Player ratings vs Wigan (Away)

[The Tactician]

Stockdale 8.5 Great Double save, that had gone in we were in trouble
Bruno 6.5 Decent
Duffy 7.5 Strong
Goldson 6 Not so good imo. Needs time to get back to his best
Bong 7 Got forward well
Knockaert 6 Didn't happen for him today, right to be subbed
Sidwell 9 MOTM, dragged us to victory today
Norwood 7 Some good passing, Stephens improved us though
Skalak 6.5 Did ok
Murray 6
Baldock 6

Subs:
Stephens 8 Won the game
Murphy 7 Helped see the game out well
Pocognoli N/A Not on long enough

 

[Buzzer]

I'd give Bong an 8 and I think Murphy was as much a game-changer as Stephens but otherwise spot on.

And Hughton deserves plaudits for the double substitution at the right time. It completely changed our approach. Just chatting to Tony and Darren Bloom on the train and we all reckon that was Knockaert's worst match for us. He clearly plays so much better at home.

 

[Pintos]

Stockdale 8
Bruno 6
Duffy 8
Goldson 7
Bong 9
Norwood 7
Sidwell 9 mom
Knockaert 5
Skalak 7
Baldock 7
Murray 7

Stephens 8
Murphy 7
Pocognoli 6

The game changed on our substitutions - it had been a tight affair and little created from our midfield. Stephens and Murphy changed the dynamic and a great finish from Dale.
Sidwell and Bong both excellent.

 

[Shropshire Seagull]

Why does Hougton always take off a striker for the last 10-15 mins to hold on to a slender lead?
I thought 7's all round but 6 for Goldson, Knocky and Norwood who all gave the ball away in our third.
Murray got nothing out of their 33 all day.
We need more of Stevens - must start v Norwich

 

[Bring back Bryan wade!!]

Great to see Bong coming back to form. On the flip side I've never seen knocky get such low ratings, was he that poor?

 

[Driver8]

Great to see Bong coming back to form. On the flip side I've never seen knocky get such low ratings, was he that poor?

He was poor today but we will let him have that one.

Hopefully back to his best next week.

 

[Marshy]

Stockdales double save was terrific as was the goal

 

[sir albion]

Bong back to his banging self....was inevitable

 

[Mackenzie]

Sidwell 8
Stockdale 7.5
(Stephens) 7
Bong 7
Duffy 6.5
Bruno 6.5
Skalak 6.5
Norwood 6.5
Murray 6.5
Baldock 6.5
Knockaert 6
(Murphy) 6
Goldson 6

 

[dazzer6666]

He was poor today but we will let him have that one.

Hopefully back to his best next week.

Worried about getting booked ?

 

[The Tactician]

Great to see Bong coming back to form. On the flip side I've never seen knocky get such low ratings, was he that poor?

Saving himself for Norwich hopefully...

 

[Shuggie]

Not often I'm in a position to do this but here goes...

Stockdale 7 only. One good save (the second of the double was offside) but he flapped at a cross beyond the back post early on, collapsed on the ground and left the goalmouth completely exposed. That was the point we seemed out of sorts and the locals started to get excited.
Bruno 7 mainly peerless but sloppy on occasion
Goldson 6 nervous and unsure from the start. Not what any of us expected and his ineptitude seemed contagious. Fortunately it also infected Wigan who were truly inept
Duffy 7 pretty solid but not as commanding as I was expecting
Bong 8 MOM good performance both defending and going forward. Kept their right side pretty quiet. Gets MOM for crucial intervention to end a goalmouth scramble with 5 mins or so left.
Knockaert 6 never got going. Big disappointment for me
Norwood 6 same as previous. Didn't expect him to be so tame
Sidwell 8 some crunching tackles, one perfectly timed second half as Wigan man was just about to break free in the box. Without him and Bong I'm sure we would have conceded
Skalak 7 great energy but not quite on his game
Baldock 6.5 not great, not awful. Should have done better with the his big chance in the first half
Murray 6.5 continuous physical tussle from their CB. Ref should have protected him more. As one wag near me put it: "FFS Ref, that c*** is wrapped round him like a bath towel"

Stephens 8.5 streets ahead of everyone else. Great goal. Just booked himself a place for next Saturday
Murphy 7.5 pretty good
Pocognoli 7 linked up well with Bong and helped calm everything down at the end

CH sure he would have brought all the subs on at HT if he could have. The three he did bring on got us the goal and ensured Wigan had no meaningful efforts after we took the lead. The closest they came were the scramble dealt with by Bong and a nervy moment which resulted in LeFondre getting booked for diving and a sigh of release for all of us up the other end.

Southern 0 - why the f*** couldn't they hold the Seafrd train back for a couple of minutes when the Victoria one was late getting into Lewes. Wankers! How the hell have you guys coped this year?

 

[graz126]

Stockdale 7 made a bad error seconds before double save made up for it.
Bruno 7 great positional got forward well until we scored then stayed back.
Duffy 7 Solid again
Goldson 6 steady
Bong 8 couple of good blocks/tackles forward well, over lapping my motm
Norwood 6 steady
Sidwell 8 solid held team together
Knockaert 5 seemed scared of getting yellow and suspension from Norwich game. thought he had got yellow when wigan player dived.
Skalak 7 seemed to do better on right after murphy came on
Baldock 6 plenty willing running
Murray 6 nuisance to defenders

Stephens 8 great goal looked determined
Murphy 7 livened up forward play
Pocognoli 7 looked strong on the ball.

 

[Bodian]

I don't get to many games, so won't give scores. But I was particularly interested to see those who've been discussed quite a bit recently on NSC.

Skalak - I thought he did quite well. He (along with Bong) seemed to be about the only one who was actually willing to take Wigan on and run a bit at/round/past them. Much of the time the team passed sideways or backwards, even when in promising positions - but Skalak seemed to have a bit more drive. I was also impressed with the amount of defensive work he put in, especially in the first half.

Stockdale - I've read the fuss and moaning in some of the recent games, but here he looked pretty solid. One minor lapse as mentioned above, but not much came of it. And his double save was superb. He had an inordinate amount of back passes to deal with, but I did think that on many occasions he just hoofed it upfield rather than trying to pick someone out. Maybe over cautious after Preston?

Bong - excellent. Great interceptions and some super overlapping. At one point he drove forward and found himself with no-one in the middle to pass to, which just about summed up the lack of keenness of the rest. He was pretty annoyed.

Stephens - brought just about the only moments of composure and sureness to the whole game. Best player on the pitch. Excellent goal - it was in as soon as he touched it, and he seemed to enjoy celebrating it which bodes well. If he had been on from the start the first half could have been totally different.

Murray - for those of you interested, he not only waved at the crowd, but applauded them as well...

It's quite frustrating seeing us retreating back into safety first again. I thought that at the beginning of the season, when we were scoring for fun, that we had learnt from last year's goal difference issue. But now we seem again to be looking to pass sideways rather than go for them. Wigan were/are pretty poor and an early goal (or two) would have probably seen them off and opened them up for a few more. As it was, by letting them dictate the play - we simply let them grow in confidence. The saving grace was that their shooting was simply awful. However, it wasn't really a case of trying to shut-up-shop for the last 20 minutes as it seems to have been in some recent games. Once Stephens was on, we never really looked in trouble - but we never pushed forward in the first place for there be a switch to a more defensive attitude in the last quarter of the game.

The crowd were excellent. Felt like the biggest Albion turnout we've had at Wigan - and was pretty noisy. Poor home support. And I don't think I've actually heard the whole of the first verse and chorus of Sussex by the Sea sun spontaneously by a (smallish) section of the crowd before - not without the words on the screen.

Decent pubs in Wigan. I've lived in the north-west for 20 years now, and don't often feel like a 'southerner'. I do in Wigan; I don't think many people move there out of choice so it's still all proper locals in the town.

 

[Sheebo]

I don't get to many games, so won't give scores. But I was particularly interested to see those who've been discussed quite a bit recently on NSC.

Skalak - I thought he did quite well. He (along with Bong) seemed to be about the only one who was actually willing to take Wigan on and run a bit at/round/past them. Much of the time the team passed sideways or backwards, even when in promising positions - but Skalak seemed to have a bit more drive. I was also impressed with the amount of defensive work he put in, especially in the first half.

Stockdale - I've read the fuss and moaning in some of the recent games, but here he looked pretty solid. One minor lapse as mentioned above, but not much came of it. And his double save was superb. He had an inordinate amount of back passes to deal with, but I did think that on many occasions he just hoofed it upfield rather than trying to pick someone out. Maybe over cautious after Preston?

Bong - excellent. Great interceptions and some super overlapping. At one point he drove forward and found himself with no-one in the middle to pass to, which just about summed up the lack of keenness of the rest. He was pretty annoyed.

Stephens - brought just about the only moments of composure and sureness to the whole game. Best player on the pitch. Excellent goal - it was in as soon as he touched it, and he seemed to enjoy celebrating it which bodes well. If he had been on from the start the first half could have been totally different.

Murray - for those of you interested, he not only waved at the crowd, but applauded them as well...

It's quite frustrating seeing us retreating back into safety first again. I thought that at the beginning of the season, when we were scoring for fun, that we had learnt from last year's goal difference issue. But now we seem again to be looking to pass sideways rather than go for them. Wigan were/are pretty poor and an early goal (or two) would have probably seen them off and opened them up for a few more. As it was, by letting them dictate the play - we simply let them grow in confidence. The saving grace was that their shooting was simply awful. However, it wasn't really a case of trying to shut-up-shop for the last 20 minutes as it seems to have been in some recent games. Once Stephens was on, we never really looked in trouble - but we never pushed forward in the first place for there be a switch to a more defensive attitude in the last quarter of the game.

The crowd were excellent. Felt like the biggest Albion turnout we've had at Wigan - and was pretty noisy. Poor home support. And I don't think I've actually heard the whole of the first verse and chorus of Sussex by the Sea sun spontaneously by a (smallish) section of the crowd before - not without the words on the screen.

Decent pubs in Wigan. I've lived in the north-west for 20 years now, and don't often feel like a 'southerner'. I do in Wigan; I don't think many people move there out of choice so it's still all proper locals in the town.

Agreed - I was shocked we took nearly 1k there - great support! Well done to all those who travelled...

 

[kingcole]

Bong was absolutely back to his best. Kudos to CH for sticking with him during his trickier times.

Goldson was the main weakness yesterday, but he's lacking games after his lay off so is forgiven. A better team could have capitalised, especially as Bruno was below his best.

Don't think I've seen AK not get into a game like this before. Another great sub. Why risk him (injury or card) if he's not firing? I'm sure he will be delighted us and doing some Canary Scaring come Saturday.

Sidwell was excellent and I though Skalak was better than most ratings here. His corners were not great but he provided some pace and a nice bit of trickery too to beat some players.

I rated Murphy highly too. Injected some much needed urgency when we needed it. Great performance seeing as he has not been first choice of late. He stepped up well when required.

What I liked most is that we were not holding on (apart from a corner at the very end) and it fact, we looked like scoring another. If only this had been the case against Preston.

A great away win against a team who had just had an uptick in form. It puts us in a great position for the visit of Norwich next week and it looks like we could be playing them at just the right time

 

[Puppet Master]

Wouldn't be surprised if one or two players (Knockaert) are suffering from this cold that everyone in Brighton has at the moment. I had it last week and it knocked me bandy for a few days.

 

[Two Professors]

Goldson was always on a hiding to nothing on his return to the team.Give him a chance ffs,and hopefully he will be back to the great player of last season.Need him for Dunk and Duffy's suspensions.Dunk & Duffy?Sounds like an American brewery!

 

[goldstone]

It's quite frustrating seeing us retreating back into safety first again. I thought that at the beginning of the season, when we were scoring for fun, that we had learnt from last year's goal difference issue. But now we seem again to be looking to pass sideways rather than go for them. Wigan were/are pretty poor and an early goal (or two) would have probably seen them off and opened them up for a few more. As it was, by letting them dictate the play - we simply let them grow in confidence. The saving grace was that their shooting was simply awful. However, it wasn't really a case of trying to shut-up-shop for the last 20 minutes as it seems to have been in some recent games.

A good point. Why HAVE we gone into this defensive shell recently after scoring goals for fun earlier in the season? I certainly preferred the early season style of play.

 

[El Presidente]

Why HAVE we gone into this defensive shell recently after scoring goals for fun earlier in the season? I certainly preferred the early season style of play.

CH is a pragmatist. If the more expansive style led to the results against Newcastle and Brentford then you can see why he changed things.


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