We’re pleased to welcome follower ‘Jimmy Jazz‘ as tonight’s guest ratings expert for the first time. It’s always nice to see people put their heads above the parapets for what is a tricky and very subjective job!
Adrian –Important save to deny Khazri but a very quiet day for San Miguel 6
Kouyate – starting to look more and more comfortable in this position. Broke up the play well. 7
Reid – struggled with Defoe a couple of times but did well and of course got the crucial winner. 7
Ogbonna 8 – Ogbonna looks so much more comfortable in a back 3. I assume this is because it is what he is used to from his time in Italy. Defended well but also brought the ball forward and played intelligent passes such as the great through ball to Zaza before the inevitable happened 8
Antonio – What good is it if you’re strong and fast if you have no final ball? Rightly taken off early 2nd half by Bilic. Some might say there were a lack of options in the box but that’s no excuse for failing to beat the first man or hitting the cross straight out of play. 5
Fernandes – I like the look of this kid. He looks comfortable on the ball and likes to get forward. He may have struggled a little defensively and was a bit lucky in the first half when he got the wrong side of the attacker and fouled him on the edge of the box but he didn’t lose heart and it’s worth remembering this isn’t his natural position. 7
Noble – Tries hard as always but wasteful when he gets in good positions. We need better quality than Noble 6
Obiang Continues to impress and break the play up well as well as trying to be positive on the ball.7
Lanzini – As always some nice touches and good movement but it wasn’t easy against a Sunderland side who came to defend. 7
Payet (MOTM) – Outstanding first half and unlucky not to score 2 or 3. Started to tire towards the end but got yet another assist. It’s not easy for Payet out there when the quality in the box is so poor and so much is expected of him. His run in the first half almost topped the middlesborough goal. 8
Zaza It’s like playing with 10 men. I know the guy is really low on confidence but trying hard isn’t good enough. He makes odd decisions like trying to kick the ball when he just needs to head it. Often fails to get into the box. Gets caught offside. Very little movement..OK, I’m going to be nice and leave it at that. 3
Subs
Feghouli 6 The crosses weren’t quite coming off but he added pace to the attack and I believe he deserves more game time. 6
Callieri – Struggled to get into the game 5
Fletcher Had seven minutes to get into things and the one time he was put into a good position by Payet he fluffed his lines. But he’s young and it’s good to see him on the pitch. 5
Bilic A lucky man as there was a case for the late winner being offside. I like the fact he kept the same formation as the Palace game but when something isn’t working he needs to make the changes sooner. 6
Ref Bobby Madley No real complaints today. Seemed consistent with his decisions. We had a case for 2 penalties but they weren’t clear cut although I may need to see the replays again. 6
Not calling Zaza a turd tonight then Jimmy Jazz.
You have some classy contributors Hugh!
you’re right. I should never have said that. I take it back.
Adrian 6
Reid 8
Kouyate 8
Ogbonna 8
Antonio 6
Obiang 7
Noble 6
Fernandes 7
Lanzini 7
Payet 8
Zaza 5
Subs Feghouli 6, Calleri 5, Fletcher 5.
I’ve seen far worse than that on here and everybody gets a crack if they are ready to do something positive rather than continually giving it the big one
Thanks Hugh. Appreciated. I promise to be a good boy from now on and try not to step on any more toes.
I rarely look here as I have a decent team of moderators now Jimmy but I thought the ratings were fine. Your previous ‘bad behaviour’ passed me by LOL
Thanks Jimmy, I take note… lol
Im with you Matte.Who are we to disagree with Jimmy Lawrenson-Shearer,football expert lool 😉
Lawrenson and Shearer? I’m offended.
Generally agree but for Nobes. He has taken a lot of stick this season and quite deservedly, but I thought today he was back to his best. I personally made him MOTM. Overall by far the best 90 minutes at home this season and the first 30 minutes were as good as I have seen from any team this year. Finally, Bilic. Great to see him play Fernandez at LB rather than revert to the old failed system. My one criticism is that he brought Calleri on before Fletcher who I rate better than both Zaza and Calleri.
Maybe I was a little harsh on Noble. I just get frustrated when he does get forward and is a little wasteful.You’re right though he was better today but against the division’s bottom side he should be.
Sorry i cant read your expert analysis jimmy im a bit******.
Obiang looks like Obiangiang & Payet has 88 as a rating 😀
Ogbonna’s 8 is a little generous. Not yet back to his awesome best but getting there. I thought Chek was stand-out (again) playing in a back three. And Lanzini deserves credit for making runs into space which Zaza still lacks the confidence (or ability) to do. This boy Fernandes looks like he has the potential to become some player. But most importantly of all, 6 points, 2 clean sheets and we are moving in the right direction. Two weekends on the bounce now that I haven’t kicked the dog!
was zaza as bad as a 3? our sister site says he was not too bad 😉
3,4 or 5. The point is he was really bad again. I’m not too sure what he’s supposed to be. He’s supposed to be the lone forward yet so many times we had the ball out wide on the attack and he’s not in the box. His shooting lacks any sort of conviction. Poor control, poor decisions yada yada yada And I want a written apology from everyone who doubted me on Zaza. 😉 Any Godfather fans will know it never ends well for a Zaza.
No one doubted you!!
They couldnt see the point in calling one of our own players a ‘Turd’.Theres a big difference!
If Jimmy Says Zaza is a 3, then he’s a 3. Don’t you know not to poke that fire, Essex? I did it once and grew big ears and a trunk!
Yeah & i got told to engage my brain.That was asking far too much of me though.It just aint going to happen lol 🙂
Nobes 6? He completed 90+ passes… won the ball back 6 times, wasn’t dispossed once.
I don’t see how relevant it is how many passes a player makes, surely it’s all about how many key passes you make or how many of them are positive passes.
A positive pass is one that gets to your own team mates, surely?
I watched Zaza very closely again this afternoon – he was definitely not as lively as he was against Palace. There was an extravagant overhead kick which went well wide, couple of headers he won that went to no one, but the lowlight was when he was put through clear on the left side of the penalty area, he seemed to get his feet mixed up and Kone the Sunderland defender ran past him to clear the ball.
So in summing up I think it’s fair to say that, yes he’s still useless!
Zaza must be doing something pretty fantastic in training to start in front of Fletcher. But look at our situation – three ‘fit’ (as in uninjured) strikers – Zaza, ‘Zero’ Calleri and Fletcher, nine league games and not a goal between them. Even John Radford wasn’t that bad!
Noble only 6/10 and is “wasteful”!
That’s a biased comment and bears no relationship to reality. The stats show Noble made 98 passes and had 96% accuracy. For comparison Obiang made 60 passes with 88% accuracy. Clearly Noble did better than Obiang who you gave a 7!!!!
Yes I know everyone says Noble only passes backwards or sideways but that’s what he is supposed to do. Link defence and supply more attacking players. For comparison though Payet made 7 key passes, Lanzini 4, Noble 2 and Obiang 1, Kouyate 1 and Antonio 1.
When you have a preformed mindset that a player isn’t very good your mind is only noticing the things that confirm your mindset while ignoring the good stuff that shows you’re wrong about a player….
Wasteful when he gets forward. Had a tame effort on goal when set up brilliantly and had a couple of poor crosses in good positions. Stats can be useful but they are often very misleading. Obiang tries to be positive with his passing. I much prefer a player trying to be creative and having a few passes go astray than a player who just passes it sideways or backwards. Obiang also breaks up the play far better than Noble. What Noble lacks is pace and energy and this is what Obiang possesses. The problem with noble is nobody knows his best position. He doesn’t break up play like Obiang and he’s nowhere near as good at passing as Lanzini. Yes, he puts the effort in and is fully committed but most matches he looks tired around the 60 minute mark.
Guest expert? 🙂
Lol GW 😀