard will leave next month. For me, no loss.

What have we done or not done to Cook and Maynard?
Cook was player of the year, players player of the year before he came to us.
Maynard is a proven goal scorer and our leading scorer last year.
I'm sure any team in our league would be happy to take them on but not the wages maybe

[Amber Andy]

Least cloughys stopped us getting spanked by Barrowesque teams but we’re desperate for some quality. Can only get so much out of a limited quality team

You mean the Barrow who won 3 - 0 today.

[The One]

Just heard Clough interview , he is not a happy bunny.

[MTFCMusings]

Least cloughys stopped us getting spanked by Barrowesque teams but we’re desperate for some quality. Can only get so much out of a limited quality team

You mean the Barrow who won 3 - 0 today.

Their first win since October.

[Sedgwick]

Just heard Clough interview , he is not a happy bunny.

loads of these players will be gone.

[tillydog123]

We needed a win badly today and at home
Love Clough to be bits and would not wish for any other manager but I do think Cook should play even if not interested in the long term
Reid needs more time but we can’t afford the luxury and it looks like mission survival nows this season when at one time I thought we might just get close to the play offs esp after Forest Green result
Dear oh dear with Covid what a mess we are in and don’t envy Nigel and maybe he has over thought the potential here at M T F C and maybe JR and the good ground / training facilities etc swayed him too much

[The One]

Good fredding spiro. Can next one be sponsored by cabbage patch dolls ?

[yorkshire stag]

Reid just isn’t what we need right now, really struggling to understand why Cloughie starts him

[oldweststander]

Keep saying it, you can't keep relying on your two full backs to make chances and defend too.
Rawson is a liability. What was GC thinking about when he signed Rawson, O'Driscoll and Men??????? on 2yr deals, they are all clueless.

We were far better when we brought on a wide player in the second half.

[Tippy Tappy Football]

Bowery shattered confidence . No goals in open play from 20 plus appearances.

He put that one right in the 2nd half. Well done Jordan. Great finish.

I don't know why he does not do that more often. He has the strength and pace. He just needs to be confident and more direct. He should have done this in the 2nd half at Carlisle instead of going down looking for a penalty.

[gazza1988]

It was a good finish from Bowery. As he got into the box I just wanted him to smash it and he did. I was expecting a pass to someone or a limp shot to the keeper but hit hit it and hit it well. More of the same next Saturday Jordan.

[halifaxstag]

I think he’s doing the best he can with a poor hand.
What I don’t understand though is continually starting Reid and Bowery. Two points to back that up. First they’ve done not very much as a pairing (that’s being kind). Second things have invariably improved when he’s changed it.

He's starting Reid and Riley because he doesn't rate the other two, I expect if anyone will take them, Cook and Maynard will leave next month. For me, no loss.

The thing is he hasn’t had Reid and BOWERY as a pair. Bowery has been playing on the left of a 3 with Reid in the middle and Charsley on the right.
In my opinion the 4-3-3 doesn’t work in this division unless you have the right personnel and have worked on it in preseason. It takes a lot of energy from the front 6 to play it well and can leave midfield a bit exposed. It can also leave the opposition central defenders with just one player to mark.

We started the season playing 3-5-2 under Coughlan, switched to 4-4-2 (diamond) under Cooper, went 4-4-2 (flat/ Maynard behind Bowery) and then to 4-3-3 under Clough.

When we went to 4-4-2 today, with Cook and Bowery both playing mainly through the middle, we looked like we could score a hatful. Most players will have played a 4-4-2 more than any other formation and they looked like they knew what they were doing.

Admittedly the 4-3-3 had worked well against Daggers, Cambridge and Crawley (barring 10 minutes) but it does take a lot of organisation and energy, and on a heavy pitch today it wasn’t working. I’m sure with a good pre-season it would work and is Clough’s preferred formation.

I’m not sure that Clough has a preferred starting front line. Nicky Maynard has been carrying injuries for some of the time Clough has been here which has allowed Reid his chance(he was a starter before that). Andy Cook hasn’t had a massive amount of game time since the first few games of the season.He is a different sort of player to Bowery but I don’t think both can start in a 4-3-3. Cook is much better in the air than Bowery, and is probably a better finisher, but is also older and slower.

[Kenwood]

Reid just isn’t what we need right now, really struggling to understand why Cloughie starts him

I haven’t seen anything in Reid to make me think he is good enough for league football however put in Nigel’s position I can understand why he has gone with him. We massively lack pace in the final third (well all over the pitch in fact) And Reid is “supposedly” the one striker with pace.

However I think he now needs to stick with a 442 formation and give Bowery and Cook the benefit down the middle until he can strengthen our options in January

This may mean we go too long at times but on our pitch that is probably the best option anyway