Well that was frustrating wasn't it?!!! We could have played for another 3 hours and not scored. Not everyone was poor though - here are my ratings: Reina - 7. Looked confident and assured with little to do. Jose - 6. Was okay largely and worked hard throughout. Lacked cutting edge. Agger - 6.5. Some good stuf, and some sloppy moments which almost cost us. JC - 7.5. Very solid, confident, made some important tackles and also got forward okay! Johnson - 5.5 Reasonable at the back but poor going forward. Poor passing, crossing, one-two's and decision making. Lucas - 6.5. Was okay. Nothing more, nothing less. Did his job. Gerrard - 6. Tried to lift the team but lacked cutting edge and had two chances he should have scored. Henderson 5.5. Looked weak and was very slow on the build up. General play was poor. Added little. Downing - 6. Looked okay at the start then went back to terrible and then left! Coutinho - 5.5. Passing in the first half okay. Second, his touch was poor, as was his passing, strength and decision making. Suarez - 5. Had an off day. His touch was aweful as was his short passing and general play. Largely dominated. Subs: Sturridge: 5. Pants. Needs to sharpen up and is clearly not match fit. Assaidi - 5. Not match fit. Poorly managed player and he duely added little. What do you guys think?
I thought Coutinho had a good game. Constantly tried to make incisive forward passes and worked hard for the team.
Disagree with a few of these: Thought Enrique was worthy of at least a 7, he was as defensively solid as he's ever looked and he was effectively a left back and a left winger today as Coutinho spent most of the match inside. Agger and Carragher both were excellent, I'd give both of them an 8. Lucas was poor, very slow in the build up, not quick enough distributing the ball Gerrard was brilliant today. Reminiscent of the Gerrard of old marauding forward and taking charge alongside his new role of quietly dictating play at times. I'd give him an 8. Suarez was even worse than a 5, I'd give him a 4 maybe. Wasted a lot of good scoring chances with silly flicks (which on another day may have come off) and just being too slow to react. Collins had him in his backpocket. Probably the first really bad game I've seen him play.
In hindsight I might have been a little harsh on Jose. Agger did nearly gift them a goal in the first half. You thought Gerrard was brilliant? I think he was pretty average but each to their own. And yeah Suarez was not at the races was he?!
I think Agger made a couple of last ditch sensational blocks/challenges that might have swayed my overall rating. Maybe I was a little enthusiastic but overall our problem today was not defence or midfield. Suarez and Sturridge both had off-games and West Ham had 8 or 9 players behind the ball for vast quantities of the game. Still not sure whether Sturridge was offside for his goal and on another day we'd have had a guaranteed penalty.
Yeah I agree mate. Our defence was good today when it needed to be. Helped that they defended so deeply! I just think we had an off day. A bit more strength in depth over the summer and we'll soon win games like this.
Suarez was awful today. Around the 60min mark (on the match thread) I said I would sub him Edit: not complaining about him, I can tolerate one bad game in 72
Reina - Looked commanding for the first time in a long time, and made a few sharp stops. No spillages. 7 Glen - Average today. Played one lovely ball which Downing wasted early on. 5 Carra - Another solid display. 6 Agger - Good game from the Dane, sharper than recently. Made a brilliant block. 6 Enrique - Very positive, strong, got forward. 7 Lucas - Made one key block, otherwise was rather poor today. 4 Henderson - Tidy, energetic, but lacked incision. 5 Gerrard - Probably our best player today, and the most likely to change the score. 7 Suarez - Shadow of his usual self. Marshalled well by Collins. 5 Coutinho - Lively, worked hard, played several good balls and several dangerous shots. 7 Downing - Busy but blunt, off early. 5 --------- Sturridge - Tried but wasn't decisive enough. Wasted a few moves with fancy flicks. 5 Assaidi - Wasted a lot of oxygen on the left flank. 3
I would give coutinho a higher rating, played some class through balls that sturridge/suarez messed up, looked our most dangerous player IMO
Thought Jose Enrique played very well.Reina played well... Danjamiel Carragheragger played OK. Gerrard and Coutinho both OK. Really the only people who didn't play well were Suarez who was bested by Collins and Sturridge whose positional sense was way off. Had our forwards done better and knocked a couple of balls in I don't think people would be rating the rest of the team as poorly. We mostly dominated the game but failed to create or execute chances.
Ass man didn't give his hopes of regular first team football much of a boost... couldn't have seen less of him had he been wearing Harry Potters invisibility cloak inside a cloaked Romulan war bird.
I'm a meh.... johnson was terrible. gerrard... well i just wonder had he had those rests i was lambasted about ealier i nthe seaosn would he have just had that evtra little bit... mind you he really did give it everything to try and get us going.
