Hughie hands out his marks
Fabianski: Little to do in first half but made a great attempt to save spot kick – decent game as ever 7
Coufal: Barnes gave him a nightmare and he was finally subbed – not one of his best by some way 4
Issa Diop may get a recall
Diop: Great assist and looked far more like the central central defender we recall from a while back 7+
Dawson: Rarely troubled – grabbed the goal and looked composed throughout 7
Creswell: Terrible penalty to give away- yellow carded as well – poor game 4
Rice: Worked his socks off as ever but got lost with most of them in the second half 6+
Soucek: We are still waiting for the real Tomas to show up – pretty anonymous 5
Bowen: Fine goal when he still had plenty to do and always looked likely to make things happen 7+
Lanzini: Neat and tidy and plenty of decent passing but not one to remember 6
Fornals: Always looking for space – a couple of dangerous balls into the box – no complaints 7
Antonio: Let’s be honest he wasn’t really at the races – back up needed badly in his current form 4
Subs:
Vlasic: Barely noticed him 3
Benrahama: Lot’s of hopeful pot shots – little else 4
Fredericks: On for Coufal as the pressure came off a bit 4
Think you are being overly generous with these scores, Fabianski and Bowen fair enough and a 6 each for Soucek and Rice, Fornals did nothing, Lanzini did nothing, Antonio looks like he is running on empty even though he was trying, the 4 for Cresswell when he needlessly gave away a penalty, was again easilly beaten for the goal and had the booking is generous too, Benrahma at least brought an attacking threat, I am not sure Vlasic even touched the ball but those subs should have been made 20 minutes before they were so have to give Moyes a 5 also. It looks like something is wrong because the players certainly aren’t playing with the intensity of last season, whether thats the extra games, a hangover from last year or the burden of extra pressure to finish in the European places who knows…
Make you right about the subs being too late.
Rice was OK, Lanzini was better than both Soucek and Fornals, and Vlasic did touch the ball and he didn’t give it away, unlike Soucek/Fornals.
The intensity from 2020 & 21 is nissing because they team looks shagged?!
I think Coufal, Soucek, Fornals, and Antonio are all way off their best levels. In particular, I think we have to stop talking about a back up for Antonio. If we seriously want to become a regular top six team we have to upgrade our number 9. Teams have worked Antonio out, and he has been on the margins of games for weeks now. I think he is an amazing squad member, and gives us something different for sure. But he did not have a sniff at goal all game, or in the last few either. Imagine Salah not getting a good look at goal for several games in a row for Liverpool. Not good enough for where we want to be as a team.
Well here we go; both full backs, very experienced pros, had indifferent games and we’re our weak spots, scored 4.
Yet no sign of Ben Johnson from the bench, no Ashby, Alese, Longelo even on the bench.
Antonio virtually anonymous, scored 4, but neither Perkins or Okoflex on the bench.
Everyone looks tired, but no imagination in the subs – unlike Liverpool who are true top 4 and play their U23’s.
Hugh I fail to see how you can only give Benrahma a 4 and say
“Benrahama: Lot’s of hopeful pot shots – little else 4”.
He came on in the 79th minute. In them 11 minutes plus 3 minutes of injury time, I counted at least 4 shots. One was saved by Schmeichel, one went narrowly wide and two were blocked for corners, from which one we scored. All in 14 minutes. Compared to Vladic who came on at the same time and did absolutely nothing and Benrahma created more and had more shots than Antonio who was on the pitch for 93 minutes. Blimey I thought in the 14 minutes he was on the pitch he done more than most of the team in 93 minutes.
Lets start with the positives Dawson yet again a leader, Diop fair play to you did not expect such a good performance and Bowen a great finish for the first goal. Now I have known for a long time Moyes is tactically inept, firstly what does he see in Fredericks is anyone’s guess. Secondly how he took off Lanzini and Fornals instead of Soucek and Antonio is stunningly stupid. What right has Soucek and Antonio to stay on the pitch with those performances while both Lanzini and Fornals tried to get us moving forward. Moyes was very poor and you could argue that Fredericks was better than Coufal when he came on but if he decides to start him next week against Newcastle we might as well give Newcastle the 3 points. I would not be surprised at this rate he will give him a new contract if he does it will be criminal.
We all see games differently but, really, Vlasic “barely noticed him” ? Poor guy was only on the pitch a matter of minutes and could hardly be expected to have a major impact on the game could he ? And, out of curiosity, why did Benrahma , who came on at the same time, warrant a 4 ? What did he do that Vlasic didn’tr ? Apart from planting a few aimless shots into Row Z of course. Someone needs to tell him he is allowed to pass the ball for heaven’s sake. Very frustrating player.