Player Ratings

[Ric Flair]

Alan Sheehan is not good enough for this level. He hasn't progressed since he broke in to the first team. He showed that at League Two level last year, where by all accounts he was crap. This season for us, so far he's not done very well either. I was at Accrington last Tuesday and I wasn't overly impressed and that was again against opposition at League Two level (having said that, not many of our other players impressed either!!!).

He's not good enough and this will be proven by his next career move, League Two again and he won't come back, unless they send him back before his contract expires.

Porter is a different story. I thought he started off very well last season and faded away towards the back end of the season. So there's obvious question marks, but he's shown to have some ability and in some games last season he was superb (Sunderland away, Fulham at home). It's now a question of how he kicks on, or whether it turns out he was a flash in the pan. He's probably the best left sided midfielder we have right now, so should be given the chance to kick on.

[Thracian]

Cambridge to Crystal Palace is a gulf!!

He played well enough against Wednesday and Bolton.

[Hullfox]

Alan Sheehan is not good enough for this level. He hasn't progressed since he broke in to the first team. He showed that at League Two level last year, where by all accounts he was crap. This season for us, so far he's not done very well either. I was at Accrington last Tuesday and I wasn't overly impressed and that was again against opposition at League Two level (having said that, not many of our other players impressed either!!!).

He's not good enough and this will be proven by his next career move, League Two again and he won't come back, unless they send him back before his contract expires.

Porter is a different story. I thought he started off very well last season and faded away towards the back end of the season. So there's obvious question marks, but he's shown to have some ability and in some games last season he was superb (Sunderland away, Fulham at home). It's now a question of how he kicks on, or whether it turns out he was a flash in the pan. He's probably the best left sided midfielder we have right now, so should be given the chance to kick on.

You are so right Mr Flair, I just can't see how anyone thought Sheehan played well at Accrington.

Porter has shown he has ability but he was easily worked out last year when people had a chance to study him. It's now up to him to sharpen up his game and prove what he has.

[Ric Flair]

He played well enough against Wednesday and Bolton.

2 years ago. He hasn't kicked on. And let's be honest he was nothing more than fairly impressive.

Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink played well against us a few years ago but you told us to steer clear. Not the same thing here?

[Ric Flair]

You are so right Mr Flair, I just can't see how anyone thought Sheehan played well at Accrington.

Porter has shown he has ability but he was easily worked out last year when people had a chance to study him. It's now up to him to sharpen up his game and prove what he has.

I totally agree. It was frustrating how he suddenly went from being a big threat to teams, to being nothing more than a minor nuisance. Teams did their homework on him as he was getting rave reviews, but it showed how raw he was that he couldn't overcome the scrutiny teams put him under. Which is fair enough being his first season as a professional footballer. But teams have worked him out now, and it's the second season as a footballer that's often the hardest for youngsters. So Porter needs to kick on, I hope he does. There's talent there somewhere.

[Lillehamring]

I totally agree. It was frustrating how he suddenly went from being a big threat to teams, to being nothing more than a minor nuisance. Teams did their homework on him as he was getting rave reviews, but it showed how raw he was that he couldn't overcome the scrutiny teams put him under. Which is fair enough being his first season as a professional footballer. But teams have worked him out now, and it's the second season as a footballer that's often the hardest for youngsters. So Porter needs to kick on, I hope he does. There's talent there somewhere.

what could contribute to this step-up that is needed for porter is playing alongside the hopefully exciting pairing of weso and clem, at the very least clem, as opposed to the the likes of johnson and hughes, i think any budding young player's performance would have start to wilt playing in our midfield last year.

[Ric Flair]

what could contribute to this step-up that is needed for porter is playing alongside the hopefully exciting pairing of weso and clem, at the very least clem, as opposed to the the likes of johnson and hughes, i think any budding young player's performance would have start to wilt playing in our midfield last year.

Hopefully. What annoyed me most about Porter towards the end of last season was how clueless he seemed to be when he realised the opposition were quickly closing him down and not letting him run at them. With central midfielders that are always looking for the ball, perhaps it will teach Porter to lay the ball off at times when beating his marker isn't an option.

[BartonFox]

Fullop - 7 - Now we are talking

N'Gotty - 7 - may as well put 7 next to his name each week.

Clarke - 8 - A left back that does the job of a left back.

Kisnorbo - 7 - Good to have him back, needs to concentrate more while defending though.

McAuley - 6 - Steady, but I am still not convinced by him.

Newton - 5 - Where is Andy Impey

Sheehan - 5 - Had hopes for this kid, but each week they diminish further.

Wesolowski - 6 - not great but a good foil for Clemence.

Clemence - 7 - Calm, assured and tidy.

de Vries - 3 - gut rot on Saturday, let himself down big time, picked the wrong time to do it to with Cort coming back.

Campbell - 6 - He is better than Elvis still need to see more.

Hume - 6/7 - not sure he changed the game quite as much as people make out but on the day much better than de Vries.

Porter - 6 - better than Sheehan was but we still lacked any quality in that area.

Chambers - 5 - little time

All in all we did what we had to do and that was battle we almost got away with the points, a better performance than of late at Selhurst so again small improvements.

We need N'Gotty alongside Kisnorbo, a left winger and Cort fit up top with one of the small men if we are looking for higher than 10th.

[Frenzied]

Fulop - 7 (Seemed assured, bossed his area but flapped a couple of times).

N'Gotty - 7 (Quality defending again but prefer him in the middle).

Clarke - 7 (Solid performance, although I think it was him that needlessly gave away the free-kick that led to their second).

Kisnorbo - 8 (Defended well and a good goal).

McAuley - 6 (OK but would prefer Kisnorbo and N'Gotty in the middle).

Weslowski - 6 (Decent performance).

Clemence - 7 (Had a great second half, not so convincing in the first).

Newton - 5 (Did some things quite well but needs to know when to cross and when to hold onto the ball).

Sheehan - 5 (Looked assured in the first 10 minutes. Crossing was poor though and it was the correct decision to take him off).

Campbell - 7 (Quick and caused their defence some problems. Good poachers goal).

De Vries - 4 (Poor. Needs to be dropped, as he adds nothing).

Hume - 7 (Lively when he came on and caused their defence a lot of problems).

Porter - 6 (Looked better than Sheehan but their was one moment when his control was awful).

Chambers - 6 (Not on for long enough but seems a good purchase).

[Lord Nibblington]

just because he had a bad game, out of position, doesn't mean we should forget that he had a pretty decent game before that at left back.

And? That's still doesn't go anyway to explaining why Clarke should make way for Sheehan.

[Lillehamring]

And? That's still doesn't go anyway to explaining why Clarke should make way for Sheehan.

no, but neither does clarke playing 'ok' for one game, mean that he should be an obvious choice.

i've nothing against clarke, sheehan or mattock - i'm just bored of this (not yours) mentality of throwing players on the scrap heap because they aren't as great as people want/expect them to be.

it's not like we have billions of pounds to go out and buy the worlds best left sided players, there are richer and better teams that are experiencing the same problems as us, just look at the english national side.

i don't care which of these thre play, personally, but it really pisses me off to see fans being excessively critical of players that haven't played REGULAR football - some one like hughes, who got a game every week, fair enough - but how can these people say that a guy who has played one game is better than a guy who has played two, or vice versa....

fair enough?

[Micky]

Nils could defend. But he couldn't help us score goals.

I think City have conceded 7 goals in the seven first team games Sheehan's played - and three when he's actually been on the field.

Of those we've won four, drawn two and lost one.

It's a myth that his defending is especially bad.

I could name several top quality full-backs who defend superbly but do not create a great deal going forward. The reason these players are top quality is because they perform their primary role to a high standard. Sheehan's defending may not be "especially bad" but it may be average and for a team hoping to get promoted from the championship, an average full-back is a no go. Oh, and your statistics are completely useless unless you can take into account the opposition and who he was playing along side.

Sheehan has had numerous managers and has never been selected on a consistent basis. The reason - because they all feel he is not good enough. From what I can see, you are still yet to convince a whole forum of individuals that Alan Sheehan is the answer to our left back problems.

[Lord Nibblington]

no, but neither does clarke playing 'ok' for one game, mean that he should be an obvious choice.

i've nothing against clarke, sheehan or mattock - i'm just bored of this (not yours) mentality of throwing players on the scrap heap because they aren't as great as people want/expect them to be.

it's not like we have billions of pounds to go out and buy the worlds best left sided players, there are richer and better teams that are experiencing the same problems as us, just look at the english national side.

i don't care which of these thre play, personally, but it really pisses me off to see fans being excessively critical of players that haven't played REGULAR football - some one like hughes, who got a game every week, fair enough - but how can these people say that a guy who has played one game is better than a guy who has played two, or vice versa....

fair enough?

Yup.

I realise that Clarke playing pretty well for one game does mean he should be locked in as our left back for the whole season. But to me it makes sense that if a guy plays pretty well one week, there's no reason to discard him. Obviously, if we had a super talented left back that was clearly miles better than Clarke, than maybe, sure drop him. But what we have is all pretty much of a muchness, and I think we need some consistancy with the team, and with the defence in particular. In my opinion, better defences are usually composed of players who player together on a regular basis. Now, there is some fine tuning to do at the back for us, but nothing in Clarke's performance thus far merits for me a suggestion that he should be dropped. Yes, it was just one game, but that's all we've got to go on.

[BigGibbo]

Yup.

I realise that Clarke playing pretty well for one game does mean he should be locked in as our left back for the whole season. But to me it makes sense that if a guy plays pretty well one week, there's no reason to discard him. Obviously, if we had a super talented left back that was clearly miles better than Clarke, than maybe, sure drop him. But what we have is all pretty much of a muchness, and I think we need some consistancy with the team, and with the defence in particular. In my opinion, better defences are usually composed of players who player together on a regular basis. Now, there is some fine tuning to do at the back for us, but nothing in Clarke's performance thus far merits for me a suggestion that he should be dropped. Yes, it was just one game, but that's all we've got to go on.

or in short so far he's looking the best of an average bunch

[martyn]

Surely as an 'attacking full back' as so often gets bandied about on here, Sheehan should therefore be able to demonstrate skills which can be put to use in an attacking area.

On Saturday not once did I see him dribble the ball at pace not once did I see him get anywhere near the byline to put in a cross. What I saw was him seeing the ball out wide in space before invariably passing it backwards or slicing a cross (from a deep position) about 25 rows back.

If he goes to left back are we suddenly going to see an overlapping pacey wing wizard sticking pinpoint crosses into the middle...well?

Also, his performance against Sheffield Wednesday 2 seasons ago is also oft. referenced on here. Just because he played in a 2-0 victory isn't grounds for claiming he put in a sterling performance. I remember it as average, nothing more, nothing less and I certainly don't remember him venturing past the half way line much.