Was this a case of “after the Lord Mayor`s show”? After comfortably outplaying and beating Championship side Preston North End in last weeks FA Cup, Posh had a completely different challenge this week as they played against a team determined to get a goalless draw!
Southend came to the ABAX on the back of three big defeats and they needed to get something from the game and they achieved their goal but only just!
The Shrimpers smothered Posh with their negative tactics. The majority of the time Posh had the ball, Southend had at least 10-men behind the ball and at times, all 11-men were defending!!
With Phil Brown as manager, Southend have an experienced manager and he knew exactly how to snuff out any threat by Posh. They wanted to stop Posh playing the ball out from the back so they marked all the Posh players stopping that from happening. This meant Ben Alnwick had to pump the ball up field towards Posh players who nearly always get out-jumped and with three big central defenders in the Southend side, they were always going to win the headers!
Posh just didn`t know what to do or how to break down a team who sole tactic was to defend.
Add to that, a number of players looked so far off the pace. Lawrie Wilson had his worst game in a Posh shirt while fellow loanee Martin Samuelsen also had a very poor game. Erhun Oztumer was never at the races in this match as well but whether that was down to the tactics of Southend or the non-movement of players or just a bad day at the office is anyone`s guess. How on earth he was named the sponsors man of the match is bizarre!
The central defensive pairing of Jack Baldwin and Ricardo Almeida Santos had a tough aerial battle with former Posh man Tyrone Barnett. Barnett certainly knows how to play against us as he causes so many problems but Santos and Baldwin stood firm.
Chris Forrester didn`t have his most affective game and that must surely be down to the opposition stopping any creativity from happening.
Up front, Lee Angol was very lively and made a few good runs but his strike partner had a poor game. Has all the recent transfer bids finally started to affect Conor Washington? He didn`t have much service but he didn`t look interested a lot of the time either!
Posh could`ve nicked the win and that`s exactly what it would`ve been if Chris Forrester had put away the spot kick. Even before he took the kick, it was pointed out that Southend goalkeeper Dan Bentley was known for saving penalties and that is exactly what he did. Having said that, it was a poor kick at the end of a very poor match.
Neither side deserved to win. Southend set their stall out for a goalless draw and they achieved that result. Posh just weren`t good enough on the day to break down a dogged Shrimpers side.
Player Ratings
Ben ALNWICK
Had very little to do but pulled off a very good save early in the match. Very frustrating to watch when it’s obvious he can’t play the ball out to a defender from goal-kicks!
Michael SMITH
Comfortable in his defensive duties but faced a left-back making his loan debut from West Ham and who didn’t want to let anyone down. Smith was unable to make any attacking runs as a result.
Ricardo ALMEIDA SANTOS
Had a good battle alongside Baldwin against Tyrone Barnett. Will be good experience for him but will be looking over his shoulder when Michael Bostwick is fit again.
Jack BALDWIN
He seems to have come back from injury a better player. Clubs higher up the League ladder must surely be taking an interest in his performances. Very cool, calm and collected. Won the battle against Barnett and brought the ball out of defence with ease (when we could play the ball out from the back!)
Lawrie WILSON
Arguably his worst game in a Posh shirt for the Bolton Wanderers loanee. He’s an experienced pro but is not comfortably on the left. Replaced by Kgosi Ntlhe who made his first appearance since recovering from injury.
Chris FORRESTER
A man key to the Posh midfield. Unable to break free from the shackles that Southend put on, not only him, but the whole of Posh.
Harry BEAUTYMAN
Goes around the park unnoticed at times helping out the more skilful player in the team. The defensive blockade put up by Southend stopped his forward running stopping any real threat.
Martin SAMUELSEN
Very skilful player but often tricked himself in this match. As with Wilson, this was arguably his worst performance in a Posh shirt. Surprised he wasn’t substituted.
Erhun OZTUMER
To some, Erhun can do no wrong but the number of mis-placed passes and the number of times he gives the ball away is quite shocking at times. He didn’t get on the ball as often as he has in previous games and wasn’t effective. Another player lucky not to have been substituted!
Conor WASHINGTON
So far off the pace, he should’ve stayed at home! Received very little supply during the game but he just didn’t look interested! Is the knock he received last week to his left knee affecting him or is it all the unrest surrounding the bids that are coming in for him? Whatever it was, he had a poor game.
Lee ANGOL
Ran around a lot. Caused the opposition problems with his direct runs but couldn’t link up with his off-form strike partner. Surprisingly taken off!
Jon TAYLOR
Came on for Beautyman but made very little impact on the game.
Marcus MADDISON
Came on for Angol with just over 20 minutes remaining. Managed to put in a few decent crosses but his fellow Posh attackers failed to gamble so couldn’t get on the end of the crosses. Washington and Oztumer were particularly guilty of this! Won the penalty deep into added time.
Surprised addition to the subs bench as it was thought he would take longer to regain his fitness after being out for so long. Made a good impact and is a better threat going forward than Wilson.
Manager Rating
Made some strange substitutions. A number of players were having off days yet they remained on the pitch while Angol, for example, was taken off! Needs to find a way to beak down teams that come to defend although not many teams will defend as much as Southend did!
Opponent Rating
After three big defeats, Phil Brown needed to get something from this match and set out his stall to stifle Posh and to stop them playing. His tactics were spot on and he got the goalless draw he obviously wanted.
