Revolution
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Excellent listen once again - thanks to you both for putting the time in.
I think you are both broadly right on your ratings (and I could not agree more with Jay re Ched Evans). A few places where I disagree slightly:
The wing backs: I think Jay has Stevens a bit high and Baldock a bit low. I think they're both a 6 out of 10. I think that there are two things that aren't being measured re Stevens that makes me rate him lower than his stats: the first is the number of times he gets down the wing and doesn't deliver a cross: many times the ball goes back but the move breaks down and a cross never comes. I think he does this too much. Second, and this applies to Baldock too - they do things so slowly. As I have said before, the ball may be coming in but the defenders are set. Neither of them could have scored the goal Freeman got on Sunday and I hope to see him pressing for a role next year.
I also think that if we are going to keep playing like this we need more than 3 goals (1 from each of them) and 5 assists from our wing backs collectively, but who knows whether there's money for an upgrade.
Lundstram: same issue. He doesn't force the pace enough when he's passing for me. I also think that whilst his pass completion is respectable, the bad passes he makes tend to cause problems: there were too many passes to the opposition near the centre circle. It's encouraging he'll make runs into the box and there's time for him to improve, but I thought 7 was a bit too high.
Duffy/Brooks/Donaldson: I think you're right and Jay's wrong, and 7 and 6 is fairer than 8 and 7. Duffy created the best moment of our entire season, had other standout moments and was influential (9 assists is very good) but he missed 10 games (not all his fault) and was not good post Reading. As for Brooks, I thought this comparison was instructive:
Brooks 2017-8: 9 starts, 21 sub appearances, 1148 minutes on pitch, 3 goals (in a 2-1 win, a 2-0 win and a 3-1 defeat), 4 assists
Donaldson 2017-8: 9 starts, 16 sub appearances, 942 minutes on pitch, 5 goals (2 in a 2-1 win, 2 in a 2-2 draw, 1 in a 2-1 win), 1 assist
Quite close, given that Brooks doesn't win many tackles. If Donaldson is only a 5, Brooks ain't a 7.
Clarke: Not worth your 10 out of 10. Vastly exceeded my expectations and was in a group of 3 standouts with Fleck and O'Connell but no-one who fails to score for a 10 game span when we were struggling a bit can be said to have had a perfect season. Jay's 9 is more realistic for me.
As for expected goals, it seems the midfielders hit or exceeded these targets, but they need to make their targets higher - we really struggled to get shooting chances for midfielders. O'Connell had a great season and a nightmare in the opposition penalty area, whereas Clarke exceeded his expected goals by 50%. I expect some regression to the mean from both of these two next year.
I think you are both broadly right on your ratings (and I could not agree more with Jay re Ched Evans). A few places where I disagree slightly:
The wing backs: I think Jay has Stevens a bit high and Baldock a bit low. I think they're both a 6 out of 10. I think that there are two things that aren't being measured re Stevens that makes me rate him lower than his stats: the first is the number of times he gets down the wing and doesn't deliver a cross: many times the ball goes back but the move breaks down and a cross never comes. I think he does this too much. Second, and this applies to Baldock too - they do things so slowly. As I have said before, the ball may be coming in but the defenders are set. Neither of them could have scored the goal Freeman got on Sunday and I hope to see him pressing for a role next year.
I also think that if we are going to keep playing like this we need more than 3 goals (1 from each of them) and 5 assists from our wing backs collectively, but who knows whether there's money for an upgrade.
Lundstram: same issue. He doesn't force the pace enough when he's passing for me. I also think that whilst his pass completion is respectable, the bad passes he makes tend to cause problems: there were too many passes to the opposition near the centre circle. It's encouraging he'll make runs into the box and there's time for him to improve, but I thought 7 was a bit too high.
Duffy/Brooks/Donaldson: I think you're right and Jay's wrong, and 7 and 6 is fairer than 8 and 7. Duffy created the best moment of our entire season, had other standout moments and was influential (9 assists is very good) but he missed 10 games (not all his fault) and was not good post Reading. As for Brooks, I thought this comparison was instructive:
Brooks 2017-8: 9 starts, 21 sub appearances, 1148 minutes on pitch, 3 goals (in a 2-1 win, a 2-0 win and a 3-1 defeat), 4 assists
Donaldson 2017-8: 9 starts, 16 sub appearances, 942 minutes on pitch, 5 goals (2 in a 2-1 win, 2 in a 2-2 draw, 1 in a 2-1 win), 1 assist
Quite close, given that Brooks doesn't win many tackles. If Donaldson is only a 5, Brooks ain't a 7.
Clarke: Not worth your 10 out of 10. Vastly exceeded my expectations and was in a group of 3 standouts with Fleck and O'Connell but no-one who fails to score for a 10 game span when we were struggling a bit can be said to have had a perfect season. Jay's 9 is more realistic for me.
As for expected goals, it seems the midfielders hit or exceeded these targets, but they need to make their targets higher - we really struggled to get shooting chances for midfielders. O'Connell had a great season and a nightmare in the opposition penalty area, whereas Clarke exceeded his expected goals by 50%. I expect some regression to the mean from both of these two next year.
