Blackpool player ratings

[El Presidente]

PIG 6: Only one save to make but he made it well. Took most crosses well with one exception which was cleared, bizarrely, by Buckley.
Ward 6: Looked solid until felled by flying elbow from Blackpool player, which I thought warranted a red card but ref didn't treat as a foul. Clearly wobbly after that.
Calde 7: After a few horror shows recently his best game of the season, wasn't skinned once and the goal was a bonus.
Upson 8: immaculate defensive performance, won everything in the air and blocked well on the ground.
El Abd 5: Gave his all as always but a liability waiting to happen. Gave away two free kicks just outside the box which could have been very damaging.
Ince 6: Very solid, lacks a bit of ball control when in possession, but allowed Crofts and Bridders to get forwards.
Bridcutt 6: Not a vintage performance by his standards, but still had some excellent touches interspersed with a few too many misplaced passes.
Crofts 7: Looking the complete midfield player, all over the park.
Buckley 6: Frustrating and exciting in equal measure. Ability to beat defenders at will yet disappeared at times.
Ulloa 7: Hit the woodwork, led the line, looked a class above at times but tired in second half.
Barnes 6: Ran his heart out, own balls in both boxes, couple of half chances but lacked a cutting threat.

Subs:
Chicksen 7: Looked an excellent prospect, never in danger of being beaten whilst defending and always looking to get forward when we attacked.
Kaz 6: Very direct, more of an attacking threat than Buckley, lost the ball on occasion unnecessarily.
Lopez 6: Took the pressure off the defence well when Blackpool attacking in numbers towards end of match.

Overall we deserved to win as created more chances, looked more comfortable in possession and composed at the back. Not a memorable match due to atrocious pitch more suited to Whack-A-Mole than football, but we did enough and rarely looked in trouble after taking the lead. Disappointed with Tom Ince, very peripheral.

 

[severnside gull]

 

[Lord Bracknell]

Didn't the radio commentators agree that the Albion men of the match were Calderon and Ince?

 

[severnside gull]

Interesting comment about Tom Ince. Many Blackpool fans seem to think that he is set to move on and thT is reflected in his performances.
Reminiscent of some Albion fans' view of Bridcutt.

Shame for Buckley with fans saying he owed us a food game....delivered today and now likely to be out for 6 to 8 weeks if the injury is as bad as OG seemed to think.

For now at least we seem to have found some potentially crucial pairings....Upson & elAbd/Greer, Ince & Bridcutt, Ulloa & Barnes.... great if we could maintain them and build round them.

Encouraging to see Chicksen step in so effectively and Calde benefitting from game time. Just lacking that creative spark - someone who sees and can play the killer ball at pace in the final third (IMO).

 

[Cambs Seagull]

PIG - 7 - not a lot to do, but did it well. worried when he took a nasty fall in the first half
Ward - 6 - solid, but took a knock. couldn't understand why subbed 1 min from HT.
Upson - 8 - rock at the back
el abd - 5 - in contrast to Matty, bit of hoof ball. couple of rash challenges just outside the box
Calde - 7 - wasnt threatened and looked good going forward. Their defense opened up for his goal, but he took it well
Ince - 7 - the best ince in the stadium. Raw talent that can only get better
Crofts - 6 - I thought he was anonymous, but may be a sign of a good midfielder
Bridders - 6 - not sure being pushed forward plays to his strength - he's not going to find the killer pass
Buckley - 8 - my MoM, always looked a danger going forward with come good balls into the box
Barnes - 7 - seemed to relish linking up with Leo
Ulloa - 7 - sublime layoff in the 1st half. Held it up well and excellent strike that hit the post

Chickson - 7 - fitted in well - looks a good prospect
Kaz -6 - hot and cold - lacked the final ball or finish, but a good sub option in the circumstances
Spanish Dave - 6 - ditto Kaz

Blackpool - 4 - never really a threat and the locals are turning on Ince - both of them

 

[Saint Lennard]

Rohan Ince clearly kept an eye out for Tom and proved a point today. Great at breaking up play and charging forward. I am still not convince about his first touch. If he can add a few goals to his game he will be worth as much as his cousin.
Was surprised by Chicksen. He has come on leaps and bounds. Thought Upson was immense again. But best player was Calde irrelevant of the goal.

 

[albionalex]

Just lacking that creative spark - someone who sees and can play the killer ball at pace in the final third (IMO).

Kemy?

 

[Finchley Seagull]

Kemy?

Or Orlandi if we can get him fit.

 

[Goldstone1976]

PIG 6: Never looked like getting beaten, except for 5-10 minutes after taking a nasty knock (seemed to have hurt his left collarbone), though their shots on goal must have been low! Distribution was somewhat better than recently, though he rolled out more. Mid to long range kicking was as per.
Ward 6: Played perfectly well enough and battled on bravely after a nasty bang on the head. Went off straight after a big header which presumably re-opened his head wound.
Calde 8: Very solid and seemed a little faster and more direct. With their defenders following Barnes and Leo (who ran away to leave room for Calde), expecting a pass as he drove into the box, clearly decided WTF and shot. Nice goal. MoM.
Upson 7: Another extremely solid performance. Perhaps the player of the first half of the season for me.
El Abd 6: Thought he looked much less of a liability than his recent games. Did give away a couple of free kicks, but, crucially, outside rather than inside the box.
Ince 7: Played very well. Box to box again. Better heading than recently. First touch sometimes off, but very strong with great awareness. A goal could be the making of him - thought he had two opportunities to shoot, which he declined. Come on, Rohan, take a shot. One of them will go in, you know.
Bridcutt 5: Thought he was generally poor today. Not remotely playing yet at the same level as the last 2 seasons. 70% (?) of his passes were wayward and there was a comical moment where he was unpressured and jumped to head the ball, only to see it sail over his head, due to mistiming his jump. Encouraged Chicksen when he came on and looked out for him, which was good to see.
Crofts 6: Neither notable for mistakes or for anything truly good. Must have put in a decent-enough performance.
Buckley 6: Two or three skinnings of their defender, resulting in one (only?) decent cross. Nice shot that hit the woodwork. A bit of a curate's egg today.
Ulloa 7: Worked very hard, held up well. Drifted off to the right a bit too often for my liking. His shot (with his left peg) from the right side of the box to hit the left post was wondrous. Clearly tired as the game went on and when he went off did I detect a slight limp on his left leg?
Barnes 6: Gave 100% as always. Made nice runs to draw defenders away (notably for Calde's goal). Strong in defence and in midfield. Kept popping up all over the place (including LB while Ward's head was being bandaged) - is this necessarily a good thing? Never looked like scoring.

Subs:
Chicksen 7: Did absolutely nothing wrong. That's not intended to damn him with faint praise. For a youngster coming on in somewhat unexpected circumstances, he could be forgiven for being nervous. He didn't show it. Twice he was down in our left corner with two attackers bearing down on him, twice he got rid of the ball - once up the line, and the second time a rather nice pass to Liam. Pushed forward when available, including quite a nice dribbling drive towards the corner of their box. Looks a good buy.
Kaz 5: Less effective than usual. Definitely wanted to drive with the ball, but did little that really impressed me, given that we all know what he can do.
Lopez 6: Fine. No opportunity to really shine.

We definitely deserved to win. 1 goal and two woodwork hits. They put us under sustained pressure in the last 30 minutes, which we never really looked like shrugging off; though they never really looked like scoring. We defended much too deep for much of the time after we scored (probably 10-15 yards deeper than before we scored). A very solid and welcome 3 points - well done, lads!

 

[severnside gull]

Kemy?

Or Orlandi if we can get him fit.

Either could do a great job, Orlandi especially so, if they could retain match fitness for a protracted period but therein lies the rub ........

 

[Finchley Seagull]

Either could do a great job, Orlandi especially so, if they could retain match fitness for a protracted period but therein lies the rub ........

It's exciting to think that we're level on points with 6th despite the number of players we've had out. We've hardly seen Orlandi all year, Bridcutt, Ulloa and LuaLua are just getting back to fitness, Agustien looks like he could have a good second half of the season. If we can keep all these players fit and hopefully get CMS and Buckley back, it could be a very exciting season.

 

[Dick Knights Mumm]

Good summaries from El Pres and Goldstone. A proper battling display rather than a thing of beauty, and a lot more positives than negatives.

 

[BHseagull]

PIG 6: Only one save to make but he made it well. Took most crosses well with one exception which was cleared, bizarrely, by Buckley.
Ward 6: Looked solid until felled by flying elbow from Blackpool player, which I thought warranted a red card but ref didn't treat as a foul. Clearly wobbly after that.
Calde 7: After a few horror shows recently his best game of the season, wasn't skinned once and the goal was a bonus.
Upson 8: immaculate defensive performance, won everything in the air and blocked well on the ground.
El Abd 5: Gave his all as always but a liability waiting to happen. Gave away two free kicks just outside the box which could have been very damaging.
Ince 6: Very solid, lacks a bit of ball control when in possession, but allowed Crofts and Bridders to get forwards.
Bridcutt 6: Not a vintage performance by his standards, but still had some excellent touches interspersed with a few too many misplaced passes.
Crofts 7: Looking the complete midfield player, all over the park.
Buckley 6: Frustrating and exciting in equal measure. Ability to beat defenders at will yet disappeared at times.
Ulloa 7: Hit the woodwork, led the line, looked a class above at times but tired in second half.
Barnes 6: Ran his heart out, own balls in both boxes, couple of half chances but lacked a cutting threat.

Subs:
Chicksen 7: Looked an excellent prospect, never in danger of being beaten whilst defending and always looking to get forward when we attacked.
Kaz 6: Very direct, more of an attacking threat than Buckley, lost the ball on occasion unnecessarily.
Lopez 6: Took the pressure off the defence well when Blackpool attacking in numbers towards end of match.

Overall we deserved to win as created more chances, looked more comfortable in possession and composed at the back. Not a memorable match due to atrocious pitch more suited to Whack-A-Mole than football, but we did enough and rarely looked in trouble after taking the lead. Disappointed with Tom Ince, very peripheral.

Only listened on radio, but from that I gathered our stand out performers were Buckley, Calderon and Ince. In fact, they couldn't speak highly enough of Ince.

 

[nwgull]

Dobbie - 2: still slow, still lazy, still shit.

 

[portslade seagull]

Applying Barnes rating criteria:
Ulloa: 3 He is paid to score goals, he got none. Missed the target with a freekick FFS. Hit the post. Missed a header and did not even last the full 90.

Agree with you, if that was Barnes the markdowns would have been much greater

 

[nwgull]

Ince 7: Played very well. Box to box again. Better heading than recently. First touch sometimes off, but very strong with great awareness. A goal could be the making of him - thought he had two opportunities to shoot, which he declined. Come on, Rohan, take a shot. One of them will go in, you know.

He's not had a shot since that one against Bournemouth where it rebounded off a defender and launched a quick counter attack, which meant he had to jog back to the half way line to win back the ball (as well as a free kick for getting fouled in the process).

 

[SeagullSongs]

Kuszczak - 7.5. Only had to make one save and save it well he did. Distribution good too.

Calderon - 8.5. MARAUDING constantly and linked up well with Buckley and Ulloa. Nice goal too.
El-Abd - 6.5. Looked a bit of a liability at times, could've easily given away a penalty IIRC, but otherwise dominant aerially.
Upson - 8.5. Made it look easy. Their long balls were no match for our Matty.
Ward - 8. Resolute in defence and unfortunately had to come off for the head injury. He was excellent up until then.

Bridcutt - 5.5. Surprisingly poor. Gave the ball away several times, mistimed jumps (something he never usually does even if it's windy), slow on the ball.
Ince - 8.5. MOTM. Won absolutely everything in the air and dominated the midfield.
Crofts - 7. Not up to his performances of late, but a good and strong game. Injected some much-needed pace at times breaking forwards.

Buckley - 8. Arguably his best performance of the season. Looked lively and it's just his luck that he picked up an injury.
Ulloa - 8. Ran himself ragged in the first half, could've easily scored at least one.
Barnes - 8. Hold-up play excellent once again.

----------

Chicksen - 7.5. Very assured debut. He looks bloody quick too.
Lualua - 7.5. Won some free-kicks and could've easily scored. I like Oscar's tactic of bringing him on to make the opposition hold back a bit instead of bringing on a defender to weather the storm.
Lopez - n/a. Didn't have enough time to make much of an impact.

 

[GingerBeerMan]

Applying Barnes rating criteria:
Ulloa: 3 He is paid to score goals, he got none. Missed the target with a freekick FFS. Hit the post. Missed a header and did not even last the full 90.

Veeeery tedious. Haven't seen widespread criticism of Barnes in ages, can we drop this 'people hate Barnes even though he's Messi' crap now?

 

[Acker79]

Veeeery tedious. Haven't seen widespread criticism of Barnes in ages, can we drop this 'people hate Barnes even though he's Messi' crap now?

Hasn't been widespread, but it's still around.

 

[Acker79]

Averages

Starters (4 Votes)
Upson 7.88
Calderon 7.63
Ulloa 7.25 (68mins)
Ince 7.13
Buckley 7.00 (82mins)
Barnes 6.75
Kuszczak 6.63
Crofts 6.50
Ward 6.50 (44mins)
Bridcutt 5.63
El-Abd 5.63


Subs (4 votes)
Chicksen 7.13 (52mins)
Lualua 6.13 (28mins)
David Lopez 6.00 (14mins - 3 votes)

Squad average - 6.70