a fairly similar pattern from the cardiff game i thought:
ikeme - 7. one cracking save from a long range shot. nice to see him get the armband when KH FC was taken off.
doherty - 8. lost his winger badly once but overall had another decent game and put in some good tackles. gaining in confidence and ironically got forward more tonight than he did in the 5 man defence when he was supposedly playing as a wing back.
RJ - 7. not a bad game but still looks ungainly and only a moment away from a calamity. batth the better option for me, and i think johnson will be gone in the summer.
gorkss - 8. defended well and gives us more presence in the air as well as a more reliable option than berra.
robinson - 8. good performance again, rarely beaten and as with the other newcomers, a feeling of calm and confidence compared to our defence of a month ago.
sako - 9. MoTM. a class above at the moment and once back to his LM spot he had watford in all sorts of bother. capped with yet another goal.
henry - 5. out fought, out played, out of his depth, get him out of the side saunders!
o'hara - 5. ineffective and most of the 90 minutes passed him by. looked like a poor mans jan molby, unwilling or unable to run and reduced to spraying 50 yard hollywood passes, generally to the watford keeper or CB.
hunt - 4. dire. saunders should have had him off after 15 minutes when it was clear that he didn't have the legs to beat either full back, or the control to help out defensively. on this performance, the last time we should ever see him in a gold shirt...so thanks for THAT goal and goodbye.
siggy - 7. not quite as good a display as against cardiff but still mobile, hard working and unlucky not to score when denied by a great save.
doyle - 7. a couple of decent runs and shots on target. but appears to have the same strength in his boot as heather mills.
SEB - 7. some good touches and one great run and cross. never really looked like scoring tho
cassidy - 5. fairly anonymous when he came on but one to persever with and needs more time on the pitch.
davis - 6. more hustle and bustle than henry or o'hara, generally more positive player and showed a couple of nice dummies and runs forward. never going to be a world beater but a better option than henry and needs to start
saunders - 5. another mixed bag. defence looking half decent but midfield is as weak as budweiser (now with extra added water). hunt's selection was mystifying, peszko's absence looks crazier every week and what does KH FC have to do to get dropped?!?
south bank - 10. back to the great humour and backs to the wall attitude of the prem days. "let's pretend we scored a goal" was good, "can we play you every week" at 1-0 down was classic. and good to hear "let's all have a disco" once more...took me right back to the 80s.
tonight's game - player scores
posted on 2/3/13
I think you're being a bit generous with that one gb. You can't knock his attitude or commitment but really doesn't have the skill or quality anymore to do anymore than cause a nuisance.
posted on 2/3/13
comes to something when a 4 is seen as generous!
i can only imagine saunders is playing hunt and henry to make edwards look better when he brings back the welshman
posted on 2/3/13
Way too much for Doyle, 4 at best.
posted on 2/3/13
Not sure that I agree with your scores gb, especially the defence. For me:
Ikeme - 7. One great save, otherwise pretty much untroubled as Watford blazed over a couple of times.
Doherty - 6. Steady game and looked in control. Good throw for Saks goal.
Johnson - 6. Looked assured (most of the time).
Gorkks - 5. Good in the air but panicky on the floor. Passing was poor and like most of the defence; looks to hoof-it.
Robinson - 4. Disappointed as he was over-run and didn't know whether to pass (as I guess he was taught to do at Liverpool) or hoof-it upfield.
Henry - 5. Apart from the stupid free kick, did ok.
O'Hara - 5. Some good long passes but also some awful long passes.
Hunt - 4. Energy - yes. Little else though.
Sako - 7. Best of a poor bunch. Anonymous first half, super second half and some good crosses into the box with no one on the end of them. Had his first half been on a par with the second; then a 9.
Siggy - 6. Some good moments; forced their keeper into some fine saves, interspersed with a couple of petulent ones. Could have been sent-off with a less-lenient ref.
Doyle - 6. Did as much in defence as attack and did well defending a couple of corners in first half. Good run in second forced keeper into a fine save. As usual; ran himself into the ground.
Subs:
SEB -5. Offered nothing when he came on.
Cassidy - 5. See SEB.
Davis -6. Brought energy but no positional play.
Saunders 5. At least we didn't lose the game!
posted on 2/3/13
'Poor man's Jan Molby'
Fat and useless, then
posted on 2/3/13
i think Cyp's scores closely reflect how I saw the game. Thought Robinson had his worst game for us, a shame really as this could be Wards break to get back in the side.
Thought defenders were not suppose to clear the ball across there own box, can someone mention this to Johnson, who did it twice. Gorkss did well and Doherty was the best defender of the night.
Sako on the right for the first half did nothing, better second half. Think Hunt needs time to regain match fitness, maybe in the reserves? Ohara and Henry to deep for me offered no support to the forwards.
Siggy and Doyle offered little but with no support didn't expect much from them.
posted on 2/3/13
Siggy was better than Doyle, Ebanks or Sakho should be up top Doyle is toss now.
posted on 2/3/13
not sure how robinson could rate a 4 when i don't think he was ever really beaten or vulnerable in the defence (until last 10 when he was knackered). the whole back four were solid - maybe not always completely unflustered and RJ looks like bambi on ice still with his awkward running and kicking style. but with no support from midifeld i think the defence looked very good.
criticising any of them for 'hoofing' the ball is also unfair. they had NOTHING to pass to in midield, with a low level performance from henry, o'hara and hunt. there were lots of times when one of the defence tried to pass it out along the deck, only for KH FC to kick it straight back to them under pressure and deeper in our own half. if our midfield is as bad as this then we should play 424 from now on, go long and rely on sako/doyle/siggy/seb/cassidy to win the ball up top. because our front men are as unsupportedby the midfield as our back. hence the static jan molby comparison.
think the view on SEB was harsh too. he showed a much better close control, killing long balls a few times and finding good passes to siggy, sako or cassidy. he also worked the flanks well; putting in one excellent cross and apparently being fouled on another run in the penalty area.
posted on 2/3/13
I agree with the above, everybody ran away soon as a defender got hold if the ball and JOH was pathetic in his attempts to be the new Paul Scholes, when good options were on he'd launch it anyway.
posted on 2/3/13
I think we all see the game differently in some respects and I would go along with some of GBs views and some of cyp's
Ikeme 7
Doherty 5
Johnson 6
Gorkss 6
Robinson 4
Sako 8
Henry 4
O'Hara 4
Hunt 2
Sigurdarson 9
Doyle 7
SEB 7
Cassidy 6
Davis 8 for the short time he was on
Not sure the full backs we are using now have improved the defence and although Johnson had a sound game I think Batth is really unlucky to not be in the team.
But people on here seem to focus their criticism on our defence or on our attack when I have had the view for a long time that the weakest part of our team is midfield. Henry. O'Hara and Hunt were all really poor yesterday and we must find a better blend in the middle of the park because at the moment we are neither protecting the defence or creating for the attack