*** PLAYER RATINGS vs WOLVES ***

[perseus]

I thought we failed to attack at all down the left hand side. I marked Dale Stephens down for failing to switch play at all. Maybe Kayal should have switched play?

I can't say we really caused Wolves any problems. A bit of a boring non-event. Bruno MOM for me and he didn't even play any better than his ordinary game.

 

[30209]

Stockdale 6
Bruno 8
Bennett 7
Dunk 3
Greer 5
Stephens 6
Calderon 7
Kayal 7
Holla 6
Teixara 7
Cms 2

 

[West Hoathly Seagull]

Stockdale - 7 - sure, the goal was a howler, but three absolutely class saves, the one just before half time almost as crucial as the last.
Bruno - 8 - MOM - all over the place (in a positive way) today, very little came down his side until the shot Stockdale saved just before the end.
Greer - 6 - better for me than he has been recently. I have been very critical of him, but he was brilliantly positioned for the clearance, just as against Derby, and not getting caught out as often today, just as Dunk's form has taken a turn for the worse.
Dunk - 4 - really gone off form for me lately, and I can't work out why. All three goals against Birmingham were down to him, from the radio/on here so was the Bolton goal, and most round me thought he was lucky to stay on with the handball.
Bennett - 5 - I didn't think he had a good game today; caught upfield quite frequently, causing his defensive colleagues to be put under pressure, and Sakho was getting the better of him too much for my liking.
Holla - 6 - not too bad, and one or two decent set pieces, but a shadow of the player we saw earlier in the season. Presumably only back because Ince was dropped after the Reading game.
Stephens - 6.5 - starting to look back to his old self; did well considering he was played out of position.
Kayal - 7.5 - runner up to Bruno for MOM. Imposes himself on the game, directs midfield, and coped well with a Wolves midfield who were mobile and strong. One great challenge, having run right across the pitch to cover for a Bennett slip.
Calderon - 5.5 - made as great an effort as he always does, but clearly tired and his lack of pace against the Wolves left back showed. Saying that, he is best when he can get the ball by the corner flag and cut inside and we weren't getting the ball to him down there.
Texeira - 5.5 - not himself today; didn't make the runs he normally does, though not totally his fault, as no-one seemed to back him up, meaning Wolves could get three men round him and stop him playing. However, too many passes went astray, or he failed to pass when marked, so lost the opportunity.
CMS - 4.5 - possibly unlucky with the goal not given. Was he offside? It didn't look like it when the ball was first played forward (those who are slating Stockdale might want to remember that TK made two horrendous mistakes today, and was lucky not to get punished for both). However, he was back to his running around game, the header was a feeble effort, which should at least have gone across TK to make him work and he should have done better with the other efforts, at least getting the second one on target.

Subs:

O'Grady - 6 - won the ball well in the air, especially considering the Wolves centre-half up against him was a brute. Less effective, as CH continued to play one up front and the others didn't support him.
Lua Lua - 5.5 - again, not very effective and to me, didn't really seem up for it. Yes, he was fouled on a number of occasions, but still went down far to easily, and I don't recall him making one threatening run.
Ledesma - not on long enough to give a rating.

Again, I couldn't fathom why Hughton wasn't more attacking at home. If CMS is going to chase down the sidelines, I would rather have had COG up front, with him replacing Baldock. Apart from his missed chances, we created very little up front.

 

[Weststander]

The incredibly expensive four years of CMS are finally nearing the end. A major blunder by Poyet (rating him over Murray who was available for just a pay rise). CMS has rarely justified a fraction of the £2.5m fee and £2.29m paid in wages. Effort and trying to close down defenders alone simply don't cut the mustard at this level. Hopefully Hughton thinks the same and will say farewell to CMS.

 

[Thunder Bolt]

The incredibly expensive four years of CMS are finally nearing the end. A major blunder by Poyet (rating him over Murray who was available for just a pay rise). CMS has rarely justified a fraction of the £2.5m fee and £2.29m paid in wages. Effort and trying to close down defenders alone simply don't cut the mustard at this level. Hopefully Hughton thinks the same and will say farewell to CMS.

You haven't got a clue what his wages were. The accounts show that the club's total wages for his first year were £21 million. That includes all players, staff, manager (who was on £500K) and paid directors. There is no way CMS was on £20K a week or else the rest of the staff are on £10K a year.

 

[DavidinSouthampton]

Re CMS, think people being very harsh on here. Admittedly he could have done better with a couple of chances, but whereas most people moan about him not having a first touch, it seemed to me today - particular in the first half watching from the south-west corner, that he had a second, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th and sometimes even 7th touch.

 

[Weststander]

You haven't got a clue what his wages were. The accounts show that the club's total wages for his first year were £21 million. That includes all players, staff, manager (who was on £500K) and paid directors. There is no way CMS was on £20K a week or else the rest of the staff are on £10K a year.

Sorry but you are wrong. From high club 'sauces' at the time of his signing, his weekly basic was £11,000 pw. £11,000 x 208 weeks = £2.288m, or £0.572m per season. You can also add 13.8% employers national insurance to that bill to the club. Simple maths there.

The club has been generous to some in the Amex era. Everyone seemed aware that our share of Bridge's pay was £15,000 per week, and the likes of Vicente, Orlandi, Kuzchak and Upson were also paid 5 figure wages per week.

Yes, and the figures fit in, in the total budget. As with all clubs, first team squad player wages make up almost all of the £20m+ total annual payroll bill.

 

[Thunder Bolt]

Sorry but you are wrong. From high club 'sauces' at the time of his signing, his weekly basic was £11,000 pw. £11,000 x 208 weeks = £2.288m, or £0.572m per season. You can also add 13.8% employers national insurance to that bill to the club. Simple maths there.

The club has been generous to some in the Amex era. Everyone seemed aware that our share of Bridge's pay was £15,000 per week, and the likes of Vicente, Orlandi, Kuzchak and Upson were also paid 5 figure wages per week.

Yes, and the figures fit in, in the total budget. As with all clubs, first team squad player wages make up almost all of the £20m+ total annual payroll bill.

It was published that we paid £10K of Bridge's wages of £80K.

 

[Northstandite]

You haven't got a clue what his wages were. The accounts show that the club's total wages for his first year were £21 million. That includes all players, staff, manager (who was on £500K) and paid directors. There is no way CMS was on £20K a week or else the rest of the staff are on £10K a year.

? Your calculations are rubbish.

And yes, many players were on £10k+ per week, once we moved to the Amex. Which is common in the Championship. All part of the Poyet mess, the Board have been sorting out,

 

[Thunder Bolt]

? Your calculations are rubbish.

And yes, many players were on £10k+ per week, once we moved to the Amex. Which is common in the Championship. All part of the Poyet mess, the Board have been sorting out,

Tony Bloom stated that the player budget has been the same for Oscar & Sami.

 

[PILTDOWN MAN]

Re CMS, think people being very harsh on here. Admittedly he could have done better with a couple of chances, but whereas most people moan about him not having a first touch, it seemed to me today - particular in the first half watching from the south-west corner, that he had a second, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th and sometimes even 7th touch.

Trying to recover from his first.

 

[BensGrandad]

Irrespective of his wages I think that CMS suffered with being up front on his own as he desperately needed a partner to work in tandem with up front.

 

[One Teddy Maybank]

You haven't got a clue what his wages were. The accounts show that the club's total wages for his first year were £21 million. That includes all players, staff, manager (who was on £500K) and paid directors. There is no way CMS was on £20K a week or else the rest of the staff are on £10K a year.

Not what I've heard either. The fact is whether it's £22k - £24k or £10k - £12k, we'll never know and to be fair that's how it should be from CMS's perspective.

 

[One Teddy Maybank]

Trying to recover from his first.

This, his second touch probably a good 70% - 80% of the time, is chasing down his first one.

 

[Brighton Mod]

With the wildly variable player ratings on here, maybe we should look at manager ratings. The team was set up not to lose, a lone striker, a very deep midfield leading to long passes from the back because there were little options and midfielders bumping into each other. For the first time today I saw issues on the field within our team and people uncertain of their role. When you defend with 11 men from a corner who do you pass to when you get possession, where are the quick men in midfield and who was the creator? I listened to CH after the match and far from the decisive after match comments I have heard from him before there were just bland platitudes. At home we need to do better than yesterday and starting with a lone striker was reminiscent of Poyet, Garcia and Hyppia. Come on Chris you can do better than that surely..

 

[Geriatric Seagull]

I'm inclined to agree with that last comment. Five or six changes every time, players playing out of position and a very defensive set up from the start. Shades of Hyypia?

 

[Napier's Knee]

CH is playing the percentages and aiming for no lower than 21st place in the final table, with us three points clear at least come Boro away (our goal difference making the difference if need be). He's rotating the squad to be as sure as he can be that that is what happens - in the process he's finding out a lot about the squad. SH was just clueless.

 

[sussex_guy2k2]

Stockdale - 7 - sure, the goal was a howler, but three absolutely class saves, the one just before half time almost as crucial as the last.
Bruno - 8 - MOM - all over the place (in a positive way) today, very little came down his side until the shot Stockdale saved just before the end.
Greer - 6 - better for me than he has been recently. I have been very critical of him, but he was brilliantly positioned for the clearance, just as against Derby, and not getting caught out as often today, just as Dunk's form has taken a turn for the worse.
Dunk - 4 - really gone off form for me lately, and I can't work out why. All three goals against Birmingham were down to him, from the radio/on here so was the Bolton goal, and most round me thought he was lucky to stay on with the handball.
Bennett - 5 - I didn't think he had a good game today; caught upfield quite frequently, causing his defensive colleagues to be put under pressure, and Sakho was getting the better of him too much for my liking.
Holla - 6 - not too bad, and one or two decent set pieces, but a shadow of the player we saw earlier in the season. Presumably only back because Ince was dropped after the Reading game.
Stephens - 6.5 - starting to look back to his old self; did well considering he was played out of position.
Kayal - 7.5 - runner up to Bruno for MOM. Imposes himself on the game, directs midfield, and coped well with a Wolves midfield who were mobile and strong. One great challenge, having run right across the pitch to cover for a Bennett slip.
Calderon - 5.5 - made as great an effort as he always does, but clearly tired and his lack of pace against the Wolves left back showed. Saying that, he is best when he can get the ball by the corner flag and cut inside and we weren't getting the ball to him down there.
Texeira - 5.5 - not himself today; didn't make the runs he normally does, though not totally his fault, as no-one seemed to back him up, meaning Wolves could get three men round him and stop him playing. However, too many passes went astray, or he failed to pass when marked, so lost the opportunity.
CMS - 4.5 - possibly unlucky with the goal not given. Was he offside? It didn't look like it when the ball was first played forward (those who are slating Stockdale might want to remember that TK made two horrendous mistakes today, and was lucky not to get punished for both). However, he was back to his running around game, the header was a feeble effort, which should at least have gone across TK to make him work and he should have done better with the other efforts, at least getting the second one on target.

Subs:

O'Grady - 6 - won the ball well in the air, especially considering the Wolves centre-half up against him was a brute. Less effective, as CH continued to play one up front and the others didn't support him.
Lua Lua - 5.5 - again, not very effective and to me, didn't really seem up for it. Yes, he was fouled on a number of occasions, but still went down far to easily, and I don't recall him making one threatening run.
Ledesma - not on long enough to give a rating.

Again, I couldn't fathom why Hughton wasn't more attacking at home. If CMS is going to chase down the sidelines, I would rather have had COG up front, with him replacing Baldock. Apart from his missed chances, we created very little up front.

This is close to what I saw although I think you're being incredibly harsh on Tex who, for me at least, was the only player who actually looked capable of breaking them down with movement, skill or pace (although he made a couple of poor decisions today with his passing, at least he made an effort to make things happen). He suffered for Stephens being wide left as Stephens seemed completely unsure when to try and make runs from out to in and it took one of Tex's outlets away.

CMS on the other hand I think you've been far too kind to. As a striker, you cannot miss that many decent chances and if indeed he was offside for the disallowed goal, then he should be fined purely for incompetence as he could see across the line. I know he was often chasing down aimless long balls from the defence who often bypassed the ball players in midfield but his first touch was usually terrible and his link up play was non-existant. If anyone wants evidence of why he shouldn't be anymore than a third or fourth choice striker for us, then they need to watch this match again.

Lastly, the most frustrating thing for me was Houghton. I'm a fan of what he's done so far but today he had a couple of absolute mares (beyond picking CMS). His use of substitutions and the timing of them was incredibly negative, as was his decision to play such a direct (almost long ball) game that completely bypassed our midfield. We have a number 10 in Tex who has bags more talent than pretty much everyone in this league and he was supported by two decent passers today in Kayal and Holla, and yet every time that Greer or Dunk got the ball, we ended up just playing it over the top of them for CMS to run after in typical Dirk Kuyt (without talent) fashion. What are our forwards/ball players supposed to do with that? Furthermore, his inability to see that Stephens wasn't working as a left midfielder until so late in the game (I genuinely felt he should have changed it at half time) left us impotent down the left side and completely negated Bennett's usual attacking ability. He's clearly a very good manager who I suspect he will push us back up the table next year but today was a catalogue of mistakes and square pegs in round holes.

 

[Acker79]

David Stockdale 7 Caught out by the goal perhaps (awaiting to see it again), but it doesn't change his overall performance or mark.
Bruno 8 Gave the ball away a few times but a few lovely touches and a solid hit for the goal. Ironic he scored against Kuszczak.
Gordon Greer 5 Reluctantly accepting the end is near for GG, clearly in decline now.
Lewis Dunk 6 One slip nearly cost us a goal, but generally he was good and strong.
Joe Bennett 6 Not as effective as usual, but defensively solid.
Beram Kayal 8 Looks like a quality player who would be comfortable at a higher level. Very good signing.
Danny Holla 6 Still looking a shadow of the player he was at the start of the season. Some lovely passes but some poor set pieces.
Dale Stephens 6 Woefully out of position which weakened the team but when involved in the centre he was quality.
Jaoa Teixeira 5 One of his worst games for us, comfortably. Didn't make things happen at all.
Craig Mackail-Smith 6 Woeful finishing, but plenty of endeavour and workrate. I would play him on the left of the three with COG or Best centrally.

Subs
Lualua 3 Crap.
Ledesma 2 Worse.
O'Grady 4 Rubbish.

Calderon?

 

[Ninja Elephant]

Calderon?

Sorry Acker,

Inigo Calderon 6 He didn't really get involved, but no questioning either his work rate or his effort - but I don't think this role in the team really suits him. He tries to mask it with sheer enthusiasm and desire though, so more than happy to let it slide - and he shows more striking instinct than CMS a lot of the time.