Player ratings vs. Barnsley

The big, blue steam train chuffed its way through Barnsley today, picking up three more convincing points along the way. Here are my ratings:

Schmeichel: 6 - Barely touched the ball. Didn't do anything wrong, made one diving save late on but it was going wide anyway.
De Laet: 6 - Looked a bit dodgy defensively today, giving his critics some more ammunition on this front. Barnsley sent most of their attacks down his side.
Wasilewski: 6 - Had a tough time against O'Grady, the latter using his strength well, and had to be helped out a couple of times. Has played better recently.
Morgan: 8 - Nothing got past him or through him.
Schlupp: 8 - Cool, confident display. His positioning seems to have improved immensely and he made many timely interceptions and clearances.
Knockaert: 8 - As usual, great with close control in confined spaces. Was well on top of the game.
Drinkwater: 10 - Running to the end, bagged a goal, completely dominated the pace of the game from start to finish. Excellent performance and my choice for MOTM. (After Barnsley's midfield dynamo Stephen Dawson of course.)
James: 9 - A hoover. Cleared up everything that went loose in the midfield. Helped Drinkwater to dominate the opposition.
Mahrez: 8 - Delightful through ball for Vardy's second goal, otherwise very good also and getting more comfortable with his teammates. His big trick seems to be to give the opposition the eyes then play a reverse pass. It works very often and will surely work at the top level as well.
Nugent: 8 - Aided the interplay up front very well, playing balls to the runs of Vardy and the midfielders.
Vardy: 9 - Scored two goals; essentially missed the opportunity to bag himself a hat-trick today with missed chances. Played on the shoulders of the defenders, who couldn't catch him.

Wood: 6 - Didn't contribute a lot; didn't have to.
GTF: 7 - Linked up well with his teammates as he attempted to fashion scoring opportunities even late into the game. a good run-out.
Hammond: 6 - Didn't see much of him really. The match was well over by then.

We were right on form today and Barnsley essentially got steamrollered. They certainly weren't helped by having little room to manoeuvre through injuries, but it's hard to see exactly what they could have done differently. Aside from O'Grady's physical presence it was hard to see what they offered. Still, they've picked up some decent results recently, certainly at home, and hopefully they'll be able to put this result behind them and move on to more important matches to come. Certainly they avoided a spanking - and it could have been with the number of chances we created - so that at least provides some heart.
Personally, I'm sad to say that I still believe they will go down: I didn't see much quality in their team today and I think Charlton for one were better when we played them the other week. Even so, they've at least shown over recent weeks that they have the stomach for a fight and they only need to find three teams who are worse - not impossible as there are several very poor teams down there. If they do escape it'll be by the skin of their teeth and with the help of teams like Charlton, Blackpool or Birmingham imploding, although unfortunately I predict they'll finish in the relegation zone. Best of luck to them though as I felt they once again showed themselves to be a nice club to visit tonight.