Player Ratings vs Blackburn

[BarclayBoy88]

Hopefully this may help those who weren't at the game or couldn't find a stream for it.

Ruddy 8 - Superb save at the death before unleasing Murphy for the third. Came and flapped at one that had hearts in mouths.

Turner 7 - A good performance from Turner, shaky start but he did his job. As solid as ever.

Martin 7 - Looked to be in for a long night before moving to RB at HT, looked much better second half.

Whittaker 7 - Still looks a little shaky, but had a few moments coming forward that were superb.

Garrido 6 - Looked slow and not 100% fit, was substituted at the break.

Johnson 9 - Superb performance from Jonno, who was around the ball constantly and scored another screamer. 

Tettey 9 - Again, worked well with Johnson, broke the play up and showed a range of passing that was really impressive.

Redmond 6 - Frustrating again, in the first half he put some great crosses in but second half the final ball was lacking.

Grabban 8 - Doesn't like going up for ariel contests but can't fault a man who scores two and was full of running

Wes - 7 A good solid night for Wes, wasn't eye-catching but linked play well and so tricky to mark.

Lafferty - 8 Played mostly on the right, but at times went up top. Great energy and played a superb ball to Grabban over the top.

Substitutes:

Murphy - 7 Came on with plenty of energy, good final ball and set up the 3rd goal. Nice cameo by the young lad.

E. Bennett - 6 Didn't really have time to get into the game.

R. Bennett - 8 We were getting beat in the air early and often. Bennett came on and sorted that. Passing a bit dodgy, but good performance. 

 

[Canaryboy]

Wasn't at the match so can't give ratings, but I think Wes won both the penalty (kicked the ball at the Blackburn players hand) and set up Bradley Johnson's goal? So effectively two assists tonight (but technically only one because the initial penalty was saved), it did 'sound' as if he ran into some dead ends and made a few bad decisions but as long as he is racking up the assists he is doing his job. 

 

[Surgeryman]

Agree with those ratings. Two games in and the smile is coming back!

 

[Josh]

Ruddy - 8. Mainly for the outstanding save in injury time and launching the ball to Josh M, setting up the third.

Whittaker 6.5. Decent going forward but was targeted by Blackburn first half and it showed - not up to it defensively, and their best moments in the first half came when going at him. Did alright at LB.

Martin - 6.5. Played the ball well at CB but missed a couple of headers and at one point came drifting out of CB, missed the ball entirely and Turner had to cover for him. Was fine at RB but looked to pick up an injury halfway through the 2nd half, and he was beaten for the cross which set up the chance Ruddy saved. 

Turner - 8 - Excellent, again. A rock at the back.

Garrido - 7. Very good crossing going forward, didnt have much to deal with defensively. 

Johnson - 8. Very good first half, drifted a bit 2nd half and his passing was a bit more wayward, but still helped to boss the midfield. Class goal.

Tettey - 9. Outstanding. So tidy on the ball, an immovable object in front of the back 4. Superb from start to finish.

Wes - 8. Brilliant in flashes, very good for the rest. Found pockets of space, through balls, linked up well with Grabban and the others up front. Really good. 

Redmond - 7. Good for the first half, drifted after. Real inconsistencies, finds the wrong ball too often, but still scares anyone with his pace. Has to start turning potential into results. Can't wait forever. 

Lafferty - 9. Brilliant all night. Makes things happen, drifts from wide positions, attacks fullbacks and centre backs, a real focal point for the attack. Will get Cult Hero status very soon. Filling the shoes of Holt. 

Grabban - 9. Some dodgy passing when he comes deep but worked his absolute arse off, rotates positions with Lafferty and Redmond, finds space, and of course got the 2 goals. Looks like him and Lafferty have played together for ages, a real connection already. 

E Benno - 6. Didn't do a lot. DIdn't do anything bad, just didnt see much action. 

Josh M - 7. Good sub showing.

Ryan Bennett - 7. Exactly what you get from him. Solid at the back, good threat at set pieces, can't pass. Was fine. 

Also worth commenting just how fluid the attacks were. The front 4 rotated a lot, each finding pockets of space and others filling gaps. Was lovely to watch. 

 

[lyb]

Regarding R Bennett, did I hear right that he was at Left Back? How did he do there? Not surprised Garrido is a bit rusty as he hardly played last season. Hopefully he'll get match sharp reasonably quickly.

 

[Josh]

Regarding R Bennett, did I hear right that he was at Left Back? How did he do there? Not surprised Garrido is a bit rusty as he hardly played last season. Hopefully he'll get match sharp reasonably quickly.

No, whittaker went to left back. Bennett stayed at CB and was fine (apart from the passing).

 

[Killiecanary]

I agree with almost all of this.

Re Redders...I thought his crossing today was the best it has been for a long time - as noted above especially in the he first half, although I still think that he puts the ball into decent areas often but we don't have players often enough in those good areas quickly enough.

Thought turner was solid at the back, and Ryan B had a good game when he came on

 

[BarclayBoy88]

I agree with almost all of this.

Re Redders...I thought his crossing today was the best it has been for a long time - as noted above especially in the he first half, although I still think that he puts the ball into decent areas often but we don't have players often enough in those good areas quickly enough.

Thought turner was solid at the back, and Ryan B had a good game when he came on

Completely agree. Thought his crossing in the first half was decent and he put it into the right areas. Second half he started to struggle I thought. 

 

[Fiery Jack]

Disagree that R.bennett can't pass. Didnt put a foot wrong once he came on, and although not as much as when played last season, did play a couple of pinpoint long passes last night. A proper CB (unlike Martin) who deserves his chance. Proved nothing was going to get past him in the air and in the championship this is a much bigger asset - and one that Martin is struggling with.

 

[BarclayBoy88]

Not sure about that FJ, his first attempt at a long pass flew out of play with no one near it, his second one forced Lacferty to come back 5 yards to keep it in, only his third one found the feet of the intended target and all his other passes were 15 yards or less..

 

[Paul Handscombe]

Did everyone really think that Tettey was that good.  His passing was awful as were his shots.  His break up play and hustle was good but compared to Saturday he was awful.

Redmond is still useless and a crap decision maker, really would not be sad to see him go.

Ryan Bennett gives us something different from corners was a constant threat in second half and hit the bar with a great header.

All you Martin haters, he was immense didn't give Rhodes a sniff all night and he was taken off with 20 mins to go and had to be pulled out of Martins back pocket.

Johnson was great again as was Wes, he pulled the strings.  Lafferty is a beast and becoming a cult hero already.

Grabban, yes he got two goals both were streaky as he needed two goes, made some good chances for himself but for me needs to stay central rather than pulling wide and needs to work just a little harder.

Take out the first 15 minutes and we pretty much dominated the rest of the game.

I got in at 1am just caught the last train from West Ham so not much work gonna get done today lol.

Now bring on the scum!!

 

[splutcho]

Can't go on my own opinions Paul as I was at work, but to a person, everyone I've seen has named Tettey as man of the match or one of the better players out there. Everyone I've seen has also said that Martin was poor, won nothing in the air and was specifically targetted by Gestede from long balls.

 

[Paul Handscombe]

We know that Martin isn't going to win balls in the air a lot of the time, but Rhodes and Gestede had zero chances the whole game.

Martin is going to be a scapegoat this season, we have one every year.  Gestede won the headers but he did against Turner too.

 

[shaun_wilkinson]

Did everyone really think that Tettey was that good.  His passing was awful as were his shots.  His break up play and hustle was good but compared to Saturday he was awful.

Redmond is still useless and a crap decision maker, really would not be sad to see him go.

Ryan Bennett gives us something different from corners was a constant threat in second half and hit the bar with a great header.

All you Martin haters, he was immense didn't give Rhodes a sniff all night and he was taken off with 20 mins to go and had to be pulled out of Martins back pocket.

Johnson was great again as was Wes, he pulled the strings.  Lafferty is a beast and becoming a cult hero already.

Grabban, yes he got two goals both were streaky as he needed two goes, made some good chances for himself but for me needs to stay central rather than pulling wide and needs to work just a little harder.

Take out the first 15 minutes and we pretty much dominated the rest of the game.

I got in at 1am just caught the last train from West Ham so not much work gonna get done today lol.

Now bring on the scum!!

Not sure how you can call someone "awful" that has just won Man of the Match??? That's a hell of a difference of opinion... Everyone I know have said he was the best player on the pitch.

 

[splutcho]

We know that Martin isn't going to win balls in the air a lot of the time, but Rhodes and Gestede had zero chances the whole game.

Martin is going to be a scapegoat this season, we have one every year.  Gestede won the headers but he did against Turner too.

Like I said mate, just offering up what I've heard from everyone.

 

[BarclayBoy88]

I can only remember one Tettey pass being a terrible one that sailed out of play and it seemed as though every player on the pitch had one of them last night, but on the whole his passing was fine I thought and that included a 40 yard cross field ball that fell at Redmonds(??) feet. Thought Tettey was superb throughout and deserved his MOTM trophy for his performance. Got forward, passing well, energy was good, top class defending and his movement was good.

 

[BarclayBoy88]

Like I said mate, just offering up what I've heard from everyone.

Do we need a scapegoat after two wins?? I think it was a fair judgement. We weren't winning anything in the air the first half and while we don't expect him to win much in the air, when the opposing attackers are bringing the ball down quite easily, you have to pin that on the defenders. Bennett came on and changed that, and he won absolutely everything against Rhodes, which forced them into making the change in my opinion. Martin wasn't bad, but at centre back, he just doesn't work that well for me.

 

[The Ghost of Michael Theo]

Wanted to provide comment on the below. Game of opinions 'n all that.

Did everyone really think that Tettey was that good.  His passing was awful as were his shots.  His break up play and hustle was good but compared to Saturday he was awful.

I thought he was deservedly MOTM. He is our most composed defensive player (i.e. defender, or deep lying midfielder) on the ball. He may have passed the ball away a few times - thats going to happen sometimes when we're pressed in Midfield liek Blackburn did in the first-half in particular. But, he won it back in 50/50's more often than not.

Redmond is still useless and a crap decision maker, really would not be sad to see him go.

I don't want to see him go. Adams has him trying to play a little less predictably (i.e. not just cut back and shoot over the bar). He'll learn, but I still think he has a way to go. I would however see him dropped to the bench and have Murphy start in his place 1) to show Redmond he needs to work hard and improve, and 2) to reward Murphy. He looks great when he came on.

Ryan Bennett gives us something different from corners was a constant threat in second half and hit the bar with a great header.

In my opinion, we looked much better with him on in the 2nd half.

All you Martin haters, he was immense didn't give Rhodes a sniff all night and he was taken off with 20 mins to go and had to be pulled out of Martins back pocket.

Odd observation, seeing as though Martin spent the 2nd half at right-back, and for the first 15mins, the Blackburn line was terrorizing Martin when we couldn't get out foot on the ball. I love Martin, but he's a right-back.

Johnson was great again as was Wes, he pulled the strings.  Lafferty is a beast and becoming a cult hero already.

Agreed.

Grabban, yes he got two goals both were streaky as he needed two goes, made some good chances for himself but for me needs to stay central rather than pulling wide and needs to work just a little harder.

He's scored 3 goals in 2. I think he should keep doing what works. He's here to score 20+ goals this season. That's his job, and he's doing it.

Take out the first 15 minutes and we pretty much dominated the rest of the game.

Now bring on the scum!!

OTBC!

 

[Yellow Fever]

Thanks for all that. The ratings are particularly useful for us exiles! 

 

[Paul Handscombe]

We played a back 3 for most fo the second half, Martin played right back for 15 mins in second half???

Agree with Murphy looked excellent and hungry when he came on

At half time most of the people around me would have taken Tettey off and bought on O'Neill.  He was much better second half.

The first 10 minutes it was the whole team that hadn't woken up.  After that they created nothing