Hugh hands out his marks
Randolph: Looks a snip at £4 million given the quality saves tonight. No chance with the goals 7.5
Zaba: Third game on the trot at 35 and despite the natural slow down did no worse than any of the others 6
Diop: Not the player he was a year ago but then which of them are? 5.5
Ogbonna: Gave away the pen but beyond that the usual high quality performance 7
Cresswell: Outstanding at times – all over the place making vital interventions 7.5
Rice: I begin to worry about his positional sense at times as he often fails to cut out ital balls to the player in the hole trying to put the striker in. As a DM he needs help with that from the manager 6.5
Noble: Often over-run and just can’t get around fast enough. 5
Masuaku: Offered next to nothing 2
Snodgrass: Certainly not one of his better nights – plenty of effort, little result 4
Lanzini: What on earth has happened to him 1
Haller: Won the penalty and more impression when marvelous Mikey appeared 4.5
Subs
Antonio: Talk about leading from the front by example – target man, power, strength, passion, total handful and such a performance after injury has to be rewarded with a maximum 10
Fornals: I like the boy and can’t understand – like most others – why Lanzini gets the shout over him 6
Manager:
He has some injuries to cope with but they appeared to be as ill prepared first half as they had been in so many slow starting games under Pellegrini. Had he not been able to call on Antonio you wonder what might have happened. 5
Lanzini seems frightened he might be injured
Rice seems to very inexperienced. Maybe roy keane was right.
The defence continues to make mistakes, midfield lacks pace, ideas
No one seems capable of scoring, even Antonio does not hit the target
Fresh faces are needed asap and a big clear out is required at the end of the season whichever league their in.
Watching MOTD, what struck me most was Lineker’s zombie like presenting, coming almost to life only when one of his former teams got a result. Surely time to replace the old stager, we can still fondly remember him for his goal scoring feats in the 1950’s.
Replace him with David Connolly, he showed far more insight in a single sentence on Radio 5 Live than Lineker has all season.
I’d give them all 2/10 except for Antonio and Randolph. Indolent performance from everyone
Fair individual marks Hugh!
Cresswell was 4 at best. He always defends 5-10 yards away from the opponent because he is afraid to get beaten for pace… like he did on the first goal. He lacks commitment and courage when attempting to block shots… like on the last goal. Going forward he only attacked when he had loads of space because he knows he does not have the pace or technique to beat people… and his crosses hit the first man if any defenders are close. His corners were abysmal… and far too often he just lumped the ball forward because he lacks the composure to find a pass. What you described is the Cresswell before his injury. That player is long gone.
Ratings 2 was just about right but I’m still shaking my head about the starting 11. Does anybody really believe that we put out our best team at the start. Why do we ” experiment” in the first half and then attempt to reverse a two goal defecit in the second half, instead of starting with our strongest option.? Completely baffled as to why Lanzini was left out there.
Don’t inderstand why Fornals was not in the starting lineup yet Lanzini still picked despite dreadful performances every week. Tactics completely wrong and the fact we only had 17 passes in the first 10 minutes says ir all. Masuako awful and our midfield of Noble, Rice and Snodgrass has no pace and just got completely over run.No ball behind or using the channels and it’s obvious Haller cannot hold up play and bring others into the game. Huge transfer fee but so isolated until Antonio came on. With 3 out of the next 4 games against City and Liverpool I really fear that we face relegation. Quite honestly who would want to sign for us if there is a risk of being relegated? Dec looks more disconsolate every game and he cannot do the work of 2 players. Team were outclassed, out thought and out played all night long. Useless in first half and only brief rally in 2nd after Moyes finally brought on Fornals and Antonio. If only we had 11 players with the heart and attitude Mikey shows we wouln’t be in this mess.
Agree about Fornals, who has done very well. He and Antonio should be first on the team sheet. Both have a great attitude. Cress, Ogbonna and Randolph can be happy with their performances and Dec never has a bad game. But there are usually three or four who do. Lanzini and Masuaku were terrible and Snoddy and Noble couldn’t cope with the pace of the game. And Haller was of course without support as usual. One crumb of comfort: Anderson is missing for 3 completely unwinnable games coming up. But will be back after that….We’ll need him to be at his best when he does return. Then maybe….
Harsh on Rice Hugh…he is trying to do the job of the old fella next to him aswell!! What did Lanzini do to get 1? I had him 0 but perhaps you saw something I didn’t! Fornals allday for me.
Indeed. Rice seems to spend most of every game protecting the meandering Noble. Noble, himself, should be banned from the left-hand side of the pitch.
Similarly, apart from taking corners, Snodgrass should be played on the left side of the pitch.
More moves break down due to one-footed players having to try to get the ball onto their only good foot than most other reasons. That contributes to the over-passing, which is a different issue in itself.
The concept of cutting in from the opposite wing and delivering a pass with your good foot is all well and good if they didn’t take so long about it and, by which time, every man and his dog has made it back to break down the move.
If Fornals could be more aggressive then his involvement would be considerable increased.
Too many of the recent imports, in fact the most expensive 3, shy away from actual physical contact.
Lanzini needs to be dropped and sold in this window before his value plummets all the way to zero. He was good as Payet’s sidekick and played well in the following 16/17 season however has offered nothing since. We have far too many soft, slow players so he needs to go!
Really! All 4 goals came from Cresswells area
We are a poor side hugh.. I hate to say that but with our full side out without injuries we are still bottom half side in a not very good Premier league.we have been poor Since we left our beloved home for the soulless bowl…and now we are even worse.. It will be touch and go between the bottom 5 and we play Brighton and villa I. What will be massive 6pters….fingers 🤞
So on average you reckon the team was 5.5/10.
Deluded..
That is utterly absurd logc – sorry did I say logic? Individual ratings aren’t averaged. Dear God! Did YOU say deluded!
It is a pity that, as the host of this site you felt the need to resort to insulting and deriding a fellow supporter.
To the point:
Your response was not only hyper-emotional and derogatory, but statistically incorrect.
“Individual ratings aren’t averaged.”
As the marker and the accuser meant it, it is absolutely logical to accumulate a series of a group’s individual scores and form an arithmetic mean (simple average) for the SAME data set.
Do try to not let your emotions get the better of your own logic and desist from making such Trump-esque remarks. At the very least, explain your own logic and perhaps take some deep breaths, before putting finger to key…………..