Match ratings against sunderland

[Bullet]

The scary thing with Walker's stupid double mistake for their goal, is that Clive Allen said he'd done it before, I know he's done it before, and then he did it again with 5 minutes to go.

Their left winger was running back towards his own goal, on the touchline, panicking, so Walker just mowed him down and gave them a freekick again.

Had that gone in, he would have been dropped until August.

 

[Pandy]

Adebayor getting 3s and 4s? People have actually lost it. Shocking finishing but he really was nowhere near that bad. Defoe was anonymous yet he is getting 6s and 7s... laughable.

 

[Jurgen the German]

Lloris 10 - The idea that Brad is at his level - ridiculous

Walker 6 Another piece of stupidity nearly cost us the game - Naughton in at RB

Dawson 9 Great performance - Mr Spurs - to think AVB had the stupid idea of selling him

Caulker 8 Good but no Dawson

Naughton 9 Out of position still does better than Walker

Lennon 10 Fantastic

Sandro 9.5 Superb

Dembele 7.5 looks unfit, but did well

Bale 9.5 Refs are trying to drive him to Spain - Disgusting from Atkinson

Defoe 6.5 Got lost.

Ade 6.5 has he forgotten how to score

Dempsey 8 - love him

 

[Pandy]

You need to start worrying about strikers when they are not getting chances not when they miss them. Ade and Dempsey is the future.
A great team performance-Lennon was the best.

This! Dempsey was great when he came on and contributed more than Defoe over the course of the whole game. Defoe seems unable to get into any decent positions in the box, most of the time he just gets it on the edge of the area, 3 men come to close the shot down and he just has a dig anyway. Adebayor is instrumental in our build-up play and although he is not a finisher, Dempsey has a nose for goals and always will get to one of the posts to tap in goals. That backheel to Ade was also genius - something Defoe could never come up with.

 

[Bullet]

When Defoe goes through on goal one-on-one, I have no faith he will score.
When Adebayor... ditto.

When Bale did against Villa he just knocked it past the keeper, ran onto it and rolled it home - so easy.

That is our problem, our strikers don't have that little bit of class and calmness. They are decent, but erratic.

Today Adebayor could have rounded the keeper and slotted it in.

 

[Pandy]

Lloris - 8. Very solid, not much he could do about the goal, great punches - an actual presence in the box.

Walker - 6. You just can't give away stupid freekicks like that when Seb Larsson is on the other team.
Dawson - 8. Imposing performance, beast in the air when needed - not too many hoofs either and the ones he made looked more like long passes for once!
Caulker - 7.5. Very solid.
Naughton - 8. Really impressed me today, some great passes coming in off the left and was solid defensively.

Sandro - 8.5. Bossed the game.
Dembele - 8. See above.
Lennon - 9. Embarrassed Kilgallon, looking so sharp this year.
Bale - 8. A constant threat, should have had a penalty.

Defoe - 5. Poor performance, wasted the ball and missed a decent chance. Crap dive to boot.
Adebayor - 6. Shocking finishing but he brings our team to life in the final third and allows inwards movement from Bale and Lennon.

Dempsey - 7. Looking better and better, really looked classy today.
Parker - N/A.
Sigurdsson - N/A.

 

[thfcsteff]

Lloris 8 - When necessary he showed TOTAL authority in the box with some tremendous punching. Great presence and two smart smart saves.

Walker 6 - Regressive performance from him today, could do with a rest and a re-charge,has played a lot this season.

Dawson 8 - Did really well again. He is a more rounded player than last season. What spirit on and off the pitch!

Caulker 8 - This boys is going to be outstanding.

Naughton 8 - Another fine performance. Since the filth he has kicked on a level or three

Lennon 8 - As ever, Azza was strong and tricky, and today offered that elusive finish which I feel could be a little more commonplace!

Sandro 8 - A beast as ever.

Dembele 8 - Lovely on the ball and kept possession really well against some terrier-like heal snapping.

Bale 8.5 - Clearly another level from everyone on the pitch, he was his usual, accomplished-self. The ref fudged him again.

Defoe 7 - Worked hard, dropped in and around numerous times to be a presence and should've rounded off a decent performance with a goal.

Ade 7 - Missed a sitter sadly, but thought he worked very, very hard indeed and was very important in us keeping the ball/the game.

Dempsey 7 - My appreciation of this fine man has been stated enough. He will be vital for us this season.

Scotty P 7 - gets a rating simply because he appears a modified player from last season in so much as he appears to have more license to look for forward passes. He, too, will be VITAL for the rest of the season.

AVB/Freundy 9 - another strong example of what these men are trying to build at our club. We are lucky to have them.

 

[Rossi22]

Adebayor getting 3s and 4s? People have actually lost it. Shocking finishing but he really was nowhere near that bad. Defoe was anonymous yet he is getting 6s and 7s... laughable.

Because his shocking finishing could've cost us the 3 points. If one of our defenders fudged up for 2 or 3 goals then they'd be getting low ratings so why should a striker be immune?

 

[Pandy]

Because his shocking finishing could've cost us the 3 points. If one of our defenders fudged up for 2 or 3 goals then they'd be getting low ratings so why should a striker be immune?

Because missing a sitter isn't the same as letting someone score. We had 17 shots today and scored 2 goals. Strikers will always miss but defenders are expected to commit 0 howlers every game. Defoe was far less involved in build-up, didn't get in as many good positions to finish as Ade did, and when he did get a chance he hit it straight at the keeper. Neither had a good game, but Defoe seems like the one immune from receiving low ratings.

 

[Rossi22]

Well what you're saying is a striker can only ever be rated between 5-10 whereas a defender can be 0-?, I don't see that as being fair. He didn't miss a sitter, he missed 2 and also one other very good chance. Also Defoe wasn't involved far less in the play, Ade completed 22/24 passes in 95 minutes, Defoe 21/23 in 76. Neither were good, just Ade missed 3 great chances and Defoe missed 1, their job is to put them away.

 

[DHSF]

Ade is getting three and fours because he looks half arsed. I can excuse poor ability and i can excuse lack of skill but cant excuse the absence of effort. He looks disinterested half the time. His touch has been very very poor lately - he is like a fudging brick wall everything bouncing off him.

Defoe didnt play that well but the reason Ade is getting criticism is because its his job to be the link up guy to do the creativity side of things to be the guy who knits things all together. We know Defoe doesnt do any of that malarky Defoe is a predator but fudged up today.

 

[Pandy]

Well what you're saying is a striker can only ever be rated between 5-10 whereas a defender can be 0-?, I don't see that as being fair. He didn't miss a sitter, he missed 2 and also one other very good chance. Also Defoe wasn't involved far less in the play, Ade completed 22/24 passes in 95 minutes, Defoe 21/23 in 76. Neither were good, just Ade missed 3 great chances and Defoe missed 1, their job is to put them away.

Ridiculous. What your saying is that missing a good chance is equivalent to conceding a goal. Top class defenders will make 1 or 2 individual shockers per season, top class strikers will miss 1 or 2 good chances per game. Defending is not an individual feat, but finishing is - it's much more easy to make individual errors as a striker than as a defender, so yes, if you manage to fudge up so badly that responsibility for a goal conceded lies solely on your shoulders, you are going to get a brick rating from me.

Also, a striker has to do far more than 'put goals away' - Adebayor regularly gives us this. He stretches the play using the wings, makes dangerous passes, is someone who can hold up and win the ball in physical challenges with CBs, while also getting into dangerous positions in the box.

I don't care about numbers - I watched the game, Adebayor's 22 passes and the runs associated with them were far more useful to our team than Defoe's 24 short layoffs under pressure (obviously he did more than this, but he is not a passer - Ade picks out people, Defoe looks for the shortest option so he can get to the edge of the box and have a shot).

 

[Pandy]

Ade is getting three and fours because he looks half arsed. I can excuse poor ability and i can excuse lack of skill but cant excuse the absence of effort. He looks disinterested half the time. His touch has been very very poor lately - he is like a fudging brick wall everything bouncing off him.

Defoe didnt play that well but the reason Ade is getting criticism is because its his job to be the link up guy to do the creativity side of things to be the guy who knits things all together. We know Defoe doesnt do any of that malarky Defoe is a predator but fudged up today.

I thought he did this to a decent standard today. Equally Adebayor should not be expected to score as much as Defoe - it isn't his job. If Defoe is a predator, his main job is to score - he barely threatened Sunderland's goal today, certainly less than Ade did.

 

[paxtonwolf]

A good win at a ground where dont have a recent good record. Massive bonus and must be a great confidence boost.

Lloris commanded his area to perfection. 8
Four english defenders and all played well without being outstanding. Naughton the pick 8. Dawson,Caulker 7, Walker 6
Lennon MOTM 8
Sandro hassled all day, just love how Dembele rides tackles, Bale not deserving of a yellow card(shame it cant be rescinded) All get a 7
Both strikers guilty of missing good chances, Adebayor worryingly looks disinterested at times, although not all the time. Defoe just seemed to fall at the wrong moment. Cant give them a 7 i'm afarid both get a 6
Parker/Sigurddson 6 each, but Dempsey 7 thought he was great in the short time he was on the pitch, a breath of fresh air.

AVB - 8 Worried when I heard he had left out Vertonghen, but thats why he was sat next to Steffen Freund and I was sat next to the wife

 

[Golfball]

Pandy, clearly you have something against Defoe, but Ade is out of form no matter what you think of Defoe. JD was far from anonymous today though. Ratings seem fair to me.

 

[DHSF]

I thought he did this to a decent standard today. Equally Adebayor should not be expected to score as much as Defoe - it isn't his job. If Defoe is a predator, his main job is to score - he barely threatened Sunderland's goal today, certainly less than Ade did.

I agree Defoe wasnt at his best yet still created for Ade first half and had a great second half chances saved brilliantly (some of course will argue a miss of the fudging season - I disagree).

Maybe i being harsh on Ade I just expect a lot more from him

 

[Spur of the moment]

Can't believe some think Dembele was equal or even beter than Sandro, I thought Sandro was a clear class apart today.

True, Sandro was his beastly self as always (we're so lucky to have him!) though some of his forward passing was wayward. But I fear you have shortchanged Dembele. I reckon if you watched a reprise video of his contribution you might just change your mind. Not saying he did anything particularly eyecatching but the sheer number of times he gained and crucially retained possession under pressure in order to lay it off or play a team-mate in was truly impressive.

So for my money their contributions were about equal overall.

 

[THFC6061]

Lennon MotM for me with Lloris not far behind.

 

[Spur of the moment]

A good win at a ground where dont have a recent good record. Massive bonus and must be a great confidence boost.

Lloris commanded his area to perfection. 8
Four english defenders and all played well without being outstanding. Naughton the pick 8. Dawson,Caulker 7, Walker 6
Lennon MOTM 8
Sandro hassled all day, just love how Dembele rides tackles, Bale not deserving of a yellow card(shame it cant be rescinded) All get a 7
Both strikers guilty of missing good chances, Adebayor worryingly looks disinterested at times, although not all the time. Defoe just seemed to fall at the wrong moment. Cant give them a 7 i'm afarid both get a 6
Parker/Sigurddson 6 each, but Dempsey 7 thought he was great in the short time he was on the pitch, a breath of fresh air.

AVB - 8 Worried when I heard he had left out Vertonghen but thats why he was sat next to Steffen Freund and I was sat next to the wife

:lol: ... and why we won the match whilst resting a key defender (also Gallas) for the Reading game \o/

 

[Rossi22]

Ridiculous. What your saying is that missing a good chance is equivalent to conceding a goal. Top class defenders will make 1 or 2 individual shockers per season, top class strikers will miss 1 or 2 good chances per game. Defending is not an individual feat, but finishing is - it's much more easy to make individual errors as a striker than as a defender, so yes, if you manage to fudge up so badly that responsibility for a goal conceded lies solely on your shoulders, you are going to get a brick rating from me.

Also, a striker has to do far more than 'put goals away' - Adebayor regularly gives us this. He stretches the play using the wings, makes dangerous passes, is someone who can hold up and win the ball in physical challenges with CBs, while also getting into dangerous positions in the box.

I don't care about numbers - I watched the game, Adebayor's 22 passes and the runs associated with them were far more useful to our team than Defoe's 24 short layoffs under pressure (obviously he did more than this, but he is not a passer - Ade picks out people, Defoe looks for the shortest option so he can get to the edge of the box and have a shot).

So basicaly what I said then, a striker's score can only go as low as 5.