[Albion] ***Player Ratings vs Southampton***

Napier's Knee said:

I'm not sure it is sensible to rate players after last night. I got the impression that CH would have been happy had we won but that he was much more interested in learning things. so what did he learn?
1. Button - will be solid if unspectacular as Ben Roberts does more work with him
2. Making sure the first team and the U23s play in the same style makes it easier for players to make the transition up. Barclay and Collar weren't really noticeable, and I mean that in a good way. Gyokeres disappointed me a little.
3. Bernardo is good
4. Ali needs to be played to his strengths and not as an imitation Knockaert tasked with cutting inside - Ali is faster and more direct
5. Locadia can't play on his own up front (Murray would have struggled last night with the service Locadia got), but he is strong and has good vision. I don't understand how he has been dismissed so quickly by some
6. Bissouma - signing of the season and cult-hero in the making. He has the potential to be immense. Loved it that after Romeu took him out early in the first half, Bissouma immediately went and got a revenge tackle in.
7. CH encourages and coaches players from the side-line. Hughes just shouts at them and makes it clear that he thinks they have let him down. Hughes is graceless and deeply unpleasant, but i guess we all knew that beforehand. The Carabao Cup matters more to Southampton than it did to Brighton.
8. If you're going to sell 2000 tickets to away supporters keep the North Stand open so we can create some atmosphere. Maybe close ESL instead

Click to expand...

Nailed it.

Kayal, absolutely good enough for starting 11 along with star in the making Bissouma. Bernardo also good. Viktor should have played centre forward because he can head the ball which Locadia cannot. Ali J... Relax.

Button 4

Collar 5
Barclay 5
Bernardo 6
Suttner 5

Ali J 5
Groß 6
Bissouma 8
Kayal 6
Gyokeres 5

Locadia 5

One of the most boring games I have seen. Little or no atmosphere (why close the North Stand?), pedestrian style of football except for a few moments of magic from Bissouma and one from Ali J, constantly passing the ball backwards or crossfield when forward options available. On one occasion the ball ended up back with Button after we'd taken a free kick well into the Southampton half. I has stupidly thought we went to watch football matches to be entertained … what was served up yesterday was far from entertaining.

Button 5. A couple of decent saves, but kicking was poor. Got more distance on his kicks than Ryan, but too many ended up on a Saints head. And as for the screw-up in front of goal?? Did not fill me with confidence and on this showing not as good as Krul or Maenpaa. Worrying.
Collar 5. OK, but not particularly impressed.
Suttner 4. Expected much more. He miscontrolled the ball with his first kick about ten seconds after kick-off and it didn't get much better from there.
Barclay 7. I thought he had a good game. Strong defensively.
Bernado 8. After such an awful game against Watford he looked much more at home in a centre-back role. Surprised he's tall enough, but won plenty of high balls, controlled the ball very well, and distribution good.
Gross 6. OK.
Kayal 5. Not impressed.
Bissouma 8. A star in the making. Great game until he faded in the last quarter. Willing to shoot from distance and could have scored a belter. Some impressive runs.
Ali J 6. Would have liked him to have seen more of the ball.
Gyokeres 6. Looked quite good early on, but faded.
Locadia 6. Was impressed with his hold-up play, but didn't get much support. Potential is definitely there.

Subs:
Propper 5. OK


Where was Scheletto? Where was Towell?

Napier's Knee said:

I'm not sure it is sensible to rate players after last night. I got the impression that CH would have been happy had we won but that he was much more interested in learning things. so what did he learn?
1. Button - will be solid if unspectacular as Ben Roberts does more work with him
2. Making sure the first team and the U23s play in the same style makes it easier for players to make the transition up. Barclay and Collar weren't really noticeable, and I mean that in a good way. Gyokeres disappointed me a little.
3. Bernardo is good
4. Ali needs to be played to his strengths and not as an imitation Knockaert tasked with cutting inside - Ali is faster and more direct
5. Locadia can't play on his own up front (Murray would have struggled last night with the service Locadia got), but he is strong and has good vision. I don't understand how he has been dismissed so quickly by some
6. Bissouma - signing of the season and cult-hero in the making. He has the potential to be immense. Loved it that after Romeu took him out early in the first half, Bissouma immediately went and got a revenge tackle in.
7. CH encourages and coaches players from the side-line. Hughes just shouts at them and makes it clear that he thinks they have let him down. Hughes is graceless and deeply unpleasant, but i guess we all knew that beforehand. The Carabao Cup matters more to Southampton than it did to Brighton.
8. If you're going to sell 2000 tickets to away supporters keep the North Stand open so we can create some atmosphere. Maybe close ESL instead

Click to expand...

Pretty much agree with all of your post but what I would add is that playing the same way as the first team will make it easier for all the new players to transition - One of the reasons I was so disappointed that we played Gross so deep and not supporting the striker. It's not how the first team play so why change the system and leave Locadia so isolated?

Napier's Knee said:

I'm not sure it is sensible to rate players after last night. I got the impression that CH would have been happy had we won but that he was much more interested in learning things. so what did he learn?
1. Button - will be solid if unspectacular as Ben Roberts does more work with him
2. Making sure the first team and the U23s play in the same style makes it easier for players to make the transition up. Barclay and Collar weren't really noticeable, and I mean that in a good way. Gyokeres disappointed me a little.
3. Bernardo is good
4. Ali needs to be played to his strengths and not as an imitation Knockaert tasked with cutting inside - Ali is faster and more direct
5. Locadia can't play on his own up front (Murray would have struggled last night with the service Locadia got), but he is strong and has good vision. I don't understand how he has been dismissed so quickly by some
6. Bissouma - signing of the season and cult-hero in the making. He has the potential to be immense. Loved it that after Romeu took him out early in the first half, Bissouma immediately went and got a revenge tackle in.
7. CH encourages and coaches players from the side-line. Hughes just shouts at them and makes it clear that he thinks they have let him down. Hughes is graceless and deeply unpleasant, but i guess we all knew that beforehand. The Carabao Cup matters more to Southampton than it did to Brighton.
8. If you're going to sell 2000 tickets to away supporters keep the North Stand open so we can create some atmosphere. Maybe close ESL instead

Click to expand...

I'd agree with the vast majority of this, although:
-- some might hope that Button succeeds in being unspectacular throughout a game, instead of playing air shots (I did think the majority of his kicking/passing was good though)
-- Gyokeres is swift and impressed me, especially in the first half; in the second, he got into some very good positions but his decision-making was extremely poor
-- agreed on Bernardo and Bissouma
-- Jahanbakhsh disappointed me; I'm not going to make a rash judgment but on the basis of that, he'll take a while to acclimatise
-- agree with much on Locadia; I think he did a lot better than people are giving him credit for, especially given he was playing with two rookie wide forwards/wingers. What impressed me was that he's obviously been working on his strength, heading, and holding the ball up, which is pretty integral to the way we play, and this makes me think that he is being adapted so he can play on his own up-front (and perhaps occasionally out-wide or as a second forward when we're chasing a game, or squad absences dictate).