Keller - 7/10
Didn't have a lot to do but was rock solid when called upon. Pulled off an outstanding save from Kalou that kept us in the game.
Baird - 7/10
A good game by our under-fire right back. Grew in confidence as the game progressed and made a number of very important tackles. Delighted for him.
Hughes - 7/10
Very solid display - as usual.
Bocanegra - 7/10
Superb once again. He is making far less mistakes than last season and saved our skin on a number of occasions.
Konchesky - 7/10
Solid defensive display - although Joe Cole still managed to get in some telling crosses - and made some good interceptions and runs. Could have grabbed the winner late on.
Smertin - 7/10
Excellent in the first half. Tackling, some nice touches and battling hard. Died off a bit in the second and rightly replaced to an ovation from the visiting faithful.
Davis - 7/10
Good, solid display.
Davies - 8/10
He was everywhere. Managed to combine superb defensive tackling with surging runs, pinpoint passes and dangerous crosses. A constant menace to Chelsea all over the field.
Ki-Hyeon - 5/10
...and that's generous. The only weak link in yesterday's team. Looked slow and, quite frankly, uninterested. Not match fit perhaps? A couple of decent touches showed what he was capable of, but surprisingly lacklusre.
Dempsey - 6/10
Had a great chance to put us 1-0 up early on. Battled hard but pretty average in comparison to previous performance this season.
Healy - 6/10
Failed to make any kind of impression on the game. Was surrounded by blue shirts every touch he got and found himself stranded out on the right.
Substitutes
Kamara - 6/10
Blew a great chance to seal the victory.
Bouazza - 6/10
Came on too late to make much of an impression.
Murphy - 6/10
Okay. Again, too late to do much.
7 comments:
Always enjoy matching your ratings with the ratings I've given the players, in my head.
Again, would have to agree with you mostly. I did a game log again yesterday and reading back through it and remembering how I felt about the game I would say your right, that Seoul would be lucky to get that score. He looked so different than last week when he came in and was just great.
Dempsey, not sure on that one either. He really never received a ball in the type of situation that he could do anything with. Yet he was exhausted at the end of the game. So that told me that he was battling hard as our target man again. Something he is not really built to do but is filling in the void fairly well considering that is not his strong point.
On the header he missed, well in spite of some saying I might be a Dempsey apologetic, I don't think he could have done any better with it. It's always bothered me when the sports commentators say something like, "Oh, he should have done better". Now I'm not just talking about Dempsey but about any player. For anyone who has played the game, you know, there are some balls that you do everything in your power just to make some kind of contact because the ball is not served where it should have been. But then because you made the effort to get close to it you have the critics saying you should have scored on it. Rubbish in my opinion. The lad had a thankless job yesterday and didn't get much quality service.
I thought Davis also deserved an 8. He too was everywhere.
Healy gets a 5. Perhaps that's a bit harsh but some of the decisions he made yesterday really astonished me. He got bumped off the ball to much and did a fair amount of running but again he always goes to the right of goal and never seems to try to find his strike partner. He frustrates me sometimes.
I think Kamara might have been a better choice yesterday. I think Kamara played great up until he held the ball to long and then didn't pass to Dempsey who was wide open for the tap in and instead blasts it wide. He could have and should have won the game for us. But over all his energy and pace were fantastic and a big boost after replacing Healy.
Glad to see Davies getting credit where it is due. I criticized his defence last week, and he responded with (IMO) his best overall peformance since he's been on the team.
Good ratings, although I do think giving Davies an "8" is a bit generous.
While he did some great work as well as served up some dangerous balls, he also had several crosses blocked. And a few of these were early ones (not hit from the end line). I'd give him a "7"
Thanks for doing these. I enjoyed reading them.
thanks for all your comments guys, really appreciate you taking the time to drop by - and very good points made by all.
i don't know if i'm alone in this, but when i watch the highlights of a match i've been at, i often take a different line.
for example, i left Saturday's game thinking that Konchesky played a blinder...but when i watched it without the rose-tinteds on at home, I found he was actually outstripped by Joe Cole on a couple of occasions which could have led to goals - i just don't remember seeing it at the time!
I did The Observer fan report yesterday and had:
Keller 7, Baird 8 (bonus point because he's had a rough trot!), Hughes 9, Boca 7, Konch 7, Davies 7, Davis 8, Smertin 7, Seol 6 (generous), Dempsey 7, Healy 6
I think we're all on the same page...
Rich
agree with Brian on the Dempsey header too, he did well to get up to it, but couldn't generate the power. We know that if it's there to head hard he'll do it, so I think he's not to blame here.
But like Brian, I'm always wary of being a Clint apologist!
Rich
Great stuff Rob. I thought Davis was the star of the midfield, but then only really saw the second half. Can't wait for Portsmouth now!
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