Player ratings vs Millwall

[One Teddy Maybank]

What is the point of backing off thus always allowing the cross.

Because, if he commits and the winger hasn't tracked back, which was the case with Buckley and Lopez yesterday, the right side of the defence is completely exposed to a shot, as it would have been yesterday. None of the players were shifting over properly or tracking back. Stephens for his shortcomings tried hard, but when he did they switched inside and we looked frail centrally.

So rather than leaving the CB's exposed Bruno is maintaining the shape and probably doing right thing. They should defend as a unit.

 

[Seagull over Canaryland]

Another disjointed performance. Too many times when we defended far too deep (again) and allowed them to push onto us. Plus no Albion seemed able to put his foot on the ball and steady things, instead there were too many hoofed balls.

Lingard looked promising and had an eye for a fast opening which we did not exploit (he could have put us 2-0 up but for a sharp save by their keeper). Hopefully we will tune into his wavelength. It is good to have his mobility which in turn made us a tad less predictable going forward.

Watching Lingard made me wonder why we have never given March the same opportunity, I reckon he would offer similar options. Anyway it would be good to see them both on the pitch.

 

[SIMMO SAYS]

Another disjointed performance. Too many times when we defended far too deep (again) and allowed them to push onto us. Plus no Albion seemed able to put his foot on the ball and steady things, instead there were too many hoofed balls.

Lingard looked promising and had an eye for a fast opening which we did not exploit (he could have put us 2-0 up but for a sharp save by their keeper). Hopefully we will tune into his wavelength. It is good to have his mobility which in turn made us a tad less predictable going forward.

Watching Lingard made me wonder why we have never given March the same opportunity, I reckon he would offer similar options. Anyway it would be good to see them both on the pitch.

Looking back, I think Hollohead did a job on us( he has previous). He had Millwall pressing us from the off. This resulted in us hoofing it as we didn't have any pace on the pitch to get it down and into the corners.
We missed Lua Lua to come on in the second half and take it to em.
Buckers is half the player of two years ago imo---when is he going to get over his growth spurt that was blamed on his dodgy hamstrings?

 

[ThePolishJig]

PIG- 6- Didn't do much and distribution was awful
Ward-7- needs to attack and take it too line
GG- 7.5- solid
Upson- 7.5- solid
Bruno- 6- poor defensively, but alright going forward
Andrews- 7- Done alright wish he took it forward
Dale Stephens- 7- done alright wish he took it forward
Lopez- 8- good penalty but except from that done nothing
Orlandi- 5- done nothing poor
Lingard- 8- looked good when he had the ball, good dive
Ulloa- 7- abit quiet but should have scored early on with header

 

[The Oldman]

Simmo has it correct. Holloway knows how to play against us. Press us from the word go and do not give us time on the ball. Unfortunately for him Millwall are no CP and did not have the talent to overcome us particulary when the ref was playing for us. Never a penalty and Ulloa should have been sent off for trying to throttle one of them.

Good Day out though!

 

[ruthers]

PIG- 6- Distribution is his weak link. Plays silly passes to defenders and puts them under immediate pressure, ball comes back to him then he punts it upfield aimlessly anyway.
Ward-7- Worked hard
GG- 5 - Quite a few wayward passes, followed by his customary throwing hands in air blaming, i don't know who or what
Upson - 7 - Worked hard
Bruno - 7 - A little suspect being run at near the box but going forward i thought he was very busy
Andrews - 6.5 - Did ok
Dale Stephens- 5 - I'm far from convinced. For me he is too defensive in his play and the main reason we lack attacking intent when we have possession crossing the half way line. Constant sideways or backwards passes, many of which were poor in their execution.
Lopez - 6.5 - very nicely taken penalty. Can't really remember him stamping any authority on the game though.
Orlandi- 5.5 - really off the pace
Lingard- 7 - Struggled to get into the game but worked tirelessly. Oozes class and think he'll be key to our play-off push
Ulloa- 6.5 - Needs new studs!... and should have scored with that header.

Buckley - 5 Didn't really impress but one of the only players capable of beating their man and creating some excitement
March - 6 Didn't get much of the ball
JFC - 6 - Can't actually remember anything he did so a neutral 6

Oscar - 8 - Good positive substitutions at key times to try and take the pressure off.

Entertainment - 5 -Poor game but loved the 3 points which we barely deserved. We look so pedestrian coming out, as we have all season. We sit too deep. At one point we were attacking Millwall's penalty box and Greer was still walking around our own 18 yard box. Surprise, surprise the ball was back on our 18 yard box 20 seconds later.
I know we were away from home but i was under the impression we were going for a higher tempo like the 2nd half of the Hull replay??
We resemble a George Graham team of the '1-0 to the Arsenal' era rather than Barcelona but looking forward to scoring a hat full against Reading!

 

[Seagull over Canaryland]

Looking back, I think Hollohead did a job on us( he has previous). He had Millwall pressing us from the off. This resulted in us hoofing it as we didn't have any pace on the pitch to get it down and into the corners.
We missed Lua Lua to come on in the second half and take it to em.
Buckers is half the player of two years ago imo---when is he going to get over his growth spurt that was blamed on his dodgy hamstrings?

Fair comment about Holloway, he had his midfield ganging up on us all over the pitch and often seemed to have an extra man available. We never really had a chance to settle on the ball, let alone play many measured passes even when there were clear openings. I think it was a good tactical test for Oscar and at least he did recognise that JFC was needed off the bench to stop us being outgunned.

I also thought that while the Millwall pitch looked ok, there was too much tennis ball style bounce that hampered our first touch and allowed Millwall to win too many 50/50 balls. Plus yet again too many of our players had trouble staying on their feet. This all impacted on the quality of the game but also makes the 3 points seem even more precious.

I agree about Buckley - he is a great player but so frustrating that he seems reluctant to give more than 80% in a sprint, I guess he isn't confident enough to stretch those hamstrings.

 

[Machiavelli]

Obviously not, irrespective of your literary effort. I love the player but he does need to work on his first touch. He's much better than today. I can't and am not questioning his effort and work rate today.

I took a battering on NSC for suggesting that Ulloa had a poor game against Leeds, while juxtaposing his poor touch with the brilliance of the goal he got. You and I will just have to disagree about him yesterday. I thought his ball control was really getting back to his best. And we can agree about his effort and work rate. And, finally, perhaps we can disagree about my literary pretensions

 

[Machiavelli]

For those at today's game, did we play better today than we did v wigan last week ?

Would be interested to see a comparison of team ratings from today to last week ?

My guess is we played better last week and lost, we played not so good today and won ?

Amazing how a win changes everybodies mood !!

We weren't up to much today but, then again, we didn't have to be as Millwall were very poor. This was probably made worse by the fact that we actually scored first, and in the first half. Job done though: we just complain about away victories.
I thought we were fantastic against Wigan, and didn't deserve to lose, and probably deserved to win. It was one of our best performances this season, alongside Blackburn, Bolton for a while, and Reading in the Cup. What that game did show is that Wigan were extremely well organised and took their chances when they came. I think their chances of making the play-offs are probably higher than the other two relegated teams, who both could start imploding. Let's hope we can contribute to this potential implosion in our next two games.

 

[Brighton Breezy]

Millwall had let in 60 goals prior to this game - including the second most at home of any team in the division.

We had two shots on goal - one a fortunate penalty - and 40 per cent possession.

Very welcome win, but very poor performance.

Kuszczak - 6
Bruno - 7
Upson - 7
Greer - 6
Ward - 6
Andrews - 5
Stephens - 5
Orlandi - 6
Lopez - 5
Lingard - 6
Ulloa - 6
Buckley - 5
JFC - 6
March - 6

 

[The Large One]

Without the ball - pretty good.
With the ball - Preston Park.

 

[Bold Seagull]

Kuszczak - 7 (clean sheet, more decisive than Sat but distribution poor at times)
Bruno - 7.5 (couldn't fault his effort, tried to keep the ball and play)
Upson - 7 ('old school' solid)
Greer - 6 (solid, but just loves a punt up field)
Ward - 6.5 (again, clean sheet so can't complain)
Andrews - 5 (pedestrian, negative, slow)
Stephens - 5 (see Andrews)
Orlandi - 5.5 (is he going to join in or what?)
Lopez - 6 (kept the ball well, but faded)
Lingard - 7 (bright debut, tracked back as well)
Ulloa - 8 (MOTM for me. Worked his socks off. Despite no service he never let them settle or push too many forward)

Buckley - 5 (not sure what's happened to him, doesn't seem to want the ball)
JFC - 6.5 (helped when he came on)
March - 7 (got to be ahead of Buckley in the pecking order now)
[/QUOTE]

 

[Acker79]

Any more ratings?

 

[Acker79]

Averages

Starters - 10 Votes
Upson 7.25
Ulloa 7.15
Bruno 7.00
Lingard 6.75 (68mins)
Ward 6.70
Kuszczak 6.45
Greer 6.05
Orlandi 6.05 (81mins)
David Lopez 6.00 (60mins)
Andrews 5.80
Stephens 5.50


Subs - 9 Votes
Forster-Caskey 6.39 (27mins)
March 6.11 (14mins)
Buckley 5.67 (35mins)


Squad Average - 6.35

 

[SIMMO SAYS]

Averages

Starters - 10 Votes
Upson 7.25
Ulloa 7.15
Bruno 7.00
Lingard 6.75 (68mins)
Ward 6.70
Kuszczak 6.45
Greer 6.05
Orlandi 6.05 (81mins)
David Lopez 6.00 (60mins)
Andrews 5.80
Stephens 5.50


Subs - 9 Votes
Forster-Caskey 6.39 (27mins)
March 6.11 (14mins)
Buckley 5.67 (35mins)


Squad Average - 6.35

clapham_gull thought Ulloa was poor so I bow to his noledge