Paulo Gazzaniga - 5, Conceded a soft goal that cost us 2 points today. Usually a fan. Nathaniel Clyne - 7, A good all round display as you would expect. Jose Fonte - 6, Mixed game for him. Maya Yoshida - 5, Wasn't his finest game, distribution in particular was poor. Luke Shaw - 7, Outstanding first half, but tired in the second half due to cramp. Jason Puncheon - 6, Hit and miss down the right. Jack Cork - 7, Put in another decent shift in the midfield. Morgan Schneiderlin - 5, Poor display. Very much unlike him. Adam Lallana - 6, Mixed display. Very hit and miss, especially second half. Gaston Ramirez - 6/7, Sometimes I think he needs to pass a bit more but looked solid. Rickie Lambert - 7, Scored a decent goal but faded second half Ben Reeves/Jay Rodriguez - N/A, Didn't have time to make an impact Referees - -10
Sammy the Saint 10/10 and my MotM. Very consistent routine throughout the half time break. Has put in some mixed displays lately but tonight's was a top performance.
2 players stood out for me. Gaffeniga 0 The one save he had to make he ****ed up. He must be dropped. Luke Shaw 9 Best player on the pitch by a mile.
Gazzaniga 3 Clyne 8 Fonte 7 Yoshida 6 Shaw 9 MOTM Schneiderlin 7 Cork 7 Ramirez 6 Puncheon 7 Lambert 7 Lallana 8
Gazzaniga 3 - Not just the error. Didn't come off his line to get the ball a few times when he should have in open play and corners. Looked awful against set pieces, looked like he even over ran a few before the goal and after the error didn't want to come off his line at all..it's a shame but he had a shocker and I expect him to be dropped now Clyne 8 Fonte 9 - Was a rock at the back. Left one on one with an attacker last man a few times in the second half and dealt with the attacker. Made some vital clearances. Yoshida 7 Shaw 9 - Made a couple of vital last ditch tackles. Excellent in the air. Was bossing Holt physically. Schneiderlin 8 Cork 8 Lallana 6 Ramirez 6 Puncheon 6 Lambert 8 - Grabbed a goal and unlucky not to create more with the knocks downs Thought Tettey was brilliant for Norwich. They did very well at not letting Ramirez, Lallana and Puncheon get going. I thought it was a very odd moment when Shaw got a knock/cramp and with a Norwich player already down tried to put the ball out...Norwich kept it in and tried to attack...very strange BTW Schneiderlin did not have a poor game. Had our highest passing accuracy after Clyne, made our most tackles. Not sure what game you were watching tbh.
Paulo - 6 Had a good game however should have saved the free kick whether it hit clyne, or if Clyne's action put him off. Clyne - 7 Pity about the tackle for their goal (although looked a good tackle to me) then he went and got in the way of the free kick, possibly redirecting slightly and even if not could have take Paulo's eyes off it. Jose Fonte - 6 Sometimes seemed to be a little hesitant whether it was Goalie's ball or his. Maya Yoshida - 6 Same as Fonte Luke Shaw - 8 Was great for most of the game, sometimes having to recover his own mistakes but doing well. Pity he had togo off after getting injured by Holt? (he pointed to where the injury was caused) Jason Puncheon - 8/6, Great in the first half, A little like he was lost in the second half apart from a good first time shot. Was visibly tired after 75 minutes and should have gone off. Jack Cork - 7, Kept appearing when you forget he's playing. Just does everything without you really noticing him Morgan Schneiderlin - 6 A little lost at times tonight but Norwich were setup to mess his game up IMO. Adam Lallana - 8 MOTM, played his heart out. Had the beating of their right back many times. Pity our attackers all run in unison. Everytime he got to a crossing option there were 3 players in a line, no 3 options, just a hit and hope one of ours gets the foot on it. The nutmeg when boxed in the corner was a beaut. Gaston Ramirez 6 Sometimes you can see he is accustomed to having more time. HE often hits the ball further away from where he is going to run to and in the PL that means that someone crashes their boot through the ball or beats you to it. Needs to remember how physical and fas the PL is. Rickie Lambert - 7, Great instinctive hit after the ball ricocheted off the Norwich player. Won loads of headers and knock downs but ou rplayers always in a line so many don't come off. Ben Reeves 6 Fair to say that Reeves is no full back at this moment or at least is made to look so by Shaw. Chased his man too far out forgetting his position at times. Referee - 10 for giving the correct decision of 'ball to hand' for Lambert's goal. 1 for the rest of the game.
Paulo Gazzaniga - 4 Reminds me of the song - Should I stay or should I go now, If I stay there will be trouble..... looks like he has potential but making too many costly mistakes and he gets me nervous as hell when anything is crossed into the box. The majority of the time I am peeking through my hands with angst! Nathaniel Clyne - 7 Was solid, linked well. Don't have to worry about him too much! Jose Fonte - 7 looked the better of the two CBs - Not a great deal of nail bitting when the ball comes in his direction! Maya Yoshida - 5 and a tad - won some good headers but gave the ball way with poor passing in dangerous situations. Doesn't fill me with confidence. (was he attempting a kung- foo style flip flop block that went completely behind him? Should have just dealt with the ball a bit more directly! Luke Shaw - 8 Very good display, tough to get past and strong on the ball. Does fill me with confidence!! Jason Puncheon - 6 and a squeak - Like a poster already said "a bit hit and miss!" Does have that "Get me out of my seat capacity!" Jack Cork - 7 Seemed much better second half, first half seemes sluggish? Didn't seem to have any urgency about him? Good shift again though! Morgan Schneiderlin - 5, I know what the stats say but alot of those passes were backwards when he should have been going forwards! Could be accused of ball watching at times, especially when Norwich seemed to play right through us with ease!!! (in spells) Just didn't seem at the races tonight? Adam Lallana - mmmmhhh good sometimes but often does that silly spin when I feel he should be driving on? Beautiful touches though which gets me excited!!! Gaston Ramirez - 6/7, You can tell the lad has skill, just one of those nights when things didn't click. I could watch him all day but not in a stalker way! Rickie Lambert - 7 Miss one that I thought he should have got? Still good value for money!! Oh and scored!!! Ben Reeves - 3 - sorry but NO!!! Too young and way too small! Nearly gave a goal away and their right winger must have laughed when he saw he was gonna play up against the local paperboy - LB is not his position! Was bounced around like a rag doll!!! Made me bit my nails down to the quick!!! Jay Rod - not enough time Clattenburg - 2....bad bad bad!!! Everything was going their way....Top ref, me thinks not, unless he had a bet on "Both teems to score!" Made me sooo angry that I stood up and screamed "You F***ing C**t Ref" appalling language! Biased perhaps??? Adkins - 6 What happened to the attacking subs Nigel? Heard the post match interview, seems like he wasn't happy with Butter fingers!
He does look about 12 years old but he is 21, would prefer him coming on than Fox- but yes he lost his man several times that lead to a squeaky bum towards the end.
Gazzaniga - 4 - For the first 10 games, we showed good potential and had clear talent, but were undermined by basic and fundamental errors repeatedly. The rest of the team has moved on from this for the most part in the last four games, but now Gazza has taken it upon himself to embody our early season struggles on his own. And the argument that the defence plays better and is more comfortable with him is starting to lose weight I think, throughout the game their was miscommunication between Paulo and the defence, and there were several times where a simple get-out-of-pressure pass was on to him, but the centrebacks chose to take harder options instead. And then of course the moment leading up to the penalty claim was Shaw trying to shield the ball for Gazza to come and collect, Gazza didn't and Shaw was forced into making a dangerous challenge. Nigel has a tough decision on his hands, but I'll still support whatever he decides. Clyne - 7 - Was at his finest for a lot of the game, but also made a few silly tackles and conceded a couple of poor fouls, and at times his positioning was off, but he as per usual he had the speed and tackling ability to make up for it and made some crucial challenges to offset his bad ones. Fonte - 8 - Continues to be steady and solid defensively, and getting more and more efficient and confident with his distribution. Yoshida - 6 - Wasn't one of his more composed displays that he has had in recent games, and it seems as soon as he loses his confidence and composure defensively, he falls to pieces with his passing. That said, he wasn't exactly bad. Shaw - 9 - Outstanding for me. In his previous games he has been good and steadfast without really lighting up the place, but that was all you could ask for in a 17 year old coming into a struggling defence. But today I thought he was really fantastic, made some important tackles, showed great strength and ability to wrestle possession cleanly without sticking in a leg or pushing and pulling, he wasn't perfect and there were still a few little niggles, but he was damn good. And he even won the free-kick which lead to the goal, as the cherry on top. Cork - 7 - I felt like he and Scheiderlin didn't quite wrestle control of the midfield and contribute as much at both ends as they have in previous games, but a lot of that is down to Norwich's pressing and shape, so hard to blame them. But still, mostly very dynamic despite a few sloppy moments that were made throughout the game by the entire team. I wrestled between 7 and 6 and if I did decimals I'd probably for 6.5, but in the end I thought I'd be nice and give a 7. Schneiderlin - 6 - See above, except I didn't feel like he did quite enough to get a 7. Puncheon - 7 - Once again was our biggest threat other than set-pieces and Lambert knock-downs, he really ran at the defence with confidence and was direct and incisive as he has been recently, but not quite as effective as his last two games. And there were a couple of moments where he did his 'head down dribble into dead end' routine. Would have liked to have seen him come across and link-up with Lallana more as they have been doing to such dangerous effect in the last few games. Ramirez - 7 - Another player I would maybe rate as a 6.5 if I got into decimals. It was one of Gaston's games where it just doesn't quite come off, and he needs to learn when he has to keep it simple rather than try too much and just lose the ball. It's good that he's so willing to come to different areas of the pitch to collect the ball, but I feel like sometimes there is a 'give it to Gaston' mentality, and that he feel he needs to do more than he actually does. There are times when he should try and turn his marker and run, but there are many times where he should just take the simple passing option and then try and get himself into a better position. When you collect it with open space to drive into, go and do your thing, when you receive the ball around the half-way line in a crowded position with 2 or 3 defenders around you, just pass it mate! That said, he still has his moments of class and his work ethic and effort he is putting in defensively is really pleasing me. Lallana - 7 - Faded in and out of the game, at times he was at his best, at times he was nowhere. But overall I thought he was good and he put a great delivery in for our goal. And the same goes for him as Puncheon, would have liked to see him moving around the front line more and getting some of the interplay that has delighted us in recent weeks going. Lambert - 8 - I thought he did fantastically well aerially and in his target man-like role, he's not just a tough bastard to beat in the air, but he's so clever in his knock-downs, and he can regularly get the ball to a teammate without even touching it. Also grabbed his goal although it wasn't one of his finest, I think you'd call that a 'poachers goal'. Nigel - 5 - I know talking ill of Nigel does not go down well, and rightly so for the most part because he is fantastic and I love him to bits, but I was just a bit disappointed more than anything else. He talks so often about positivity and trying to win games, but I just felt like by not trying to drive the team forwards with attacking substitutions he, and the team, just settled for a draw. A draw is not a bad result against a team in Norwich's vein of form, but in reality they were not anywhere near their best at either end, and with us at home, and the momentum swinging our way around the 65th/70th minute, we had the opportunity to throw Rodriguez, Mayuka or even Davis on to really take the game to Norwich, but instead we just played out a draw with no real intent. When you factor in that it is the second in three games in seven days, it get's even more confusing that we did not introduce fresh legs. A point is not bad, but in the end Norwich were really there for the taking and it was an opportunity missed in my view, especially when you consider how often Nigel talks of us trying to win games of football. It wasn't quite clicking for us at the front, both teams were tiring, and we had options on the bench who have proven that they can make an impact, and it was just disappointing for me that we didn't try and push on for the three points when they were available. Fans - 4 - Was very nervy and quiet, it wasn't exactly a packed house but there was still 29000 in, felt like the players really needed a lift and to be pushed on but the fans were quiet and anxious, which just translated into the team for me. The fact it was cold as **** probably didn't help either. Subs - Didn't have time to have any impact, but Reeves did look shaky.
Only seen Norwich's goal once, but it looked like Gazza expected a high shot, but then why not set the wall so that was the only option. Very weak wall. Made a good save against Holt. Glad to see Shaw still doing well and will get better with experience, but am a little worried that I would be seriously concerned if a 17-yr-old player prone to cramp can't play. Desperately need strengthening at the back. Think it was just one of those games that drifted to a draw...seemed like Adkins was afraid to lose...not like him at all. Onwards and upwards...we got a point and didn't let Norwich move further away.
Yep, the game was crying out for an earlier change of personnel. I thought although Puncheon did really well, but he drifted out of the game a bit towards the end. He had run his socks off so that probably would have been one change. Ramirez for Davis as well, things just weren't going right for Sir Gaston yesterday. I think he was trying too hard.
Gazza-5 Clyne-8 Fonte-8 Yoshida-8 Shaw-9 MOTM Puncheon-8 Schneiderlin-8 Cork-8 Lallana-9 Ramirez 8 Lambert/Maradona-8 Rodriguez-6 Reeves-5
