okay,
1. suarez
truly a fantastic player, as brilliant as he is going forwards he works equally as hard going in the other direction. still don't think he should have taken the penalty but ho hum. pretty sure kenny's plan was to secure the win and take him off early but our profligacy (or s'land's tenacity however you want to look at it) ensured he stayed on longer than he should.
our most important player this season without a doubt.
2. our pressing in the first half
is absolutely a joy to watch, we work so hard to win the ball, we do it so high up the pitch.
such a high impact stratagem is going to require we be the fittest team in the league or the most clinical, the latter meaning taking our chances so we can defend a big lead.
3. defenders are absolutely terrified of carroll
and we need to use and exploit that. often carroll was occupying two defenders, that being the case the attackers should be running beyond him and filling the gaps the opposition defenders leave. also carroll took his goal extremely well and was the victim of a fussy linesman.
4. you don't get punished for side ways passing.
I said last week we need to be 'clever' away from home and do anything to disrupt the flow of the opposition, well you need to be clever at home as well. it was obvious as early as the 50th minute of the second half that many players were dead on their feet, so be clever and use the ball. it really is horrifying seeing the team resort to hoofs, what exactly does that accomplish? all it it means is you expend MORE energy chancing down hopeful punts. just play it square and play it square again, left the team catch it's second wind, let the opposition chase the ball. yes it's tedious, yes we create nothing but if we have the ball the opposition can't hurt us with it.
5. flannigan
was shocking for the equaliser, ball watching really is school boy stuff and shows a lack of awarness with what is happening immediately around you. if you are not going to contribute in an attacking sense then make sure you are rock solid in defense, but he is young and harsh lessons like that will stand him good sted. you learn by mistakes not your triumphs.
6. henderson
(imho) got stage fright. henderson from what I've seen of him is a very attack minded midfielder but chose to do the simple things and not take any risks, I still think we should persevere with him. don't look at it as one game, look at it as the whole season and over the course of a whole season henderson is one of the highest assist makers in the league.
will be interesting to see what kenny does, give him another chance knowing the player will be chomping at the bit to make ammends for a poor debut or bring in the more experienced kuyt.
I suspect the latter but if he does pick henderson it will show how much kenny rates the lad.
7. enrique
put in a good solid debut but was reluctent to get forwards, coupled with flannigan's reluctence to get forwards meant almost no momentum from fullback, that is a massive avenue of attack that we failed to utilise and can continue if we intend to dominate games. you speculate to aaccumulate. to fullbacks that sat deep, to defenders that sat deep and a holding midfielder that sat deep, all putting enormous pressure on the attacking players to create and creating massive gaps in midfield (which you all saw) if the attacking players attempt to hold their position upfield. back to enrique, good solid debut but johnson can't come back soon enough (at RB) as far as I'm concerned.
8. downing
ARRRGGHHHHH ya beauty! what a run, son! WHAT A RUN!!
that derserved a goal and almost certainly would have sealed the three points.
I thought downing was excellent, direct, intelligent, and delivery we excellent. I think downing is going to be a top top signing for us and and strikers aside our most attacking threat.
maybe needs to spend more time on the left, not because I think he loses his attacking threat on the right, I think whoever is on the right loses their attacking threat on the left.
9. lucas
going back to being 'clever' really needs to learn if an opposition player has their back to goal, is running away from goal, isn't a threat to our goal, then under no circumstances WHATSOEVER do you take him out. I mean, WTF?!! it allows the opposition (from nothing!) to absolutely load our box with their attackers and hit us with a dangerous free kick.
also he takes to take responsibility from the defenders and pick the ball of their toes and bring it forwards, if we are losing control of the game then take responsibility to turn things in our favour, far too REACTIVE giving away cheap free kicks when we are under the cosh and isn't proactive enough building our attacks. that said, he had a enough game game yesterday.
10. adam
thought he was excellent first half, spraying the ball about and had an excellent shot at goal but lost his way second half, also like lucas in giving away cheap free kicks in front of our goal. alonso-seque with his passing first half but very unalonso like with regards to slowing the pace of the game down when things are going tits up, if anything he exacerbates the situation by giving away cheap free kicks.
11. centre backs
were solid enough, no glaring errors, except maybe getting sucked towards the ball for the equaliser. will be interesting to see if kenny does bring in a centre back.
12. kenny
I thought he picked a good first team but was a little too slow to react to our dead on their feet right hand side. the right subs but a little too slow. we brave to start with a babyish right hand side and maybe didn't get the reward for his team's first half performance.
all in all a great first half performance offset by an equally poor second half performance, personally I think that was down to a lack of fitness than a lack of ability. we need to get sharper and we need to be more clever with the ball when we run out of energy. imho there are more positives then negatives to take away from the game.
first half - B (not A+ because we didn't take all our chances)
second half - D (too hurried, too panicky, not clever enough when we had the ball)
1. suarez
truly a fantastic player, as brilliant as he is going forwards he works equally as hard going in the other direction. still don't think he should have taken the penalty but ho hum. pretty sure kenny's plan was to secure the win and take him off early but our profligacy (or s'land's tenacity however you want to look at it) ensured he stayed on longer than he should.
our most important player this season without a doubt.
2. our pressing in the first half
is absolutely a joy to watch, we work so hard to win the ball, we do it so high up the pitch.
such a high impact stratagem is going to require we be the fittest team in the league or the most clinical, the latter meaning taking our chances so we can defend a big lead.
3. defenders are absolutely terrified of carroll
and we need to use and exploit that. often carroll was occupying two defenders, that being the case the attackers should be running beyond him and filling the gaps the opposition defenders leave. also carroll took his goal extremely well and was the victim of a fussy linesman.
4. you don't get punished for side ways passing.
I said last week we need to be 'clever' away from home and do anything to disrupt the flow of the opposition, well you need to be clever at home as well. it was obvious as early as the 50th minute of the second half that many players were dead on their feet, so be clever and use the ball. it really is horrifying seeing the team resort to hoofs, what exactly does that accomplish? all it it means is you expend MORE energy chancing down hopeful punts. just play it square and play it square again, left the team catch it's second wind, let the opposition chase the ball. yes it's tedious, yes we create nothing but if we have the ball the opposition can't hurt us with it.
5. flannigan
was shocking for the equaliser, ball watching really is school boy stuff and shows a lack of awarness with what is happening immediately around you. if you are not going to contribute in an attacking sense then make sure you are rock solid in defense, but he is young and harsh lessons like that will stand him good sted. you learn by mistakes not your triumphs.
6. henderson
(imho) got stage fright. henderson from what I've seen of him is a very attack minded midfielder but chose to do the simple things and not take any risks, I still think we should persevere with him. don't look at it as one game, look at it as the whole season and over the course of a whole season henderson is one of the highest assist makers in the league.
will be interesting to see what kenny does, give him another chance knowing the player will be chomping at the bit to make ammends for a poor debut or bring in the more experienced kuyt.
I suspect the latter but if he does pick henderson it will show how much kenny rates the lad.
7. enrique
put in a good solid debut but was reluctent to get forwards, coupled with flannigan's reluctence to get forwards meant almost no momentum from fullback, that is a massive avenue of attack that we failed to utilise and can continue if we intend to dominate games. you speculate to aaccumulate. to fullbacks that sat deep, to defenders that sat deep and a holding midfielder that sat deep, all putting enormous pressure on the attacking players to create and creating massive gaps in midfield (which you all saw) if the attacking players attempt to hold their position upfield. back to enrique, good solid debut but johnson can't come back soon enough (at RB) as far as I'm concerned.
8. downing
ARRRGGHHHHH ya beauty! what a run, son! WHAT A RUN!!
that derserved a goal and almost certainly would have sealed the three points.
I thought downing was excellent, direct, intelligent, and delivery we excellent. I think downing is going to be a top top signing for us and and strikers aside our most attacking threat.
maybe needs to spend more time on the left, not because I think he loses his attacking threat on the right, I think whoever is on the right loses their attacking threat on the left.
9. lucas
going back to being 'clever' really needs to learn if an opposition player has their back to goal, is running away from goal, isn't a threat to our goal, then under no circumstances WHATSOEVER do you take him out. I mean, WTF?!! it allows the opposition (from nothing!) to absolutely load our box with their attackers and hit us with a dangerous free kick.
also he takes to take responsibility from the defenders and pick the ball of their toes and bring it forwards, if we are losing control of the game then take responsibility to turn things in our favour, far too REACTIVE giving away cheap free kicks when we are under the cosh and isn't proactive enough building our attacks. that said, he had a enough game game yesterday.
10. adam
thought he was excellent first half, spraying the ball about and had an excellent shot at goal but lost his way second half, also like lucas in giving away cheap free kicks in front of our goal. alonso-seque with his passing first half but very unalonso like with regards to slowing the pace of the game down when things are going tits up, if anything he exacerbates the situation by giving away cheap free kicks.
11. centre backs
were solid enough, no glaring errors, except maybe getting sucked towards the ball for the equaliser. will be interesting to see if kenny does bring in a centre back.
12. kenny
I thought he picked a good first team but was a little too slow to react to our dead on their feet right hand side. the right subs but a little too slow. we brave to start with a babyish right hand side and maybe didn't get the reward for his team's first half performance.
all in all a great first half performance offset by an equally poor second half performance, personally I think that was down to a lack of fitness than a lack of ability. we need to get sharper and we need to be more clever with the ball when we run out of energy. imho there are more positives then negatives to take away from the game.
first half - B (not A+ because we didn't take all our chances)
second half - D (too hurried, too panicky, not clever enough when we had the ball)
