Another performance that was not great throughout but there were spells in which we looked lethal. Ipswich are a very tough team to break down usually, and when we were at our best, we looked frighteningly efficient at breaking them down. Some chances weren't taken that would have seen us 3-0 up within 10 minutes. I was pleased to see Perez scoring and it's good to see goals coming from multiple different sources. Rafa's team is starting to link up very well together. Happy days. Ratings - Darlow - 6.5 - Didn't have to do much. Some good positioning and kept his calm when crowd were urging him to belt it out. Yedlin - 7 - Good work rate, good attacking and defending. Lascelles - 7 - Good aerial work and defensive work. Apart from his poor distribution he was solid. Clark - 7 - Another solid game. Dummett - 7 - A decent game today. Still some bad mistakes but some good defending at times. Pretty much got an assist today too. Colback - 7 - Apart from a few rash challenges he was solid in midfield. He's had a decent spell recently. Shelvey - 7 - Not at his best but had spells today where he provided some great passing and dictated the play. Ritchie - 7 - Worked very hard, ran throughout the match and great goal. Perez - 8 - 2 goals, and assist and signs of improved capability to handle the pressure of english football. Goufffran - 7 - Great work rate. Very good and winning balls in the air for us. Some decent balls into the box. Gayle - 7 - Good shift despite not finding the net. Hayden - n/a - Some good interceptions and work rate when he came on. Mitro - n/a - Not enough time to make impact. Atsu - n/a - Didn't do much. Benitez - 7.5 - Efficiency and good job rotating squad to gain success. MOTM - Perez
Agree with all of that. I'd maybe have Colback and Yedlin in 6's. Yedlin looked scared to cross the ball at times and, well, it's the same old question with Coblack, "what does he actually add to the team"? Very competent performance overall, but there are probably another couple of gears to find before we can say we are at our absolute best.
Agree with your ratings Tash. I thought Ritchie's performance was probably a 6, with a few bad placed passes, but his goal is worth a bonus point. The same applies to Perez too. Quite a few were making poor passes, but i think it was probably for the right reasons this time. They were trying to play quick passing with incisive passes - and they aren't all coming off yet. Early days though.
not once did I think we would not win. It's hard not to be cocky and crow after every win but with Rafa in charge we are ruling the roost for sure.
Professional display, can't really blame them for dropping the ball a few times ... in a match void of intensity. Ipswich had no belief, pretty much the same as Barnsley. Quite remarkable how the other teams don't seem to feel like they have a shot at taking anything away from us. Silly really, since we're suspect at the back, as shown in the matches against Villa and Norwich.
While I appreciate we are doing well I feel people need to be ready to accept that if we go up we will be more likely in a relegation battle next season. I've seen a couple of comments along the lines of top ten etc already which isn't impossible but highly unlikely, so let's not get too deluded and be happy with where we are. We might never be top ten again but at least we have players that want to be here and a manager that does too. Ps Tash are you ok? Not one formation????
I usually don't put formations in a match day reviews. And I don't believe many people are already eye top 10 positions in the PL. If we went up just as we are now we'd likely be in the lower bottom half of the table with threats of relegation. But this team have only had 14-15 games to get themselves acquainted and are still no where near top form yet and are still winning the championship. Rafa still hasn't found his best team and is rotating regularly. It will take time, but this is why a good set of cup runs and 42 games in the championship is good for us. With a few more additions to the team and more and more time together, I'd feel confident that next season we would have the team and manager to avoid relegation, but there's a lot of time to go yet. Focus on the next game only.
I would change the word great for canny or good in the headline tash We will find there true standard if we get a decent premier team in the cups . Must say I am enjoying my days out at st james'.which makes a nice change
I'd say great. I never said we have been great, but all I'm saying is there have been certain spells where we have looked lethal.
Sissyoko, ****jerman and Towelend should all have a look at Gouffran and take note of how under Rafa he has applied himself and through his work on the field changed a lot of fans minds about him, there is a long way to go with this team and a ton of work to be done by Rafa but he is certainly knitting them together and through a bit of luck and hard work the clean sheets are telling.
I don't want to seem over confident, but we're surely up already. We look seriously unbeatable at the moment. With regards to next season, our only hope in hell of getting in the top ten and looking like we deserve it is smart purchases & the good feeling in the dressing room spilling over to next season. I'd rather see an intelligent, patient approach to the clubs development, spend well with a smart manager in charge who has a vision. Can't really go wrong there, hopefully.
