Cardiff Ratings

[uksb]

Good to see Kane playing in his proper position.

 

[Pandy]

Do not get the Paulinho low marks. He has massively improved our passing game. Maybe he got caught out one or twice trying to run through a congested midfield. But he scored an audacious back heal and won the f ucking game! Had he not done so, he'd still have had a decent game in my book, drawing the best save of the lot from their keeper and helping to keep us in complete control of the midfield.

Didn't think he was particularly poor, I actually think the whole team played pretty well apart from a couple of balls ups in defence. However when Gunnarsson missed that sitter, he was Paulinho's man, the Brazilian simply didn't track him. I saw it all unfold very early and Paulinho just gave up... Marvellous finish though.

 

[metalgear]

Too close to call = brilliant keeping. No one can conclusively say his hand was in contact with the ball outside of the area.

was going to be a sure goal if he didn't take one for the team. brave and calculated gamble i say! whatever happened to audere est facere on here?

 

[Yermiyahu]

was going to be a sure goal if he didn't take one for the team. brave and calculated gamble i say! whatever happened to audere est facere on here?

Not only that, Naughton's blunder put Lloris under pressure, he should never have had to make that save but did so quite brilliantly imho.

 

[rich]

Re. the handball: Great goal-keeping from Hugo -- he got the ball, he got away with it (even though there is no way on earth a ref could send him off for that, looking in real-time) and he stopped a goal. He rescued Naughton's massive f**k up. Though he was poor on the corner for their "goal". Another clean sheet, I'd give him a 6.5 out of 10.

Walker - 7
Vertonghen - 6.5, had a bit of a ropey period in the 2nd half, but was alright.
Dawson - 7. Some say needless lunges, but I saw some crunching tackles today. We need a bit of that.
Naughton - 5.5. He wasn't getting skinned all day but made poor decisions in possession, one of which could have cost us a goal.

paulinho - 7.5 -- would have been a 6.5, but his goal moved his rating up a notch
dembele - 6.5 -- though he played ok, nothing special but not bad.

eriksen - 6.5 - see above.

townsend - 7 - provided a constant threat going forward, on another day I think he'd have had a goal or 2 to his name.
Sig - 7, did ok, but really unlucky with his effort against the bar.

soldado - 7 -- on another day, he'd have notched a couple

holtby - 9. I honestly think he turned the game, he was basically flawless and played some excellent, quick passes resulting in pressure and helping the goal. One of these "assisting the assisters" that people keep lecturing me about.

Lamela - 7.5 - did pretty well, good assist.

Kane - 7 - did well.

AVB - 7. Would have got a 6, but made good subs. Thought his lineup down the left flank wasn't good, with 2 right-footed players. We looked poor down the left on occasions we did that last season and we didn't get much threat down that side today either.

He was poor in the fact he gave away the corner in the first place, but during the corner he was clearly fouled. His hand was being pulled.

 

[DHSF]

Overall we were excellent barring two ten min periods (one in each half) but thats to be expected seeing as we are playing away, and this is the premier league and no club is gonna just take it up the rectum without any sort of fight.

7 in the first half and 7.5. in the second.

However exeptions:

Naughton is a weak link and LB in general is. We need to sort it out and we played a part in this being a problem by getting rid of BAE without any replacement. I wouldnt be happy putting verts as he is an excellent CB.
Lloris -excellent save (albeit marginally out) but had one or two lapses - the giving away of the corner - I suspect as he had nothing to do he wanted to do something haha.
Walker was good and I said he would be our most improved player this season and has definitely shown his improvement.
Soldado was excellent and shame he couldnt finish his chances but it will flow once he gets one and what better than against Chelscum.

 

[metalgear]

paulinho 8 - because of the goal

everyone else 7 - including loris who took a great calculated gamble from that naughton back pass. dembele probably the best of the 7's wresting control and fighting it out with every cardiff rugby player out there.

naughton 6 - for a couple of dreadful mistakes; but forgiven as (1) its not his natural position (2) we didn't lose the game and most importantly (3) he never gave up and it was his cross field pass to holtby who found lamela to set up the goal.

AVB - 7 for not finding a replacement before letting BAE go. otherwise subs were good though would have preferred much earlier.

cardiff - 8 for nearly snatching it... they pressed in numbers and intensity from start to end, nearly catching us out on a few occasions - including "forced errors". AVB's got to find a way to address this soon, as all other clubs are going to use this as their game plan against us.

 

[Chase]

He was poor in the fact he gave away the corner in the first place, but during the corner he was clearly fouled. His hand was being pulled.

Gunnarson quite clearly trapped his hand between his arm and his body.

 

[FatBloke]

He was poor in the fact he gave away the corner in the first place, but during the corner he was clearly fouled. His hand was being pulled.

I'm not blaming Lloris for it [apart from giving away a stupid corner], but how many times do fouls like that, in the midst of a crowded 6-yard box, go completely unpunished? Most of the time, that goal would have stood, and no-one would have known any different until Gary Neville analysed it on Monday evening!

 

[Spur of the moment]

Health warning: these ratings based only on Sky highlights (about 60mins).

Lloris 5 - by his standards, a stinker, but he got away with it

Walker 6 - solid

Dawson 6 - messed up late on but also got away with it

Verts 6 - looked flustered at times and has to take his share of the blame for the Naughton xxxx-up

Naughton 6 - I never check others' ratings before posting my own but I'm guessing many have slaughtered him for his bloopers, but he also produced a number of outstanding passes and crosses including one from which Soldado came close to scoring (wrongly given offside) and a 40-yard cross diagonal belter to Lamela that started the move for Paulinho's winner

Paulinho 7 - good work in the middle and a stunning finish at the death

Dembele 8 - Sandro is not our only Beast. Love how he kept not only winning and retaining possession but also distributing consistently well

Townsend 7 - another whom I'm guessing will have been slaughtered for too many potshots, but they are mostly decent and he produced plenty of penetrative stuff besides

Sigurdsson 6 - worked hard

Eriksen 7 - love watching this fella

Soldado 7 - unlucky not to get on the scoresheet, beginning to wonder whether he's cursed

Subs

Holtby 7 - gem of a cameo (if that's not tautology)

Lamela 7 - so silky on the ball, produced exactly the right cross for Paulinho's goal

Kane n/a

 

[clevelandspur]

Lloris 5 struggling at the moment, on another day he may have gotten punished for a few of his errors
Naughton 5 looks a different player at LB, some awful decisions and also wasted some good chances at the other end
Dawson 6.5 did OK
Vertonghen 6.5 good distribution
Walker 7 good performance
Dembele 6.5 better from him still not sure why we need two holding CM when teams are just parking the bus
Paulinho 8 classy, and great goal
Eriksen 7 tried and tried unlucky not to score
Townsend 8 I thought he was brilliant, constantly looking to beat his man and get in on goal
Siggy 6 woodwork again, did OK and worked hard
Soldado 7 I thought his best overall match for us, worked hard getting into good positions very unlucky not to score

Holtby, Lamela and Kane all had some good sub cameos, well done to them and AVB for those changes. Special mention to Holtby who I have been saying for weeks deserves to play more. He is in good form and his vision in the final third could be the difference between wins and draws against these teams that just sit back. Lamela great ball in as well for the goal and Kane looked much more comfortable playing in a slightly deeper role

Marshall (their keeper) MOTM almost felt sorry for him after we scored played an absolute blinder

 

[Bullet]

I'm not blaming Lloris for it [apart from giving away a stupid corner], but how many times do fouls like that, in the midst of a crowded 6-yard box, go completely unpunished? Most of the time, that goal would have stood, and no-one would have known any different until Gary Neville analysed it on Monday evening!

Not blowing my own trumpet, but I saw something was amiss in real time on a stream, because Lloris just didn't go anywhere, he was clearly fighting to move. The commentators highlighted the fact Dawson had been used as a human ladder, but Clattenburg was pointing at Lloris so it seemed obvious to me it was Lloris who caught the referee's eye.

Thank the Lord for Clattenburg, those two Lloris decisions could easily have gone the other way and probably would have done at Old Trafford or Stamford Bridge, especially back when Spurs were mid table.

 

[clevelandspur]

Not blowing my own trumpet, but I saw something was amiss in real time on a stream, because Lloris just didn't go anywhere, he was clearly fighting to move. The commentators highlighted the fact Dawson had been used as a human ladder, but Clattenburg was pointing at Lloris so it seemed obvious to me it was Lloris who caught the referee's eye.

Thank the Lord for Clattenburg, those two Lloris decisions could easily have gone the other way and probably would have done at Old Trafford or Stamford Bridge, especially back when Spurs were mid table.

I watched that incident a number of times, Lloris was very lucky that Clattenburg whistled a foul. He was hardly touched and just stopped 9 times out of 10 (unless your Chelsea) that goal would have stood

 

[rich]

I watched that incident a number of times, Lloris was very lucky that Clattenburg whistled a foul. He was hardly touched and just stopped 9 times out of 10 (unless your Chelsea) that goal would have stood

Hardly touched? His hand was trapped between Gunnarson's arm and body. A clear foul. End of story.

 

[Spur of the moment]

I watched that incident a number of times, Lloris was very lucky that Clattenburg whistled a foul. He was hardly touched and just stopped 9 times out of 10 (unless your Chelsea) that goal would have stood

Watch the replay again. You'll see Gunnarson had LLoris in an armlock, thereby totally disabling him from challenging for the cross. And even if that had not been given, the goal should still have been disallowed for the way Dawson was fouled as the Cardiff player used his back as a stepladder to get his header in.

 

[Rossi22]

[video=youtube;S1Nl1-RGYn8]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S1Nl1-RGYn8[/video]

 

[Jurgen the German]

Lloris - 5

Naughton - 4
Vertonghen - 7
Dawson - 7
Walker - 6

Dembele - 7
Paulinho - 8

Townsend - 6
Sig - 7
Eriksen - 7

Soldado - 6

Holtby - 9
Lamela - 8
Kane - 6

 

[Rorschach]

Lloris should really be getting a higher ratings. His only error was the miscontrol that led to the corner. His perfectly good save to stop Campbell should be worthy of a few marks on it's own. A game changing event if there ever was one.

 

[Jurgen the German]

Lloris should really be getting a higher ratings. His only error was the miscontrol that led to the corner. His perfectly good save to stop Campbell should be worthy of a few marks on it's own. A game changing event if there ever was one.

I agree he made a great save to stop Campbell (whether it was outside the area is unclear) but he made a mess of the backpass to give them a corner and he looked iffy from the resulting corner, even though he was fouled in the buildup. On reflection I might give him a 6, but I really don't think you can go much higher than that.

 

[Rossi22]

Lloris 7.5

Walker 7
Dawson 7
Vertonghen 6
Naughton 5

Dembele 8
Paulinho 7

Townsend 7
Eriksen 7
Sigurdsson 6.5

Soldado 6.5

Lamela 7
Holtby 7
Kane 6.5