I think most people would agree that it was a much better display from the team today. We still lack the finishing power and a bit of pace I think though. Andy Johnson has pace but clearly isn’t impressing Jol enough to be called upon to start, possibly because he doesn’t find the net as much as he perhaps should considering his work rate. Stephen Kelly showed he can be quick when needed although I still worry when he gets too far forward that he might not make it back in time. Pace isn’t something that can be learnt or that’ll come with time either so either we’ll be very busy in the January transfer window or we need to find a way to play that works with the current squad. All in all though, I felt it was a positive performance. We started brightly, went a bit slow and allowed the goal but we got back into it. The second half was mostly all Fulham attacking which left my hear beating fast for hours after but was sadly fruitless. It’s almost as though opposition goals have some kind of forcefield around them.
So how did they do individually? I won’t rate Hughes as he wasn’t really on the pitch long enough for me to form an opinion.
Schwarzer – 7, did reasonably well I think although I don’t remember him having an awful lot to do, especially in the second half.
John-Arne Riise – 8, I like him a lot. He always seems to find acres of space and is sometimes horribly underused by others but knows his game & plays it well.
Senderos – 6, I’m not convinced and today did little to change that. Although I do like the fact that he’s not afraid to go in for challenges.
Hangeland – 7, another good performance from Big Brede. I hope Wenger wasn’t watching.
Kelly – 8, those who follow me on Twitter will know my feelings for Kelly and I hope you won’t think I’m being biased but I thought he did bloomin’ well today. Some good, well-timed tackles & some great crosses.
Duff – 9, brilliant just brilliant. He got himself about and showed some wonderful moves today. Added points for the flexibility of moving to left back to bring on another striker.
Murphy – 8, a good game from Captain Dan I thought. I know some aren’t keen but we’re lucky to have someone of his experience and intelligence.
Sidwell – 8, I love this man and I’m so happy to see him starting. He’s lively, intelligent and a great team player. Today looked as though he’d been part of our midfield for years.
Dempsey – 10, our American readers won’t be happy when I say I’m not Clint’s biggest fan but my God did he play well today and I’m proud to say he’s a Fulham player. He’s got some phenomenal skill which he put to great use today. Absolutely my man of the match.
Dembélé – 8, he’s great and probably one of our most talented players but today (as with most days) he seemed to only be able to move sideways and too scared to shoot which is beyond frustrating. Just take a punt Moose, one’ll go in eventually and it’ll do your confidence a world of good.
Bryan Ruiz – 6, hmmmm. A 45 minute debut in which he didn’t really impress. I’ll reserve judgment until we’ve seen a bit more from him.
Zamora – 9, great work rate, great finish for the goal. It’s a shame we rely on him so much but he always steps up to the responsibility placed on him.
Johnson – 7, I always think it’s tricky rating late-ish subs as they tend to have a tough job but he did alright. No more no less I’m afraid.
Thoughts?
you are too high in all your ratings those scores out of ten would be for a 5-0 win,i would take off two points for all,and that is lenient,we will struggle this season jol has no game plan,i hate to say it but hughes had better tactics.
Those are very high ratings for a team that can’t beat Blackburn at home. I would go for -2 on all of those ratings.
I much agree with your assessment of Duff’s performance this afternoon. However, on Match of the Day this evening Lee Dixon raised the question of whether he might be even more effective if he were deployed on the left wing, given that Duff is naturally left footed.
I noted that in the first 15 minutes of this afternoons game Duff did switch to the right a couple of times (was the intention to alterante with Ruiz?)…………….and also, as you mention, he worked as a left wing-back for the final 15 minutes after Riise had been substituted by A J. However for most of the game he operated asusual on the right wing, crossing with his (weaker) right foot.
My recolection is that Roy Hodgeson first deployed Duff on the right and that this continued under Hughes. I am trying to remember where he was postioned with Chelsea. I think the special one prefered him on the left…..but I could be wrong about this.
Does Lee Dixon have a point? Would the balance of the team be improved and Duff be more effective if he played on the left?
Incidentally, it was interesting to see Jols experiment with Briggs on the left wing in the first two Europa Cup hame games, where Riise was first introduced as left back. (Shades of Jols conversion of Gareth Bale for Left back to left wing.)
Have to disagree on a number of points:
Duff was dangerous but his crosses were often poor – 7
Sidwell – anonymous. I want Dickson back – 6
Senderos – good display – 7
Dembele – looks good but goes nowhere – 6
Ruiz – shouldn’t have been on until the 75th minute – 5
little bit too nice on everyone,
dempsey and dembele stood out for me, but dempsey wasnt really a 10. duff lacked the quality of the final ball, murphy was pretty poor, and looking slower and more laborious with every game, and to give ruiz a 6 is ridiculous, he was extremely poor today. i think we might have to give him half a season to settle in,
basically minus 1 for most of your ratings, except duff murphy and ruiz.
on a sidenote kelly looked great, and to be honest ive never much liked him except today
Agreed on the high numbers. I started high and wanted to revisit but my browser went mental and I struggled to finish the post, let alone to go back and lower the numbers.
Ruiz controversy aside, personally I felt our general play lacked shape and going in all guns blazing affected our rhythm played into their hands from a ‘park the bus and hit them on the counter attack’ perspective. I’m not sure if we misplaced more passes then usual but it certainly seemed that way
Maybe all those years of Hodgson organisation have made me too conservative but I found the play frustratingly unstructured and yearned for a bit more possession & guile
Up front, whilst the attacking trio seemed to work well in terms of movement it consistently came up short in terms of end product
At the back Senderos & Hangaland again showed a lack of cohesion and Hughes looked uncomfortable at RB.
And whilst the ref had an unusually poor day – as I recall we got lucky against them in that respect last year – so maybe this was the yang of the ying in that respect
In summary, whilst early days yet, it does feel like 2 precious points dropped and certainly not good enough for a team harbouring top ten aspirations
Duff played left and right with Chelskie alternating with Cole or Roben at his best, maybe he could do that with Dempsey on the left
Duff played left and right with Chelskie alternating with Cole or Roben at his best, maybe he could do that with Dempsey on the left
We need a new plan for center mid. Sidwell is good enough but does not pair well with Murphy. Maybe give Dickson another shot. Murphy is just too old now. Look how much we played on the wing. Better possession and build up play in the center of pitch is needed. We have options wide but who will take charge in the middle of the pitch? Do we wait for Kasmari to mature? Can Dempsey play more central? Let Etuhu play in front of the center backs with Sidwell & Dempsey in center.