Player ratings vs Reading (h)

[Machiavelli]

Stockdale 7 -- one solid save, excellent distribution
Bruno 8.5 -- ole, sublime ball for Baldock's goal
Duffy 9 -- match-changing clearance off the line, and beast throughout
Dunk 8 -- class
Pocognoli 7 -- hope he's OK
Knockaert 8 -- great finish and constant menace, but he still needs to improve his decision-making
Sidwell 7.5 -- kept it ticking over
Stephens 8.5 -- bossing it
Murphy 9 -- fantastic defensive performance first half, and he just ran at them second half, with an expertly taken finish
Baldock 9 MotM -- outstanding first goal, brilliant curved shot against the post, movement, running, closing down. What a vein of form he's in.
Murray 7.5 -- good hold-up play

Hemed 8 -- some sublime control
Akpom and Tomori n/a

Cracking game. Really cagey first half, Reading have such a distinctive, tactical style of play, but we never really looked back when we went ahead, although required a Duffy ninja intervention to keep it that way.
What a time in the season to start turning it on

 

[Mayonaise]

Stockdale 7 -- one solid save, excellent distribution
Bruno 8.5 -- ole, sublime ball for Baldock's goal
Duffy 9 -- match-changing clearance off the line, and beast throughout
Dunk 8 -- class
Pocognoli 7 -- hope he's OK
Knockaert 8 -- great finish and constant menace, but he still needs to improve his decision-making
Sidwell 7.5 -- kept it ticking over
Stephens 8.5 -- bossing it
Murphy 9 -- fantastic defensive performance first half, and he just ran at them second half, with an expertly taken finish
Baldock 9 MotM -- outstanding first goal, brilliant curved shot against the post, movement, running, closing down. What a vein of form he's in.
Murray 7.5 -- good hold-up play

Hemed 8 -- some sublime control
Akpom and Tomori n/a

Cracking game. Really cagey first half, Reading have such a distinctive, tactical style of play, but we never really looked back when we went ahead, although required a Duffy ninja intervention to keep it that way.
What a time in the season to start turning it on

Spot on - agree with all this

 

[Stat Brother]

As usual -

How can you split them, after such a fantastic team effort?

Give everyone 8, your favourite 9.
Wipe your face and move onto the next game.

 

[JCL666]

Stockdale 7 -- one solid save, excellent distribution
Bruno 8.5 -- ole, sublime ball for Baldock's goal
Duffy 9 -- match-changing clearance off the line, and beast throughout
Dunk 8 -- class
Pocognoli 7 -- hope he's OK
Knockaert 8 -- great finish and constant menace, but he still needs to improve his decision-making
Sidwell 7.5 -- kept it ticking over
Stephens 8.5 -- bossing it
Murphy 9 -- fantastic defensive performance first half, and he just ran at them second half, with an expertly taken finish
Baldock 9 MotM -- outstanding first goal, brilliant curved shot against the post, movement, running, closing down. What a vein of form he's in.
Murray 7.5 -- good hold-up play

Hemed 8 -- some sublime control
Akpom and Tomori n/a

Cracking game. Really cagey first half, Reading have such a distinctive, tactical style of play, but we never really looked back when we went ahead, although required a Duffy ninja intervention to keep it that way.
What a time in the season to start turning it on

This for me too.

 

[dazzer6666]

Stockdale 7 -- one solid save, excellent distribution
Bruno 8.5 -- ole, sublime ball for Baldock's goal
Duffy 9 -- match-changing clearance off the line, and beast throughout
Dunk 8 -- class
Pocognoli 7 -- hope he's OK
Knockaert 8 -- great finish and constant menace, but he still needs to improve his decision-making
Sidwell 7.5 -- kept it ticking over
Stephens 8.5 -- bossing it
Murphy 9 -- fantastic defensive performance first half, and he just ran at them second half, with an expertly taken finish
Baldock 9 MotM -- outstanding first goal, brilliant curved shot against the post, movement, running, closing down. What a vein of form he's in.
Murray 7.5 -- good hold-up play

Hemed 8 -- some sublime control
Akpom and Tomori n/a

Cracking game. Really cagey first half, Reading have such a distinctive, tactical style of play, but we never really looked back when we went ahead, although required a Duffy ninja intervention to keep it that way.
What a time in the season to start turning it on

Excellent set of marks and comments, can't argue with any of them. Would also add a solid 10 for Chris - did a fantastic tactical job on Reading today I thought. Let them play their possession game, then when they press forward, nick it off 'em through constant pressure and hit them rapidly on the break while they are still upfield. When al-Habsi has the ball, cut off the supply to the full backs, because his kicking is truly awful.

Really enjoyed that today. Good performance from the home crowd too.

 

[Luke93]

Hey mods, thread merge please!

 

[stss30]

I would've given Stephens MOTM, brilliant tonight. Special mentions for Baldock and Duffy who were also superb. From the whole team I couldn't mark anyone less than 7.5/8 to be fair, they were all excellent.

 

[Albion100]

Outstanding team performance led from the front by Murray. His work rate was excellent and set the tone for the team pressing high. Sidwell, Baldock and Stephens were also excellent at closing them down. Murphy was dangerous, fast and direct and as usual Dunk and Duffy were formidable. What a team!

 

[Kosh]

Outstanding team performance led from the front by Murray. His work rate was excellent and set the tone for the team pressing high. Sidwell, Baldock and Stephens were also excellent at closing them down. Murphy was dangerous, fast and direct and as usual Dunk and Duffy were formidable. What a team!

Have we learned something from Huddersfield i.e a high press and quick to counter?

 

[One Teddy Maybank]

6 - average

Stockdale 8
Bruno 9
Pocgomoli 7
Duffy 8
Dunk 8
Stephens 8
Sidwell 8
Murphy 8 best game for us.
Knockaert 8
Baldock 9 MoM
Murray 8

Akpom 7
Hemed 7
Tomori 7

Hughton 10 - tactics spot on


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[sussex_guy2k2]

9s for Baldock, Murphy and Sidwell.
8s for the rest of the starting 11.
7s for the subs.

What was Jaap Stam doing tactically today. He totally over thought his selection and it was to the detriment of his own side (not that I'm complaining). The change in their side from their performance at the Majdeswki to tonight was absolutely massive.

 

[goldstone]

Great result, but we've played better. Gave the ball away a few too many times for my liking. Loved the way we pressed them so high up the pitch.

Stockdale 8. One great save at a vital time. Confident display and good distribution.
Bruno 7. Back to his best.
Duffy 8. Vital goal-line clearance and strong defensive display.
Dunk 8. Excellent.
Pocognoli 7. Good game.
Stephens 7. Very good at times, but gave the ball away a few too many times and made me nervous when he tried intricate passing in front of our goal.
Sidwell 8. Another excellent game.
Knockaert 8. Super performance, but still that problem with hanging on to the ball for too long on occasions. Great goal.
Murphy 8. Back to his best and a very well taken goaL
Baldock 9. A wonderful goal and a great all-round performance. MOM.
Murray 7. Played well, but not at his best. Gave the ball away a few too many times.

Subs:
Hemed 8. Exquisite ball control. Dangerous.
Akpom - not on long enough
Tomori - not on long enough

 

[Deleted member 2719]

Stockdale 7 -- one solid save, excellent distribution
Bruno 8.5 -- ole, sublime ball for Baldock's goal
Duffy 9 -- match-changing clearance off the line, and beast throughout
Dunk 8 -- class
Pocognoli 7 -- hope he's OK
Knockaert 8 -- great finish and constant menace, but he still needs to improve his decision-making
Sidwell 7.5 -- kept it ticking over
Stephens 8.5 -- bossing it
Murphy 9 -- fantastic defensive performance first half, and he just ran at them second half, with an expertly taken finish
Baldock 9 MotM -- outstanding first goal, brilliant curved shot against the post, movement, running, closing down. What a vein of form he's in.
Murray 7.5 -- good hold-up play

Hemed 8 -- some sublime control
Akpom and Tomori n/a

Cracking game. Really cagey first half, Reading have such a distinctive, tactical style of play, but we never really looked back when we went ahead, although required a Duffy ninja intervention to keep it that way.
What a time in the season to start turning it on

I agree with all your comments apart from Murrays hold up play, from what I saw he was constantly losing the possession and the only way he won the ball was through pushing the opposition. I think he struggles against sharp stronger opponents.

 

[happypig]

Stockdale 8.5 - One save and good distribution
Bruno 8 - Good game
Pocognoli 7 - Solid
Duffy 8.5 - That clearance off the line though, eh ?
Dunk 8 - Didn't get booked and kept it tight
Stephens 8.5 - bossed the midfield, and that tackle though, eh ?
Sidwell 9 - MoM for Me. Seemed pretty composed all game
Murphy 8.5 A real handful.
Knockaert 7.5 - Good touches but sometimes needs to play the ball earlier
Baldock 9 - Ran them ragged, got one goal, deserved another.
Murray 7.5 Kept The defence busy

Akpom 7
Hemed 7
Tomori 7

Hughton 10 - had them sussed from the start

 

[aolstudios]

Stockers 7.5 - spot on when necessary (not often)
Bruno 8.5 - back on top
Duffy 9 - MoM - immense
Dunk 8
Pocognoli 7
Knockers 8.5
Sidwell 8 - quietly horrible to play against
Stephens 8.5 - best game for some time
Murphy 9
Baldock 8.5
Murray 8 - works his socks off

Hemed 7.5
Akpom 7
Tomori 7

Chris - 9.5 - the toughest, more confident Albion performance I've seen for a long time. Nothing could've gone wrong today

 

[Dick Swiveller]

I would take a point off of Stephens for yet again fannying around in a dangerous position and causing a very dangerous problem. Outstanding player though he is, I do wonder if he thinks he is better than he is. Happening almost once a game recently. A bit like Dunk's old problem of one "switch off" per game. Very difficult to criticise anything else he does but that makes the frequency of this overplaying even more frustrating.

Knocky actually has a not great chance to goal ratio - imagine if he took the easier chances he seems to miss as well. Real Madrid would beckon.

Sidwell seemed to forget he wasn't a Reading player a few times and passed it to them. Won it back everytime, mind.

Not sure I can find any more negatives!

 

[Uh_huh_him]

Stockdale 7 not much to do, but did it well
Bruno. 9 MOTM genius all game
Dunk 8 did and dependable
Duffy 9 immense.
Pocognoli 7 solid
Knockaert 8 back to his best
Stephens 8 excellent apart from a short period where he gave the ball away 2 or 3 times
Sidwell. 8 commanding
Murphy 8.5. One of his best games this season
Baldock 9. Wonderful performance
Murray 7. Good hold up play

Hemed 8. Thought he looked excellent when he came on

CH 9. Got this one absolutely spot on

 

[Camship]

Stephens 8.5 - bossed the midfield, and that tackle though, eh ?

Unbelievably good, backheel tackles becoming a regular occurrence now after Bruno's last week.

 

[Wardy's twin]

From WSU 6 = average

Stockdale 7 not much to do, but did it well one good save
Bruno. 9 some brilliant bits of football from him
Dunk 8 did less passing than he has done in previous games but solid and holding it all together. Nice touch was his chat with AK when he scored.
Duffy 9 immense.
Pocognoli 8 showed some excellent football skills..Please sign him. Not sure why otehrs are rating him lower.
Knockaert 8 back to his best, could/should have had a hat trick
Stephens 8 excellent
Sidwell. 8 commanding
Murphy 8.5. One of his best games this season, worried when he broke with ball but his finish was sublime
Baldock 9. Wonderful performance and that goal and that shot which hit the post. Not so good second half.
Murray 7. Good hold up play

Hemed 8. Thought he looked excellent when he came on

CH 9. Got this one absolutely spot on

 

[Bob!]

..... Would also add a solid 10 for Chris - did a fantastic tactical job on Reading today I thought. Let them play their possession game, then when they press forward, nick it off 'em through constant pressure and hit them rapidly on the break while they are still upfield. When al-Habsi has the ball, cut off the supply to the full backs, because his kicking is truly awful.

Really enjoyed that today. Good performance from the home crowd too.

This

CH was MOM for his spot on tactics.