Player Ratings - Middlesbrough (H)

[JBizzle]

Kuszczak 7 Very little to do. Unlucky with the goal.
Bruno 7.5 Very good as usual
Greer 5 Poor
El Abd 6 Marginally better then Greer
Bridge 7 Still looks great
Bridcutt Pretty good
Crofts 5 Anonymous
Hammond 6 Improved slightly but still not at his best
David 6.5 Some lovely touches and link up with Bruno but not very quick
Barnes 7 Worked bloody hard again
CMS 6.5 Started well but got quite frustrated

Lua Lua and Buckley 7's Both improved us
Dobbie 5 Clearly got great feet but decision making is appalling.

Gus 5 We don't start with any wingers and we lose or have to come from behind. Every time. Ballsy subs though.

Oh and D'Urso? 3. At best. Repeatedly got everything wrong on both sides.

 

[GingerBeerMan]

Ref wasn't too bad. People need to take their blue tinted specs off

 

[One Love]

Kuszczak 8 Did everything right that he had a chance with
Bruno 7 Did ok with limited opportunities
Greer 4 At fault for goal, got booked for mouthing off. distribution terrible and bollocks everyone else for his mistakes.
El Abd 6
Bridge 7 See Bruno
Bridcutt 6
Crofts 5
Hammond 4 A free header in the box about 3 yds out!
David 7 Promisong but lacks pace
Barnes 8 His touch was great for once. Says something when he is MOM
CMS 4 Dear oh dear. The CMS of old.

Lua Lua and Buckley 7's
Dobbie 6 Nothing is coming off whatever he tries

Gus 5 We don't start with any wingers again! I said AGAIN. What is the matter with you?

We have the worst strike force in the Championship and it shows.

 

[Driver8]

I though Bruno was poor today and no idea how he won MOM. Gave the ball away numerous times including for the move they scored from.

 

[stss30]

Kuszczak-7- Couldn't do anything about the goal, dealt with everything else
Bruno-6- Didn't deserve MOTM in my opinion. Good going forward but gave the ball away 3/4 times in dangerous areas
Greer-5- Poor, I'd like to see Dunk in the starting 11 although I know Greer's the captain and won't get dropped
El-Abd-6.5- Did his job
Bridge-7.5- Good game, wish we'd gone down the left wing more
Bridcutt-8-MOTM, very good game
Crofts-6.5-Did OK
Hammond-6.5-Looked threatening but lacked end product
Barnes-6-Good touches but another anonymous game on the wing, where was Orlandi?
Lopez-7-Not pacey but a pretty decent delivery, looked dangerous in the 2nd half
CMS-7-Did his best but had 1/2 decent chances which he should have done better with

Subs:
Dobbie-4- Very poor, wasteful and still looked slow and lazy even off the bench
Buckley-5-Overran it too much
LuaLua-6- Put one or two decent balls in but still a bit wasteful

The style of play seems to have changed from passing at a higher tempo with width to passing much slower with little width. Desperately need Vicente back to provide a creative spark as lots of wrong decisions were made today.

 

[GingerBeerMan]

Gus 5 We don't start with any wingers again! I said AGAIN. What is the matter with you?

Gus 5 We don't start with any wingers and we lose or have to come from behind.

David Lopez is a winger

 

[stss30]

Ref wasn't too bad. People need to take their blue tinted specs off

Yes he was. He broke up the play so much by giving very soft fouls which disrupted our rhythm. I also thought we had a big shout for a penalty when their centre back was almost on CMS's back

 

[JBizzle]

David Lopez is a winger

Ok. Why didn't Gus play a winger with PACE?

 

[One Love]

David Lopez is a winger

Did you watch the game today?

If you did, is he a winger in your opinion?

To me, he may stand out there but only to give us some width. He's not a natural winger.

 

[Rugrat]

Did you watch the game today?

If you did, is he a winger in your opinion?

To me, he may stand out there but only to give us some width. He's not a natural winger.

Totally agree and he just kept lobbing balls into the box indiscriminately when we need someone to pick the ball up and run at them

 

[GingerBeerMan]

Yes he was. He broke up the play so much by giving very soft fouls which disrupted our rhythm. I also thought we had a big shout for a penalty when their centre back was almost on CMS's back

I'll let you off because it's easy to get caught up following the crowd. All the penalty claims were soft, and we'd be pissed if they were given against us.

Ok. Why didn't Gus play a winger with PACE?

PACE isn't everything.

Did you watch the game today?

If you did, is he a winger in your opinion?

To me, he may stand out there but only to give us some width. He's not a natural winger.

He's a winger because of his crossing ability, although the problem with that we can't win/score a header so his crossing ability is nulled. I agree he could easily play CAM in the Championship (Like Vicente, moving from winger to CAM), however I was pointing our his position has been the wing for his whole career, so discounting him as a winger is silly.

 

[JBizzle]

PACE isn't everything.

I agree but it was something we badly missed out wide today.

 

[One Love]

PACE isn't everything.

Completely disagree. For us its crucial.

The way other teams are setting up against us we are nit going to break them down any other way.

 

[GingerBeerMan]

Completely disagree. For us its crucial.

The way other teams are setting up against us we are nit going to break them down any other way.

I like a bit of pace as much as the next man, but if we're playing a team with 10 men in their own third for most of the match, what good is pace. Surely pace is better on the counter or with a bit more space behind the back.

 

[fleet]

Hammond was a game of two halves. Pants in the first and not nad in second. Dobbie has shots from 30 plus yards and passes from 20 or less - needs to get his brain engaged. Barnes was excellent.

 

[One Love]

I like a bit of pace as much as the next man, but if we're playing a team with 10 men in their own third for most of the match, what good is pace. Surely pace is better on the counter or with a bit more space behind the back.

So how do you think we can break these teams down at home then?

 

[The Brighton Buzz]

Kuszczak-7- Couldn't do anything about the goal, dealt with everything else
Bruno-6- Didn't deserve MOTM in my opinion. Good going forward but gave the ball away 3/4 times in dangerous areas
Greer-5- Poor, I'd like to see Dunk in the starting 11 although I know Greer's the captain and won't get dropped
El-Abd-6.5- Did his job
Bridge-7.5- Good game, wish we'd gone down the left wing more
Bridcutt-8-MOTM, very good game
Crofts-6.5-Did OK
Hammond-6.5-Looked threatening but lacked end product
Barnes-6-Good touches but another anonymous game on the wing, where was Orlandi?
Lopez-7-Not pacey but a pretty decent delivery, looked dangerous in the 2nd half
CMS-7-Did his best but had 1/2 decent chances which he should have done better with

Subs:
Dobbie-4- Very poor, wasteful and still looked slow and lazy even off the bench
Buckley-5-Overran it too much
LuaLua-6- Put one or two decent balls in but still a bit wasteful

The style of play seems to have changed from passing at a higher tempo with width to passing much slower with little width. Desperately need Vicente back to provide a creative spark as lots of wrong decisions were made today.

Agree with most of this. Thought Hammond was poor again, but why did Gus play three holding midfielders. Most people think that Crofts and Hammond should'nt play in the same team and it showed today. In the first half Bailey had 25yards all around him and we spent most of the first half with plenty of the ball but mostly in our half. Boro chased the ball down at every opportunity and put us under pressure. We did'nt do the same to them. Why does Gus leave it until the 70th minute to attack the opposition. It has been the same in the last three home games Kuszczak has had hardly anthing to do and yet we have got 1 point from 9. Today was the first time the subs looked as if they would'nt make a difference, but it is never easy coming on with 20 minutes to go. Everyone around me was calling for a change at half time.

 

[Titanic]

Kuszczak7
Bruno 7
Greer 5
El-Abd 6
Bridge 6
Bridcutt 7
Crofts 5
Hammond 4
Barnes 5
Lopez 6
CMS 5

 

[stss30]

I'll let you off because it's easy to get caught up following the crowd. All the penalty claims were soft, and we'd be pissed if they were given against us.

I'll let you off because it's easy to be be negative after a loss. I wouldn't be pissed off if I saw El-Abd virtually jumping on their strikers back and a penalty being given.

 

[goldstone]

We are crying out for someone to get on the end of our corners. We had plenty of them today, but nothing very threatening resulted. As for the comments about starting with no wingers, I thought exactly that, but according to Gus he didn't start Buckley because he was not 100% fit. And probably didn't want to start KLL after his last less-than-auspicious performance.

Kusczack 8. Dealt well with the few shots coming his way. One very good save towards the end.
Bruno 6. Worst game in an Albion shirt yet the sponsors gave him MOM. Too much beer?? His poor pass led to the goal and gave the ball away on a couple of other occasions.
Greer 6. OK. Some excellent passes early in the first half, but his distribution fell to pieces later. Slows the game down too much when in possession and needs to move the ball upfield more often and more quickly.
El Abd 7. Some good interceptions. Generally solid. Like Greer he needs a greater sense of urgency when in possession.
Bridge 8. MOM for me. Used the ball well when he had it. We needed to use him more in the first half. I believe both our CBs are right footed which means the ball does not get out to Bridge often enough.
Bridcutt 8. Generally a good game. Decent distribution. Shortest guy on the pitch playing CB at the end?? Did OK actually.
Hammond 6. Much improved over his last game. Should have scored.
Crofts 6. Also should have scored. Didn't shine, but OK.
Luiz 6. Some good stuff, but not quick enough for a wing role at home.
Barnes 6. Another who should have scored. A frustrating performance.
CMS 6. Had a chance or two, but failed to score. A lot of running, but not much end product. Frustrating.

Subs:
Buckley 6. Did not make the most of his opportunities today.
Dobbie 5. Frustrating performances from him. I somehow think he will come good, but yet to show his full potential. On one occasion should have had a shot instead of passing.
KLL 6. Not on long enough to make a real impact, but looked a bit beter than his last performance.

Manager 5. His post-match comments made little sense. He has a long way to go to prove that he is a quality manager at this level.


Overall a frustrating game for the fans .... again! We need a proven goal-scorer.