Player Ratings - Tranmere

[Withdean Wanderer]

Kuipers - 7 - didn't put a foot wrong
Whing - 6 - solid
Elphick - 7 - calm, composed
Butters - 7 - fantastic in the air again
Richards - 5 - quiet
Bowditch - 8 - a class above the rest of them
El-abd - 5 - not a forward pass in sight
Thomson - 5 - good defensively, but again incapable of doing anything in the opposition half
Cox - 4 - a good corner delivery, and..er...nothing else
Murray - 3 - now don't get me wrong, he looked good last week. But he had an absolute shocker tonight. Every touch went to the defender
Forster - 6 - one good run but a wasted finish. Lots of running, but no end product.

Hart - 4 - not sure why wilkins thought he was going to break the Tranmere defence
Mayo - why

 

[bright1064]

Kuipers - 6
Whing - 6
Elphick - 7
Butters - 6
Richards - 4 - The main culprit of our long ball football!
Bowditch - 7
El-abd - 6
Thomson - 6
Cox - 5
Murray - 4
Forster - 7

 

[clippedgull]

Kuipers - 6
Whing - 7
Elphick - 7
Butters - 6
Richards - 6
Bowditch - 7
El-abd - 7
Thomson - 6
Cox - 5
Murray - 5
Forster - 6

 

[Uncle Spielberg]

Kuipers 6
Whing 4
Elphick 5
Butters 5
Richards 2
Bowditch 8
El Abd 7
Thomson 5
Cox 5
Murray 2
Forster 7

 

[Scotty Mac]

kuipers - 7. nothing to do, commanded area superbly and decent, quick distribution
whing - 6. much improved after the holocaust of a game he had on saturday
butters - 6. solid performance, did well in the air as zola was a handful
elphick - 6. see above
richards - 6. some decent forward passes, but seems to love pumping it forward
bowditch - 7. lively when he got the ball and ran at people. decent addition
el abd - 6. solid enough game. worrying lack of creativity
thomson - 6. see above
cox - 5. some decent deliveries. not a lot else. would rather see robinson
murray - 5. a few good things outside the box, poor in it
forster - 7. class again. won headers, looked dangerous but ultimately frustrated

hart - 2. the point in that?
mayo - not on long enough

 

[1066familyman]

Kuipers 7
Whing 6
Elphick 6
Butters 7
Richards 5
Bowditch 7
El Abd 6
Thomson 6
Cox 6
Murray 5
Forster 7

 

[Robot Chicken]

My friend (a palace supporter) attended his first Albion match tonight and posted his thoughts to me...

Here is my Brighton analysis as a ground:

Atmosphere 1/10
Bovril, tea, burger and chips 7/10, good portions
Fans 2/10 - some funny comments
Comedy value 10/10 - Hilarious place to create 1-liners!

Git

 

[Yorkie]

Kuipers 7
Whing 6
Elphick 6
Butters 7
Richards 5
Bowditch 7
El Abd 5
Thomson 6
Cox 6
Murray 5
Forster 7

 

[Basil Fawlty]

Kuipers 7- solid, didn't have much to do.

Whing 6- Solid.

Butters 7- Strong, made some cruical interceptions.

Elphick 7- Solid, very composed on the ball.

Richards 6- needs to stop hoofing the ball, lost Myrie-Williams one to many times.

Cox 6- Service was alot better, didn't do enough running with the ball.

Thomson 6- Passing was neat, didn't get into many tackles.

El-Abd 6- Made some strong tackles, passing was alittle off.

Bowditch 8- Looked threatening, made Tranmere defence look shaky and nervous when he had the ball at his feet.

Murray 6- Needs to adapt to this league, wasn't very good in the air.

Forster 7- Made two decent runs one in the first half, another in the second. Didn't win much in the air, still needs decent service from the midfield to score more goals.

Subs:

OGH 5- Enough said.

Mayo 5- Enough said.

 

[SNOOBS]

Everyone 5s apart from 7s for FDM, Butters, Thomson, El-Abd, Forster.

What does annoy me is when I hear women going 'oh come on' when the ball goes backwards

Yeh coz you know what your talking about

 

[andybaha]

Kuipers - 6 - Did what he had to do efficiently enough

Whing - 6 - Battled away but didn't think he helped set Bowditch up enough
Elphick - 7 - Steady defensively but relied on hoofing the ball away too often
Butters - 7 - As per Elphick really
Richards - 6 - Not as composed as he was towards the end of his first spell at the club

Bowditch - 7 - Promising running
El-Abd - 6 - Difficult to critcise because he gave everything but he lacks creativity.
Thomson - 6 - Not sure how the sponsors made him MOM. Steady but again lacks creativity
Cox - 5 - Pretty innefective tonight

Forster - 7 - My MOM. Potentially the best player on the pitch. The service to him was poor causing him to come deep and get the ball for himself too often.
Murray - 5 - A snip at £300,000??

Hart - I'm a massive fan of OGH, but felt a bit embarassed for him tonight. He hasn't been a forward for years now and looked out of his depth.
Mayo - I wish that one had gone in at the end

 

[Spider]

Kuipers - 6 - Didn't do anything wrong but his distribution was slow to the point of enfuriating, especially towards the end of the match.

Richards - 7 - Solid defensively and looked dangerous going forward
Butters - 6 - Dealed with Tranmere threat for whole time on pitch
Elphick - 6 - Same as Butters
Whing - 6 - Solid defensively but offered little going forward

Cox - 6 - Good in the first half, faded into obscurity in the second half
Thomson - 7 - A decent player, pops up all over the pitch when it matters. i want to see much more from him going forward though as he has a decent touch on the ball
El-Abd - 6 - Didn't put a foot wrong
Bowditch - 6 - Decent first appearance, not hugely threatening but at least saw some time on the ball

Forster - 6 - Good at times but faded out of the match and didn't look as enthusiastic as usual
Murray - 5 - Won nothing in the air and threatened the goal far too infrequently.

Subs:
Hart - 5 - Did absolutely nothing, but wasn't given anything either
Mayo - not enough time to make an impact

 

[Brighton Breezy]

As much as it may shock people to see me write this...

Man of the Match = Guy Butters.

Apart from a few good touches from Bowditch the rest were poor (other than Elphick and perhaps Whing).

The central midfield was TERRIBLE and you could count the times one of either Thomson or El Abd got ahead of the ball on the fingers of ONE finger...

 

[crodonilson]

Sounds like an excellent performance at the back but a bit dissapointing going forward. Still plenty to build on, a point and a clean sheet against one of the divisions in form teams is not to be sniffed at and an encouraging start to our five consecutive home games.

Three wins out of the next four now will do very nicely.

 

[rusty redeyes]

Cox was absolute gash, totally lacking in confidence. Twice in the 1st half he cut in off the wing and within sight of goal decides to pass, shoot trying 'kin shooting boy. Richards has to lump it forward, as for the majority of the game the midfield were behind him and Cox was missing. Thought El Abd had a reasonable game, he is never going to be a playmaker, his role is to break up play and make challenges and you can't fault him for his efforts on that account last night.
Forster MOM by a mile in a game we should have won.

 

[Mendoza]

6 - Kuipers - good stops, wastes so much time with the ball, does my head in, especially when there is a chance to win the game

7 - Whing - put in some great last ditch challenges
7 - Butters - won all the headers, and positional play was brilliant to cover his lack of pace
6 - Elphick - played OK, gave away a penalty at the end, but ref didnt see it
6 - Richards - hoofs the ball too much, seemed to pick up a knee injury before half time, one great cross in the 1st half

6 - Cox - HOOORAAYY he used his left foot to kick the ball, took some dangerous corners, but created little on the pitch
7 - Thomson - neat and tidy, winning challenges and laying the ball off to the wings. Needs to get further forward
6 - Maybe his time in midifeld is up, put some dodgy under hit passes to team mates, and justr doesnt create anything
7 - Bowditch - really lively in the first half, looks great running at defenders, should have gone up front when Murray came off

6 - Murray - looked really tired and off the pace. Won lots of flick ons, but they never went to Forster. Foul for his goal too

7 - Forster - run his nuts of as usual. Seems to play really well without scoring, or play not so well but score. Great choice for captain

 

[NMH]

Kuipers - 8. Good kicking and clearances, communicated well with his defence (and the lino!)

Richards - 7.5. Decent show from him, cleared things up well and kept position well.
Butters - 7.5 Solid performance, and reliable. Wasn't as able to get forward as before, so kept his position sensibly.
Elphick - 7.5 Good partner to the other defenders, took responsibility well
Whing - 8. Took a couple of knocks but didn't let it shake him, got up and got back on with things.

Cox - 8. Brings the ball forward well, his pace and kicking MORE THAN compensates for his height. No better player for spot kicks. Currie? ..er... no thanks.
Thomson 8 - Never cavalier, always found in the right place at the right time.
El-Abd - 8 - Didn't put a foot wrong, commands responsibility over the ball. Brings a sense of calm to the game.
Bowditch - 8 For a first game back after so much time, settled in immediately and bonded well with the team.

Forster - 7.5 - got hounded a bit by their defenders and didn't get much change out of them. Worked hard and moved about a lot, all game.
Murray - 6.5 - pretty anonymous. Needs to give defenders more to think about, and take more attention off his team-mates. If he wants to be a luxury player he would need to be more naturally gifted
Subs:
Hart - 6.5 - showed a lot of intent coming on, a good sub at the time - perhaps could have got a little more time than that, but certainly did his part when required.
Mayo - 6 Took his position immediately, but not called upon to make any impression, so I couldn't give a higher rating.

All in all, a consistent performance that showed reliability from everyone there. I wish Dean Cox could have had a couple of digs at goal, one free-kick he took - although a good cross - ended with nothing because it was defended well, and he COULD have had a go at scoring. He has the foot for it - so encourage it please Wilkins, it lends a bit more variety to our attacks if he has a shot or two. All in all it would be a classic 'clash of heads' between two worthy sides in this division - except Tranmere looked like they might be a bit tougher on the road, than us (hence our positions). We still do miss having an enigmatic player who's able to hustle more out of oppositions, get past them with the ball, and impose themselves on a match.

 

[the wanderbus]

El-Abd - 8 - Didn't put a foot wrong, commands responsibility over the ball. Brings a sense of calm to the game.
.

AT LAST!!!

Somebody realises that El-Abd isnt in the side for his creativity, he's a spoiler who breaks up the oppositions game & in my opinion last nights m.o.m.

 

[Scoffers]

Kuipers 6
Whing 4
Elphick 5
Butters 5
Richards 2
Bowditch 8
El Abd 7
Thomson 5
Cox 5
Murray 2
Forster 7

Our very own Craig Revel Horwood

 

[NS Herald]

Kuipers - 7 - not a lot to do as generally well protected by the back 4

Richards - 7
Butters - 7.5 Made some good covering tackles with excellent positional awareness
Elphick - 7 Another good solid game and had a good understanding with Guyl
Whing - 7 In the wars but stood up well

Cox - 7.5 Nice flowing footy from Coxy linking the play well at times
Thomson 7 - As already mentioned, in the right place at the right time.
El-Abd - 8 - Had an excellent game working very very hard
Bowditch - 6.5 Good start but faded a bit apart from one promising run in the second half

Forster - 7.5 - Another impressive game with 2 pieces of exceptional play in the second half. The first one where he nearly scored after bursting through and the second where he beat the defender on the outside right wing and put a superb cross on the edge of the 6 yard box which no-one got to.
Murray - 5 - poor game
Subs:
Hart - 7 -
Mayo - 7