- Feb 18, 2004
- 1,429
- 321
Friedel 6 - Cant recall him having much to do.
Walker 7 - Good game in attack and defence
Gallas 8 - Impressive, saved Kaboul on a couple of occasions. Adds leadership at the back.
Kaboul 7 - Did well but caught out a couple of times.
Ekotto 7 - Pretty good apart from a dodgy 5 mins.
Sandro 6 - Helped having the extra man in the middle, but I thought the game passed him by at times today.
Parker 7 - Solid performance
Modric 7 - Grew as the game went on, I too think he looked better when VDV went off.
VDV 6.5 - Worked hard but missed a good chance. Whilst he retains possession excellently I have to admit I do find him a bit of a 'tempo-killer' at times and the game has to come down to his pace.
Bale 7 - Has his faults as usual, but looked dangerous when the game became more stretched. A good header against the bar but greedy at times with the shots from distance.
Adebayor 8 - I'll ignore not finishing off the open goal. Apart from that I thought he was very good with his hold up play and workrate. Need this Ade to show up for the rest of the season.
Saha 6 - Did quite well on the right, got involved in the game when he was on.
Livermore 6 - Solid enough when he came on, just slotted in and did his job.
I can agree with this, though if we were to add half points as well I'd have Kaboul down to 6.5 and Walker up to 7.5. I thought Parker as well was better than Modric in midfield worthy of a 7.5. Gallas was great once he decided he was ready to play, first 20 mins or so he looked a bit lost but he really grew as the game went on and will be important in the run-in.
I can see people being critical to Friedel, can't say he did much wrong yesterday. He was caught out by Mata's free kick, should've come for a few crosses as usual but you guys should be used to this by now. Clean sheets at the Bridge have been few and far between so credit to him and the defence (including Sandro and Parker) for getting us there.
As for the game: Ever seen two top teams this afraid to lose? Met up with a Manure supporter after the game and he'd fallen asleep watching it. Second half better than a first half that was most likely the most uneventful half of Premiership football ever, and we really should've nicked it. While our previously immense defence has been suspect lately it is certainly our lack of a proper goal scorer that is the biggest issue. We need the limited contribution from all four of VDV, Ade, Bale and Lennon to score enough to be consistent at top level; with the three former somewhat off the (scoring) boil and Lennon out completely the attacking threat is limited.