Schmeichel - 7 - Nothing to do but anything he had to do he did comfortably. Smart save from a Whittingham thunderbolt. Peltier - 8 - Attacking, strong, good in the air and has the technical ability to match. He's a talent, but I won't compare him to Naughton. Mills - 8 - Gets better in every game, today was his best yet. Cracking block and he won everything in the air. Bamba - 7 - Won everything in the air but was beaten a few times and once again he was caught messing around with the ball. Koncheskey - 7 - Adventurous down the left flank but was often beaten by McNaughton. Two good efforts and some good crossing today. Abe - 6 - Did he play? Didn't see much of him and he was outplayed by Gunnarrson. Wellens - 7 - Played a decent game but he was too negative, he didn't look to play through the channels to utilise the pace of Beckford, Schlupp and Vassell. Fernandes - 6 - One of his worse games for us, didn't make any tackles and his passing was wayward. King - 6 - Needs to get more involved in the game, he isn't commanding enough and that is all that is holding him back from a move to the Prem. Vassell - 7 - Worked hard, had the beating of their defence in the first half. Should have scored. Beckford - 6 - Wasn't fed enough, there was no killer pass. Everytime he got the ball he looked lively but he didn't get it enough. Schlupp - 7 - He's a strong lad and quick. Once he gets some experience he'll be a very talented footballer. He's a bit of a loose cannon at the moment though. Johnson - 7.5 - Looked very good in his short spell. Wanted the ball and wanted to drive with it. He'll be fantastic for us when he's fit. Sven - 7 - Tactics right but the game way desperate for Neil Danns. We needed his direct running and passing ability at the end. Ref - 6 - Let a lot of bad tackles go without cautions, Cardiff will need to patch up for Wendesday after a battle today. Fans - 9 - Brilliant as ever, could only hear our lads. Overall we played well enough to win the game although a point was probably the fair result. We shoul have scored at the death, Nugent or Beckford would have scored Vassell's chance. He's a good honest hardworking player but he is lacking in technical ability. We should look to get another point or a win against Middlesborough and puch on from there. A win against Derby would be fantastic against a side in form. 5 points from this week and i'll be happy.
Watched the game in a pub in Bournemouth - moving son into Uni - no sound so wasnt influenced by commentators. We were good today, apart from not scoring. Mills and Bamba are awesome, Peltier as well. Konchesky is ok but gets caught going forward, and is then out of position. Midfield wasnt great until Johnson came on, he made a hell of a difference. Yuki was ok, King as well. Wellens and Fernandes not so much, their places must be under threat for wednesday. Vassell, cant wait for Nugent to get back, and Beckford needs a goal. Schlupp is a handful, and must play more games. We managed to keep quiet all through the game, right until Vassell hit the bar - wife was embarrassed, and the whole pub turned to lokl at us, finally realising that Leicester fans were in town! Meant to add, well done Cardiff. Parking the bus for a well earned point away from home, good result. Oh, hang on, they were at home weren't they? Disgraceful, only one team wanted to win, and it wasn't the sheep-botherers.
I think you're ratings are kind to the midfielders and strikers. I wouldn't give any of the midfielders more than 5, they all looked knackered in the second half too. Wellens was awful and King barely any better. Abe was non-existent and your (fair) summary of Fernandes warrants him being a 3 or 4. Beckford did absolutely nothing (albeit with poor service) and Vassell being a striker who wasted 3 very good chances, I would give a 4 to. Agreed that Mills and especially Peltier (for the second game running) had very good games. I thought Schlupp and Johnson did a good job when they came on.
Cardiff flooded the midfield and gave no time for Wellens or King to play their passing game. But they were not that bad, we don't have a god given right to win every game and play excellent football. Sometimes you have to hold your hands up and say that a point was a fair refection on a poor game that neither team dominated for large periods.
So if the opposition refuses to give us time on the ball do we just accept that there's nothing we can do about it? In the second half yes Cardiff didn't give us time on the ball but in the first half they did, I would have thought we might have capitalised on it. Vassell summed up his game when he got into the box and ran into a blind alley instead of cutting inside and either pulling it back or shooting. The point is we should have the individuals or the team cohesion to play through a side that doesn't give us space. That's what we spent the money for.
Just because we've spent money, I don't think we can or should expect to play teams off the park every week. Sometimes there will be games where things don't quite click. The time when I would really expect us to be playing to our 100% near enough every week would be March/April time when it really counts. I think that if we can just pick up points at this stage of the season and make sure we're not losing games and grind out points like we did today and then just stay within touching distances of the top two (which we are at this stage) and then kick on 2nd half of the season. Man U have been masters at building momentum throughout the season and being in optimum form throughout come the business end of the season. As I said before, picking up points when you're not at your best is the sign of a good team.
I understand what you're saying, but other teams have been picking up points and playing well. We just don't look a very good side with the football. Chances are if you continue to play poorly you will start to lose games. We have played badly more than well this season so far, so it's not a case of just having off days and still getting results. We may (though I'm not seeing a lot of evidence for it) start playing really well later in the season but so may other teams. If they've already got a head start on us they will have the advantage. Being in touching distance may not be enough. This is all hypothetical I know but I'm just saying that whilst we can't be expected to play teams off the park, that's also the case later in the season, and we also can't expect to just overhaul the league table because other sides will get stronger later in the season as well. I don't expect us to play teams off the park every week but I do expect us to be playing the sort of football some teams above us have done, Southampton, Blackpool, Derby - that is not too much to ask. There has to be a point in the season, after a certain amount of games, where there are no more excuses for not passing the ball well, creating chances, scoring goals etc. That point is not March/April - Matt Mills seems to think that point is now. If we aren't regularly playing well within the next 10 matches, when Nugent's back and Johnson is match fit, that won't change until we bring in some more players who will make a difference. And if Sven didn't know he should have brought a winger in by now he never will.
Schmeichel- 7 Nothing to do Peltier- 8 great going forward and solid at the back. Unlucky not to score and put in a great cross in which Vassell hit the bar Mills- 9 Solid at the back and nearly scored. Best performance yet Bamba- 7 solid at the back Konchesky- 7 Had a reasonable performance but still room for improvement Abe- 5 Was quiet all game Wellens- 5 Disappointing performance Fernandes- 5 Same as Wellens King- 4 Did nothing for the team all game and should of scored at the end Beckford- 5 Was frustrated with the bully boy antics of their defenders but didnt have any service Vassell- 6 Movement was decent but he balloned over a half chance after a great turn and then should of score with the header Schlupp- not on long enough Johnson- Not on long enough but did show some decent touches and passing on the ball
yes but i think emilio is alluding to the fact we have not any point this season been very good, and after all the hype and expectation comes the realisation we are actually not much good. Ive said it before we could have signed the cream of the crop in the championship, and some decent loans and frees from the prem, instead we got the likes of vassell, fernandes, abe, konchesky who are not up to much at all. I hope we gel into a good side but today with the players we have we should have won easily, they were not much good at all, never troubled our goal. We may see this as a good point later down the line, but if we keep playing poorly and getting average results in mid-table, then dont expect people to be happy. btw beckfords touch was awful today i hope he improves quickly.
I'm not sure the Vassell/Beckford partnership really works, they are both decent players but do not compliment each other. Beckford did not like the physical battle and perhaps if he was partnered with Nugent, who can handle that better, we'd be better off. I wouldn't drop either of them for the next game yet, especially as Vassell was MOTM against Brighton, but certainly when Nugent is available he is in with a shout of starting.
I actually can't believe we are moaning like we are. This is a good point. We never looked like conceding and we did look like scoring. We were very unlucky not to win but we need to stop winging about it and look at the positives. If we were at home then I would have been pissed off but we played against our bogey side and had them in our pockets for the whole game and could easily have won 2/3-0.
I think you're right and we do need to see more consistent performances. I just feel that there is enough quality in this side to produce the type of performance that I and you and everyone else expects more often than not. Its all well and good saying that we're strong on paper but what gives me this optimistic outlook is that we've seen improvement from the start of the season. We finally look as though we've developed a solid defence and you're right, other teams might start to improve as the season goes on but if we get play to our 100% consistently we should beat most teams. I think you're right to be frustrated with the performance and I am too but I think we should also look at the facts. We had a shot cleared off the line and hit the bar and went on to grind out a point against a good Cardiff side away from home. Now, we're five unbeaten and given ourselves a good platform now to kick on play with more consistent performances and improve from here and go on a run to put right up there in the table - whehter we can remains to be seen but I think we're capable. At the end of the season, all that will count is the point rather than the performance.
Agreed. I think some people are suffering today from indulging in too many depression-causing beverages last night! ;-)
Goodness me, you're a depressing bunch! You most definitely did not have us in your pocket for the whole game and we didn't "park the bus". McNaughton caused you all sorts of issues today, just a shame he was a bit scared to have a crack at goal on his own. Whitts came close a few times and Rudy looked very dangerous when he came on (until he ****ed himself, anyway!) It was a scrappy game, but we did lose a few key players to injuries. In the end I think it could have gone either way, but you certainly don't look as good as should considering the £ spent.
Well you had a 20 minute spell when you put us under pressure but apart from that we dominated. The stats agree with me too.
