Defensively? Yeah he was pretty good. Just wasn't a fan of his crossing - not moaning, just an observation - or do all observations need to be positive?
Not a whole lot of decent deliveries in open play from anyone. Too many high floating ones. Thank goodness for Fox on set plays. A great signing from Adkins and that corner was the new housing development on top of the burial ground containing the Fox or Harding selection coffin. Solid display albeit against a relatively poor Doncaster. Great saving challenge from Cork on Diouf and I thought butterfield was composed and only let Diouf get a cross in on a couple of occasions
Was it Cork? I'd been praising Fonte for that the whole time - other end of the ground and they both have dark hair!
I have no idea personally - just saw some dark haired man throw himself at it, could be either as far as I know - was much easier when Fonte had his flowing locks!
Having read the thread, I can't speak with any authority as I know virtually little about today's game, first hand but, Butterfield is a different player to Richardson, so to expect him to come in and play as Frazer would is hardly fair to Danny. However, did he put in a display worthy of his own quality of play..? I understand he did, and we know we are in safe hands with Butterfield as a back up. As to Godder's low score for De Ridder, again a different player, but I think we can put part of that down to the fact that De Ridder was occupying the position that Guly would often play, and therefore he must be marked down a point or two. Godders, be fair across the board to players and then you can rightly expect others to be fair to Guly. Yes, when I saw that De Ridder had started today, I wondered, but he put in a shift and wasn't a weak link in the game. Which means he was worthy of a 6, I would suggest. However, you rightly say we missed Guly, such is the enigma that is our Brazilian luxury player, who just happens to work as hard as everybody else, but which usually goes unnoticed.
You are of course right that I gave to De Ridder the sort of score others give to Guly even when he has played a blinder. As far as Butterfield is concerned I thought he played very well bearing in mind he was trying to defend against Diof. You could see they were having quite a tussle and both seemed to be enjoying it and Butterfield came out on top when we needed him to. I thought Doncaster were quite physical verging on the dirty and I did say to the very lovely you know who that it could be expensive for us in terms of knocks and that it was a game more suited to Hammond. But the guys stuck at and Sharp should have had a hat trick and when oh when is Lambert going to get some protection from referees? Finally Lambert's control and first touch are superb, the guy has a lot more skill than many credit him with. Now wouldn't it be a good idea for him to spend some time with De Ridder whose first touch usually lets him down and whose final ball is generally very poor teaching him how to be a footballer. Then he might have more to offer than just speed. I feel about De Ridder the way many Arsenal fans used to feel about Theo. I really am not convinced he is that good.
Kelvin Davis - 5 , One silly mistake which cost a corner, could have cost a goal with better oppo Danny Butterfield - 7 , Solid return to the team Jose Fonte - 7 Jos Hooiveld - 7 Danny Fox - 7 Steve De Ridder - 8 , Real handful in the first half Morgan Schneiderlin - 7 Jack Cork - 7 Adam Lallana - 8 Rickie Lambert - 6 Billy Sharp - 9 Richard Chaplow - 5 , Not as good as he has been in the past Lee Barnard - 6 , Good to see him back.
Davis - N/A - Good kicking Fox - 8 - Great delivery for 1st goal, solid defence Hoovield - 5.5 - Looked worrying at times today I thought, looked the obvious weak link in the defence which is rare for him. Also poor passing from him. Strange, I'm sure he'll be back to normal next time Fonte - 8 - Solid Butterfield - 7.5 - Decent game, delivery could have been better De Ridder - 4 - Awful, very poor first touch and poor delivery. Tried hard though but I stick to rating Cork - 8 - Played well and I believe was the one who got that block in first half when the defence froze? Morgan - 8 - A good game for him, battled well Lallana - 7 - Looked very lively 1st half, although fairly anonymous in the second Lambert - 5.5 - Off the pace today sadly Sharp - 8 - Two good goals, his passing was pretty poor though Hammond - 7 - Kept ball well, good passing helping kill off game Chaplow - 5.5- No where near earlier in season form Barnard 6 Adkins - switch to 4312 worked very well when Rickie went off. At HT I wanted 4312 with Hammond for De Ridder. At least we changed formation and it worked much better
I posted mine once and had to re-do part as it deleted after I edited lol. At HT I was a little worried tbh, and glad Adkins switched formation or I think we'd have struggled second half. One other point, I thought the referee had a shocker the majority of the game Ignoring the ratings I thought we had a very good team feeling today. All the players looked like they were playing for the team and each other, including all 3 subs. Every player gave it their all, other than Rickie who looked off the pace completely. He must have been carrying an injury from the start?
Jos said that he and Fonte have a great understanding...said when one has a bad day the other steps in. As for de Ridder...don't really want him to start, but good impact sub because he can add a bit of pace. Unless he steps up his game he will be a weak link in the PL. Adkins always makes good decisions about changes for the second half...I'm fed up with begging, please, please get some early goals.
To be fair to De Ridder, he was up against there best player at left back. So he found it difficult to take him on, his performance was basically bang average. Nothing to set the place alight and nothing ridiculous that cost us the game.
