Player Ratings vs Birmingham

[Thunder Bolt]

Shocking?
Blimey, that's harsh.
I only saw it live, I haven't had the benefit of watching the full sky coverage, but based on what I saw I can't agree with shocking.
There is no doubt every single player has had better games, but none of them were shocking.

Stockdale 7 No faults. Kicking was pretty decent, made a good save 2nd half and no chance with the goal and let's be honest didn't have a great deal to do.

Bruno 5 I'm a big fan, but didn't have one of his better games.
Bong 6 A bit sloppy with some of his passing on occasions, but offered more going forwards than Bruno.

Duffy 7 Some great blocks, won lots of important headers and generally played well ... but should have done better with the Birmingham goal.
Dunk 8 Another very impressive display. We now expect it as the norm. He has set himself very high standards.

Sidwell 6 A few decent challenges, but not at his best.
Stephens 6 More influential than Sidders and generally played better than Sidders ... but marked down because twice lost possession weakly leading to one time Birmingham hitting the post and one time Birmingham scoring a goal. Needs to sharpen up in the next game.

Skalak 5 His defensive discipline is commendable and probably difficult to measure in terms of importance in terms of how it has contributed to our current good run of results, but he yet again offered very little offensively.
Knocky 7.5 Scored a great goal and assisted the winner, so he should be getting at least a 9.5, but take those two things away and there was about another 92 minutes of football where he wasn't particularly outstanding. However, he looked a lot better than he has for a while and his work rate always impresses. Welcome back Anthony!

Baldock 6.5 His workrate is 2nd only to Knocky. He created space for others, as usual, but nothing too positive happened for him.
Murray 7 Gave him an extra 2 points because his goal gave us an extra 2 points, but in truth he was pretty average at best. He has had much much better games than this one.

March 8 MOM He completely changed the game. Superb performance.
Norwood 7.5 A huge improvement on Sidders, we never looked in any trouble from the moment Norwood and March came on.
Hemed 5 Not on for very long and very little contribution.

Hughton 8 Cannot argue that his twin substitution of March and Norwood completely changed the game in our favour.

I would have agreed with you about Hemed from the away stand, but having got back home and watched the recorded game, Hemed blocked Murray's marker, so giving Murray a free header. It's little things like that are almost impossible to see at the game, but make a huge difference to the result.

 

[Greg Bobkin]

I was watching on Sky but I don't care!

Here goes:

Stockdale - 7 - Great save to keep it at 1-0 from Jutckiewicz, didn't really have too much to do other than that.
Bruno - 7 - Was okay, made a few mistakes.
Duffy - 7 - We'd have been at least 1-0 down in the first half without him.
Dunk - 7 - Looked comfortable for most of the game.
Bong - 7 - Played well, linked up with Solly really well.
Knockaert - 8 - Joint MOTM - Much better today, I'm happy for him as it's good to see him really starting to get back to his best, great goal, and an assist for the winner as well.
Stephens - 6 - Made a lot of mistakes, was partly at fault for the goal, very sloppy until Norwood came on.
Sidwell - 7 - Played alright, didn't do to much attacking wise though.
Skalak - 6 - Pretty anonymous, a couple of good set pieces but that's it.
Murray - 8 - Actually seemed like a frustrating evening for him and he didn't really do much... Then he scored the 90 + 5 winner, so I marked him up 2 marks for that .
Baldock - 6 - Made some good runs, but other than that pretty Anonymous tbh.

Subs:

Norwood - 8 - Played well marked up 1 for somehow causing Stephens to stop giving it away...
Hemed - 7 - Looked pretty decent when he came on.
March - 9 - Joint MOTM - He's BACK!, he's like a new signing, he changed the game, coming on and looking hungry to get back into the side, he ran their fullbacks ragged and provided a great assist for Knockaert's goal, he was ****ING IMMENSE!. He should start next week if fully fit by then.

Hughton - 8 - A pretty poor first half performance, fairly poor in the first 20 of the second half, but a great move bringing on March, and Norwood.

How can your joint MOTMs have different ratings?

 

[darkwolf666]

I am happy. I'm just highlighting how flawed your ratings are. Duffy was fine, but there's no way he deserved the best rating of our defenders today when his mistakes cost us a) a goal, yet again, and b) a clear cut opportunity for them which should've put them 1-0 up within the first few minutes.

Strange, I thought it was Stephens who lost the ball for the opportunity in the first minute...

As for the goal, it is always easier for the striker running onto the ball to gain the height to make the header, whereas a defender back peddling struggles to gain the extra inches to make a meaningful challenge!

Your comment of " a goal, yet again" clearly indicates you have an axe to grind...

 

[El Presidente]

Stockdale 7: One excellent save in first half, kicking very accurate
Bruno 7: Reminds me of John Gregory in some ways, never sure what part of the pitch he will pop up next
Bong 7: Linked very well with Skalak and March
Duffy 6: Has to take some responsibility for the goal, some great blocks, unlucky to have an effort cleared off the line
Dunk 9: Imperious, Lawrensonesque, Magnifique
Stephens 6.5: Tidy, but could have imposed himself more
Skalak 5: Struggled to make an impression, look up the word 'Scurrying' in the OED and it will come up (v) Skalakesque
Sidwell 6: Strong defensively but did less in the final third than normal
Knockaert 7.5: At times shot rather than passed, but superb finish for for the goal and pinpoint corner delivery for the winner
Baldock 6: A pest for their defence, but ultimately did little to trouble the keeper
Murray 7: Won a lot in the air, some good defensive work too, and impressive 90 yard sprint in the 95th minute

Subs:
March 8: Great impact, looks hungry and confident. Has to be a contender to start next game
Norwood 7: Again made a positive impression
Hemed 6: Fully understand the thinking of CH to play two big men up front, but had little impact

 

[hans kraay fan club]

Hughton 8 Cannot argue that his twin substitution of March and Norwood completely changed the game in our favour.

Ultimately, the substitutions defined this game - and not just ours - Zola's worked out as badly for them, as Hughton's worked out well for us.

Norwood and March were great. Zola's decision to withdraw the holding midfielder Gleeson looked a terrible call at the time, and so it proved - he was having a very effective game. Then he put on the extra full back, who did absolutely nothing. then the final (forced) change, he brought on Robinson, who clattered into March for the 94th minute free kick that led to the winner.

I would have agreed with you about Hemed from the away stand, but having got back home and watched the recorded game, Hemed blocked Murray's marker, so giving Murray a free header. It's little things like that are almost impossible to see at the game, but make a huge difference to the result.

I'll add another one of these, that I've not seen mentioned anywhere - Bong's crucial contribution to Knockaert's goal. As March turns Tesche, he's about to run down a blind alley. Bong reads it beautifully, and his movement takes the covering defender away, to leave March a free run to the by-line. Watch it back - its TEXTBOOK.

 

[Thunder Bolt]

Ultimately, the substitutions defined this game - and not just ours - Zola's worked out as badly for them, as Hughton's worked out well for us.

Norwood and March were great. Zola's decision to withdraw the holding midfielder Gleeson looked a terrible call at the time, and so it proved - he was having a very effective game. Then he put on the extra full back, who did absolutely nothing. then the final (forced) change, he brought on Robinson, who clattered into March for the 94th minute free kick that led to the winner.



I'll add another one of these, that I've not seen mentioned anywhere - Bong's crucial contribution to Knockaert's goal. As March turns Tesche, he's about to run down a blind alley. Bong reads it beautifully, and his movement takes the covering defender away, to leave March a free run to the by-line. Watch it back - its TEXTBOOK.

Yes, I've just watched the highlights again (can't stop watching a last minute winner) and noticed Bong's movement. It's often the little unseen things that do contribute to the overall victory. A great sign the team are #together.

 

[Brighton Mod]

I'm not sure how you can pick Baldock out for criticism. He had little impact on the game but we didn't give him any service. The service improved a lot once March came on and Baldock was off ten minutes after that.

I think it was a pretty normal Championship game for 70 minutes. Both teams solid but little to test either keeper. Because we've had such high standards over the last 18 months, expectations have risen but people are over doing how bad we were.

By your definition of our high standards over the past 18 months, we were poor in the first half, as such I don't think people are overdoing how bad we were. WE are allowed to be bad and we can critique the performance, had we lost the game performances would have been marked down and individuals criticised more. We can't be on top form every game.

 

[GT49er]

How can your joint MOTMs have different ratings?

Beat me to it - I was wondering about that too.

 

[Finchley Seagull]

By your definition of our high standards over the past 18 months, we were poor in the first half, as such I don't think people are overdoing how bad we were. WE are allowed to be bad and we can critique the performance, had we lost the game performances would have been marked down and individuals criticised more. We can't be on top form every game.

My point is that to a lot of people on here an average Championship performance for 70 minutes has become very poor. We weren't very poor. We were solid but didn't get going in attack. Some of the ratings are so low that you'd think we lost 3-0 rather than winning.