Player Ratings v Walsall?

Anyone?

Every player 4.

Manager 1

If we win at Ipswich the manager rating can go up to 7.

Maenpaa - 6 - Maybe could have done something with the 1st as it was very close to him and it looked as if he got a hand to it
Rosenior - 5 - Looked off the pace
Dunk - 6 - Some moments where he didnt look comfortable but did at least try to push forward
Rea - 6 - Seemed to do ok
Calderon - 5 - Not a left back
Holla - 4 - Anonymous
Ince - 5 - Looked good at times with dispossessing, then would give the ball away
JFC - 5 - At least he can take a penalty, but all too often our breaks would start with him slowing the game down, when we were crying out to run at pace.
March - 5 - All too often flatters to deceive, although one great run and cut back near the end which someone should have gambled on
Murphy - 5 - Disappointing, this was a game he should have stamped his pace on
COG - 4 - I won't add to any abuse for him - he was simply poor on the night capped by an atrocious penalty

Strangely, had the COG penalty gone in, we probably would have held on to win comfortably, which our performance certainly didnt deserve. 4-5-1 doesnt work, with a) COG up front and b) Ince/Holla/JFC in midfield... but given Houghton wanted to change pretty much the whole side, he didnt have much choice but to use that formation (Colunga's vanishing act notwithstanding)

Maenpaa. - 7 not at fault with goals. One excellent save & a couple of routine ones. Dealt ok with crosses
Rosenior - 4 after a couple of impressive sub appearances in a wide midfield role he reverted to fullback and was truly awful
Calderon - 4 completely lost on his wrong side but did at least show energy and commitment
Rea. - 5 lightweight and lacking height. Neat passing but positionally questionable. Got no apparent help from Dunk
Dunk - 4 got his customary booking. Not "on his game" but perhaps unsurprising in the circumstances
Holla - 3 made little impact
Ince - 5 some trademark studied passing, some break up play and a needless booking
JFC - 6 ran with the ball & got forward but no-one to pass to when he did. Best of a bad bunch. Good run to win his pen and well taken. Shame he didn't have the character to insist on taking the second.
COG - 3 totally isolated but looked heavy and less than committed. Good turn to win his penalty. Awful attempt from the spot.
Murphy - 5 runs well with the ball. Good feet and good pace. Unfortunately looked as if he had never been introduced to his teammates or they to him.
March - 5 some good runs and one decent cutback that eluded everyone but generally seems unable to cross the ball or to shoot

My glass is always half full, I can't believe the doom and gloom I've read on this board since the game.

It's a squad game nowadays, there is no point in having 25 players in your squad if you're only ever going to play the same 11.
Hughton was right to make the changes, we need to see who is capable of stepping up to the first team and who isn't, and the Mickey Mouse Cup is the perfect stage to look at the fringe players.

As it turned out, nobody sparkled and I doubt if Hughton will be making many changes for Saturday.

Maenpaa: 6.5 Looked comfortable. Did nothing wrong, although I've docked him half a point because whilst the 1st goal went past him like a bullet, it was still close enough to him that he might have got a hand to it if he'd tried! I like him. If he was upgraded to the 1st team at any point I wouldn't lose any sleep.
Rosenior: 5 Started the game brightly and linked well with March down the right flank, but his final ball was usually disappointing. 2nd half he faded badly (as did most of the team). He won't displace Bruno on this performance.
Rea: 7 Looked very comfortable, I liked the look of him. Walsall's 'superstar' number 9 never had a kick all game. Unlikely to make the 1st team this year because too many in front of him, but one for the future, definitely.
Dunk: 6 Good to see him back. Mostly assured in possession, but clearly rusty and mistimed a few tackles, especially the one leading to the equaliser! Class act, we should sign him up .... oh. I'll be perfectly happy when he eventually gets back in the 1st team.
Calde: 5 Fairly anonymous all game, but no horrendous errors and playing out of position. Don't think he's 1st team material on this display.
March: 6 Solly is an enigma. Talent to spare, but never seems to use it effectively. Had some great touches, kept possession well, did a lot defensively to keep the Walsall tricky little number 19 quiet ... but after 95 minutes of effort no set ups, no shots of note, no offensive contribution. Clearly enough ability to be a 1st teamer, but needs to be a bigger threat.
Holla: 4 Completely and utterly anonymous. Nowhere near 1st team material.
Ince: 6 Dominated the midfield in terms of possession. He won nearly every challenge, he was available for nearly every pass, he generally ticked things over and was the fulcrum of all what happened in the middle of the park. So why not a bigger mark? Because he still continues to give the ball away like a schoolboy and still lets opponents run off him all the time, just like their 2nd goal. Until he learns to look after the ball better, I don't think he's ready for 1st choice selection.
JFC: 7.5 MOM. Hughton was correct in his after match comments, JFC was our best player on the night. He had almost as much possession as Ince, but looked after the ball better. He was supposed to be playing behind COG, which he did, but I lost count of how many times he also popped up defensively on the edge of our box. He put in a real shift, and was the only player on the night looking to feed the ball behind their defence. Unfortunately for JFC he had no willing runners on the night who were prepared to try and get behind Walsall, so it looked like he was regularly slowing the game down, but you can't blame JFC if his wingers/forward don't make themselves available for a pass. I doubt if JFC will start on Saturday, but he will have given Hughton food for thought.
Murphy: 6 Flatters to deceive. Made some good runs 1st half and looked like he could be a real danger .. but wasn't. Missed a simple header 1st half that could have sewn the game up. 2nd half he ran around a lot, but nothing that frightened the Walsall defenders. Early days yet, and I think he has potential, but he's not the threat that KLL is.
COG: 3 Everyone loves a tryer, and COG is a tryer ... but he isn't a footballer, not on the Walsall display. The penalty was shocking, he must never be allowed to take another, assuming he ever gets the chance to pull on a Brighton shirt again. Definitely, absolutely, 100% not good enough to be in our 1st eleven, and not even good enough to be in our 2nd eleven!

Subs:
Hemed: 5.5 Huge improvement on the man he replaced, COG, but a lot of huffing and puffing without ever really troubling the Walsall back four.
KLL & Baldock: Came on in the 88th minute, can't possibly judge them on 2 minutes + 5.

Away Support: 8 It was a filthy night prior to kick off, and for over 400 souls to make a 400 mile round trip on a Tuesday night in those conditions for a Mickey Mouse cup game is highly commendable, even if the atmosphere was a little flat.

This wasn't the best performance the team has ever produced, but neither was it the worst.
We totally dominated the first 45 minutes, and probably even the next 15 minutes too, and we were easily the better team.
Sadly, I feel the team got complacent.
We were 1-0 up against a team from a division below us who hadn't had a kick all night, and the team seemed to think we could just stroll to victory.
Unfortunately, the minute we relaxed Walsall sensed it and started to push forward in numbers and suddenly they had the initiative, and we just couldn't get it back.

I've seen people on other threads say that Walsall deserved it.
No they didn't.
It wasn't a case of Walsall winning it ... it was a case of us losing it. (I know that sounds stupid, but you get my meaning).
Not one single player from Walsall would even be good enough for our 2nd eleven.
We made 'superstar in the making' Tom Bradshaw look like a parks player.

Let's not chuck the baby out with the bath water.
We've got a half decent 1st eleven with some good back up players in the 2nd eleven, all we need to make a serious challenge is a decent striker who can score 20+ goals for us.

Average Ratings

Highest Rated:
Maenpaa 5.88 (96mins, 4 votes)

The Rest:
Forster-Caskey 5.63 (96mins, 4 votes)
Rea 5.50 (96mins, 4 votes)
Dunk 5.00 (96mins, 4 votes)
Ince 5.00 (96mins, 4 votes)
March 5.00 (96mins, 4 votes)
<Murphy 5.00 (88mins, 4 votes)
>Hemed 4.75 (22mins, 2 votes)
Calderon 4.50 (96mins, 4 votes)
Rosenior 4.50 (96mins, 4 votes)
<Holla 3.75 (88mins, 4 votes)
<O'Grady 3.50 (74mins, 4 votes)
>Baldock nil (8mins, 0 votes)
>Lualua nil (8mins, 0 votes)


Squad average: 4.83

Surprised Bruno didn't get a 4.5

Mäenpaä 7
Rosenior 5
Dunk 5
Rea 6
Calderon 4
Holla 4
Ince 6
Forster-Caskey 5
O'Grady 4
March 5
Murphy 6

Maenpaa 8: Solid. Not at fault for either goal.
Rosenior 7: Liked what I saw. Linked well with March.
Rea 5: Out of position too often. With ball at his feet he looked accomplished.
Dunk 6: Worked his balls off to hold the defence together. But two awful lunging tackles.
Calderon 4: Worked hard but never linked with Murphy.
March 7: Worked hard and hit the byline often.
Holla 3: Anonymous.
Ince 7: Brilliant, commanding first half, but slowed considerably in the second.
Murphy 7: Very bright, but not enough ball.
Forster Caskey 9: MOTM Covered the turf and was the engine. Some sublime passes and a superb penalty.
OGrady 2: No movement, poor ball control and no threat. Penalty was the final straw.
Subs: None on long enough to be rated.
Stockdale 5: Didn't play, but moved more in his seat than OGrady did on the pitch.

Maenpaa: 7 – Good from crosses, as said by others nothing he could do about the goals, needs more game time if he wants to get better with the ball going back to his feet. Kicking was OK as well.
Rosenior: 5 – Quite anonymous, for a player of his supposed quality to get beaten by their left midfielder on numerous occasions was worrying. He is a tidy footballer but this just wasn’t his best game.
Rea: 7 – Definitely one for the future, between him and Dunk you wouldn’t have known which one has been the recipient of a £5+ Million offer. Already would be good enough to get into Walsall’s team.
Dunk: 5 – Very average performance, and at fault for the first goal by getting disposed in a stupid area of the field.
Calde: 5 – I love the bloke, but he is not a left back and looked tired.
March: 6 – He obviously has heaps of talent, and made some good runs which showed initiative, just not quite there at the moment, which is fine, as he is young and always learning, did one or two decent pieces of work including one fine ball across the face of goal
Holla: 3 – I forgot he was playing until he gave the ball away for their second goal. Can’t see him having a long term future if he plays like that again.
Ince: 5 – Along with Holla was at fault for the second goal IMO by just jogging alongside their player, allowing him a free run into the box to sweep home. Did well to keep the ball and act as the staple within our midfield but offered little in terms of expansion
JFC: 7 – Played well and was decent out of a very average bunch. Kept his head down for too long on too many occasions and lost possession, granted this may have been on some occasions because he had little else on, but he shouldn’t be afraid to turn back and keep the ball. The small pitch meant he had little room for creativity but did make some creative passes. A good back up to have, but for me not challenging on the starting XI.
Murphy: 7 – For me he has the potential to be a very good asset, when surrounded by better players he will get his head up earlier and his runs / drives will result in a lot of positive play around the box. A totally different style of player than KLL.
COG: 4 – By God I want the bloke to succeed, but he would struggle to get into the many League One teams with that performance. He does hold the ball up very well, and on a couple of occasions used his chest excellently to bring the ball under control and utilise the midfield. Unfortunately he is paid to score goals, and I would probably score as many as him in a season.
Subs:
Hemed: Did very little with this time or service he had.
KLL: If he had come on at 1-1 I think we would have won the game
Baldock: Missed a very good chance to take us into extra time
Ref – Gave us two nailed on pens, but absolutely bottled sending their player off when he had just been booked for a softer foul. 6

Hughton – That team was good enough to win, and would have if COG had scored, I don’t blame him at all. After that absolute shower of shite that was last season all that matters is the League. We can play Chelski twice next season instead.

Fine! I'll update them...

Average Ratings

Highest Rated:
Maenpaa 6.50 (96mins, 7 votes)

The Rest:
Forster-Caskey 6.21 (96mins, 7 votes)
Rea 5.71 (96mins, 7 votes)
<Murphy 5.71 (88mins, 7 votes)
Ince 5.43 (96mins, 7 votes)
March 5.43 (96mins, 7 votes)
Dunk 5.14 (96mins, 7 votes)
Rosenior 5.00 (96mins, 7 votes)
>Hemed 4.75 (22mins, 2 votes)
Calderon 4.43 (96mins, 7 votes)
<Holla 3.57 (88mins, 7 votes)
<O'Grady 3.43 (74mins, 7 votes)
>Baldock Nil (8mins, 0 votes)
>Lualua Nil (8mins, 0 votes)


Squad average: 5.11