Player Ratings vs Wednesday

[marbelladave]

Weale 5.5 Looks increasingly unsure of his central defenders, lousy distribution as usual and a Jamesian moment towards the end, looks very troubled by recent events. Still a solid shot stopper though, a couple of decent saves.

Morrison 7.5 Very decent, bright and energetic throughout, good save late on. Should really be starting every week, preferably in the center.

Brown 5 The usual, not really tested but remains solid in the air and awful on the ground. Distribution is woeful and any teams with quick forwards will tear him apart.

Hobbs 6 Not stretched and reasonably comfortable in general, looks a little jittery under pressure but there was little enough of that.

Berner 6 Steady until the injury, looked a little off the pace generally but then he is never the quickest and was not really tested.

Oakley 6 A little better than of late and stuck fairly well to his wide roll. Passing is still not great but he was unlucky not to score.

King 8 Shades MOTM due to his goals. Instructed / allowed to get forward more and was much more effective than of late. The kind of performance that shows what a really good player he will be in a year or twos time.

Wellens 7 Much better performance than we have seen in some time. Has not looked fit to me, maybe he has been carrying a knock, but more his old self yesterday.

Dyer 6.5 Gives us good shape but seems over burdened with defensive duties. Did not get forward any where near enough for me which is a great shame.

Fryatt 7 Decent game, for once he made a real contribution to our attacking play, unusual when he doesn't score. Two assists say it all, more of this please.

Howard 5.5 Pedestrian in the extreme but he does hold the ball up when it is played up to him, which simply does not happen with the Fryatt / Waghorn pairing.

McGivern 5 Young and inexperienced and looks it. Gets forward ok but is at best average defensively.

Gallagher and Kermogant n/a Fresh legs to see out time, nothing else.

Pearson 6 Generated some energy and effort from his players, but retreated to the players and set up of last season. Got the job done yesterday but moved us backwards not forward.

[Guest Mee-9]

From The News Of The World

Weale 7

Morrison 7

Hobbs 7

Brown 8

Berner 7

(McGivern 7)

Oakley 7

Wellens 6

King 8

Dyer 6

(Gallagher 6)

Fryatt 7

Howard 7

(Kermorgant 6)

King and Brown got into Team of the week.

[Corky]

Weale- 6 (One mad moment, but on the whole pretty solid)

Morrison- 7 (Good game, supported Oakley well, great clearance)

Hobbs- 7.5 (Hardly put a foot wrong)

Brown- 6

Berner- 6.5 (Solid, dependable)

Oakley- 7.5 (Much better performance)

Wellens- 8 (Inventive and quick-thinking)

King- 8 (Very good, two excellent finishes and in the game throughout)

Dyer- 6.5 (Took on the defender much more, gave us a proper outlet on the left)

Fryatt- 7.5 (Two assists, first was excellent, lively all match, should've passed near the end instead of shooting)

Howard- 7.5 (Goal lifted him, troubled their defence, like the Steve of last season)

Subs

McGivern- 6 (Couple of very good crosses)

Kermo- N/A

Gallagher- N/A

Pearson- 7 (Got the response he wanted, changed things around, playing midfielders in midfield instead of strikers helped. Allowed King more freedom which paid off)

[Guest Mee-9]

Howard 5.5 Pedestrian in the extreme but he does hold the ball up when it is played up to him, which simply does not happen with the Fryatt / Waghorn pairing.

I suppose you were not at the game.

Howard was the man of the match i feel. He played excellent. Either you wern't there yesterday, or you have a grudge against him.

[Webbo]

From The News Of The World

Brown 8

King and Brown got into Team of the week.

I thought Brown had a decent game as well.

[marbelladave]

I suppose you were not at the game.

Howard was the man of the match i feel. He played excellent. Either you wern't there yesterday, or you have a grudge against him.

As I clearly said, he held the ball up well enough on the few occasions it was payed on the floor but seriously, what does he offer? He is slow, he no longer wins clean ball in the air and does not present a consistent, credible goal threat, decent enough goal but how long was it coming?

No, to my mind he, and the style of play he epitomises, is the past, we really need to move on.

MOTM my arse!

[marbelladave]

I thought Brown had a decent game as well.

Brown is quite clearly a player of two halves. Top half and bottom half obviously.

With the ball in the air he is powerful and decisive, ball played on the ground he is woeful. Ball played on the ground with pace and it is 5-1.

With Tunchev still out, Morrison and Hobbs have to play in the center, Nielson for all his limitations at full back is a lesser liability than Brown at center back.

[davieG]

Brown is quite clearly a player of two halves. Top half and bottom half obviously.

With the ball in the air he is powerful and decisive, ball played on the ground he is woeful. Ball played on the ground with pace and it is 5-1.

With Tunchev still out, Morrison and Hobbs have to play in the center, Nielson for all his limitations at full back is a lesser liability than Brown at center back.

On Saturday even his headers when not under pressure had no direction and invariably lost us possession - I thought he was the worst Leicester player by a good stretch.

[marbelladave]

On Saturday even his headers when not under pressure had no direction and invariably lost us possession - I thought he was the worst Leicester player by a good stretch.

Point taken, though I was speaking more generally.

Anyway as I failed to say, his distribution is awful makes me long for Patrick Kisnorbo!......

[davieG]

Point taken, though I was speaking more generally.

Anyway as I failed to say, his distribution is awful makes me long for Patrick Kisnorbo!......

I think we're in agreement

[fleckneymike]

Nope I thought Brown was shockingly bad especially considering the strength of the opposition - I had to stop myself giving him a 4.

I enjoyed the game but I thought for large parts of the game we didn't play very well or confidently considering we were winning 2-0, there was still a lot of poor football in there despite the win and I firmly believe if we'd have been playing half decent team we would have been severely exposed.

Not that i have to justify my ratings of course.

Completely agree Davie. Brown's recent performances have been woeful, if we had any other centre backs available he'd be dropped. His distribution is getting worse and worse.

We were playing a very poor Sheffield Wednesday, towards the end the entire side switched off and we presented them with a host of opportunities.

[dandannieldanok]

What do people expect from Brown, given the run around he got at Forest people should be grateful his defending was back up to a decent level. A centre-half's primary job is to defend, which is what Brown did comfortably. Just look at the basic errors from the Sheff Weds defenders. It's the midfield's job to get hold of the ball and distribute it.

[Koke]

Brown is quite clearly a player of two halves. Top half and bottom half obviously.

With the ball in the air he is powerful and decisive, ball played on the ground he is woeful. Ball played on the ground with pace and it is 5-1.

With Tunchev still out, Morrison and Hobbs have to play in the center, Nielson for all his limitations at full back is a lesser liability than Brown at center back.

I actually agree with this. Brown is a beast in the air, but an absolute liability when the ball is played on the ground. And as you said, ball on the ground played with pace and it's 5-1.

Morrison is a hoof merchant as well, but not half as much as Brown. But Morrison generally puts in a good shift wherever he is put.

[Koke]

What do people expect from Brown, given the run around he got at Forest people should be grateful his defending was back up to a decent level. A centre-half's primary job is to defend, which is what Brown did comfortably. Just look at the basic errors from the Sheff Weds defenders. It's the midfield's job to get hold of the ball and distribute it.

Distribution starts from defence. This is why Tunchev is so good and everyone rates him, because he looks to pass the ball from defence.

[dandannieldanok]

Distribution starts from defence. This is why Tunchev is so good and everyone rates him, because he looks to pass the ball from defence.

The midfield need to take more responsibility though. Usually when our centre halves get the ball, the midfielders don't look that interested and face the way we're shooting instead of coming and taking responsibility.

[davieG]

What do people expect from Brown, given the run around he got at Forest people should be grateful his defending was back up to a decent level. A centre-half's primary job is to defend, which is what Brown did comfortably. Just look at the basic errors from the Sheff Weds defenders. It's the midfield's job to get hold of the ball and distribute it.

Considering the quality of the opposition his defending was poor, he had, on most occasions time and opportuinty to do something constructive with both his defensive headers and passes but failed to do so and continually put us back under pressure - fortunately SW weren't good enough to take advantage other many teams would have.

I actually agree with this. Brown is a beast in the air, but an absolute liability when the ball is played on the ground. And as you said, ball on the ground played with pace and it's 5-1.

Morrison is a hoof merchant as well, but not half as much as Brown. But Morrison generally puts in a good shift wherever he is put.

Morrison does hoof a little too much but at least they are measured hoofs, he looks up to see where it's best to aim it for. Even with that he's far, far more comfortable in possession than Brown will ever be.

[Corky]

Brown does have pretty poor distribution, but I'll praise him for his tendancy to get the ball out of play instead of trying to be clever around our box.

All of our defenders could improve their passing range in fairness.

[dandannieldanok]

Considering the quality of the opposition his defending was poor, he had, on most occasions time and opportuinty to do something constructive with both his defensive headers and passes but failed to do so and continually put us back under pressure - fortunately SW weren't good enough to take advantage other many teams would have.

He's a central defender and he defended the ball no-nonsense. If he knows he can't pass very well I'd rather he just get it to safety than put us in trouble.

To be honest I don't really see where these amazing ball-playing defenders are in this league, so I think having a go at Brown for poor distribution is a bit low.

Morrison does hoof a little too much but at least they are measured hoofs, he looks up to see where it's best to aim it for. Even with that he's far, far more comfortable in possession than Brown will ever be.

A hoof is a hoof no matter how you dress it up.

[davieG]

Well I just posted a long reply to that and ended up on some dating site and lost it all. Buggered if I'm going to re-write it so I'll just say I totally disagree with all of that.

[dandannieldanok]

Well I just posted a long reply to that and ended up on some dating site and lost it all. Buggered if I'm going to re-write it so I'll just say I totally disagree with all of that.

!

[Joe.]

First and foremost we all like our defenders to defend, and Brown has done that well for us for the most part this season. He'll have his moments, but yesterday he put in a soid defensive display. He's never going to be elegant with the ball at his feet, and aside from Tunchev, that can be said for the rest of our centre backs.

I'd rather see him get rid than try and mess around with it. That said, I'm sure I've heard a quote from an old manager (Clough quite possibly) saying "you win it, then give it to somebody who can play" - it's not that difficult for Pearson to have a quiet word with him and instill this into him.

[Guest ttfn]

Brown is one of the worst technical footballers I have ever seen. He's a brave bastard sure, but he's fooking terrible on the ball.

[davieG]

First and foremost we all like our defenders to defend, and Brown has done that well for us for the most part this season. He'll have his moments, but yesterday he put in a soid defensive display. He's never going to be elegant with the ball at his feet, and aside from Tunchev, that can be said for the rest of our centre backs.

I'd rather see him get rid than try and mess around with it. That said, I'm sure I've heard a quote from an old manager (Clough quite possibly) saying "you win it, then give it to somebody who can play" - it's not that difficult for Pearson to have a quiet word with him and instill this into him.

I don't think he did his defending on the whole was a liability.

[lcfc81]

Think i have a misunderstanding of the word hoof.

To me a hoof is an aimless ball kicked without stratergy in panic.

To me a measured longer range ball is not a hoof if it is deliberately played and played with a purpose (even if that purpose is to gain teritorial advantage).

Think people are harsh on Morrison, for me plays longer balls (alot of which are glourious) sometimes (on top of developing his shorter range passing which is clearky noticable over the last year or so)

For me McGivern, Brown and Nielsen are hoofers who often revert to long high aimless balls played with no strategic thinking. (McGivern is the worst at this but I put this down to being young and getting nervous).

On Morrison I think he is a quality player who is developing all the time and don't understand how a true hoofer (nielsen) has ever got in front of him.

[the buckwheat]

You should not shout glory

The mediocrity of our opponent can hide our defects

I am surprised by certain ratings