Player Ratings v Leicester City (Away)
By Wasim
January 31 2010
Newcomer Patrick Van Aanholt was judged Man Of The Match for his performance last night, by Tyne-Talk's resident player rater Wasim4nufc. Read on to see how the rest of the team faired as they travelled to the Walkers Stadium.
Player Ratings vs Leicester City @ the Walker Stadium
Steve Harper (6.5) - Another clean sheet and a relatively comfortable day at the office. Forced to make the odd save but almost cost us when throwing away a silly ball that got intercepted.
Ryan Taylor (6) - Started the game poorly and gave the ball away a few times in the first half but had a better second half. Still looks uncomfortable at right back though.
Mike Williamson (7.5) - Another solid game from the new signing. Had one bad moment when he was easily turned but other than that he was a calming influence and its already proved to be a good signing.
Fabricio Coloccini (7) - Formed a good partnership with Williamson and handled everything that was required of him. Remains our most important defender at the moment with the injuries to the others.
Patrick Van Aanholt (8) - For one making his debut and having only signed yesterday, he was outstanding. Had two good shots on target and was lively going forward and dealt with his defensive duties too. I'd be tempted to put in an offer for him now, as he looks quite a talent. Did get tired towards the end but that was understandable.
Wayne Routledge (7.5) - Was arguably our biggest threat going forward. Always willing to run at the defence, he can be well pleased with his performance.
Alan Smith (7) - Didn't quite understand why he was taken off but he had a decent first half and almost scored with a neat header. Just hope he wasn't injured during the game.
Nicky Butt (6) - I was surprised to see him start and felt he was lucky not to be taken off, especially as both Smith and Nolan were substituted.
Kevin Nolan (6) - He started brightly, making some decent runs but then faded and he is in need of a rest I'd say. Let him miss a game or two and then have him come back playing behind the front man again like he started today.
Danny Guthrie (7) - A good performance by Danny, he was very much involved and although he gave the ball away now and then he looked composed on the ball and should be given more game time from the centre.
Andy Carroll (6.5) - A hard working performance but was not a threat as much as he should have been. Flicked one or two balls on but also gave away one or two needless free kicks which stopped us from gaining momentum.
Substitutes
Nile Ranger (6) - Although he scored a disallowed goal, he could have done better with one or two of his chances.
Fabrice Pancrate (5) - Largely ineffective when he came on even if it was only for a few minutes.
Man of the Match: Patrick Van Aanholt
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Butt was a joke on the pitch, and if this is going to happen again he needs to retire, back in his day he was a great player but his legs are gone.
Van Aanholt is worth a bid, totally agree that he would over lap with Jonas and is a real star of the future, I think he is worth going for as if we got injuries he would fit in nice and also think that he could play left wing if Jonas got injured. So would be cover for Left Back and Left Wing
Really dont think he impressed at all and wouldnt rate him more than 5 either.
Our new guys all played really well in an otherwise not particularly great game.
I too agree with TTID in that its worth making a bid for Van Aanholt. He looks a good prospect and will have the ability to cover both Enrique and Jonas.
Wasim's Sport Blog
Toon4life
Carroll looked lost up on his own, dont think he had a single shot in the game, Nolan seemed off, overall poor efforts from most,
Have to add though that what i saw from Ranger was better than most just a shame he didnt get the call earlier,
He would be in my starting 11 next game cos with Shola missing & Carrolls poor performance surley he would get the chance but thats just my opinion, Hughton usually goes with the same dros
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On a good note Carroll's cross to Ranger was nice.
Quote:Mighty__Mag
Have to say disapointed all round, The new signings were average thought of the two defenders Van annholt got forward a bit too much, not sure if he was asked to do that, but with ryan taylor doing the same defensively we played with two at the back, Routledge seems to remind me of Oba Martins, he gets the ball then wants to hold on to it far to long try and beat players all the time,
Carroll looked lost up on his own, dont think he had a single shot in the game, Nolan seemed off, overall poor efforts from most,
Have to add though that what i saw from Ranger was better than most just a shame he didnt get the call earlier,
He would be in my starting 11 next game cos with Shola missing & Carrolls poor performance surley he would get the chance but thats just my opinion, Hughton usually goes with the same dros
Van Aanholt should have been pushing up as well as R.Taylor, we played to holding midfielders so we needed to get extra numbers further up the pitch. Even if both full backs pushed up we have 2 defenders and Smith and Butt back. Against other teams Van Aanholt would have left us exposed but he got back enough in this game to get away with it, without his attacking style then we would have been scr@w@d.
Fully agree about Ranger he looks the better option for us, Carroll may win the ball but then we never do anything with it. Next game I would like to Lovernkrands and Ranger both start and Guthrie in the middle and us to drop Nolan
Agree like to see Ranger start and play the full match if possible, but big Kev is always gonna get a goal if he is on the pitch unlike most of our squad!
if all fit enough we should look like this if i colud pick!
Harper
Simpson
Van Aanholt
Colo
Williamson
Jonas
Routledge
Nolan
Smith
Ranger
Shola
Dunno if thats possible or how long Shola and Simpson are out for
Van aarnholt looks promising although got caught out of position and missed easy passes but this will come with match practise and i would definately consider bringing him in
Guthrie playing out on the left was a mistake, he drifted into the centre the whole game and provided us with no width,
the thing that dissapointed me the most was Hughton's tactical choices, they got a guy sent off early on and hughton carried on with a tactic that wasn't working to start with at half time we should of took Butt off put jonas or lovenkrans out wide on the left and brought guthrie into the centre, we should of widened our play to make the pitch bigger and then create gaps for the forwards to exploit, instead we play the ball through the centre and allow the opposition to play tight and suppress our attacks. It was also obvious that playing 1 up front wasn't working so why not make a change earlier on and give Ranger more time to make an impact
my amn of the match would ahve been Mike Williamson
Still disappointed with CH's ironclad tactic of always playing for a draw away. It's timid and not suited to getting out of this division. I hope he learns and grows out of that. Also, and I've said this all season, he needs to be quicker with the substitutions and study up on tactics. Finally, squad selection 101: if a guy isn't healthy enough to go on the field, he shouldn't be on the bench.
Sorry about about the slightly OT rant, but there's no thread for rating Hughton, who is partly responsible for making a draw from what should have been a win.
That said, it's the players who go out on the pitch and do the job or not, and it sounds like they've been complacent for some weeks now.
Midfield - apart from Routledge non existent
Attack - Loven very poor and Carroll??? oh dear me....
Hughton - terrible tactics, can someone tell him to please use the wings....the last 10 min i just couldn't watch....same thing over and over...pass to R.Taylor and he pretends he can cross...if and I do mean if we go up, with this manager and current players we are back down in a season....