[Albion] Player ratings vs Cardiff (a)

[One Love]

Ryan 6
Bong 5 Mixture of great defending and ridiculous at times as usual (the right foot airshot just before Harris hit the bar was staggering)
Dunk 8
Duffy 7
Montoya 6 All the defence must have played well, we were down to 10 men for 2/3 of the game
Izzy 5 He worries me in defence and is not playing well
Stephens 2 Three points lost down to you
Kayal 4 Worrying he was so poor bearing in mind we are so short in midfield
Knockaert 5 He was coming good and now he's lost his way again
March 6 Out of position so marked up a bit
Murray 3 The refs have sussed his dark arts out, he couldn't hold onto the ball and he couldn't win anything in the air. Rightly subbed

Bissouma 5 Disappointing, struggling to adapt
Andone 6.5 Promising, must be given more chances

Team seem not at the fitness required, lacking in confidence and showing no tempo in the game. Not sure whether this is CH tactics but it needs to change soon or the table is going to look bad by the end of the year.

 

[Mackenzie]

So you think, along with playing generally well, and notching another perfect assist, that he made (and its arguable) one poor decision there?

You scored him FOUR out of ten.

Like I say, when it comes to judging the contributions of Solly March, a section of Albion fans are far from objective.

Okay. You’ve won me round.

March 8

 

[Trigger]

Ryan 6
Montoya 6
Duffy 7
Dunk 7
Bong 6
Knockaert 1
Stephens 4
Kayal 5
Izquierdo 6
March 5
Murray 5

Bissouma 6
Andone 6

 

[One Teddy Maybank]

Totally disagree. It was a prime example of putting the ball in the perfect area. What the rest of the attacking players were doing is beyond me, but we only had Murray in the box. March put the ball between the defence and goalkeeper with pace - anyone who gambles has a tap in. That no one did gamble and get in the box is systematic of the attacking issues we're having, not the fact that he didn't pick out the only attacking player in the box who was surrounded by 3-4 Cardiff players.

Agree.

Better than recently, trouble is as you say Murray was literally the only one in the box. I think Solly was unlucky to be subbed, based on current form - I would have removed Izquierdo.

(Yes I know he had a shot at the end).


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[Falmer Flutter ©]

Agree.

Better than recently, trouble is as you say Murray was literally the only one in the box. I think Solly was unlucky to be subbed, based on current form - I would have removed Izquierdo.

(Yes I know he had a shot at the end).


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Yep, I'm in the "March is not as bad as everyone makes out camp". Don't get me wrong, he's clearly not the answer as no.10, but he's only doing what his manager is telling him to do. However, the main point is that with Gross out he seems to be the only player capable of crossing a ball. The ball for the goal was inch perfect for the second week running and the "blind" cross into the danger area was crying out for someone to be on the end of it. Sometimes you don't have to luxury to look up, you just have to put it on a plate and hope one of your attacking players (in our case, our ONLY attacking player) is on the end of it. On current form I'd have March on the left wing ahead of Izzy and Andone as the 10.

 

[dibsy]

Ryan 6

Knockaert 5 He was coming good and now he's lost his way again

Exactly this - Knockaert was playing really well and he got taken out of the team for no reason other than to give Ali a go. Turns out he isn't yet up to it (not writing him off ) so Anthony goes back in the team and has lost his form. What happened to the 'keep the shirt if you're playing well' philosophy.

 

[luppers]

I am not one of the best Solly March fans,however I felt sorry for him on Saturday as I thought he was having his best game in ages. In fact the weird TV channel I was watching here in Turkey the commentators said he was the best player at that point

 

[Silverhatch]

Yep, I'm in the "March is not as bad as everyone makes out camp". Don't get me wrong, he's clearly not the answer as no.10, but he's only doing what his manager is telling him to do. However, the main point is that with Gross out he seems to be the only player capable of crossing a ball. The ball for the goal was inch perfect for the second week running and the "blind" cross into the danger area was crying out for someone to be on the end of it. Sometimes you don't have to luxury to look up, you just have to put it on a plate and hope one of your attacking players (in our case, our ONLY attacking player) is on the end of it. On current form I'd have March on the left wing ahead of Izzy and Andone as the 10.

Solly is a Premier League footballer. And he can cross a ball - but not very accurately on the run because he rarely lifts his head. This needs to be coached into him. One last thing about Cardiff, we should have gone 442 in what was effectively a Championship fixture. Wouldn’t have laid a glove on us if Andone and Murray had smashed them for the first 60 minutes. Poor management from Chris.

 

[sussex_guy2k2]

Agree.

Better than recently, trouble is as you say Murray was literally the only one in the box. I think Solly was unlucky to be subbed, based on current form - I would have removed Izquierdo.

(Yes I know he had a shot at the end).


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I feel for Izquierdo nearly as much as I feel for March. The way the team is set up it just doesn't utilise him effectively at all. But, in that sense, I guess March is a good defensive winger and probably would've covered that side effectively.

I actually thought Bong played quite well on Saturday, their first goal aside, but his inclusion is at the expense of balance down that side and it's having a massive impact on the players being asked to play in front of him.

But yeh, we need to get more players in the box. You don't score many if you've only got one player to aim at with your crosses.