GK: Davis - 6.5 - Major point to note and a recurring theme of the team's performance was how out of sync Kelv seemed with the rest of the side in terms of distribution. Kept rolling/passing it out to Cork and Fox at full back when they didn't want it, the most obvious case being the penalty incident when Fox played it straight back to him under pressure. However he can hardly be attributed with the fault for this given that he's always been encouraged to do this under Adkins and I imagine the blame lies more with Fox and Cork who were making their first respective starts at full-back. Made a couple of good saves and haven't seen the goals since so not sure whether he could've done better in either instance. RB: Cork - 5.5 - If we're to garner anything positive from his performance today it's surely proof enough to NA that Cork isn't realistically versatile enough to fill in at full-back. Adkins must have opted to play him there on the basis of his second half performance at RB against Leicester. However on that occasion we were chasing the game so NA would only have seen him going forward. Today however, his positioning and anticipation were incredibly poor and through no fault of his own he frankly looked like a midfielder playing in defence. Hope to see him back at CM asap given that he's been our 2nd best player so far this season (Lallana). CB: Fonte - 6.5 - Can hardly think of a thing to say about his performance which is usually a good sign with a defender. Considering the remarkable fact that he was the only defender to have started at the back this season prior to kick-off today, he kept Miller and Derbyshire relatively quiet. Forest's two goals highlight the need for Jose and Jos to work at their prospective partnership urgently though. CB: Hooiveld - 6 - Haven't yet seen the highlights so am not sure just how responsible he was for Derbyshire's goal. Impressive in the air vs Miller. Brought the ball down a couple of times and played some of the tidy passes which he alluded to in his press conference upon joining. Ably intercepted a couple of driven balls from the flanks. Only criticism is an apparent lack of agility reminiscent of Jaidi, but as with Jaidi last season this is something Fonte has a knack of accommodating for. LB: Fox - 6 - Would probably have given him lower had he not assisted the 3rd goal. Looked to be partly/largely at fault for Forest's soft 1st goal (as I said, haven't seen highlights). For first 60 was disappointing both with the ball and without. Doesn't seem to have adapted to our passing game yet, and didn't anticipate movement of Connolly and Lambert well. Genuinely thought NA would replace him with Dickson at some point. However in the last 20 he upped his game, made some important blocks/tackles and seemed more confident on the ball especially in stoppage time when we were keeping it. RM: Guly - 7.5 - Started impeccably and his passing and movement dare-I-say was on par with Lallana on the other flank in the first 20 minutes. His superb flick in the build up to Lambert's 2nd proved to be a turning point in the match. Continues to surprise with how disciplined he is defensively. Minor criticism is how quiet he was in the 2nd half. Don't remember him having a touch before being replaced by Chaplow. CM: Hammond - 6 - Was his typically inconspicuous self throughout, yet Morgan didn't make him look as good today as Cork has been. Him and Schniederlin were overrun worryingly easily through the centre of the park for large periods today, particularly the beginning of the 2nd half when Forest were rampant and we were crying out for someone to take back control of the game for us by getting in their faces and getting the ball down. Led passionately as per usual. CM Schniederlin: - 6 - As with Hammond was quiet and unimposing but passed and tackled with his usual class. Simply needs more games but may have to wait a while now considering how strongly missed Cork was at CM. A joy to watch as ever though. LM: Lallana - 8.5 - Absurdly good, I don't know what we'd do without him. At the heart of every attack, looks like he's been playing with Connolly for 100 years rather than 1, always willing to track back defensively, wonderful attitude, arguably the most passionate player on the pitch, certainly the best technically, ticks EVERY box. But you know all this anyway... CF: Connolly - 8 - Still so underrated and under-praised in my view. As mentioned earlier links up so well with Lallana but always gives the option of the ball into feet for the full-backs as well. Not forgetting his wonderful understanding with Lambert. First touch and lay-offs are consistently first class. Movement and footballing brain is up there with top Premiership strikers, it's just down to his small stature and lack of pace and strength that he's not at the top level. One of the first names on the team sheet. Seems remarkable to think that this is the same player who was bench-bound and largely forgotten in League One. A revelation. CF: Lambert - 8 - Clinical. All 3 goals were fairly routine but must be remembered that they were his only 3 chances (as far as i can recall) of the day. Outfought and out-thought Morgan all day both in attack but also when defending set pieces. MOM: Adam Lallana
Yep, all excitement and hilarity aside, we are going to go through some situations where people will start to question the manager and his decisions. And sometimes the team will do the right thing and it still won't come good for them. It's been a fair old time since we've had to face that kind of situation, and support it, but it will inevitably happen.
I've read most of these posts and I'm amazed Lallana got so many votes for MOM. He wasn't poor as some said, however he did go through a long spell in second half when he gave it away alot or his final ball was not great. He did really well in first 25 minutes, but IMO not MOM. It was a strange game and without a stand out overall MOM I'd have go give it to Rickie - he did bag a trick afterall. I thought in the second half, there CM (Moussi ?) was best player.
People will forgive Lallana the odd blip because they know he has been fantastic for us, but they should also cut other players a bit of slack. The overall result today was yet another victory.
Yes. I said to my old man with about 25 minutes left that this was going to be a stern test. The boys passed the test and we won.
After initial euphoria, we're all realising how tough this season will be. Points on the board now are so important. Our strengths at the moment are in midfield, goal scoring and confidence, but the defence needs working on. Last season our defence appeared to do well in League 1, but I bet I'm not alone in finding it a bit hairy at times. This season we will be tested more. All wins are great, but I'd like a few clean sheets as well to feel more confident. Sounds daft when we've won 7/8 games but this will be a tough season.
Good points made by Fran. We are leaking goals at the moment; its does need tightening up at the back. Okay; not helped by having neither RB fit yesterday, nor a recognised partner for Fonte. At some point, our freeflowing goalscorers might start to stutter and then we will need to look to the defence to keep it tight. Great start to the season and the whole squad can be proud of what they have achieved.
Davis - 6 - A couple of superb saves which kept us in it at one point, but made a few mistakes too. What the feck was he doing farting about with the ball when Derbyshire nicked it away from him? Cork - 6.5 - Was brilliant going forward and you could see that he's quality, but he hasn't got a defensive mind, caught out of position too much - better in second half. Wasted at RB, but obviously it was enforced due to injuries. Fonte - 7 - Very solid performance, not as good as he usually is, but we're spoilt most of the time. Good enough to secure the three points. Hooiveld - 7.5 - Great debut for the lad, he mentioned on twitter after that he's not fully fit and he needs to work on his stamina, but that that'll come with games. Said his legs were in bits by the end and they just stopped listening haha. Fox - 8 - I don't understand why people are slating him so much? I thought he was terrific. Yes, he got caught out of position a fair few times, but Harding does that too.. Difference with Foxy is that he has the pace to get back and make a tackle, fantastic technical ability with a killer cross on him! Guly - 8 - Thought he was brilliant, especially in the first half. Worked his socks off but was right for him to come off when he did, faded a little bit and needed to freshen things up. Hammond - 7.5 - Did his job and he did it well. Nothing fancy, just typical Deano. Improved so so much over the summer, he's like a new signing. Schneiderlin - 6.5/7 - Played well but Forest restricted his time on the ball so couldn't spray his passes around as much as we know he loves to. Lallana - 6.5 - The lowest score I've ever given him. He was superb in the first half, and if he had of emulated that in the second he would of got around a 9. Faded drastically in the second round of 45 though and I feel he should of got back and helped Fox out a bit more. Looked tired to me. Sorry Lala Love you mate. Connolly - 7.5 - Brilliant display again from Conners, lethal! Deserved a goal. Became less effective in the second half though, fresh legs were needed.. Lambert - 10 - Wow. I think we can now class Lambert in the 'Club Legends' section. His ability is beyond belief, a long with his work rate and his passion for the football club. Thank god we've tied him down to a new contract! Proved the doubters wrong, didn't put a foot out of place all day. - Chaplow - 8.5 - Just what we needed, thought he was absolutely FANTASTIC when he came on! De Ridder - 7 - Looked lively, kept the ball well, not enough time on the pitch or on the ball to turn the magic on.
The good thing is that Nigel knows that clean sheets are important,i remember him saying a few times last season that good teams are built from the back so i have faith in him to sort the defence out.
Still on a fair few tablets after my recent op and my brain was a bit absent so I won't give ratings, but will make a few observations. Guly was excellent attacking, the trick and defence splitting ball for the first was great. Linked up very well in the first half witih Lambert, Connolly and Lallana. Though he neglected his defensive duties a bit though and left Cork rather exposed. Chaplow coming on seemed to sure things up a bit. Our gameplan was playing out from the back with Davis frequently bowling it out to the fullbacks. Forest read this and pressed quite a bit and we ended up playing ourselves into trouble. Better teams will do this and we need to get used to playing higher up the pitch at times. Or in Forest's case, their defence is cack and they need to score goals. The Davis/Derbyshire incident wasn't a penalty. The guy made a meal of it when he could have stayed on his feet and fashioned something. Stupidity from the striker and a good call from the ref although some may have given it. Lallana had a quiet 2nd half. The criticism of the fullbacks is a bit harsh as they didn't get much help from the wingers and frequently got given he ball when they were being pressed and couldn't do much with it.
I've already made my point about Fox on another thread, so I'll simply respond to this comment with this:
I know you mentioned you've not seen the highlights yet but thought I would clear the blame from Fox and the attack from the 1st goal came down our right hand side. I was more to blame for their 1st goal than Fox. Although Miller managed to out muscle his way through to get the cross in, I did think it was not struck that well and Davis should of been able to cut it out. A good point from Itchen North Matt on our stubborness to play the ball out of defence. I put it down to bad scouting from the opposition that in the 1st half of every game we're not closed down and allowed to bring it out and then in the second we're pushed back. Whilst I agree with Adkins that this is the more favourable option than the long ball, Davis needs to be wise enough to know when the long ball toward Lambert is sometimes the best option. It stands to reason that if the oppo are man marking our full backs and centre backs when the keeper has the ball that we will have a little more space in behind them. In Lambert we have someone who is more than adept at winning headers and holding the ball up. I'm surprised that a number of people have said Lallana faded badly in the 2nd half. To me he remained our most dangerous player up until the final whistle and was superb in us keeping the football for the majority of injury time. He also stung the hands of Lee Camp, scuffed a shot wide, was a little unlucky to have a goal ruled out for offside and produced some sublime skill on the by line in the last 10 minutes. It was a frustrating game for him, but I don't think fading is correct. One of the disadvantages to our free flowing attacking football is that our full backs are over exposed at times and there right back seemed to find himself in acres of space a lot in the second half. To me I thought Fox was a little too tight to Hoosiveld, but he still managed to cut out a few of the crosses. Plus I seem to remember when we played Manchester United in the cup that Butterfield was given plenty of space at right back, so even the best can't be water tight.
