No doubt about it, we were poor overall. We had 5 in the midfield and couldn't dictate play. We had an extra man and still couldn't dictate play. Every attempt we made at attacking broke down miserably. I wasn't a big fan of our strategy (more on that below). Glass half full says our defence was decent and we have the last 10 minutes of the match to build on for the next set of games. Here are my ratings: Mig - didn't have too much to do, but did well enough when called on (7). Cuellar - took the 'no nonsense' approach to a whole new meaning. Headed a lot of stuff out which he could have controlled. Decent enough overall. I enjoyed his sauntering run down the middle of the park with the ball, until it predictably broke down of course (7). O'Shea - decent enough. His header was going nowhere near the goal until Ba generously helped it on. (7). Gardner - gave it a good go, but he ain't no right back. Was beaten a few times down the left, but at least not dominated. While he got forward enough, he wasn't a big threat and didn't make any crosses. Only a matter of time before one of his thunder bolts hits the target though (6.5). Rose - put in a very good shift. Very good in defence and got forward a lot. Put in a few ok crosses too. Could do with that extra little bit of control on the ball, but all in all no complaints (8.5). Colback - a big weakness. He tries hard but continually gets bossed around by other centre mids. Very little cutting edge in attack. Went annonymous for large chunks of the game. Completely unacceptable given the man advantage. I have hopes for him in the future, but let's be honest: he's miles off right now in terms of what we all want for this position (5). Seb - His deliveries were poor relative to what we expect from him. No major threat. Got bossed around (not surprising as he's a LM/RM and not a centre mid, and certainly not an engine room player). If he's not delivering on dead balls, he's not helping (5). Sess - that MON subbed him off (when he should have been really helpful in the last 20 minutes) says it all. I would have subbed him off too. Almost no threat whatsoever. Had one to forget and hasn't really gotten going this season. He's been here before and recovered, so I'm not panicking. But we need a hell of a lot more from him if we want to score goals (4). McLean - was sadly lacking until the last 5 minutes. I hope he builds on it. Before that, he was far too transparent in attack, couldn't get a single cross in and was generally in the defender's pocket all game. He needs to add more dimesions to his game and get his head back on straight. A 5 game spell on the bench, coming on as a sub, may be in order. He gets a half point more than Sess because of his last 5 minutes which were slightly more encouraging (4.5). Johnson - he's not there yet. Showed flashes of amazing control on the ball and knows how to work the line, but didn't do anything to strike fear into their hearts. I'm still confident he'll be ok once he gets a run of games (6). Fletch - given the abysmal construction and delivery he received, he did as good as could be expected. Held the ball up well at times, but was largely a non-factor. I think he managed only 1 shot off target for the whole game (6.5). Saha - decent interplay and hold up work from him and always a bit of a threat. Things seemed to change for us the moment he came on (partially because them lot were worried about protecting their lead). You can definitely see the class in his game. The question beckons - why don't we start playing him more? (7). Vaughan - didn't get enough game time to fairly judge him. That said, I would start him over Colback or Seb in CM (and move Seb out wide and give McLean a bench role for a bit) (6). MON - I love the guy and rate him very highly. However, I don't think this game was his finest hour and my humble view is that his tactics were too dour - especially since we were a goal down early on and had a man advantage for so long. Why did he only start 1 up front for a home game? Why does he think Colback and Seb make a good CM pairing (and have any chance against Cabaye and Tiote?). Why did he wait so long to bring Saha on? Why didn't he have the whole team commit to attack a bit more and take a few extra risks? I hope he's asking himself the same questions. I still have complete faith in him. The ho-hum stretch of 7 games we've had so far isn't going to change that. Still, I have to render a harsh assessment for this game: derby's matter (5). At least it's miles better than Bruce's scores for these games!!! Stoke (A) and Villa (H) next, so a very good shot for 4 or 6 points if we get our act together and have a bit of luck on our side. And at least we've only been beaten once all season - so it's not all bad
Think you gave Sess and McClean a couple of points to many..and harsh of Colback, but it's all about opinions.
I know I'm harsh on the ginger lad, but CM is the position I demand the most of. Cabaye was making light work of him and Seb all game. Catts is a couple of cuts above Colback - and I still think we very much need to bring in someone better than Catts in at CM (still keeping Catts of course). If we could dictate play better in the midfield, we would be doing a lot better in attack in my view. My main concern is that we've struggled to have any control even with 5 in the middle.
Aye suppose ya right, well worth a point or two deduction..**** is McClean was a ginga, iv'e have him in the minus.
How about rating MON.....he did nothing with the shape of the team until 65 mins in, despite the scum taking of a forward after they went to 10 men....I think only 3/10. Picked the wrong team(McClean doesn't rate inclusion), picked wrong formation(got to go 2 up front at home) and didn't react to the changes in good time. Sorry but no happy at the moment, I see no light at the end of the tunnel......I thing the game showed how fixed MON is about tactics and personnel...it's a bit of a worry!
Mate so true about colback. Sick of idiots not being able to see how poor he is and how much he is ruining our midfield
Didn't get to see the game unfortunately but your summation more or less sums up our season so far, not just yesterdays game. We've been woefully lacking any form of creativity for the last 7 games and i honestly can't see how it's going to improve. Catts will make a difference when he comes back as will Bardsley, freeing up Gardner to the midfield will help. I agree we need to drop McClean to the bench and i'd give Colback a rest as well . I'd put Larsson wide right with Catts and Gardner in the middle, Johnson on the left and give Saha a run with Fletcher up front.
4-5-1-1 is not working for us at the moment. It was highlighted on MOTD that when we have the ball in good positions we have no one in the box. We need to go back to 4-4-2. I agree with most of them ratings, however I'd have given Gardner a 7.5. I thought he was our best player. Hopefully he and Catts will become our centre mid now Bardos back!
Gardner was a tough one to rate as he was one of the few that took the game on, but his end product going forward was lacking. I'll meet you half way and give him a 7! I still think Rose was our best.
Rose was quality, he had the better of Ben Arfa more than once. The only thing stopping him from getting our star man was his mistake for their goal. Other than that he was faultless!
Our team lack sum1 who gets the ball in center of the pitchand drive us forward. this may be what sess is meant to do but it aint happeningfor him. gardner showed glompes of driving forward with the ball from cm yesterday but the main problem we have is our team is set out to defend and therefore weare not able to support fletcher hence the reason he is the only player to score in the league
I think playing someone up top with Fletch is vital and will benefit Fletcher no end, Saha is the obvious choice as he is a canny player but Wickham should be in with a shout as well because he causes problems purely because of his physical presence players are drawn over to him leaving Fletcher in more room.
Why not get in a couple of reserves for the stoke game, put Gardner back in midfield with sess, and we need to combat Crouches height somehow, maybe Connor whickham?. We need our best team for the Boro match.
I thought that was a little harsh on Colback. I thought he was the only one in midfield that even attempted a couple of direct bursts forward, and when he did lose the ball, made a couple of crucial track backs and won the back ball again. Rose was outstanding (alonside Colocini, who seemed to cover everything in slow motion he was that comfortable !!). Sess needs to get back into CM wher his quick turns always provided that spark going forward last season. He is NEVER a frontman !! C'mon MON, show us yer balls and change it around now.
