I was happy with the performance due to the fact that we were the better side overall even with 10 men. I'm still hopeful we can survive because we would have definitely won that game with 11 men on the pitch. Schar and Fernandez are our two best CB's. I am really happy with what I saw from both of our fullbacks tonight and it restored my faith in Lewis and Manquillo a bit, and we'll see how they do in the run in up to January. Makes you wonder why the **** we continued to play 5 at the back for so long. Lewis and Manquillo did ok. Ratings - Dubs - 7.5 - Couldn't say much bad of him. Maybe could have done better to parry somewhere else to avoid the goal, but could do nothing about the finish. Some good aerial command and stops during the game. Saved a point for us at the end. Manquillo - 7 - Good work rate and survival without real cover. Worked hard to get up the right side and add something to the attack and also defend. Clark - 1 - I give him a 1 because he allowed Fernandez to come on and show why he's much ****ing better. Fernandez - 7.5 - Lovely composure under pressure and sharp defending. Schar - 7 - Was pretty solid apart from that one mistake that almost cost us any result. Lewis - 7 - Promising signs. Good pace and decent defending. Joelinton - 7.5 - MOTM - Provided a target, lovely feet under pressure at times, good strength, brings others into play. Shelvey - 7 - Worked hard, provided a goal threat at times, and some good balls up the pitch. Willock - 6 - Worked hard, some decent runs. Fraser - n.a - Poor bastard. ASM - 7 - Worked hard and made some good runs while marked by half of their team, set up a few decent half chances. Wilson - 7 - Scored the goal, took responsibility under pressure. Howe - Good change to formation.
Wilson was poor, in my opinion. He’s not been good all season. Both he and ASM were 5, 6 at best, bad decisions in key attacking moments and poor play up front meant the ball kept coming back. Willock may run a bit, but he was at best a 5, gave it away so often, even though he barely touched it all game.
You have to give him credit for scoring though. It was difficult for ASM and Wilson to make impact when they were short up front, and we looked far more dangerous before the sending off. Wilson and ASM often had to drop deep to defend. I think ASM did well to get up the pitch at times with all the men around him. 7 maybe generous but always remember we camped back with 10 men and had 30% possession for a lot of the match.
ASM and Shelvey worked hard? I don't remember seeing ASM break into a jog to help defensively at all - Wilson who looked poor was dropping into be the tip of the diamond for him, that should have been Max and you could see Wilson pointing at him telling him to do it and got fed up with him - and Shelvey was waving his arms a lot yesterday if that's what you mean by hard work? Neither warrant more than a 5 (maybe a 6/for Shelvey) but that's seriously generous for Maximin.
I love Tash and his ratings! I have a vendetta against Shelvey though and ASM gets so much slack from the fans for me.
Nobody is playing well, apart from Joelinton. In the game last night, Schar had a couple of decent moments, Fede was assured, Lewis was dependable, Manq as ok. The rest were crap, or worse. Joelinton looks more like a midfielder to me. You could even argue we could line up like this: Dubs Manq - Schar - Fede - Lewis Joelinton - Shelvey - Almiron Fraser - Wilson - ASM Almiron and Joelinton work so hard they'd cover a lot of ground and we just maybe concede midfield steel in exchange for running and hard work? I just think it's as basic as looking at your eleven and if you have an even number of defenders and attackers, it should work. Under Bruce, we were lining up frequently with 7 or 8 defending.
Shelvey is a **** but I thought he was on yesterday. Far better than Willock. In terms of football what pisses me off the most about him is that at his age he hasn't yet figured when to play the ball and when not to. Thought Fede was man of the match followed by Manquillo. Thought Lewis and Joelinton were on a par. ASM flatters to deceive. He needs to be doing better. Though in yesterday's situation I would have taken him off and not Fraser.
I like this but would push Joe up into the front three and then pick from Willock and/or Hayden (for Shelvey as well) to go into the midfield Same back 5 Hayden Willock-Miggy Joe-Wilson-ASM
Hayden is so dreadful I wouldn't pick him, he's a liability. Joe put in a big shift on the right of midfield and for me, given his uselessness at shooting but ability to pass, I'd try him deeper. Fraser can at least cross. Willock has been pish for a while. Either way, it's clear as day - as it has been all season - that 3 in midfield is critical. Whether that's sucking it up and playing Hayden in a holding role, or just having Shelvey deep to release the play, we've got to try it.
I saw it a bit different. I thought the display from Willock was superb. Tactically he was absolutely spot on. His effort was A1 and ran himself into the ground. For the situation, he adapted incredibly well and gave a real team display. I thought ASM and Wilson struggled. Wilson did put in full effort though, its just not happening for him. ASM is out of form. His effort levels were up and down. His body language and all this whining about getting little kicks is embarrassing. He needs to get a grip and sort this life out. Absolutely pathetic at times. Definitely needs to toughen up if he wants to progress in England. Look no further than Joelinton who was superb again. Joelinton was a 8 or 9 for me. Wilson gets a 6 for the goal. ASM is a 5. Willock would be a 7 or 8. Dubravka a max of 7 because the goal was his fault. I think I'd have to give Fernandez a 8 too, he was just so good and led by example. Schar I'd agree with because he got away with his stupidity. This time. The others Manq and Lewis I agree with. Good displays from both. Shelvey actually did a nice solid 7, worked and tried.
I think it's harsh to blame dubravka. The guy on the far side who he parried it to was unmarked, and the goal came from a fantastic finish. There was still a lot for Norwich to do after that. They needed a world class goal to beat us.
Nah its not. It was his fault. You have two choices as a keeper, you either keep hold or you push it out of play/close the byline. To push it where he did was crap. I don't believe in sugar coating things just because he's popular. As with Darlow if he's done that, its poor keeping. He couldn't do anything about what happened after his error, it was a stunning strike but it cost us. He made up for it with a fantastic save at the end and that's one of the many differences between him and an average keeper like Darlow. He stayed calm, you could see he was furious with himself, but he simply thought back to work. He's got a great mentality that lad.
It wasn't his fault both players involved with the goal were unmarked though. There wasn't much more he could do in that situation. It's not me defending him because he's popular, it's me defending him because I think blaming him for the goal is harsh. Both the player it was parried too and the Pukki were unmarked, and the finish was world class. It was dubravka's worst moment, but I don't see what else he could have done in that situation. It was an awkward cross, there was a norwich man right behind him. Trying to catch that would have been a massive risk, and he was outstretched. He parried it, the player who picked it up was unmarked. Dubravka could have done better, but blaming him for the goal as a whole, with the lack of good marking and also the sublime finish... It doesn't take a dubravka fanboy to recognise how harsh it is to blame him for that goal.
To be honest its pretty obvious to me what he should have done and how he does better. If he palms that ball out of play, or closer to the touchline, they don't score most likely. So he was the catalyst for the goal. Yes its still a great finish. We will just have to agree to disagree because I don't accept that is good keeping. He's parried it poorly and its telling he was very very cross with himself. They've obviously took full advantage which isn't always the case in that scenario, but he has to do better. And generally he does.
Yes but you're assuming he could have calculated that move better, but the problem is there was a player literally right behind him. If he had let it go to tried to force it out behind there's a chance it could have hit the player behind him. The only other places to palm it would have been in front of him, which is obviously wrong, or to the left or right. It would have been exceptionally difficult to palm that ball to safety. The replay is on youtube. Could he have done better? Yes, but blaming him for that is incredibly harsh. The only thing he's guilty of is not being more world class to be able to provide more finesse to that situation. It's wrong to look at this as purely a goalkeeping error.
I blame Dubz for the error. If he catches it or pushes it wide then the goal doesn’t happen. Fern - 8 Joe - 7.5 Lewis - 7 Manq - 7 Clark and Fraser - 0 and 0 as both can’t be marked. The rest - 6.5 ASM - 6 not sure what’s wrong with him.
As I say I disagree. Its a goalkeeping error which led to a goal, end of story for me. He had options. One was risky but doable (gathering it), but the other was a good option and very easy. Parry it out or closer to the touchline, the player behind him being irrelevant. I think its wrong to excuse from blame. It cost us a goal.
