hey as i missed the game tonight due to being a show ecstatic yet annoyed wondered how people rated everyones performance? also did we play hoof hoof football or did we keep it on the ground for once?
only 13,000 at the game dissapointing. but on the bright side: THE ORNS ARE STAYING UP! Hendo was my man of the match by far. great effort from everyone tonite.
i don't think anyone deserves man of the match i think the whole team should have it not just won a great performance from all the team!! COME ON YOU HORNS!
Foster 7 - Had little to do, made one good stop from a looping header. Mariappa 6 - Did ok, needs to work on positioning. Mackay 7 - Defensively sound although lack of pace still a worry. Shittu 7 - Did well until hobbling off. Stewart 8 - Best showing for a while, minimal aimless balls. Smith 7 - Seemed to have the running of their LB and had a good assist. Bangura 8 - Would have been 7 but munching Savage pushed it up. Francis 9 - Showed why we signed him, seemed interested and was box to box. Bouazza 7 - Great assist for the winner, perhaps not 100% fit yet. Hendo 7 - Worked very hard, should have done better with header at end. Hoskins 7 - Showed some nice touches. Ran around alot + missed a sitter. DeMerit 8 - Stepped in for Shittu well and took his goal nicely. Powell 7 - Sured things up, nice crazylegs skills too
Foster 7 Mariappa 7 Mackay 7 Shittu 7 Stewart 8 Smith 7 Bangura 7 Francis 7 Bouazza 7 Hendo 8 Hoskins 7 DeMerit 8 Powell 7
Foster 7 Mariappa 6 Mackay 7 Shittu 6 Stewart 8 Smith 7 Francis 8 Bangura 7 Bouazza 7 Hendo 8 Hoskins 7 Demerit 8 Powell 6
Foster 6/7 - Awful distribution but made a crucial save; no chance with the goal Marriappa - 6 - Kept tucking in to tight to the centre back leaving too much room for pedersen. Needs better positional sense but a very promising player. Mackay 8 - Still worryingly slow but had a solid game. Shittu 7 - Was solid, does he ever lose a header. Stewart 8 - Defensively solid, good set piece delivery. Bouazza 7 - Played very well nearly an 8 but still doesn't look 100% Francis? 9 - I'm not sure this was Francis to be honest. Fantastic energy and won the majoirty of 50/50 balls. MOTM Bangura 8 - Panicked a few times in posession but looked a lot more assured on the ball and regurlarly displayed his tenacity against Savage. Smith 7 - Corners were poor, but had the better of the full back all night and looked dangerous. Defensively the right side was our weak side so has to be accountable for that. Hoskins 8 - Lots of energy and looked confident on the ball, unlucky with the chance as it was behind him. Henderson 8/9 - Played excellently, should have done better with his chance but won a lot of flick-ons, held up the ball well - a vintage centre forward style performance. Goal would have made him man of the match. DeMerit 8 - Took goal well and dealt with everything at the back. Nothing spectacular but exactly what is required. Powell 7 - Only on for a short time but used possession well to manage the time at the end. Finally a special mention to Clarke Carlisle who was (I think) at the back of the dugout stood up bouncing away to Yellow Army - good man!
Lets face it though he should have scored, he had loads of time and could have taken a touch first. Looks promising though. Personally i would give Francis MOTM, who did they announce as the MOTM ?
It was deceptively difficult. Saw it on Sky an hour or so ago. The ball was played behind him at pace - in front of him and I'm certain he'd have rammed it home.
Foster 6 (had nothing to do) Mariappa 7 (better than sat) Shittu 7 (awesome again before coming off) Mackay 7 (better than sat, had Nonda in his pocket) Stewart 9 (Sensational game, really really good) Noddy 7 (did ok, nothing special) Bangura 8 (brilliant, got stuck in) Francis 8 (Suprised me, actually made an effort today and he showed he does have quality if he puts effort into it...same again Damo) Bouazza 7 (Pretty quiet really, great cross for Jay's goal though) Henderson 9 (Superb, best game of the season for him and really deserved a goal, he actually won some headers and played with aggresion for a change!) Hoskins 8 (This boy is different class, he's not a poacher but he's got a great first touch and brings players into play...going to score a few for us i'm sure) Demerit 8 (Great header and we didn't really miss Shittu after he came on for him so that's a positive sign, because I thought we were done for when the big man went off) Powell 6 (Didn't have much to do but won a corner and wasted a few seconds) Boothroyd 10 (spot on tonight Aidy, nice to see us mix our game up with some direct play and some good football aswell! Gives us an extra dimension and is less predictable! Hoskins looked much more comfortable getting the ball to feet rather than down his throat)
Foster 7 - Classy as ever. Didn't have much to do today. Mariappa 6 - Still a little insecure with the ball, but good defensively and a nice offensive run for 1-0. Stewart 5 - Looks vulnerable in defense. Seems a bit out of position at left back, really. Shittu 6 - Solid before the injury. Let's hope he'll be back soon. Mackay 7 - When challenged in the air, Malky is superb. Thankfully he wasn't challenged for pace much today. Horrible when Blackburn scored, but other than that solid as a rock. Smith 8 - Very, very good, especially in the first half. If Smitty can keep this up we can threaten any team down the right. Bouazza 7 - Played really well. Struggled a bit to get involved, but when he was, he looked sharp. Bang Bang 7 - Great work rate and tackling. Also managed to get the ball down and play. Didn't look scared like vs Liverpool. Good passing. Francis 7 - His physical presence in midfield is valuable, so is his deep runs in the box. Seems a bit uninspired from time to time, but indeed a good performance. Must work on his shooting, though. Hendo 8 - Played like a great target man should do. Wins in the air, holds up the ball, plays simple passes. Should have scored, though, when he got _that_ chance near the end... Hoskins 6 - Looks hungry and sharp, but struggles to get involved in the game. Needs to work on his off the ball skills to get in the right positions. Should have scored from 6 yards towards the end. DeMerit 8 - Brilliant! Wins everything at the back, scores a goal and shows real enthusiasm. Powell N/A - Too little time.
Bit harsh on Hoskins! 6? He was superb! Oh and the effort towards the end was Stewart's fault! He played the ball behind him so he couldn't get a good contact on it!
Also just realised you gave Stewart 5!? Errr were you there last night mate? I thought we was superb! My MOTM!
Hoskins should have a 7, he was doing a bit too much chasing around last night and hartvix is correct about his off the ball runs. He kept running into Bouazza's space.
I think that's his game though mate! I don't think he's a 6 yard box poacher...he likes to roam around the pitch and find space in front of the opposition's defence! He's not an out and out striker, he's more of a centre forward/attacking midfielder! I thought Hoskins and Henderson linked up really well last night! Was great to see some real aggression from Henderson! He looked more like the Hendo from last season!
He was probably pizzled. He went in to console Shittu after the big man hobbled off. Hoskins looked promising, but was not in the game enough to merit some of the 8 ratings that some have given him. He needs the ball played to feet more often and not up in the air, as he is clearly more adept on the deck. It was obvious though that he was class. Does anyone know if he's injured now? He hurt himself blocking a clearance. I thought Francis was still poor. He was backing off of their midfield every time they attacked, giving them far too much room. I still think he is a lazybones. Smithy was my MOTM. he was a constant threat.
Spot on Bubble. Hoskins is not a poacher - he is a little like Marlon. Billy Sharp at Scunthorpe is a poacher and does nothing much else. I think Aidy wanted someone similar to Marlon.
Foster 7 - Nothing much to do, but made one good save. Marriappa 8 - Getting better every week going forwards, although defensively still a bit shaky. Stewart 8 - Stood in for Gavin well and had one of his better performances Mackay 6 - Did well most of the match but was at fault for their goal because he took a bad throw which put him out of position and he didn't have the pace to get back. Shittu 7 - Solid until injured Smith 8 - Worked his arse off going forwards and got a good assist but does not track back enough, leaving Marriappa to do pretty much all of the defensive work on the right. Bouazza 7 - Had a good chance that Friedel saved and got a nice assist but as people have said already, doesn't look 100% fit and isn't charging things down as much as he used to. Bangura 10 - Killed Savage Francis 7 - Drifted in and out of the game but was putting in the effort, missed a few chances but is improving which is promising. If we start winning he might get motivated and start playing well. Hoskins 7 - Showed nice touches and played a great ball to Henderson, who in turn played a perfect flick on for Francis to miss. Hope he isn't badly injured because he is starting to adjust. And for those who said he missed a sitter, no he didn't. Stewart's pass was about a yard behind Hoskins which mean't he couldn't get anything on the ball at all. If the ball had been played infront of him, which is what he was signalling for Stewart to do, I am sure he would have scored. Henderson 8 - Worked his socks off and was winning a lot more balls in the air than he was at the start of the season. Should have scored with a header but I don't blame him because we still won.
Didn't rate Francis last night, although i probley didn't pick up the good stuff from him because i think hes a lazy money grabbing b*stard
Just a few miscellaneous comments; 1. Foster gets a low score because he didn't have much to do ??? He had few saves to make because he or a teammate closed down the opponent quickly causing them to rush their shot. The sign of a good goalie is having little to do. I'd give him 8. 2. Mariappa did okay defensively and we were rarely exposed from that side. He did very well linking up with Smith. 3. MacKay did much better than in recent games although I am still surprised that DeMerit and Shittu were not the starting lineup. 4. Hope Shittu's okay. 5. Stewart did better, at least partly because he did less attacking and concentrated more on his real job. 6. Bangura had some really good distribution. A lot were back passes, but that is fine since they were to a Watford player who was then facing the right way to restart the momentum forward. I think he should have had a yellow card... the tackle was definitely late, but it was not high or malicious. 7. Francis was probably my MotM... he tackled and chased down every ball and his distribution was great. It was one of those OG's that is due to the attacker's presence... and if it the Blackburn player had managed to avoid the goal, it might have been a penalty since he was climbing all over Francis. 8. Smith worked wonders down the right but his corners do need more height. I found it curious that he took the corners from the left but not those from the right. 9. Bouazza had a quieter game than usual, but was a constant danger on the Left and did a fair amount of good defensive work also. 10. Hendo played the best I have seen him... his header was intended as a pass into space for someone to run onto, I think. He moved well, tackled well, won the ball well and passed it well. He only needed a goal. 11. Hoskins was sharp and very unlucky with the late cross from Stewart. King MIGHT have scored it, but I doubt it and Hoskins made a good attempt. I hope he is not injured. 12. DeMerit was immense. Again, why didn't he start ? Of course, having him on the bench is a great confidence builder in case of an injury in defense. I'm also wondering if he should play up front for a few games... he has an amazing sense of exactly where the goal is as shown from some of his goal-line saves (notably the miraculous backheel). 13. Powell did his job well for the time he was on although my attacking instinct wishes that Ashikodi had been brought on instead. However, I do realise that Aidy made the right decision.
having missed the game due to OFSTED at work, i watched extended highlights on Sky and Francis looked great! Something went wrong there as he and stewart looked our best players.
