Shambolic effort yesterday and my worst trip to a match that I can remember in a long long time but did anybody come out of it able to hold their heads up? For me there were a few - Nelsen - committed and gave his all, lead by example. Taarabt - Ran his socks off, chased everything, won some headers! and looked really gutted when things didn't go right. He now really appears to care, just hope we can keep him. Mackie - That is what you call effort, chased everything at 100% and you saw what can be achieved. Hassled the ball off players and general fought hard. Derry - slow and sadly not really a prem player but like Mackie you immediately sense he cares and tries. Granero - I'll sit on the fence but think he did ok. Fabio - Not really enough time to tell but wasn't slouching around. Cesar - hard to tell if a keeper really tries but he has a calm poker face and seems to care. With three of those being subs its pretty depressing! Thoughts?
Granero was the worst offender, he was in a right strop for being played out on the right. I agree with the rest though, you know its bad when Taarabt wins more tackles that the rest of the guys ( not including Nelsen).
Only Nelsen for me. Adel definitely tried hard but that is a minimum expectation and he delivered one cross for the goal. Rest of the time he (like Hoilett and Granero) spend so much time showing how comfortable they are on the ball that the opposition has an age to organise itself and momentum is lost. Mackie always tries hard but he is not good enough - not his fault. Fabio and Derry - not enough time on the pitch to tell. Feel sorry for Cesar but he certainly does not claim anything in the air in his six yard box. Would be happy never to see Bosingwa, Traore or Cisse play for us again on yesterday's showing. Ferdinand has never been more than a 3rd choice CB, Samba was the only one trying to move the ball quickly or run with intent but he lost possession a lot and was beginning to lose his cool when subbed. Faurlin way off the pace. Thing is I really like some of these players, but they were so bad yesterday in a pressure game that sympathy for them has evaporated. You can't blame the manager for everything.
If you include the substitutes, that's 7 out of 14 that took to the field yesterday, which tells the woeful story right there.
I think if you look at which players came over at the end Nelson, Mackie, Derry and Adel, the only 4 who can hold their heads reasonably high, interesting that with the exception of Nelson (whose a model prof) the others have been with us when we came up, Maybe we need to look more towards players such as these and throw Hill, Faulin and a few of the youngsters into the mix and maybe just maybe we might be able to get something going, it can't be any worse and to be honest what is the point in playing someone because who they are, much prefer to lose and know that the player tried and cared - should never have got rid of Helguson and Luke Young and DJ should be in the 25 Also, Bosingwa should never wear the hoops again, absolutely useless
Little bit unfair on Granero. Why was he played out wide? Hughes had the same starting 11 as we had against Stoke. Why the **** did he change the positions. Had we gone into yesterdays game with the same formation as we used at Stoke, we would have taken 3 points from the Saints. Hughes is entirely to blame.
Granero had by far his worst performance IMO, I didn't think Hoilett and Diakite were bad though, Samba was definitely trying, he is a quality player and a real gem. Hoilett seemed to be putting some shift in.
Oh, and I forgot to say Traore looked devastated at the end in a heap and went round with Nelsen at the end of match which I guess can be commended
I agree that Granero had his worst game for us so far, but would Cisse have had a good game if he had been in goal! The point is, Hughes is playing the boys out of position, hence they will not perform as well. He's a tit and should do one.
Player ratings from Sunday Times Cesar 6 Bosingwa 3 Ferdinand 4 Nelsen 5 Traore 3 Diakite 4 Faurlin 4 Granero 4 Taarabt 6 Hoilett 5 Cisse 5 Some of these are generous. I refuse to give a professional footballer any credit for trying or 'heart'. Traore did hang around on the pitch at the end. Probably in shock after realising that he had allowed a very average player like Puncheon, who he trained with for 4 months last year, run rings round him.
I can't believe Bosingwa got a 3, still trying to come to terms what I was witnessed yesterday Traore is not a defender, as he can't defend, he is however a very capable left midfielder/winger, which maybe should be something to look at, problem is that leaves Fabio at left back and unsure of him, how I would have looked if we'd signed Tawio
THE GOOD I'd disagree with SB about Adel - I think he had a good game. He worked hard, made tackles and looked dangerous going forward. He clearly cared about the result and if the rest had matched him we would have won. Nelsen also stood out. THE OK Diakite, Cesar and Hoilett had some good moments. Mackie worked hard but, I would agree with SB, I'm not sure he's prem standard. THE BAD Based on yesterday's performance, Traore, Granero, Cisse and Bosingwa, especially, couldn't give a monkeys. Bosingwa is a serial offender. I can't recall Ferdinand making a single header: he's a squad player at best. Faurlin was way off the pace and lost Puncheon way too easily for their second goal.
This is a great point. They did not know who was where or what position etc. When we defended - no one was at the half way line for most of the set pieces. I have never remembered doing this. It seems suicidal in a must win game. We had all 11 players in the box - with the odd argument about who should be going where. Team - leaderless.
