Hugh hands out the marks as the Irons complete another pre-season victory
Fabianski: No complaints at all particularly as he was always looking to deliver straight to feet. 6
Fredericks: Love the bloke. Lightning down the right side and fine assist for the goal. Knows how to defend 7
Balbuena: Early days but caught out for the goal as Ipswich sprung offside trap 5
Ogbonna: Better after break but largely responsible for the goal 5
Masuaku: Excellent but consistency will be the key. Great when bursting forward. Defensive technique not tested 7
Obiang: Never got to terms with the game and responsible for various errors 4
Kouyate: Very poor game – never on the pace 4
Wilshere; Not good and a booking thrown in. Early days …but! 4
Yarmolenko: There’s a lot more to come from this lad but he’s big and full of tricks 6
Anderson: Great to see him get his first goal but he’s obviously very much feeling his way into things. More to come 6
Arnautovic: Five goals in pre season tells it’s own story – better second half than first 7
Subs:
Noble: Vast improvement when appearing for the ineffective Kouyate and looks to be linking with Anderson 6
Snodgrass: Snoddy is surprising a few who thought he may be on his way and once again did little wrong 5
Haksabanovich: Looking surprisingly mature and certainly not afraid to run at defenders 6
Martinez: Little impact but battled to make an impact 5
Diop: Little to trouble him and looked solid 6
Rice: Only got 20 minutes but what a 20 minutes – really introduced some movement and athleticism to midfield 7
Zabaleta: Rock solid as we have come to expect 6
Perception is a funny thing, I thought Wilshere was quality the booking was competing for the ball which shows some passion, Wilshere is the glue in the midfield that holds the team together imho, we now could do with someone to do a similar job from deeper, as for Yarmo and Anderson as their English improves and understanding with team mates they will get better and show more value, most of the squad barely even know each other so lets give them a break, Balbuena and Ogbonna aside from the goal were very solid I would certainly give them a 6 each maybe 6.5, Diop looks nervous to me, very capable and pacy but definitely not settled straight in, I think that is why they are playing him alongside Zaba because Zaba covers his mistakes positionally.
If u fancy a shot at the ratings 32 let me know – guest raters always welcome
Ok Hugh and not sure how you took it, never critical when I make a comment just my opinion 🙂
I have to say imo Hugh got it spot on with Wilshere – he had no impact on the game whatsoever. I just cannot see it with this guy, he is not a 10 which we need badly. He is not a defensive midfielder because he does not sense danger and is slow to react. So the only place you can play him is as an 8 and that player is supposed to be a box to box player which he is not. I fear it was another terrible transfer decision like the one to sign Fredericks who is no where near a fb in a 4-2-3-1 system, the Pell System.
Like I said Johnham we all see things differently which is cool, none of our opinions matter 😀 I saw a player putting himself around, intercepting passes using intelligence and trying to play ambitious balls forward to get Arnie in, most of those forward passes didn’t come off but Wilshere is getting his match fitness he looks half a yard slower than he can be but he was for me comfortably the best and most effective midfielder on the park.
I agree 32. Wilshire was rated 6 by me. Another disagreement with Hugh was Shoddy. Thought he was awful. DoD not defend, was a yard down on pace with everyone Elsa, gave the ball away when he did have it and his control was poor. 2 from me.
Although he was great going forward, I thought Fredericks’ defending was poor, and that’s been true at some other times in pre-season. Ipswich were causing us a lot of problems down the(ir) left.
The biggest concern for me is the CB pairing. None tried so far has been good enough, but of course this is because of the new arrivals trying to settle in.
It will improve but it’s difficult with players who speak French or Spanish but no English. Understanding between CBs is always key to a good defense, and looking at Balbuena and Diop they are learning to adjust with Diop in particular as 32 says is a bit nervous at the moment. They are both very good players but need time to get up to speed.
Hopefully in the last 2 friendlies they will get the chance to show a big improvement, or we will need Rice playing at the back for a while. That would weaken our centre midfield.
Harsh comments and scores, Hugh…..especially for Wilshere
I agree with the ratings with the exception of Fredericks. Hugh you might love him but he was absolutely muck yesterday. He cannot defend, if you pass him the ball his first instinct is just to kick it away, he has no composure on the ball, his passing is tentative etc. He was by far the worst player on the pitch yesterday for us who started followed by Wilshere. Whatever you say about Obiang at least he put a shift in.
John – Kuoyate was the worst player on the pitch by a mile. The sooner we ship him out the better. Wilshire will look the part when we surround him with players who move, unlike Kuoyate and Obiang who are static. We still need one more central midfielder and a striker, at which point, with Kuoyate (and possibly Obiang) moved on, we will be good to go. If only Manu was fit, we could be seriously decent!
Jimbo, I understand your concerns with Kouyate but to be fair to him, he had only 1/2 days back training so I would give him some leeway. If we have to sell one of Obiang or Kouyate it would be Obiang for me. However Wilshere I just don’t get this signing at all. I agree we are in big trouble in the middle of the park and we need a player like the Celtic lad asap. We also need a 10 and a striker. Zabo imo is our first choice FB unless we change our system to two wing backs.
It was a pre season friendly chaps against a team who were mauling us preahaps pelly should have started his strongest team and blended in pedro and check later on
But a steady performance really and another mature game from rice