Mannone 7/10. Always looking to start moves quickly. Nowt to aim for with his kicks. No defenders looking for the short ball. Seemd a bit nervier than usual. Rosenior 7/10. Certainly not at his best, still head and shoulders better than anyone else on the park. Made a 40 yard overlapping run only for King to slice one into the stand. Same as Vito, looks up when crossing there is no one to aim for. Fine, we dont have a big man at the far post. But why dont we ever see a near post run or someone getting in front of their marker, they should be busting a gut to get in the box yet no one does. Hobbs and Cooper 6/10. Feel sorry for Coops, first full league game since Torres!! and he gets a beast like Platt who only lost one header all game. He was surprisingly mobile too. Hobbs definitely not as comfortable at RB. Fantastic block when he got injured. Mind you the pitch may have just helped us there as it took an age to come down. Dawson 5/10. You know there is something seriously wrong when Andy Dawson shies out of a 50/50 tackle as he did second half. His comedy wrestling with Platt was quite funny though. Brady 6/10. Wasteful, erratic but still better than Stewart and should have stayed on. Stewart 4/10. Nick this is harming him more than helping him. First half bit of pressure in their box, comes to him. Stands for 3 seconds, waits waits does a step over or two, piss poor cross easily cleared. FFS your a speed machine son, bring it down and drive at the RB, inside outside i dont care make him **** himself with your pace. And as for the 3 step overs and kick it out for a goal kick second half. Mckenna 4/10. We all know how good Koren is but when he isnt playing you realise how good he makes those around him look. Mckenna's first 3 passes went straight to them. After that it didnt get better. Another one who bottled a 50/50. He makes a big play of taking free kicks quickly, usually gives them to Evans who gives it straight back, he then passes it back to Coops or Hobbs all momentum lost. He is playing way way too far back to influence any attacking play. Sure he is the defensive CM but he is 20 yards behind play. Compare his performance with Clingan their number 4. He dominated them both, was constructive and destructive, played one superb ball in the first half with the outside of his right foot straight a forward.I think 4 is kind. Evans 4/10. See Mckenna. Mclean 5/10. As it used to say in daft lads schooll reports. Nice handwriting. His first touch is appalling. When a cross came over in the first half he attempted to play it back in first time. It went so high and straight in to the crowd. Shocking. Fryatt 6/10. He's not happy. We can see he isnt happy. Works hard. Needs Platt up alongside him. King 6/10 Tried hard, plays like a young man who has never scored a goal and never will. Bradley 7/10. Did ok. Im being generous with 7 but has a nice touch for a big un. Happy to see him continue. Cullen 5/10. Most bizarre decision since PB's 4-6-0 formation. Put your leading scorer to left midfield, no it wasnt 4-3--3 its 4-4-2 and left midfield, and put Cullen up front??? Nick Barmby. 4/10. Simmo comes in out of the cold, does ok. Then not even on the bench?? Whether you like TC or not. The CM was where we were completely dominated, it was clear as day. Stewart needs a long rest Nick. I dont like Garcia but him and Oli should have been on the bench at the very least. Tactically. If you like playing it the Barca way why arent our back four taking it off the keeper all the time. Look how Soton did that with the CB's on the corner of the box. It stretches play. How many goal kicks do we take with all the team crammed into 20 yards of the half way line? Vito kicks out of hand way too much, and ther is no one to aim for. If Mclean does head it, no one knows which way it will end up, least of all him! Lastly. AP and the Allams. 2/10 Yes we have been on a **** run but a win yesterday would keep it rolling. Where was the drumming it up in the press. Why didnt you give free tickets for the North Stand so it was full??
Totally agree about Stewart, Cullen (especially), oli and Garcia. My ratings are as follows: Mannone - 7 Made a couple of decent saves Rosenior - 6 Better than past few games Hobbs - 6 Fine until he came off, we'll miss him not that it matters any more. Cooper - 4 Poor, didn't win anything in the air. The ball was going wide for the first goal. Dawson - 5 Too pacy. Stewart - 2 Piss poor as usual. McKenna - 6 Fine but needs a creative midfielder with him Evans - 6 Fine, as above Brady - 5 Okay, nothing special. Unlucky to be taken off before Stewart. Fryatt - 6 Feeding off scraps. McLean - 6 Same King - 6 Why was he on the bench Bradley - 6 Looked solid Cullen - 4 Did **** all as usual Barmby - 4. I love the man but he's too stubborn and his interview with Burnsy stank.
