DarrenFreemansPerm
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I only wish to rate Painter, ive been very unimpressed with him recently but tonight was like the old Painter, attacking and solid in defence . Welcome back Marcos. 7.
Totally agree. Dicker gets hammered when he loses the ball but he makes things happen. As good as Bridcutt can be if the whole midfield played like him we would literally get nowhere. Dicker seems to get criticised for being creative and actually thought he played well tonight. He's a player who takes risks and is therefore inconsistent but I wonder where any sort of spark will come from now he's out - only from the wing now I would suggest.
Exactly this, Dicker plays passes that are risky as he attempts to create chances with his passes however this wasn't first time Bridcutt has had a mare however it seems his flaws are less noticeable by the majority of our fan's as Dicker's is
You get that with lots of players. On the whole, Painter, Barnes, Ankergren, Brezovan, Dicker, Sparrow, Harley seem to be players whose faults are noticed more than their positive contributions, and conversely, Murray, CMS, Bridcutt, seem to be the players whose faults are overlooked and their positive contributions focused on. Obviously there are some exceptions on both sides, but generally it seems to split that way.
Could it be because what those players you mentioned contribute is more positive than negative? It would be foolish and short-sighted to moan about CMS' flaws considering the shift he puts in and how hard he works for the team. He buys a lot of credit and respect from fans for that, and Bridcutt has been an absolute gem since we signed him. He too has earnt the right to get cut some slack. And finally, Glenn Murray. His value to the team is only really and truly being appreciated now he has gone.
Sometimes, perhaps. But more often it seems to me it is more about preconceived ideas of who is a good player. The bad players being marked more stingily, and the well liked players being marked more generously. Yes, CMS puts in a shift, but in years past people have been criticised for running around a lot and not producing much. I'm not saying barnes has been a superstar, but I don't believe he has put in a performance that deserves as low as 2 or 3 that he gets quite frequently lately. Even as bad as we were v Palace, I don't think any of our players have put in a performance worthy of a 3.
I don't feel like I can give marks on individual basis tonight, but if my section of the crowd is anything to go by, you should probably all add 2 or 3 points on to barnes's score, because you're probably marking him down for the wrong things.
Every time Dicker or Sparrow misplaced a pass, lingered on the ball or failed to win a tackle there were cries of "ffs, Barnes, you're shit!" (or similar) I think at one point someone criticised him for his poor corner. He also stopped their full back advancing up the pitch, forcing him to turn back and play it back into is own half to which someone replied "Come on, Barnes, you jut let him play it!"
I thought the goal aside, we looked quite solid defensively.
We seemed to dominate the game, but after they got the goal, we didn't seem able to break them down. We seemed stuck in midfield. I don't know if it was lack of movement ahead of them, or just the sheer number of west ham players defending deep smothering the space, but it was frustrating on the times we broke and had a chance to get behind them, we would stop, and go back, it seemed like there were three or four occasions where the ball dropped to one of our players in the box and they would turn away from goal and play it back to midfield.
There were a lot of sloppy passes from us, maybe that was as much to do with the weather, I don't know.
West ham defended solidly, if unattractively, with the odd threatening break, while they were effective west ham didn't, for me, deserve the three points.
The ref was inconsistent, having booked reyes for a late challenge then failing to do it for three or four hammers late challenges, the booking another one of ours for something that they got away with, but it seemed in the second half, there were plenty of decisions they could feel hard done by for (though again, there seems to be an imbalance in the number of yellows cards we get in relation to the number of fouls we commit, compared to our opponents). 12 fouls for us, 4 yellows, 11 fouls for them, one yellow (not as bad as leeds where we both got 5 yellow, us committing 8 fouls, them committing 18).
Harper 6 - Very confident in coming for the ball; slip up for the goal. Positioning always seemed his weak point when he played for Newcastle.
Reyes 8 - Superb - great touch and never looked in trouble. Would rather see him in centre midfield though.
Painter 6 - Far and away his best game for a while, though no winger up against him. Fine against 4-4-2 sides or 4-5-1 where the fifth man is a deep forward like Nolan, but done for pace every time by a winger.
Greer 7 - Back to his best tonight and not nearly as troubled by Carew as he was at Stoke; I hardly remember Carew winning a single header. Also more comfortable on the ball than lately.
Dunk 6 - Did what he had to, but I think the speculation has got to him. After his superb performance at Cardiff, I think getting done by Kevin Phillips against Blackpool can't have helped, nor his mares against Leeds and Palace. Gets booked far too often as well.
Dicker 5 - Not at the game tonight, and I was surprised he was recalled. He, rather than Sparrow, should have been brought off for Buckley. Horrible injury though, and I do wish him a speedy recovery. Hope it's not a cruciate.
Sparrow 5 - Only marginally better than Dicker, and nowhere near his performances against Hull and Millwall. Did get stuck in, but I don't know what his ideal role can be. Not a box-to-box player, and we're only occasionally going to play a one behind the centre forward system. I'd like to know where he played at Scunthorpe, as he looks nowhere near Championship grade against the likes of Diop, Nolan, Bowyer, etc. Ex-Premiership players I know, but he played a whole season in the Championship where Scunthorpe survived reasonably comfortably.
Bridcutt 4 - The less said the better. After several games of carrying the midfield, let's hope this was his bad game for the season.
Noone 6 - The main outlet for most attacks, but his crossing seems to have let him down lately. At Millwall he kept cutting inside and hitting long balls rather than going outside the full back - tonight he was failing to beat the first man.
Barnes 5 - Poor again, but once more, did he know where he was supposed to be playing? Not a target man, but he can jump and get on the end of crosses, but if not played up front, won't be able to.
Mackail-Smith 5 - Not at his best, but a clear reason why we need a target man; a) to give him something to feed off and b) to allow him to start on the bench sometimes. No rest during the International break, and probably needing a rest from time to time.
Subs:
Hoskins 5 - Not much impact, but again, I've probably bored everybody, but why sign a forward and play him as a midfielder/winger?
Buckley 5 - Well marked by West Ham, but again reliant on service when playing on the wing, and none provided tonight. Also probably playing a bit within himself after the hamstring injuries.
Harley - Not on long enough to give a score.