[Albion] Player Ratings - Sheffield Wednesday (H)

[goldstone]

My thoughts on today:
Bong has gone downhill fast. He really was awful.
Schelotto who I thought was making his way back to first team contention was surprisingly poor. What has happened?
Stephens probably had his worst game for us. Particularly worrying as he had been much improved this season.
Probably a bit soon to write off Balogun as he was being played out of position.
Bissouma who appeared to have so much potential and who was becoming a crowd favourite has been poor the last couple of games and did absolutely nothing positive today. Needs another chance but a big concern.
We appear to have a striker problem. Connolly has potential but has not been up to the task in his last couple of appearances. Maupay is working hard but has now gone five games without scoring.
Webster has not progressed after a great start.

The only player who did ok today in my opinion was Alzate, (and maybe Duffy) but there was no way he could do it all himself.

Warren (on Radio Sussex) I think called it a bad day at the office. Let's hope he's right and it's a one off. The performance was embarrassingly awful.

 

[London Irish]

NSC Gold

 

[blue-shifted]

Button - 6 - Not a bad goalie but he'd benefit from a move. GP will always want a sweeper keeper type in the league. I think we will totally revamp our options in the summer

Balogun - 4 - Seems to be happy to take the money
Bong - 2 - Fancies himself as an attacking winger. Just can't be the player he wants to be. A fine servant for the club, but we're nearing the end.
Duffy - 6 - Every bit as good with the ball at his feet as Webster, albeit miles behind Dunk. Should have done better from some corners, but don't ever remember seeing him lose a defensive header
Webster - 4 - Trading off a reputation which I don't think he's ever actually earned. Not a bad defender, but not a good enough footballer to take us forward. Other options needed

Stephens - 4 - Started the game well. Last hour pretty poor. We're viewing the beginning of the end of the Stephens era. His powers are inexorably on the wane
Alzate MOM- 6 - And here is the Stephens replacement. Fantastic ability in tight spaces. Doesn't have the range of passing yet and isn't savvy enough yet
Bissouma - 3 - An alarming loss of form in the last couple of games. Will he ever be the player we want him to be?

Schelotto - 4 - Entertaining viewing. GP misunderstands him by playing him so far up the pitch. Doesn't have the ability to play up there. He will go in the summer.
Gross - 5 - Tidy, but we need him to find a way through the massed ranks and today he didn't do it.

Maupay - 3 - Indecisive with his main chance for the second time in as many games

Connolly - 3 - Little space for him and little impact.
Jahanbaksh - 4 - More miss than hit
Bernardo - 3 - No real impact either

The way I see this, we just had some things we suspected confirmed.

We are very reliant on a small number of key players, Ryan, Dunk, Mooy, Trossard
GP needs to be able to clear out players which aren't going to be able to implement his system from the squad. I think around 10-15 senior players, several playing today, won't be named in next season's squad.
We haven't worked out a way to counter teams who have sussed we play with little width and have nobody who can get to the byline and just defend the penalty box in numbers.
If Bernardo gets injured in the next 2 months, we're in trouble. I hope we're recruiting on this basis

 

[ferring seagull]

Dreadful. One of worst Albion games seen

Button 6
Bong 4 Manager what are you doing playing him as a wing back
Webster 4 Cant believe we paid £20m . If nobody near him able to run with it. So what
Dunk 6 OK
Balagon 5 Average With Bong nowhere to be seen spent most of time as fullback
Shellotto 5 Just headless
Stephens 3 Terrible
Azate 5 Average should make himself available in attacking positions
Gross 4 As above
Bissouma 3 Terrible
Maupay Fair but no support and Connelly is never going to give him ball
Connelly 3 Appreciate if he gets a chance he will take it. But chances few and far at this level Apart from this does nothing. Headless chicken with ball and never looking to pass ball.There is more to playing as striker then looking for through balls.

Personally I thought Dunk was invisible today but Duffy was OK !

 

[One Teddy Maybank]

6 - average

Button - 6
Schelotto - 5 - at least he tried, but not good enough
Bong - 3 - oh Gaeten
Webster - 5 - really don’t rate him - sorry.
Duffy - 6
Balogun - 4
Alzate - 6 - headless chicken in first half
Stephens - 4 - very poor
Bissouma - 3 - embarrassing, minus extra point for his petulant actions when subbed
Gross - 6 - some good passing
Maupay - 6 - worked hard

Connolly - 5
Bernardo - 6
AJ - 6


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[BensGrandad]

Button 5 Poor with the ball at his feet
Webster 5 Thought he would show his worth against weaker opposition but I was wrong.
Duffy 7 MOM by some distance
Balogun 4 Looked totally disinterested and not knowing what he was supposed to be doing or where he was playing
Schellotto 5 Some good runs but would have helped if he had the ball. One minute right midfield next left wing where was he supposed to be playing.
Alzate 5 Some good touches but seemed to have no interest in the game.Ran around like a headless chicken.
Stephens 6 Very calm when needed and we would have been lost without that.
Bissouma 4 Chance to shine but let it pass by, poor game.
Bong 6 Made some good runs and defended well and as always will not let you down if called upon.
Gross 5 Offered very little but at least he seemed to be trying.
Maupay 6 A lot of running without looking dangerous or likely to score.
Subs
Connolly 5 Ran around but achieved nothing
Jahanbakhsh 5 Offered hope but wasnt likely to score
Bernardo 5 Got forward well and defended when needed but not at his best.

GP 5 Another bad performance from the team that he couldnt adjust. At least he can now concentrate on us getting some points on the board soon.,

 

[dazzer6666]

Button 6 - didn't do a lot and didn't do a lot wrong. One great first half save.

Bong 4 - not a wing back. Set up a couple of dangerous moves first half but that was it.
Duffy 6 - Solid, but not as good in the air today as he can be
Webster 5 - inconsistent game, i wonder if he's more of a midfielder than defender?
Balogun 5 - played out of his natural position in my opinion. Not great.
Schelotto 5 - Tried hard and ran his socks off but lacked quality

Alzate 7 - not so good first half, but stand-out player second half and tried to make things happen
Stephens 5 - had a reasonable first half, not so second.
Bissouma 3 - Awful game, misplaced pass after pass and picked wrong option constantly.

Maupay 5 - worked hard as usual but not much change out of a mean defence. Should have squared instead of shot first half.
Gross 5 - struggled to find his role in the team today i think.

Subs

Connolly 3 - not sure what has happened to him over the last few weeks, seems to be very low on confidence, no impact on the game at all.
Bernardo 5 - slightly better than Bong
Ali J 6 - tried another overhead and generally tried to get things going. Promising signs.

Excellent summary, saves me bothering (if the players can’t be arsed, neither can I)

 

[METALMICKY]

Duffy 7 MOM by some distance

Stephens 6 Very calm when needed and we would have been lost without that.

Bong 6 Made some good runs and defended well and as always will not let you down if called upon.

Spot on about Duffy but WTF about the other two? Without been a huge Dale fan I do recognise his defensive midfield qualities particularly against better opposition. But today he was utter gash and looked off the pace.

Was that a typo for Bong and should have read 'will always let you down now if called upon'. Has been steady if unremarkable in the past but is now a liability. Poor defensively and can't cross to save his life.

 

[Wardy's twin]

Duffy showed why we need to retain . Alzate covered a lot of the pitch and looked ok. Maupay showed drive but had no support. Ali J looked good but rest of the team ranged from not so good to pretty poor.

 

[Blue Valkyrie]

Here we go...

Button - shite, 1 good save - 5

Schelotto - not bad, some positives - 6

Webster - dodgy moments, but ok - 5

Duffy - not great, not terrible - 6

Balogun - 'facepalm' - 3

Bong - utter, utter shite - 0 ( zero )

Stephens - poor - 4

Bissouma - strewth, how bad was that? - 2

Groß - relatively ok - 6

Alzate - decent - 7

Maupay - ok - 6


Connolly - ok as well - 6

Alireza - the only shining light - 8

Bernardo - fairly decent- 7

 

[HalfaSeatOn]

Button - 6
Schelotto - 6
Bong - 4
Webster - 5
Duffy - 6
Balogun - 3
Alzate - 7
Stephens - 5
Bissouma - 4
Gross - 6
Maupay - 5

Connolly - 5
Bernardo - 6
AJ - 6

 

[Not Andy Naylor]

Bissouma baffles me completely. So good against Bournemouth in the Stephens role, so poor against Chelsea and today. Maybe he needs the responsibility of that deep role and can't find the discipline within himself to play anywhere else? So much talent going to waste.

As for the others on show today, I think we can stick a fork in Balogun and Bong - they're more or less done. Connolly needs a rest. I wonder if Webster should be moved to right back as cover for Montoya, because he worries me at centre back. Gross needs a more settled role, but the Potter vision doesn't seem to include such things. .

 

[Grombleton]

Button - 5.5 - Good save in the 1st half but distribution was awful.
Schelotto - 4 - Rarely in position and couldn't hold onto the ball when needed.
Bong - 2 - Just awful. Never looked in control either attacking or defending. His time is done.
Webster - 6 - Not awful compared to his previous performances.
Duffy - 7 - only person that looked commanding at both ends.
Balogun - 2 - WTF was that?
Alzate - 6 - composed but still slow at decision making
Stephens - 3 - seemed to slow everything down and his poor pass/cross right at the death summed it up.
Bissouma - 3 - his poorest game yet.
Gross - 6 - tried but had nothing to work with. Set pieces are alright.
Maupay - 6 - showed willing but was clearly frustrated

Connolly - 5 - lots of running but no end product.
Bernardo - 6 - a big upgrade on Bong
AJ - 6 - had vision and desire even if he couldn't make it work.


Sheff Weds: Well they can just **** off. Such a poor side which makes it worse that we lost to that shower of shite. Still, it was their cup final as they've nothing to play for and nothing going for them. Worst of all, they have to go back to Sheffield at the end of that.

 

[Pevenseagull]

Am I just imagining this .... did Bong pick up the ball and then beat one of the Wednesday players to take the ball back into our 18yrd box... and the lose it? Apart form that he was no worse than most.

 

[Guinness Boy]

As for the others on show today, I think we can stick a fork in Balogun and Bong - they're more or less done.
.

A shame about Balogun in my mind, which just shows how a goal against "them" can brighten up your opinion of a player. Especially as just before "that" cormer I turned to my mate and said "if we don't score from this we're ****ed". Cue bedlam. However, that's literally the only bright moment I can conjure up looking back on his Brighton career. A couple of comments on this thread about "out of postion". Didn't he play as a CB in a back 5/3 for Nigeria in the World Cup or am I making that up?

As for Bong, he's a good defender who's got the odd trick in his locker. However, his passing, crossing and decision making has always been awful. He needs a player "up the line" for him and we'll never have that under Potter. At times he got the ball from Button and looked utterly perplexed. Last game for us I reckon unless there's a horrific injury crisis and a failure to get a loan in to cover it.

 

[Stumpy Tim]

Not going to bother with ratings as they´re all a bit arbitrary, but I thought the 4 starters who can hold their heads up after that were Button, Duffy, Maupay and Alzate. I´m sure there wasn´t a lack of effort, but we were really poor. These things happen, and they haven´t happened often this season, so move on and come back better in the important league matches coming up

 

[Garry Nelson's Left Foot]

6 = Average

These are individual scores. In context of the team performance you can take a point off everyone.

Button 6 Didn't do anything wrong. Not as good with his feet as Ryan.
Bong 4 Tried hard but we all know he has no attacking prowess. Never has. He's a solid left back in a back four who needs a winger in front of him. it's a real shame that that was probably his last performance in a Brighton shirt. He's done well for us.
Webster 5 He's inconsistent isn't he? Not as bad as his performance against Sheff utd but not as good as his performance last time out.
Duffy 5 Won most of his headers. Drilled the ball off the pitch far too many times.
Balogun 5 I don't remember him doing anything particularly bad but then I don't remember anything he did at all.
Schellotto 5 Ran around a lot. not entirely sure where he was supposed to be playing, he popped up ineffectively all over the place.

Stephens 4.5 Was one of our better players until first half injury time and his heavy touch that gave away a chance to Fletcher. Second half was awful.
Bissouma 3 Jesus he was bad. Terrible passing, got knocked off the ball easily, positionally suspect and made the wrong choice nearly every time he was presented with one.
Gross 5 Put some decent balls in.
Alzate 6 Ran his socks off and never gave up.
Maupay 6 Put a shift in. Should have passed in the first half instead of shooting from a tight angle. Probably would have won if he did.

Connolly 5 We shouldn't be relying on 19 year olds to change games for us.
Ali J 6 Tried to get things going.
Bernardo 5 Slightly better than Bong.

Overall we were well below what should be expected of those players. It looked like none of them had ever met each other before, let alone played together. Really disappointing performance.

 

[One Love]

Sheff Weds: Well they can just **** off. Such a poor side which makes it worse that we lost to that shower of shite. Still, it was their cup final as they've nothing to play for and nothing going for them. Worst of all, they have to go back to Sheffield at the end of that.

Have you been to Sheffield?

Great city, there are a countless worse places to have to go back to.

 

[BLOCK F]

Have you been to Sheffield?

Great city, there are a countless worse places to have to go back to.

So right, One Love.
I have no idea where Grombleton lives or comes from, but so many people who know little or nothing about anywhere else in the country seem to have an ignorant pop about other places!
I have worked in Sheffield in the past and enjoyed it. Great to be able to escape to the Peak District , almost in a matter of minutes, as well!

 

[Nixonator]

Bissouma baffles me completely. So good against Bournemouth in the Stephens role, so poor against Chelsea and today. Maybe he needs the responsibility of that deep role and can't find the discipline within himself to play anywhere else? So much talent going to waste.

He's a gifted player who can beat a man and be very dangerous running at the opposition. I love the bloke, he is quality but my head says he isn't really cut out for the system we play and we struggle to find a position for him in most of our formations.

I don't understand playing him deeper to be honest. He doesn't have the discipline or build for it. His passing is ok, particularly if he has time and needs to find someone long. In tight spaces though, he can royally **** up even the simplest of passes. When he is being pressed by 1-2 players he seems to get caught in two minds whether to try and beat the man or make the pass which results in hair-raising moments where he either gets dispossessed or makes a poor pass. Occasionally he comes away from the situation having beaten two players, one with a nutmeg, and the crowd roar with excitment. Don't get me wrong, I love to see that, but I'd much rather see it further up the pitch instead of inside our own half.

Propper is much better in that role. He also tends to take risks beating the press but is far more composed in doing so and knows when to just make a simple pass and recycle possession. Stephens the opposite end of the spectrum, will never take risks.