Player Ratings v Middlesbrough (h)

[fleet]

Some harsh ratings on here. Our general play was decent, just our defence (including midfield who should have been defending) played badly and their defence played very well. Stockdale not at fault for goals, Uwe poor in air. GG lost his man too often. Calde did as well as could be expected against a strong side when playing out of position - certainly kept going and tried all game. Bruno doesn't look as good when those around him don't feed off him (VLP and Murphy). Stephens and Kayal did well I though. Murphy was poor defending and attacking, but still was very unlucky not to score (great save). VLP poor tracking back, lost the ball too often and didn't deliver enough, not a great day. Wilson and Hemed couldn't crack a good defence, but Wilson gave them enough to worry about.

 

[Hampster Gull]

Tired performance of a depleted team against a team on form. Might take a few games to recover i suspect but recover we will

 

[sussex_guy2k2]

Wilson on the bench.

So you wanted us to be playing 4-5-0 yesterday?

 

[DJ NOBO]

So you wanted us to be playing 4-5-0 yesterday?

Nope . Target man upfront . Ideally Bobby . Nothing against Wilson - good player but too small for lone striker

 

[crookie]

I'd go with these.

I'd also echo the "how shit must... be" for Elvis and/or Chicksen to get a game.

Murphy has been poor for a while and it's not just on the left, it's also when he switches wings so blaming it on the LB situation is lame.

Today was tailor made for Poyet pack the midfield tactics.

This is the strange one for me. The only other left-footed defender is overlooked firstly for the back-up RB/RM then by the 3rd choice RB. Also Elvis, so many attacking injuries yet he gets barely a sniff off the bench. If they aren't going to be trusted on the pitch, whats the point of them even being on the bench ? Might as well have a couple from the DS there for the experience

 

[The Wizard]

Stockdale 6: Goals weren't his fault, we can't defend crosses or set pieces.

Bruno 5: Tried hard but was exposed by good wing play
Greer 5: Captain and must take responsibility for our poor marking at corners IMO
Hun 5.5: Could have done better with the first goal but very difficult game to be thrown into.
Calderon 5: Worked exceptionally hard but he's not a left back

Van La Parra 6: Looked out only attacking threat.. Inconsistent though
Stephens 6.5: Our best player, not his best game, mind.
Kayal 5.5: maybe harsh but by his standards I thought he was very poor yesterday.
Murphy 4: Anonymous & got marked out the game by a resilient defence

Hemed 5: Can't fault his passion and work ethic but offered nothing, didn't hold the ball up.. Few decent lay offs here and there.
Wilson 6: Both strikers had absolutely no service, tried hard all game though.

Subs: No noticeable difference except BZ who at least held it up and relieved some pressure

 

[perseus]

Gordon Greer

Greer was the big question mark (not necessarily in a bad way) but to me beginning this season he has looked shaky and has always been slow. Doubling up as a spare right back against Adomah in the absence of any defending by the Wolves Van man when Bruno should have able to deal with him on his own. We missed Rosenoir for this game more than the other games.

No doubt that Greer was in the thick of the action:

111 touches. Very much on the right hand side.
108 passes (84% success rate) which means he mispassed it quite a number of times but he had the ball a lot.
Clearances 1
Tackles 2
Interceptions 0
Blocks 0
Lost possession 0
Aerial duels 7 (about half of those of Albion in defence) 6 of them won.

Mostly the covering defender.
Arguable that he is not quick enough to make interceptions or blocked crosses (very important) any more. Boro did not have many shots needing to be blocked though.

However, I don't think his perfomance could really be faulted given his lack of speed. Marking at corners excepted.

Comment:

Given his importance in the Albion team, Greer cannot really be dropped. However, given his huge importance of the covering central defender, wouldn't it be really good for a promotion challenge if we had a new "experienced" and quicker player in his position? (arguable). The central defence pairings at Derby, Boro and Hull are all better? (consensus)

I like the look of Milke Williamson (now injured) at Newcastle. Much maligned at Newcastle and he has returned from Wolves on loan.

Right now left back is most important. With an overlapping full back on the left side we could play an extra man (Crofts) in midfield and only have one winger. Second striker can then go wide when neccessary. I don't like the 4-2-4. When we play two wingers one of them is out of the game when play is on the opposite side (usually our right) unless thay can slot into the midfield slot (Murphy seems unable to).

Current formation requires our wingers to track back too much (arguable).




PS: Liverpool have done an Albion, but much sillier against Watford.

Now 2-0. Bruno would have done Škrtel better but not Greer?

Liverpool trying to lose 3-0 before HT.

 

[sussex_guy2k2]

Greer was the big question mark (not necessarily in a bad way) but to me beginning this season he has looked shaky and has always been slow. Doubling up as a spare right back against Adomah in the absence of any defending by the Wolves Van man when Bruno should have able to deal with him on his own. We missed Rosenoir for this game more than the other games.

No doubt that Greer was in the thick of the action:

111 touches. Very much on the right hand side.
108 passes (84% success rate) which means he mispassed it quite a number of times but he had the ball a lot.
Clearances 1
Tackles 2
Interceptions 0
Blocks 0
Lost possession 0
Aerial duels 7 (about half of those of Albion in defence) 6 of them won.

Mostly the covering defender.
Arguable that he is not quick enough to make interceptions or blocked crosses (very important) any more. Boro did not have many shots needing to be blocked though.

However, I don't think his perfomance could really be faulted given his lack of speed. Marking at corners excepted.

Comment:

Given his importance in the Albion team, Greer cannot really be dropped. However, given his huge importance of the covering central defender, wouldn't it be really good for a promotion challenge if we had a new "experienced" and quicker player in his position? (arguable). The central defence pairings at Derby, Boro and Hull are all better? (consensus)

I like the look of Milke Williamson (now injured) at Newcastle. Much maligned at Newcastle and he has returned from Wolves on loan.

Right now left back is most important. With an overlapping full back on the left side we could play an extra man (Crofts) in midfield and only have one winger. Second striker can then go wide when neccessary. I don't like the 4-2-4. When we play two wingers one of them is out of the game when play is on the opposite side (usually our right) unless thay can slot into the midfield slot (Murphy seems unable to).

Current formation requires our wingers to track back too much (arguable).




PS: Liverpool have done an Albion, but much sillier against Watford.

Now 2-0. Bruno would have done Škrtel better but not Greer?

Liverpool trying to lose 3-0 before HT.

The problem with positioning and marking for centre-backs is they're the two things you can't make into a statistic. And they're the two things Greer got completely wrong yesterday.

 

[Thunder Bolt]

Stockdale - 6
Bruno - 5
Calderon - 6
Greer - 4
Hunemeier - 5
Stephens - 6
Kayal - 7 MoM imo
Van la Parra - 4
Murphy - 4
Wilson - 6
Hemed - 4

 

[perseus]

The problem with positioning and marking for centre-backs is they're the two things you can't make into a statistic. And they're the two things Greer got completely wrong yesterday.

Agreed and I had already spotted that. this is especially true at corners. Stats do not show lack of pace either.

I do see Greer as more of a covering central defender though, more zonal in open play.

Not so clearly marked as in the days when Foster when cleared the headers and Lawrenson mopped up.

Lack of aerial defence was shown in lots of previous games. Opposition headed over. Corners defence was faulty before as well.

Good night Liverpool. Watford 3-0

 

[Brighton Mod]

The problem with positioning and marking for centre-backs is they're the two things you can't make into a statistic. And they're the two things Greer got completely wrong yesterday.

That's harsh on Greer, Hun and Bruno responsible for the first goal and Stephens failure to challenge the cross and no one at the back post for the third. Being a big figure his performances do stand out, but look what he has around him, he can't do it all.
The crosses are coming in too easily, its a whole problem, not that of an individual. Opponents have done their homework on us, unfortunately we have not reciprocated.
Despite all this, there is still a long way to go, to be successful we should be using Wilsons pace more, he had only one real opportunity yesterday and that's not enough playing at home.

 

[sussex_guy2k2]

That's harsh on Greer, Hun and Bruno responsible for the first goal and Stephens failure to challenge the cross and no one at the back post for the third. Being a big figure his performances do stand out, but look what he has around him, he can't do it all.
The crosses are coming in too easily, its a whole problem, not that of an individual. Opponents have done their homework on us, unfortunately we have not reciprocated.
Despite all this, there is still a long way to go, to be successful we should be using Wilsons pace more, he had only one real opportunity yesterday and that's not enough playing at home.

Unfortunately the crosses do come in fairly easily at corners.

You're right about it being a collective issue, but when your captain is setting such a bad example you're in trouble already. Look at the Derby game - he dived in recklessly (whether he got the man or not, he gave the ref a chance to make a decision and he was reckless). At QPR, he was defending one on one against Austin and only had to shepherd him away from goal - he dived in instead and took full advantage. Yesterday, he lost his man at corners for the second and third goals, and we conceded as a result. In terms of the first goal, as I've said already on this thread, he left a gaping hole at the back by leaving his defensive line to try and press up the pitch (without actually putting a tackle in), which meant that Bruno pushed inside to cover his space and VLP dropped back to the right to cover Bruno. That meant that when their winger got the ball, it was VLP rather than Bruno trying to stop the cross. Unfortunately, it meant that Bruno was out of position and Greer, rather than taking up a position at the front post that would've covered both the man and the runner, instead took up a position only slightly left of Bruno, meaning that Uwe had to come across at the last minute to try and cover Greer's awful positioning...

It is a collective issue, but the collective is being undermined at the moment by awful defending from our captain.

 

[amexer]

Biggest disappointment to me was 2nd half. A lot of possession but never looked liked scoring. None of 4 front players made good runs or were easy to find. I fear Hemed is just not good enough if we are to challenge. I don't know if he is up to start all games but only option to keep ball up front until others support is to play Zamora every game. Cannot give any credit to Hemed for running around. Spent long enough listening to people defending CMS for doing that.
Lots of people going on about Calderon. I think his defensive work on Sat and against Phillips on Tues was very good. Whilst you could say because not left footed no crosses. I think a little unfair as crosses from our wingers in last 2 games completely lacking.
All opposition centre forwards I see seem to make it very difficult for us. I don't think opposition defenders think they have had a tough game when facing Hemed.
Very difficult attracting quality in January but surely Bristol Centre forward would consider us rather then relegation fight.

 

[Brighton Mod]

Unfortunately the crosses do come in fairly easily at corners.

You're right about it being a collective issue, but when your captain is setting such a bad example you're in trouble already. Look at the Derby game - he dived in recklessly (whether he got the man or not, he gave the ref a chance to make a decision and he was reckless). At QPR, he was defending one on one against Austin and only had to shepherd him away from goal - he dived in instead and took full advantage. Yesterday, he lost his man at corners for the second and third goals, and we conceded as a result. In terms of the first goal, as I've said already on this thread, he left a gaping hole at the back by leaving his defensive line to try and press up the pitch (without actually putting a tackle in), which meant that Bruno pushed inside to cover his space and VLP dropped back to the right to cover Bruno. That meant that when their winger got the ball, it was VLP rather than Bruno trying to stop the cross. Unfortunately, it meant that Bruno was out of position and Greer, rather than taking up a position at the front post that would've covered both the man and the runner, instead took up a position only slightly left of Bruno, meaning that Uwe had to come across at the last minute to try and cover Greer's awful positioning...

It is a collective issue, but the collective is being undermined at the moment by awful defending from our captain.

I've had to read your post three times, there s a lot of detail and too much for me to recall. Wasn't Bruno marking Austin at QPR? As I said previously what is he surrounded by, a banned, irrational fellow centre back, a slow short replacement centre back, a makeshift left back and an always absent, through passion to push forward, right back. he is being asked to do a lot.
A bad day yesterday, lets put it behind us and move on, CH should look to shore things up.

 

[Eggman]

Stockdale 6
Bruno 6
Greer 5
Uwe 5
Calde 5
VLP 6
Stephens 6.5
Kayal 7
Murphy 4
Hemed 4
Wilson 5

Goldson 5
Crofts 5
Zamora 5

 

[goldstone]

Beaten by a much better team. Just hope we don't need any points on the last day of the season .... away to Middlesbrough!

Thought Hughton got it wrong yesterday, although we would probably have lost whatever team we had out there (selected from our fit players). Bobby should have started as Hemed had started on Tuesday. And pointless subs when we had no chance of winning. Elvis should definitely have been given some game time. Far too many goals conceded in the last four games (9) so something has to be done immediately to stem the flow.

Stockdale 7. Made some important saves. Not much he could have done about the goals. Distribution generally good.
Bruno 5. Not his best game.
Greer 4. Not his best game either, but maybe not quite as bad as some of here are suggesting.
Hunemeier 5. Thought he was doing OK until his injury.
Calderon 5. Gave 100%, but not the solution at LB. Chicksen should have been given a game since Rosenior's injury (not thrown in for his first game yesterday, obviously). I cannot believe that he was not good enough to start against Charlton, for example.
Kayal 7. OK, but has played much better.
Stephens 7. As Kayal. Loved the overhead kick pass.
Murphy 4. Very poor.
VLP 5. Beginning to see what the Wolves fans meant when they said he was inconsistent. A lot of potential, but some questionable decision making and poor corners and free kicks.
Hemed 4. Not good enough. Bobby should have started.
Wilson 6. Tried to make things happen, but very little support or service.

Subs:
Goldson 6. Thought he did OK after coming on at a difficult time in a tough game.
Zamora 6. Held the ball up far better than Hemed, but distribution not great. Why bring him on when the game was no longer there to be rescued? Elvis should have been given some game time.
Crofts 5. OK, but not sure what he was supposed to bring to the game at that stage.

 

[Freddie Goodwin.]

Easy to be wise after the event and I love the use, this season, of 2 wide players but maybe we need to look at only one winger and an extra midfield player when we are up against quality opposition.
I thought our midfield two were over-run and thus could not supply the front players or protect the defenders.

 

[sussex_guy2k2]

I've had to read your post three times, there s a lot of detail and too much for me to recall. Wasn't Bruno marking Austin at QPR? As I said previously what is he surrounded by, a banned, irrational fellow centre back, a slow short replacement centre back, a makeshift left back and an always absent, through passion to push forward, right back. he is being asked to do a lot.
A bad day yesterday, lets put it behind us and move on, CH should look to shore things up.

Bruno was marking Austin for the second goal at QPR yes (and was rightly lambusted for his awful attempts at defending that corner), but not the first goal that caused us to lose our cool from then on - that was Greer.

You're right, Greer is surrounded by a newly returning CB partner and an out of position left back, as well as a very attacking right back. He is also not getting the protection of an authoritative defensive midfielder to clear danger before it reaches him. I guess therein lies my issue with Greer. It isn't that he's an awful player, it's that he's our captain and should be leading by example, but most of our recent concessions have come as a result of his poor defending and the current system that we're playing is exposing his weaknesses.

I guess that is on CH to rectify - he could do that in a number of ways, either by putting someone in front of Greer to offer him more protection, by putting a more defensive right back in the team or, as makes most sense, play a central defensive partnership that most suits the system we play. What is clear though, is that we cannot go on defending as we have in the last 4 games - and I include our captain in that.

 

[Wardy's twin]

Stephens & Kayal had much better games than the marks they have been given in this thread. They had a lot to and did it well , the problem is Van La parrra and Murphy whose defensive midfield work is non-existent and their attacking work was not good. I thought Bruno had a good game. What we did wrong was try to play our standard game, against a very good side when our first choice players who have made the format work were missing.

The key thing to me about this game is how we react against Brentford.... we have to get back to winning quickly.

My main concern is Manu ..... if he was deemed not suitable for yesterday's game when we were 3 nil down then he will never play....

 

[Acker79]

Any more ratings?