Match Ratings VS NEC

[Michey]

Gomes - 7

gunter - 6.5
woodgate - 7.5 motm
dawson - 6.5
bale - 5

bentley - 5
huddlestone - 6.5
zokora - 6.5
o'hara - 7.5

bent - 5
campbell - 5.5

 

[Archibald&Crooks]

Would the 5 people who made Obika man of the match please come and collect their medication please.

Thank you :wink:

 

[InOffMeLeftShin]

More of less agree, just a few points. I looked out for the points you made about Bale and didn't see them, as you say he was improved last night. I think he was very good last night and defended well. I completely agree with Zokora and Huddlestone, it was a strange combination. Huddlestone will not be Carrick now and should be played further forward with at least one pivot.

I noticed Gunter get very tight with his man a lot and while this is good, it can be overdone because it creates a lot of space behind him. So if he doesn't take the LM, the ball is played back and then forward into that space, Gunter is exposed and out of position. A few times I saw him and Bale go forward to track men or go into the tackle when they were going nowhere. As BC says, if they had had better forwards we could have been in trouble.

Bent was poor but had one shot on target-the header from Bentley's cross. The frustrating thing is it is not as if he got given the ball, it bounced off him and he started running again. Time after time he kept the ball for twenty odd seconds using strength and control only to give it away or produce a shoddy pass. Fucking annoying but his service from the compromised Huddlestone was limited.

I would say out of the subs Lennon made an impact and Obika was close to scoring. I have heard he is like Defoe but can link up play. I will wait to see that.

And I think Dawson was better than Woodgate. People will remember the excellent tackle by JW late on but do people remember their one shot on goal which Gomes saved? Woodgate jumped for the ball and completely missed it. Other than mistiming a few headers, I thought Dawson was faultless and our best defender. More or less, people have been fair to him here, I just feel had he put in that performance two years ago he would have been lauded more.

Yes, I thought Bale did much better last night, not sure if it was because he has worked on it or just because he wasn't put under that much pressure. I think he only went 'goofy' once that I noticed. It's very true about Bale and Gunter following the players too high, I expect it is because they have been asked to push up, but they need to understand the difference between pushing up and getting sucked in. Still they are both kids still. Bale still commits too early, but he seemed more confident in his convictions last night, which is at least positive.

I forgot the Bent header.

Dawson has a couple of moments where he looked nervy to me and he still needs to distribute it better, but defensively he and Woodgate looked good. Dawson is far better than people give him credit for as long as he keeps things simple. His problems started when he was suddenly expected to be the senior defender and tried to do too much. We would have been up shit creek without him 2 years ago and he is just as good as he was then, probably better and more mature.

 

[SpurSince57]

Gomes 7 - Nice confidence booster for him and another clean sheet. The defence seemed to push out a little more, which has probably been worked on in training, which meant he could come out and claim the ball. Was calling nice and early.

I noticed that (so did Pleaty!). The communication between him and the defence, parrticularly the CBs, seemed markedly better, too. According to the Guardian:

The goalkeeping coach Perry Suckling has been working with Gomes and the former Tottenham keeper Tony Parks has arrived to help him out. "They've got him working in a more English style," Redknapp said. "Working him, bossing him, talking to him. Plenty of shots and crosses — and he's responded to that."

Of their players, the big CB was impressive, but Davids Junior was the real stand-out.

 

[General Levy]

Would the 5 people who made Obika man of the match please come and collect their medication please.

Thank you :wink:

benwhyte, bho, gearing17, Leon82, snake1

 

[InOffMeLeftShin]

Of their players, the big CB was impressive, but Davids Junior was the real stand-out.

He was indeed. Hell of an engine, but what impressed me was he was actually a pretty decent passer, got himself lots of space and made himself available. Didn't have the snarling of Uncle Edgar, but he was still aggressive enough. Thought he played well.

 

[SoulDog]

Thought they was an okay team, they played the better football, passed the ball quite well. We done our job, defended well. I know it wasent the best of picthes but we hardly passed the ball. Huddlestone hoofed it alot, deffo playing much more direct under Harry. But got the result.

Gomes-6.5 Done what he had to do, one good save and caught the ball well.

Gunter-6.5 done ok.

woodgate-7 defended well. Some good challenges.

Dawson-6 done ok but kept getting wrong side.

bale-6 done ok, still it dodgy defending, done well for the goal.

Bentley5.5 done well for the goal, done fuck all else.

hudd-5.5 done fuck all, gave it away alot.

zokora-6 done ok.

o'hara-7 played well, worked hard, some good shots good goal which campbell should of scored.

bent-5 done fuck all

campbell-5 done fuck all.

 

[SoulDog]

ur just a shit edgar davids shit edgar davids!!

nah thought he looked pritty good.

 

[themanwhofellasleep]

We did hoof it a lot last night, but I think that was more to do with the quality of the pitch than anything else. I say that because I know there is a queue of Harry-bashers waiting to tell everyone that we're going to be playing route 1 football.

 

[SoulDog]

We did hoof it a lot last night, but I think that was more to do with the quality of the pitch than anything else. I say that because I know there is a queue of Harry-bashers waiting to tell everyone that we're going to be playing route 1 football.

It's true admit it.:up:

 

[tRiKS]

crap game that we didn't really have to do much to win. Their only moments were wide and even then they were throwing hopefull crosses in and not filling the box so Gnomes was just cherry picking unchallanged. I think if they had scored we would have responded and cranked it up a gear. It looked like Bentley and huddlestone sespecailly were jsut cruising about ... got in a rut cos it was turning out to be too easy.

Bent and FC control was dreadful though, not sure how much possesion and ball we hope to have when they were playing so weakly. In the end the only tactic our shape and -personell could do justice to was long ball.

Everyone a 6 apart from Woodgate 7, Gunter 7 and O'hara 7. Woodgate becasue the little real danger we had to face he stopped everytime, Gunter becasue his tackle was a good as a goal and O'hara for scoring.

 

[Firekid]

Ok firstly I'll say I missed the first 20mins (couldn't we of waited to score till then!) so missed the goal and bales good cross. But i though him and zokora had awful games. one thing from bale that stuck in my head was up level with the box lennon passed it back to him ran into space and bale just stood still statue like and the defender just walked up to him and took it off him then they broke off that and nearly scored. I know that it was just one instance but it stuck in my head.

Zokora was played out of posistion even for him and really did look a fish out of water (i thought so anyway). However I think there is resaonable explanation of why HR played this midfield like this. I reckon he saw it as a freindly almost his preseason if you will. Able to try it out against an easy team in case of injuries etc. Hopefully he has seen it doesn't work and never trys it again

Gomes had much better performance which is good to see! and to be honest anyone who didn't give o'hara MOM need to pick up there medication imo

A win is a win is a win. Knock out stages here we come! COYS

 

[kernowspur]

Adequate and nothing more. Looked complacent at times. Real disappointment was Huddlestone. This was a game he should have bossed but he was poor. If Jenas had played like that then there would have been a chorus of complaints on here. He may be believing what Harry told him about being the team's quarterback, but he has got to start showing that he is and not just believing it. He was the most complacent of the lot.

 

[900triumph]

Midfield was back to the bad old days, players out of position and more significantly NO WIDTH. This probably worked OK from the point of view of stifling the opposition and grinding outn a win, but it sure as hell ain't pretty. All well and good criticising Zoko and Hudd for poor passing - who they gonna pass to? The only passes on most of the time were the hit and hope looking for a knock down or hold up from Kanoute, or the ball over the top for Keano or a young Michael Owen to run on to. Anybody spot the flaw in those plans?

Crap game, crap tactics, crap half arsed performances and we're through, pretty much, to the next round. Lets forget it and move on - at least Gomes had some catching practice.

 

[tony_parkes]

Man of the match was O'Hara imo.

Woodgate ran him close. Gomes looked better although he wasn't pressured too much. 2 clean sheetes on the bounce, another one against Everton and I will be very happy.

 

[3Dnata]

The pitch did make it worse but without Modric, Pavs & Corluka we are not very creative or subtle.

 

[saintlyspur]

not one of our better games there was a lot of huff and puff i thought o hara was our best player on the night and bent well what a donkey

 

[Midostouch]

I voted for Gomes because in a fairly dreary performance by the team as a whole, Gomes put a smile on my face because he looked in command of whatever came his way and he's got consecutive clean sheets - result.