The fbm view and ratings

[fbm]

As is usual when the game is on Sky, I won't bother with the match report as such, but just a couple of points and then the ratings.

Firstly it is hugely disappointing to be off colour in front of the cameras AGAIN.  Our third 3-0 home defeat out of 4 (after the televised games against Luton and Southampton) with the only saving grace being that Cardiff are the league leaders and also the previous defeats didn't actually harm our season overall so why should this?

Thats a definite clutch at straws by the way.

I thought the officials did us no favours today but then again they didn't give any penalties and we should have defended the set pieces and corners better.  This seems to be our major weakness and this afternoon was the day that most of our fears were realised; yes, this division will be difficult to stay in and forget the fact that Tilly thinks that (prior to today) we had competed and been not been outplayed so far.  The second half was as poor a showing as I have seen for a long, long time.

The first half could have been different though with a bit of luck that today deserted us.  I thought 2-0 down at half time was harsh, but 3-0 at the end about right.

Ratings:



Flahavan - 7 - No chance with the goals and made a couple of good saves too

Francis - 6 -A good start but faded as the game went on. Was unlucky to actually put the ball into the net for their third
Hammell - 6 - Wasn't really seen going forward and distribution at times was suspect
Barrett - 7.5 - MOM - Probably the pick of the defence and was very unlucky with the first goal
Clarke - 3 - This was a totally unacceptable performance.  Difficult to remember him doing anything right at all - was constantly misjudging headers, and his distribution was awful.  Got worse and worse.  Surely cannot start next week and how he was tipped for Premiership is beyond me on this showing.

Gower - 5 - Preferred to try and play the 40 yard crossfield pass on too many occasions.  Seems to switch off once a game and let a ball trickle under his feet and out of play.  If he puts in another show like that then I'd call Mitchell Cole back.
Maher - 6 - Outplayed in midfield and didn't ever get to grips with the game.
Hunt - 6 - Battled away but again outplayed by his welsh counterparts.
Campbell-Ryce - 5 - Put over 2 good crosses in first half but aside from that went missing completely. Control let him down at times.

Eastwood - 6.5 - Had one good effort in second half but tried to do too much himself
Paynter - 6 - Hit the bar and had one effort ruled out for offside which would have made it 1-1.  However, I feel with him in the team we are too one dimensional.  He moans a lot and is hardly a player who is going to create much.

Subs -

Ricketts - 5 - Very ring rusty and why did he keep popping up on the right wing, left wing and in central midfield?
Hooper - 6.5 - Couldn't get involved much but did have 2 late efforts on goal
Guttridge - 5 - Again, couldn't get involved.

The ref and officials - 4 - Frankly, very pedantic, especially the lino in front of the West stand in second half.

 

[Joolz]

Well, as usual, wouldn't disagree with too much of that.

I think we beat Forest after Luton & Southampton, so not the hatrick as you describe.

Gower & Ricketts deserve more than a 5 IMO.

I'm not sure how the officials got 4 - isn't 40% a pass at 'O' level these days?

FBM - I think you should start rating the crowd as well in your reports - I'll save you the bother this time - nil!

 

[pickledseal]

i thought crowd were pretty good in west to be honest
nothing like a sh!t ref to get everyone going!

 

[fbm]

Quote[/b] (Joolz @ Sep. 24 2006,20:36)]Well, as usual, wouldn't disagree with too much of that.

I think we beat Forest after Luton & Southampton, so not the hatrick as you describe.

Gower & Ricketts deserve more than a 5 IMO.

I'm not sure how the officials got 4 - isn't 40% a pass at 'O' level these days?

FBM - I think you should start rating the crowd as well in your reports - I'll save you the bother this time  - nil!

Ah yes, forgot about Forest.

 

[lincoln shrimper]

I agree with most things FBM.

Barrett's 7.5 was a bit generous FBM! Only a 6 I reckon.

Also, Gary Hooper did get involved when he came on - was put through one on one with the keeper who made a pojnt blank save, plus a half chance right on the final whistle.

Ricketts looked to be rubbing his achiles area only a couple of minutes after he came on!! He will need an operation on that trust me.

Hunt - we just don't get enough players forward when he is in the side. Lewis did ok, but we need more of a creative driving force at this level, particularly at home.

We need more height at the back. Most of our problems came because 6ft clarke was out jumped all afternoon by 6ft Steve Thompson.

 

[Shrimp in a Kilt]

I think we lost the midfield battle early on. I know Hunt has had a lot of praise on here, but I don't think that playing him alongside Maher is going to work. Coupled with Gower starting brightly and then losing his way and they got on top of us there, our passing game fell apart, and we were playing it long and hopeful for most of the second half.

All the debate about who to play at the back and the front is misplaced at the moment. We need to bring in some serious competition for Gutts and Hunt as soon as possible.

 

[prittlewellshrimper]

Hooper didnt get involved

?

?

?

Que? Had 2 efforts on goal in his 15 mins which is as many as Paynter has had in his last 3 matches i believe !!!!!!!!!!

 

[Kris]

I agree with the vast majority of the report but think the Ricketts mark is a bit harsh. Considering this was his first senior appearance following injury and we were already a beaten team I thought his contribution was pretty encouraging. True, he did drop into a lot of wide and deep areas but that was largely due to us having no shape whatsoever following the withdrawal of JCR and Gower, so we needed someone to fill those gaps. Plus, I reckon Tilly told Ricketts to do this simply to get involved in the game and get a few touches - we had nothing to lose at this stage after all.

Also, his flicked lay-off to send Hooper through in the last minute was sublime. Ricketts undoubtedly still has Premiership quality in his play - we just need to get him fully fit. If this happens, we should be in for a treat as I reckon he'd get the best out of Freddy as well.

 

[fbm]

Quote[/b] (prittlewellshrimper @ Sep. 24 2006,21:08)]Hooper didnt get involved

?

?

?

    Que?  Had 2 efforts on goal in his 15 mins which is as many as Paynter has had in his last 3 matches i believe !!!!!!!!!!

Yep, fair point. In the doom and depression of writing up the ratings by the time I'd got as far as Hooper I was so depressed I'd actually forgotten about them.

Ratings amended.

 

[BoyWonder2]

What striked me today, more than anything else was that our match-winners, Freddy Eastwood, Jamal Campbell-Ryce, Mark Gower didn't perform to the standards we know they can. Other key players were hit and miss, Kevin Maher, Simon Francis, Adam Barrett, Peter Clarke. Some performed alright Billy Paynter (My man-of-the-match), Lewis Hunt, Steven Hammell.

I leave Flahavan out of that as didn't have a great deal to do and couldn't fault him for any of the goals. Sometimes we haven't played to our full potential but still taken the 3 points because our players on form out number our players who had an off day, but today the roles where reversed.

We were beaten by a better side, no denying it. They will be play-offs as a minimum come the end of the season and I tipped them for promotion before the season.

 

[fredheim_holm]

Quote[/b] (BoyWonder2 @ Sep. 24 2006,21:38)]What striked me today, more than anything else was that our match-winners, Freddy Eastwood, Jamal Campbell-Ryce, Mark Gower didn't perform to the standards we know they can. Other key players were hit and miss, Kevin Maher, Simon Francis, Adam Barrett, Peter Clarke. Some performed alright Billy Paynter (My man-of-the-match), Lewis Hunt, Steven Hammell.

I leave Flahavan out of that as didn't have a great deal to do and couldn't fault him for any of the goals. Sometimes we haven't played to our full potential but still taken the 3 points because our players on form out number our players who had an off day, but today the roles where reversed.

We were beaten by a better side, no denying it. They will be play-offs as a minimum come the end of the season and I tipped them for promotion before the season.

Billy would definately have been my MOTM if he's goal had stood but he still showed good potential to hit the back of the net. I think he played really well, if he has some tips from M.R. on how to gain advantage in the air then I think he will prove to be a good player, once he's settled down.

 

[Angell Delight]

Quote[/b] (fbm @ Sep. 24 2006,20:28)]Clarke - 3 - This was a totally unacceptable performance.  Difficult to remember him doing anything right at all

The only thing I can remember is when he got a great block in from an angled shot set up by Gilbert's fantastic piece of skill to "do" Hammell on the left touchline in the 1st half. There was a couple of occasions when (as Hammell did today also) he read the game extremely well and stepped in front of passes made to the Cardiff forwards and came away with the ball so the signs are there of a good player but overall he had a mare today and I think a mark of 3 is about right.

 

[Mr. Benedict]

Quote[/b] (BoyWonder2 @ Sep. 24 2006,21:38)]What striked me today, more than anything else was that our match-winners, Freddy Eastwood, Jamal Campbell-Ryce, Mark Gower didn't perform to the standards we know they can.

I don't think Freddy's fully adjusted to this division yet - he looks very out of sorts even when he isn't heavily marked and it's no surprise to me that he's had his best games (that I've seen) in the Carling Cup against lower class opposition yet he's been unconvincing in all the league games I've seen (didn't see Palace, Leicester or Stoke)

He had a slow start to last season as well (although part of that was a suspension) so hopefully we'll see improvement from him soon .

Gower and JCR didn't play well largely because Cardiff didn't let them.

 

[Pubey]

why does clarke wait for the ball to bounce before doing something with it? really frustrating

midfield let us down though today, the pressure our defence was under was rediculous and its the midfields fault for letting them walk into our half and put through balls behind our defence time after time

ratings:

flavs 5 - 1 quality save, but let in 3 goals, 2 of which were scrappy in the 6 yard box. also his distribution was very poor today

francis 6.5 MOTM- a better defensive performance today, but was given little opportunity to push forward which is his biggest strength (great crosses though when he did get forward)

hammell 5.5 - poor set pieces today, had his work cut out and defended well but passing was sloppy

barrett 6 - solid enough but needs to do more when winning free headers to make sure the ball reaches a blue shirt

clarke 4.5 - very very poor. great block to deny a shot, but otherwise dallied on the ball, let it bounce infront of him and generally looked a shadow of his usual feisty self

maher 5.5 - calm and collected at times but invisible at others. cardiff had too much skill he couldnt get a sniff. lack of pace showed as they literally ran through the middle of him

hunt 6 - best player in our midfield, makes up for his lack of passing ability by winning the ball well and picking the easy sensible option. pushed forward at times (makes me think of our own John O'Shea)

gower 5.5 - poor but still looked our most threatening player, had a great shot across the goal. should have swapped sides with JCR to let him have a run at the slow RB

JCR 6 - felt sorry for him cos he had really met his match. their number 3 was quality and so quick, jcr just couldnt get past him. wanted him to swap sides with gower but it didnt happen

freddy 6 - frustrating, had a few sighters but nothing that really scared the cardiff backline

paynter 6 - nearly scored and was almost onside for his disallowed goal (the replay shows it was tight), worked hard and put pressure on them but he is a centre forward, not a striker


subs:
hooper 5.5 - had a couple of shots saved but then sky'd an easier chance right over the south stand. often the game goes past him but has good potential

ricketts 6.5 - i thought he played really well, got a great brain and opened up the defence a couple of times. cant wait to see more of him with freddy cos he wins the ball well and is hard to disposses

gutts 6.5 - also looked good when he came on, but still not quite his usual self. unlocked their defence once which was more than had happened for the previous 80mins. still a dilemma over whether he should start


referee 5 - pedantic yes, but watching through on sky its amazign how a different angle can make you realise that things can look so different. worrying thing was the amount of times he gave them a freekick (then we would abuse him), leading him to quickly blow up for a freekick to us for seemingly nothing. i want consistancy, not refs trying to even things out!