An under strength Tigers team took to the field against Southend looking to impress the manager and build some momentum following the Premier League win over Bolton on Saturday. The fringe players struggled to put away a resilient Southend side but eventually eased to victory, scoring three superb goals in the process.
The Gaffer
Phil Brown picked a second string side, save for Jozy Altidore. In some positions, he picked third string players, as the likes of Duke, Kilbane and Mendy watched on from the bench. Tony Warner instead of Duke was a strange selection but otherwise, it looked a solid side, though one lacking in experience and one that didn't contain many players who are even knocking on the door of the first team.
The Defence
Until Southend scored right on half time, they'd barely threatened the City defence. With a midfield containing four ball players and Halmosi at left back, we weren't really set-up to compete so it was credit to our ability to control the ball that they hadn't threatened sooner. Doyle and Halmosi's inability to join attacks and lack of quality on the odd occasion they did was worrying. Liam Copper looked comfortable as he often does and we strolled through the half. After the break, Southend had a really good spell and looked much more likely to score until Geo eventually killed the game. Mouyokolo completely missed a clearance and was lucky that the player left to run in behind was clueless. Warner flapped at a punch and was also lucky; he was awarded a very generous free-kick by the ref. Warner then shielded a ball out for a throw-in in one of the stranger bits of goalkeeping you'll see. Warner then redeemed himself with two superb saves, both low to his left at the feet of attackers who looked certain to score. His general play is poor but he'll always make a few decent saves. Doyle isn't good enough, he proved that again. As an attacking player, he's not quick enough and he's not bright enough. Defensively, he's only OK. Halmosi hasn't impressed at all on the wing and he didn't particularly at left-back either. He didn't have an awful lot to do but passed/hoofed the ball out of defence poorly, didn't convert crossing opportunities into crosses and is too slow in general. Cooper looked fine for the most part but both he and Mouyokolo went missing when Southend got on top, too often they had players standing in the box alone. Mouyokolo looks cool and calm in possession but can be rash when he's challenging for the ball. He's similar in movement and position to an early Leon Cort. If he makes the same strides, he'll be a good player.
The Middle
The midfield was Nick Barmby babysitting three youths. They did a nice job when they were fresh, moving the ball well at times and getting into good positions. As the game went on, they started to tire and their play became sluggish and sloppy. Atkinson and Cairney were removed in the second half and that left Featherstone to really struggle in the last 20 minutes. Barmby had a quite game for him, perhaps sacrificing himself to look after his cubs. Featherstone was OK knocking the ball about short but failed to do anything complicated and the longer the game went on, the more and more he was caught on the ball. Atkinson puts in plenty of effort and has some neat touches but just isn't good enough, in fact he's a long way short of being good enough. Cairney looks a really good player on the ball; he passes well and rarely wastes the ball. He scored a wonderful goal, skipping past a defender and curling a beauty into the top left hand corner from just outside the area on the right of the 'D'. Off the ball, his movement is languid and when it comes to defending, he looks too slow and doesn't react at all to his opponents movements. He often let players walk right past him. He looks one-paced and despite some obvious talent, it's hard to see him progressing at the highest level if he can't find another gear. Geo came off the bench and City immediately pushed on to finish the game. Everything lit up when he appeared and we moved up a level. He scored a lovely goal, Altidore playing a wonderful cross field ball to Doyle who ran into to trouble but the ball lopped up for Geo to volley from 18 yards into the far corner.
The Front Line
Altidore and Fagan lead the line from the off and despite our superiority, they struggled to find any support and didn't get into the game. Altidore was very quiet until he scored. He lashed in a free-kick from 25 yards into the bottom right hand corner. He wasn't involved a great deal in the game but when he was involved, he held the ball up well, looked strong and passed well. His first touch wasn't always as good as it should've been. He should've won a penalty before the Southend goal when he was barged over in the box. The ref ludicrously pointed to the ball, which the defender came away with after he'd knocked Altidore over and then stepped over him to take the ball. Fagan was anonymous throughout bar a couple of runs onto the wing. Ghilas had a run out for 20 minutes and kept the ball well but didn't get near the goal.
We did well to run out pretty comfortable winners with a side made up of lots of players like Warner, Doyle, Halmosi, Atkinson and Featherstone who wouldn't start a league game unless someone's leg fell off and other like Cooper and Cairney who look like prospects but aren't really in contention. The object was to get first team football for some on the fringe and players like Fagan and Altidore and winning the game alongside that makes it a successful night. However, Altidore aside, no-one has given Phil Brown anything to consider for Saturday.
Ratings: Warner 6, Doyle 6, Halmosi 6, Cooper 7, Mouyokolo 6, Barmby 6 (Geovanni), Featherstone 6, Atkinson 6 (Kilbane), Cairney 7 (Ghilas), Altidore 7, Fagan 6.