Sorry but I don't know how to do the poll. The live thread is filling up with comments now and it's already huge and so rather than wait any longer I thought I would put this up. Sorry if that's a problem for someone.
OK - so that was pretty . . . . pretty grim. First of all thanks to 1905 for his assistance today - he is now officially, to me, a legend. Anyway . . . .
The first half was bearable and we seemed solid enough defensively for the most part and Speroni pulled off a 'super-save' on the occasion that we screwed up. From an attacking perspective we didn't look like we could knock a hole in the proverbial wet paper bag. Not even an old wet, badly worn paper bag that was faulty.
There was one golden moment when despite Zaha missing his intended lay-off, Bolasie burst through the defenders taking the ball with him from the half way line. With great strength and pace he left most defenders in his wake as he sped towards the area. The one that had almost kept pace with him was left for dead as Yala cleverly ran diagonally across him leaving him with the goal at his mercy. As the keeper ran towards him Yala hammered the ball past him gloriously and as I leapt to my feet screaming yesssssssss, it rattled the bar and the chance was gone - doh, doh, doh! There was a smart near post cross from Kelly, tailor made for Gayle but he was on the bench and Wilf waited instead of darting forward to score. Hey ho.
Looking back, we did what we set out to do which was 'not to lose'. We keep a clean sheet and had some breakaway chances. But during the second half we were always struggling.
Speroni - 6 - He made on super save and took a couple of crosses. His kicks from passbacks seem to rarely hit the halfway line which is odd. But better today overall I thought.
Mariappa - 5 - solid enough for most of the game but he lost the winger badly for their best chance (which Speroni saved). Often struggled to find a man with a pass but this may well be as much their fault as the movement was sluggish to say the least.
Dann - 5 - I suspect many might score him higher as he cleared a lot but he was too often beaten and out-tussled.
Delaney - 5 - took a knock early on and perhaps should have gone off. Distribution seems to have returned to Damo lumping it diagonally which I thought we had left behind. not good.
Kelly - 5 - mixed bag. Some good some bad resulting in a 5. Great cross for Zaha and yet several others were garbage or worse.
Ward - 5 - out of position but he again did the job for us. Busy and combatative but looked a bit weak when needing to hold the ball and a bit rusty with the passing. There was the odd pearler though.
McArthur - 5 - Would have been better but he seemed exhausted for the last quarter. Not sure if he was ill or injured or just wrecked from the first half but something wasn't right. Again a mixed bag.
Ledley - 6 - far from perfect but I think he was consistently covering more ground, winning more ball and even making more passes than the others. With Jedi absent he will need to take greater ownership in the middle.
Puncheon - 5.5 - Some flashes and the most likely to have scored but still short of his top game. Has a tendency to over-elaborate at both ends but got away with both.
Zaha - 4 - I know we love him but this was a poor performance and maybe the score here is generous. (Sorry GF). His running is aimless and his body language doesn't threaten defenders it invites them to take the ball from him somehow - and they did. Even when he had it at his feet he didn't show anything. I thought with Pardew there he might lift his game and show what he can do, but no sign of that at all.
Bolasie - 5.5 - Probably a 6 for the first half and a 4 for the second. The power and pace he has is amazing but completely useless if he can't create or take a chance. Wonderful smile but nothing in the second half from him. We will miss him badly though because as he disappeared from the match we fell deeper and deeper and struggled.
SUB - Gayle - 5.5 - he did better than Wilf but nothing significant.
- Bannan - token 2 mins or so.
Collectively the team was worth a solid 6 in the first half but probably diminished to a 4.5 in the second.
Millen - I won't score him but I am glad he has been here to steady the ship. I don't know if Campbell is carrying an injury or not but I would have started with him with the thought of bringing Wilf or Gayle on later but other than that it's difficult to see what else he could have picked. The first half we had them under control but we didn't seem to respond at all to them getting on top from the 46th minute. McArthur looked wrecked well before the substitution but we persevered. He got the point but we were crying out for something more.
The real problem is the personnel. We don't have the squad to respond to anything much at the minute and I think as Bolasie leaves us and unless Chamakh is very close to full fitness we are in a real hole. I don't know if the rumours of a biggish budget are true or not but I am worried we need more than we can buy or afford. So miracles are needed Alan P. You just have to hope he has already signed the bit of paper. . . .
OK - so that was pretty . . . . pretty grim. First of all thanks to 1905 for his assistance today - he is now officially, to me, a legend. Anyway . . . .
The first half was bearable and we seemed solid enough defensively for the most part and Speroni pulled off a 'super-save' on the occasion that we screwed up. From an attacking perspective we didn't look like we could knock a hole in the proverbial wet paper bag. Not even an old wet, badly worn paper bag that was faulty.
There was one golden moment when despite Zaha missing his intended lay-off, Bolasie burst through the defenders taking the ball with him from the half way line. With great strength and pace he left most defenders in his wake as he sped towards the area. The one that had almost kept pace with him was left for dead as Yala cleverly ran diagonally across him leaving him with the goal at his mercy. As the keeper ran towards him Yala hammered the ball past him gloriously and as I leapt to my feet screaming yesssssssss, it rattled the bar and the chance was gone - doh, doh, doh! There was a smart near post cross from Kelly, tailor made for Gayle but he was on the bench and Wilf waited instead of darting forward to score. Hey ho.
Looking back, we did what we set out to do which was 'not to lose'. We keep a clean sheet and had some breakaway chances. But during the second half we were always struggling.
Speroni - 6 - He made on super save and took a couple of crosses. His kicks from passbacks seem to rarely hit the halfway line which is odd. But better today overall I thought.
Mariappa - 5 - solid enough for most of the game but he lost the winger badly for their best chance (which Speroni saved). Often struggled to find a man with a pass but this may well be as much their fault as the movement was sluggish to say the least.
Dann - 5 - I suspect many might score him higher as he cleared a lot but he was too often beaten and out-tussled.
Delaney - 5 - took a knock early on and perhaps should have gone off. Distribution seems to have returned to Damo lumping it diagonally which I thought we had left behind. not good.
Kelly - 5 - mixed bag. Some good some bad resulting in a 5. Great cross for Zaha and yet several others were garbage or worse.
Ward - 5 - out of position but he again did the job for us. Busy and combatative but looked a bit weak when needing to hold the ball and a bit rusty with the passing. There was the odd pearler though.
McArthur - 5 - Would have been better but he seemed exhausted for the last quarter. Not sure if he was ill or injured or just wrecked from the first half but something wasn't right. Again a mixed bag.
Ledley - 6 - far from perfect but I think he was consistently covering more ground, winning more ball and even making more passes than the others. With Jedi absent he will need to take greater ownership in the middle.
Puncheon - 5.5 - Some flashes and the most likely to have scored but still short of his top game. Has a tendency to over-elaborate at both ends but got away with both.
Zaha - 4 - I know we love him but this was a poor performance and maybe the score here is generous. (Sorry GF). His running is aimless and his body language doesn't threaten defenders it invites them to take the ball from him somehow - and they did. Even when he had it at his feet he didn't show anything. I thought with Pardew there he might lift his game and show what he can do, but no sign of that at all.
Bolasie - 5.5 - Probably a 6 for the first half and a 4 for the second. The power and pace he has is amazing but completely useless if he can't create or take a chance. Wonderful smile but nothing in the second half from him. We will miss him badly though because as he disappeared from the match we fell deeper and deeper and struggled.
SUB - Gayle - 5.5 - he did better than Wilf but nothing significant.
- Bannan - token 2 mins or so.
Collectively the team was worth a solid 6 in the first half but probably diminished to a 4.5 in the second.
Millen - I won't score him but I am glad he has been here to steady the ship. I don't know if Campbell is carrying an injury or not but I would have started with him with the thought of bringing Wilf or Gayle on later but other than that it's difficult to see what else he could have picked. The first half we had them under control but we didn't seem to respond at all to them getting on top from the 46th minute. McArthur looked wrecked well before the substitution but we persevered. He got the point but we were crying out for something more.
The real problem is the personnel. We don't have the squad to respond to anything much at the minute and I think as Bolasie leaves us and unless Chamakh is very close to full fitness we are in a real hole. I don't know if the rumours of a biggish budget are true or not but I am worried we need more than we can buy or afford. So miracles are needed Alan P. You just have to hope he has already signed the bit of paper. . . .
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