Im starting to like doing player ratings, if only I could do it for every match Ashdown - 6 1/2 - Didn't have any fantastic saves to make but controlled his area well and saved all other shots. Was slightly out of position for goal but wasn't at fault. Doubt he woulda got there anyway, I was debating whether he could've come out to collect the ball but I don't think he could of really. Much better back-up keeper than Rachubka and Cairns Byram - 6 - First half was poor going forward I think, defensively was fine but he misplaced a couple passes and miscontrolled a couple times as well. Second half he did better I think but other that one occasion, can't think of many times where he was beaten too easily down his side Lees - 7 - Did well, won tackles and headers relatively well. Didn't make any huge mistakes I can think of and did well to cut out Naismith early in the second half. He is progressing very well as a CB I think Pearce - 7 1/2 - Happy with him today, while the goal was partly his fault, its hard to see what else in the moment he coulda done. I think more blame goes onto whoever let Anichebe win his header at the front of the 18 yard box (can't remember who it was). Other than that, played well, got stuck in, won headers and controlled the defence. I still think he is a better choice for captain than Peltier Pugh - 7 - Did well defensively. Not hugely threatening going forward but when he did he did well. The goal was practically his and was calm on the ball. Kept there RW quiet really. Prefer him as an LB option to White and always have done White - 8 - Im probably his harshest critic but he had a good game. I think his goal gave him confidence, got a bit fortunate with the weak challenge for it but he couldn't have given a better finish. His ball retention which is normally poor was very good, he won free-kicks when he had no other option and kept play moving, when he put the cross in, they were good crosses. If he can continue with this performance I'd be very happy for him to be first choice on one of the wider roles of midfield. He also did well tracking back to cover for Byram, I was worried about us defensively on that side when I saw the team sheet as well Brown - 6 1/2 - Did okay, put in some very good challenges and a couple sloppy ones as well. Allowed the rest of the midfield to look better on the ball by doing the hard gritty work. Happy with him alonside Austin and he still seems fit as anyone else out there. After he got his yellow card though he seemed scared to make another challenge, I thought Warnock should've taken him off after that Austin - 9 - I think every time I have seen him this season I have given him MotM and today is no diffferent. He is everywhere, defensively was very very good. He put the pressure on and the challenge for White's goal and then scored himself and did well on the ball, our best passing moves was when he was in the center of it, he did well when running down the left as well when he threw the defender with his dummy. Other than the bizarre moment when he headed/chested the ball out of play I can't think of anything he did wrong. Not only this he was rather creative as well. Very impressed with Austin Tonge - 6 - Had a weak first half where he was really involved and didn't track back very well. Got more involved in the second half and had a better time as well. Didn't realise he is as quick as he is and played the simple ball and kept it moving rather well. Shoulda shot earlier when it opened up for him or gave it to Becchio if he was gonna hold onto it but was OK Diouf - 6 1/2 - I still don't see it personally. Gave away the ball quite poorly at times with simple passes being misplaced. He holds onto the ball too long at times when he should give it early and then gives it early when he should hold onto the ball. Saying that, he did do quite well in certain scenarios where he had beaten a couple men with good close control and dropped deep to collect it, he likes to get out wide onto both flanks and help out the wide men but I think we were missing McCormack for this role more than anything Becchio - 4 - Played ****. Didn't offer for the ball enough, didn't pressure the defenders or goalkeeper at all. Did win headers but didn't header in any particular direction, more just flicking it onto random areas. His one and two touch play was poor and didn't get into the right positions in the box enough. Often saw him outside the box when the ball was out wide which isn't where you want your top goalscorer and a player known for his heading ability. Warnock - 7 - Probably some of the better football I have seen us play under Warnock and he did well with his tactics before the game to put them on the back foot. The team did control Everton quite well really and I give some credit to Warnock for this. Saying that, he was hesitant to make subs when they needed to be made and ended up not making any. Personally I woulda brought on Gray for Becchio after we scored our second because the defence were under constant pressure because the attack at this point wasn't keeping hold of the ball long enough when they got it hence Everton won it back and started another attack again. I would have also taken off Brown after his yellow card for either Drury (putting Pugh in CM with Drury at LB) or Thompson, not only because Brown was scared to make a tackle by this point but because the midfield needed freshening up as well Anyway, all in all a good performance and we coulda on another day got another goal or so and held out at our end. Anyone else have any thoughts?
Just got back. I'd give them all 8s, 9s or 10s. Amazing. How we managed to out pass Everton and we can't do that in the champ is beyond me. Diouf was incredible. Bargain of the year. Atmosphere class too
Hmmm, 10 implies that they made 0 mistakes and created everything and put in loads of good ball-winning tackles 9 implies that they made 1 mistake and created most things good with loads of good ball-winning tackles 8 implies they made 1 or 2 mistakes and created a lot with some good ball-winning tackles (thats just an example for a midfielder, would change dependant on position) And so on... or at least thats what I go with anyway
By the way, SkySports have put up there ratings (they always do for prem games and cup games involving prem opposition) Leeds Ashdown - 7 Byram - 7 Lees - 8 Pearce - 8 White - 8 Tonge - 7 Austin - 9 Brown - 7 Pugh - 7 Diouf - 8 Becchio - 7 Everton Mucha - 6 Coleman - 6 Heitinga - 6 Distin - 7 Oviedo - 6 Naismith - 4 Fellaini - 6 Junior - 5 Gueye - 5 Mirallas - 6 Anichebe - 7 Jelavic - 6 Neville - 6 Pienaar - 7 So Skysports seem more generous than me
Mate after being there you can't possibly think about giving any of them a 6 never mind a 4! Outplayed a high flying everton team. Maybe you can look at it more objectively though having not experienced that amazing atmosphere too
Not being there is harder in some ways but easier in others. I would imagine the atmosphere was very good despite a smallish crowd given the nature of the game
I though Diouf was class out there tonight. Held the ball up well, controlled the ball under pressure -9 Same as Austin - Pouncing on the loose balls and laying them off -9 Agree with all other ratings for the lads. Glad to see Browny getting stuck in, Poor challenge to get booked though.
I woulda probably been more inclined to give Diouf a better rating if it wasn't for those poor misplaced passes in the first half and at times poor decision making. Seemed like he was playing for himself more so than anything and trying to make everyone think he was a good player rather than trying to do the right thing by the team. Its hard for me to put across into words really Reading back though I think I may have been a little harsh on Byram
Jesus, Josh, this was probably our best performance in many years. Everything clicked. We played as a team. An excellent team. Even better than the scum performance. You've got a right downer on Diouff, Becchio & Warnock, and boy, does it show. Don't bother giving ratings unless you can be unbiased. One other thing - I thought Ashdown was unlucky for the goal. The ball seemed to be headed off Pearce's head, making it loop strangely.
I can't remember Diouf misplacing the ball once, thought he was first class just like on Saturday held the ball up n brought others into the game, Also thought tinge was very effective n professional Didn't think one person was below 8 apart from ashdown but everton didn't give him enough to get more than a 7
Its my personal opinion and I think i was fair. I try to not be bias and I if I was being bias I wouldn't have given White a good rating. I don't have anything against Becchio when he is doing what he should be doing ie, getting into the box, placing headers rather than flicking them onto no one. He just didn't even work hard enough, every time our defence had the ball Anichebe was chasing em down, as soon as the ball was passed back to Ashdown he chased the ball down so that Ashdown had no time to pick a ball. This is what I want Becchio to do, he didn't do it once. He just jogged about and put no pressure on the defence or keeper when we didnt have the ball. He was the weak link today and giving him a good rating wouldn't be fair on those that did well. And I think I gave Warnock a decent rating. There is always room for improvement and I think that is how he could've improved. It was a good team performance though and I am taking nothing away from that In the first half Diouf misplaced passes to Byram and White from memory and held up the ball too long in the corner and lost the ball a couple of times. In the second half he misplaced passes to Becchio, Tonge and Byram again (all from memory) and gave a couple of passes a little late when we could have pressured them better. He did do things well admittedly when he beat players and played some good passes, I like the fact he was dropping deep and helping out out wide, putting himself all over the pitch but he wasn't fantastic. I think we have differing opinions on the scale of ratings as well
Not being funny but I and everyone I have spoken to, as well as posters on here, agree that diouf was outstanding so I would suggest you watch the game again!
Or maybe my views of a player having a good game are different? If I was to explain a great game for a player, the first thing I have to tick off is ball retention. I can think of a fair few times when he didn't do this, this includes when he claims there was a free-kick against him and went down incredibly easily only not to get one The next is a player's decision making, did he make the right decision there and often I thought he could have done better with the choice he made. He kept hold of the ball at times when he should have realeased it and passed it when he should have held onto the ball. I think that is the sole reason he is currently playing in the championship rather than the premier league The next is execution and in all fairness his execution was quite good. Everything else after this is extra, most of the players I gave poorer ratings to was mainly because of ball retention
Diouf was absolutely unbelievable tonight. It's not surprising he misplaced a couple of passes due to the sheer amount of possession he had. I would guess for all the possession we had he must of accounted for at least half of it on his own. That's not down to the fact that he 'kept the ball too long', It's down to the fact that every Leeds player tried to find him first as they're fully aware he's by far our most creative and influential player. It's a testament to how good he is out this level, that he's the first person our players pass to. We need to extend his contract, because he will undoubtedly have interest come December/January when his current deal expires. Austin was also phenomenal. I rate Fellaini as one of the most dominant midfield enforcers in the game and to see him subdued by Austin was class, not forgetting Austin's assured presence and skill on the ball. It would not surprise me if Premier league teams start to come sniffing. I do agree somewhat with Josh about Becchio's performance tonight although anyone could see he was knackered from the start. With that in mind he completed a noble shift if anything. Lastly I hope we continue to use the Brown/Austin combination in midfield. It seems to allow Austin to express himself more in terms of his technical qualities and not just his defensive ball winning ones.
Personally I thought they were all outstanding apart from Becchio and Ashdown who I felt were average. Commentators in the studio felt Becchio played excellent so I guess they see things differently to us.
**** you, don't tell me what to do If I wanna keep the blinkers on, I'll just keep em on Its obvious that I'm in the minority here though. It doesn't change my view on how he played but I'm willing to concede
I don't know if its just me having this negative thought, but I do hope this T/O happens soon, as we just put several of our best performers in the Bates Shop Window" last night. I notice even players like Byram have been getting positive comments from non Leeds fans. And there will be a few Prem teams now know a lot better who Austin is, I suspect/fear.
