Ratings:
Cooper 4/10 – Had a day to forget conceding four but badly exposed. First was a good free kick and he had little chance but was he too far across - maybe he would not got it anyway but left a huge gap? (he should have had a cap on – maybe he could have borrowed Selles cap!). The second was well struck but thought he may have got a hand to it but the defence was poor and the trend continued second half. The third goal went in way too easily and seemed to go under him. The fourth he had little chance with the deflection. Made a few late saves but by this point the game was done. Mark may seem low for a few goals he had little chance with but felt he could have done better with the third and four goals at home, not sure I can give him much more.
Seiki 4/10 – Started ok and tried to attack when he could but he left a big gap at times down that side and we seemed to almost permanently have two on two. He have a few breaks and had one cross deflected wide. Not a great performance but worryingly others were even worse.
Burrows 2.5/10 – A lot will discuss Norrington Davies’ performance but Burrows was really poor today. Never got close to his man and he made lots of basic mistakes positionally. The 2nd goal he is nowhere the lad who scores and then the 3rd, he also gets beat too easily and lets the cross come in. Even the fourth comes down his side. Had one shot saved the other way and a few crosses first half but defensively he looked all over the place. He also played it back a lot rather than forward which killed any momentum
Norrington Davies 2/10 – No idea why he was playing – well I suppose we were short but we knew last season he was out of his depth when given rare minutes. Surely, even the lad Sasnauskas would not have done as bad? He looked done last season when we played Swansea and Cardiff – with his legs completely gone allied to his dreadful touch on the ball and routinely getting beat for skill/pace/strength. It’s not his fault he is not good enough but having played, I have to rate him. He was constantly needed to take touches before he did anything but as the game went on, we saw mistakes that we feared. Gave it away on the third and the fourth goal was really bad as he just played them in and then he made more mistakes after this. Got some jeers as he left the field which was not nice but surely he would not be used again for us? He is finished and needs moving on – as harsh as that sounds.
Bindon 2.5/10 – I do not think he was much better than RND. Certainly defensively he made lots of poor decisions and was exposed badly with a worrying lack of pace and anticipation. On the ball he was tidy enough but we need a defend who can head it away, anticipate crosses and clear the ball. He did none of that. I am not sure I saw him head it once actually but the worry aspect was how he did not react. The second goal he needed to get there but then did not and let his man run past him too easily. The third not sure why he does not go down to Mehmeti as it was his man and just leaves him. After this he kind of went into his shell. He improved a bit after RND went off and maybe with a strong partner he may improve but a nightmare debut and did not see anything really to think he will improve that area of the side. Felt we needed two strong centre backs – worrying Robinson might still be our best choice here after watching that- and we need them even more.
Peck 4/10 – Another who did not turn up but not helped by having a defensive set up which meant he had too much to do. Did not help that he roamed around and often we had no protection in the side at all and they ran through. A few neat passes but it felt like for long spells other than the 15 mins after we got level -that we had nobody in midfield. In a two with Hamer, I am not sure it will work.
Hamer 3/10 –Thought he was really poor today. Played in O’Hare on the goal and another couple of decent passes that nearly got us in but outside of this, he looked pretty disinterested and the game sort of passed him by. I heard some say he was too deep but I felt he was in sort of no man’s land as not close enough to Campbell but not able to help Peck out. It is one game but I felt he looked like he did not want to be there today and when they broke he sort of ambled back and did not really show the desire you would want. Opening day, you want your best player to grab the game and take it on but he did not and I barely noticed him second half at all.
O’Hare 6.5/10 – Our best outfield player in that he tried hard, got on the ball where he could and at least tried to make things happen. He made the goal and a lot of decent things we did came from him. Even second half, he kept working hard and trying to go looking for the ball. He was the only one who I felt really came out and did not stop. When they went 3 and 4-1 up, many of our players just sort of gave up.
Brooks 3/10 – I am desperate for him to do well and make the shirt his own and want him to have a run. I maintain that. However, he has to do much better than that. We have seen too many game from Brooks like that where he drifts around and shows flashes but loses the ball way too much, comes inside constantly and physically is outmatched. He did not create much today and got crowded out. Gave the ball away which saw them break and score. After this we did not see anything of him really. I wanted him to run at players and take them on but he played another conservative (timid) game. Needs to do much better or the manager will bring in a more experienced player here even though I want us to keep faith with him but he cannot play 1 good game in like 4.
Campbell 6/10 – Scored a very good goal and looked like he could get down the lines and have chances. He looked lively first half and got into positions but after they scored the third and fourth; he became a periphery figure as we gave him no service at all. He does look a threat and can make intelligent runs but the service he got outside of the goal was not really there. Not surprised to hear that Premier League teams are being linked with him – he has the intelligence and all-round game to play at that level.
Barry 6/10 – First half he began well and looked a threat getting down that side. Showed quick feet, good dribbling skills and got into good areas. He had one shot saved and another few runs and crosses. Couple of times he maybe took too long but he was exciting and gave us an outlet. He did not quite carry on this impact but any chance for him to create/threaten was gone when we threw two goals away. He did not really get back and help Burrows much and worry we will not have much protection down this side.
Subs -
One 3/10 – Had a few runs down the side but got muscled out of the ball a few times and not sure we really got him into the game.
Cannon 3/10 – He like One, came into a game that was done. Ran around without much real impact. Had one shot blocked near the end.
Robinson 5/10 – Better than RND by some distance and at least we were able to clear the ball a few times and make some tackles after they just ran through us before that.
McCallum 1.5/10 – I mean that was about as bad as anything I have seen from a sub. Other than one long range shot, he was woeful. Lost the ball constantly, got beat every time they had it and very lucky not to concede a penalty. Why put on a left back at right back? A baffling move.
Manager: Selles 1/10 – Hard to give him more than that really. Seen some say we just got beat by clinical finishing which maybe they have a point and we did play well for a spell first half and maybe could have led before we conceded the second but we did not. I thought we started the game with no control, got overrun in midfield – led to the free kick but we got back control. The way they ran through us was as much about the structure and how we set up as mistakes but 3 of the 4 defenders had nightmares and were culpable throughout. We gave the ball away constantly but then we should not be defending 2 on 2 after a mistake. He probably thought pre-season we looked decent and would have too much for a fairly ordinary Bristol City side but we got thumped today – even if they did scored with many of their efforts – they actually could have had more despite the XG!
He looked a bit stunned by it all at the end and the full-time team talk was an odd move in front of the fans but he will know we will need to react but the way he set the team up was always going to leave us exposed with no protection for a poor back line. Maybe this risk and reward style will come good but I worry we will see a lot more games like this? It might be more exciting but you have to have a foundation and get the balance right.
Bristol City – Great performance and result. They scored four away from home against a fancied side for promotion and some really good goals too. Were clinical and did well defensively to make blocks/saves when they had to at 1-1. They are not a side that I think will be anywhere near the top and not sure they blew us away like the scoreline suggests but were ruthless and looked dangerous when they broke. Scored two excellent goals and profited from some awful defending in the second half. After this, they saw the game out easily. Credit to them to come to the Lane – a place they had been thumped at- and beat us easily. A real shock result but they worked hard and threw bodies in the way and won many of the individual battles. We lost a lot of 50-50 tussles and thought other than for 15 minutes, they controlled midfield even if they did not see lots of the ball. They were much more direct than the City side of last season but Riis and Twine caused us all sorts of problems. They ran down the side and got balls into the box and we could not defend these at all. Where do I see them finishing? Probably around mid table at best. That is not sour grapes at all but I do not see them as being anywhere near the top despite hammering us. Even more worrying maybe for our hopes!
Opponent Man of the Match – Twine scored two and a brilliant free kick but Riise was a real menace running down the sides and never stopped chasing the balls and put in some brilliant crosses too. Knight worked hard and did his job and keeper was much better than the lad from the Playoffs- making 2 or 3 good saves -the one at the end from Peck was excellent.
Opponent Weak link – Hirakawa didn’t do a great deal and but they had other threats so did not need him!
Referee / Officials – Not one player booked summed up how soft we were as we barely tackled all game. It was like a non-contact sport at times -we of course gave away the free kick for the goal but so many other times, maybe we should have pulled them back but they were allowed to run through easily. The rest of the game went without major incident really. In fact he should have given them a penalty at the end -they had a decent shout first half too – which people might forget!
Crowd/Day Out – Atmosphere was decent first half with chances and goals both ways but the second half saw the game done and there were a fair few boos on the fourth. After this the frustration understandably set in. RND got cheered when he was hooked which was not nice but not that surprising sadly. A lot left well before the end (including me) so not sure what the reaction was at full time. Heard a lot mentioning Wilder on the way out and quite a few were saying they did not feel the new man would last very long (it was more than one voice) which you get as an instant reaction.
One huge moan is about the appalling organisation before the game trying to get in. There were massive queues at either side of the South Stand so loads missed the kick off. I left the Kop side as they were queuing right down out of the car park and down half the street. It seemed the queue was not moving. I went to the other side and they seemed to have some sort of barrier system on one side but no stewards were manning it, seeing some people just pushing in whilst others waited. It was a total farce and not surprisingly a lot were not happy. It was not safe either as some were just moving the barriers and going to the front. Not sure if there were issues with people not getting in but the barriers were not helpful at all.
