Player ratings v boro

[LoughboroBlade]

People are blaming Blackman because he was too far off his line. If he had been on the line he would have saved the shot and we would have got a point.

Think they called it right at half-time on Sky – Blackman has the option to either stay on his line and deal with any effort on goal from the cross, or charge out to punch it clear. He does neither, is in limbo, and is punished my Gestede's awareness of the situation. Had he decided to leave it to Basham to deal with (which he does), his positioning is not good. While we all expected better from Basham in that incident, had Blackman gone for the stay-near-the-line option it probably would have been a Basham error that didn't lead to a goal, rather than one that did. Hopefully he'll learn from it.

 

[Caseh]

Apart from Basham most of my ratings are the same as everyone else's.

He was as bad as he was good in the first game. Yesterday he was absolutely shocking and his mistake on the goal was appalling.

Doesn't mean I'm screaming for him to be dropped, but I forget everything about last season and least week when it comes to giving a fair assessment of what he turned out yesterday. He was utter shit.

Yes he made a mistake and wasn't as good as normal, but he played as part of a team that probably cost less to put together than Gestede cost alone, and conceded 1 goal. A lot of players this season will need to play at their best to live with the opposition, not being at their best doesn't mean they've been terrible, or deserving of a ridiculous 2/10 rating.

 

[Hamburg Blade]

Think they called it right at half-time on Sky – Blackman has the option to either stay on his line and deal with any effort on goal from the cross, or charge out to punch it clear. He does neither, is in limbo, and is punished my Gestede's awareness of the situation. Had he decided to leave it to Basham to deal with (which he does), his positioning is not good. While we all expected better from Basham in that incident, had Blackman gone for the stay-near-the-line option it probably would have been a Basham error that didn't lead to a goal, rather than one that did. Hopefully he'll learn from it.

I thought he'd started to come out for it, then either thought he wasn't going to make it or thought Basham had a better chance of dealing with it. It's common for goalkeepers to get caught in no-man's land because of situations like these, it's very easy in hindsight but in the speed of the game a keeper can't always see how it's going to unfold. I don't think it was as big an error as people are making out. Yes he would have saved it had he been on his line, but you can say that every goal could have been saved if the keeper had reacted differently. It's one of those things, I don't think either he nor Basham should be slated for it - it was a sporting mistake that led to their goal. That's just how it is.

 

[Boxer Blade]

There was a bit of luck in their goal, although bash will get the blame I feel he was a tad unfortunate, he wasn't in a position to get any purchase on the ball, it happens, the pity was it floated towards there guy who was in the right place, blackman again for me is blameless, of course if you wish to find fault you can, but things happen quickly sometimes, it's just part of the game, I will say I thought we looked out of our depth in the first half,chasing the ball all over the pitch and very careless in position, much better second half, supposed to be a learning curve innit? Be interesting to see our line up tomorrow and performance, difficult game but I reckon Saturday will help us, think we may be a little more composed and relaxed, still enjoying the journey

 

[Thorpy]

Apart from Basham most of my ratings are the same as everyone else's.

He was as bad as he was good in the first game. Yesterday he was absolutely shocking and his mistake on the goal was appalling.

Doesn't mean I'm screaming for him to be dropped, but I forget everything about last season and least week when it comes to giving a fair assessment of what he turned out yesterday. He was utter shit.

got to agree, basham made an error with his timing and position to make a successful headed clearance, thus it looped to the middlesboro centre forward who dispatches it into the net.i think wright , in the same position would have made a better job of clearing the ball. and apart from another header that shaved the post middlesbro didnt look that potent.

 

[SwissBlade]

Blackman 6 - not much chance on the goal, marked down for poor distribution

Basham 6 - thought he and Stearman got caught out on the goal, distribution poor. But otherwise did ok

Stearman 6 - wasn't overly impressed to be honest. Needs to step up his game.

JOC 6 - looked stronger second half but slow to a few tackles first half and didn't lead as we've come to expect

Coutts 7 - terrible first half, better second. Needs to work on panicking less and keeping the ball better

Fleck 7 - see Coutts

Freeman 6 - did very little right but Boro had singled him out as an outlet. Needs to work on his decision making. Worked hard though

Stevens 5 - thought he was the worst player and offered little

Carruthers 7 - when he saw the ball he looked to be trying to speed up play. Thought he was one of the better players and probably needs to be sat deeper

Clarke 6 - too many touches for his shot first half, looked disinterested as well. Neshed a few tackles. Second half before Billy went off he finally looked like he wanted to play

Billy 5 - just a thankless day for Billy. Saw nothing of the ball, made the wrong runs and will be pissed off he didn't see the ball. Just stick this one down as a bad day.

Subs
Ched 7 - looked lively and perhaps a starter for Tuesday. Better of the three strikers but in fairness saw more of the ball

Duffy 8 - changed the game and made a decent impact. Thought he'd be one of the players to make way this season but looked at his level.

Brooks - not on long enough

 

[SwissBlade]

got to agree, basham made an error with his timing and position to make a successful headed clearance, thus it looped to the middlesboro centre forward who dispatches it into the net.i think wright , in the same position would have made a better job of clearing the ball. and apart from another header that shaved the post middlesbro didnt look that potent.

Wright in that role would be completely different. You could argue that JOC shouldn't have been dragged out wide

 

[Treeton Blade]

Apart from Basham most of my ratings are the same as everyone else's.

He was as bad as he was good in the first game. Yesterday he was absolutely shocking and his mistake on the goal was appalling.

Doesn't mean I'm screaming for him to be dropped, but I forget everything about last season and least week when it comes to giving a fair assessment of what he turned out yesterday. He was utter shit.

No he wasn`t, he made an error for the goal, a slight nudge putting him off balance.
Recovered well and had a decent game after that, thought that at the time, and even more so watching it back yesterday.

 

[Balham]

I didn't watch the first thirty minutes of the second half (wee man playing up) so I'm not going to give marks. However, thoughts on the bits I did see:

- Blackman is partly culpable for the goal. The one thing I remember our junior football coach telling the keepers was "don't change your mind". Blackman changed his mind and got caught in no mans land. If he comes out he at least puts Gestede off; if he stays on his line it's an easy catch.

- Basham's header came when he was off balance after Gestede nudged him. It's no a foul but I'd expect a central defender to be stronger in that situation.

- Boro had pinpointed weaknesses a) between the defence and midfield in the first half which Bamford exploited that well and b) behind Freeman when he's pushed forward. The former is a tricky one to deal with but perhaps Coutts should have sat slightly deeper; Freeman was just up against a better player.

- Sharp is not a pressing striker. He's not got the workrate for it. If we're controlling possession or creating chances he's a great striker to have but in a game where we're going to be up against it we'd have been better off with another midfielder instead - maybe Duffy.

- Clarke should have scored early on but took an unnecessary touch

- Boro will steamroller this division if they click. Pace, power, technique, workrate, solidity...they've got the lot. Amazing what £43.5m buys.

 

[ReeceofBDTBL]

I'll hold my hands up now and admit that 2/10 is way too harsh on Basham. 4/10 is more realistic, especially considering the kind of forwards he was up against. How often do you have to defend against a team of players on probably 6 times your wage that by passes midfield and pumps the ball into their forwards, who also happen to be very strong and experienced. Will probably be the hardest game he'll have all season and will hopefully have learnt a great deal from it.

I'll make the point that I wasn't calling for him to be dropped, especially having played so well the back end of last season and being an absolute Rolls Royce against brentford. But I'm allowed to judge one match in isolation and I still maintain he had a very poor game Saturday.

But still, all players from last season deserve to have the chance to have an off game or two and keep their place in their team.

 

[Scooter_mcgavin]

We won't come up against the power, height, pace or nouse that Middlesboro had in Bamford, Gestede and Assambolonga again in this division. They are a formidable trio possessing every attribute between them. A back 3s nightmare to be honest.

 

[1danewhitehouse]

Blackman -6
Freeman - 5
Basham - 6
Stearman - 7
O'Connell - 7
Stevens -6
Coutts - 7
Fleck - 6
Carruthers - 5
Clarke - 7
Sharp - 5

Subs
Duffy - 6
Evans - 6
Brooks - 6

 

[Antonb]

watching the second half again, Stevens and Fleck were poor. Fleck to slow I'm afraid. In speed of thought and movement. We could really do with a midfield general on there. Joe Ledley being a great call if we could get him.

 

[Snowman]

Not giving marks as I had to watch it on tele and I didn't get an uninterrupted viewing. Just a few random impressions/worries.

Blackman - I will put my head above the parapet to get shot at. He took that fateful step forward and couldn't recover. He needn't have taken that step because he had no chance of reaching the ball before it dropped. It was an error of judgment. It happens. Split second job, mistake, but no-one should crucify the kid for it. I was more worried about the misread/position for the ball grazing his post.

Stevens - Didn't impress me against Brentford and even less against Boro. Just not "with it" in terms of anticipation of where his winger/wingback is and seems unable to anticipate the ball from midfield to his winger/wingback. I know why he was signed and he does have qualities going forward but he doesn't yet seem to have appropriate speed of thought peddling backwards.

Stearman - Difficult one. Was it Coutts coming back to take the ball of his back three? Stearman seemed to be the culprit by failing to move out. He wouldn't play it along the back line and just seemed to wait for a midfield player to come back into defence for it. If you do that, then there is an overload of opposition filling up the spaces in midfield.

Carruthers - I like him. He offered something different and a pacy tricky threat. BUT his decision making has to be better. It's not all about Samir. When Fleck goes on a run he looks for end product. Carruthers doesn't seem to look.

Billy - God knows. At times that really did remind me of why he was sold twice. However, I think certain posters have it right. I haven't seen us launch it or put it into the channels as much as we did against Boro. That isn't his game. Possibly the lack of time available, the speed of thought required, the intro of Stearman and Stevens and adjustments needed for how they fit have all affected how we set up to feed Billy.

Its all fish and chip paper ultimately. Wilder will sort it or we are going to have a turbulent season.