TOPIC: Ratings Vs Morecambe

Gillespie 8 - couldn't do anything with the goals and made some great saves when they should have scored
Miller 5.5 - average game, nothing particularly spectacular or awful. Distribution was poor going forwards.
Raynes 5 - nowhere near what he has been recently. Backed off and just let the lad have an open shot at goal for their first.
Gillesphey 3 - awful. Had a good first 20 minutes and was absolutely shocking afterwards, at fault for the first and should have done a lot better for the third.
McQueen 4 - didn't really do anything at all all game other than repeatedly lose it in the last 20 minutes.
Grainger 7 - great finish and put in some great balls, if only we'd had Jabo on to get on the end of them.
Joyce 5 - still don't get what he does. Doesn't break up play and just plays passes that Raynes could play anyways. Incredibly unremarkable player.
Dicker 7 - dictated it 1st half, not quite so much in the 2nd. Did some good work winning the ball back and spreading the play.
Kennedy 6 - looked a bit more like the player we had last season today. Very unlucky not to score, 1 off the line, 2 off the bar and Asamoah should have passed to give him an open net after going to 1-1.
Hery 5 - very average today, obviously has good feet but doesn't actually create anything.
Asamoah 3.5 - would have won if he'd decided to shoot on the 2 times he was clean through on goal, making it even more frustrating when he scored his hardest chance of the game. -1 for that disgraceful dive.

Subs:
Osei 4 - did absolutely nothing
Sweeney 4 - the same
Rigg 3.5 - the same apart from spawning a good chance with his first touch by volleying over the Warwick. A poor mans Craig Curran which is something I didn't even think was possible.

Curle 6 - couldn't argue with the starting line up, main problem was we had no good attacking players to bring on with Wyke, Ibehre and Gilliead all unavailable which is no fault of Curles. Awful and still could have scored 6 in the 2 we got, hit the bar twice and the 2 chances messed up by Asamoah.

Gillespie 7
Miller 5
Raynes 5
Gillesphey 2
Dicker 6
Joyce 5
Hery 5
Kennedy 7
McQueen 4
Asamoah 7
Grainger 7



I thought Grainger was good today. Other than his crossfield pass that went out for a corner, he had a fine game on the wing. Scored a good goal and some of his deliveries were absolutely top drawer. If Wyke or Ibehre had been on the pitch we may have dug out an undeserved win from Grainger's crosses,

Asamoah and Kennedy both on another day could have had a couple of goals.

The rest were either average or absolutely sh**e.

Gillespie 6.5 - couple of good saves to keep the scorline respectable

Mcqueen 4 - really poor, didnt have that extra yard of pace today, struggled against Ellisonexpected more
Miller 4 - poor all day, not like him this year, would prefer him at rwb when atkinson back up to speed
Raynes 5 - not his game with their quick counters but kept going, assist at the end where he was our most danerous player in the 2nd half, like at the end of the newport game.
Gillesphy 3 - a learning curve for the young lad, solid first half an hour but mistake affected him and lost all confidence, hopefully learns and grows cause i do see him as having a lot of potential
Grainger 6.5 - nice goal with his right foot! some excellent crosses, never hides but struggled as the whole team did in the shambles after their 2nd. will be remembered for the pass out for a corner though!

Joyce 4 - anonymous today, i personally respect what he brings to the team, agree with Lummy when he calls him a -firefighter', but im afraid poor today, simple balls off time and again
Dicker 5.5 - obvious quality on the ball, struggled in a poor team performance
Hery 5 - poor, nice feet but along with Mcqueen expected him to have a real impact on the game hoing forward but didnt, tendancy for 1 touch too many
Kennedy 6 - back to his old self 1st half, hit bar twice, but couldnt get going at all after the break

Asamoah N/A - where to begin? 2 really good chances which should have finished, too long on the ball for the 1st, the 2nd he has to either shoot early or when he pokes it round the keeeper he has to take the knock, make contact with the keeper and gie the ref no choice. but he wasnt brave enough, cheated and got what he deserved, including the bollocking of their centre half and grainger. I would have a go at anyone who does it against us so only fair to say that he has gone down in my estimations today, even if it was because it was such a blatant, awful attempt at buying a pen. no favours with the tweet to Phillips either


Subs - Rigg/Osei not good enough. sums it today that Sweeney had to come to improve things, respect what he has done for us away from home but not the player you want to turn to when chasing a game at home.

Cant really blame Curle today either, obviously hampered without Jabo but players again letting themselves down with individual errors.

start of a worrying trend at home as well, you cant pass it off as 'one of those days' when the same thing happened last home game against the worst team in the league!

Gillespie 6 - couple of good saves but once again remained rooted to his line when any ball came in the box.

Miller 5 - an unusual off day, a lot of aimless balls up the channels
Grainger 7 - decent game and quality goal, some lovely crosses which for some reason went uncontested
Raynes 6 - struggled against the pace, wasn't helped by an anonymous midfield
McQueen 4 - very poor
Gillesphey 3 - even worse

Joyce 4 - looked like a carthorse today, no tracking their runners and too many poor negative passes
Kennedy 6 - was unlucky with a few efforts but, like Joyce, didn't track back at all
Dicker 6 - neat and tidy as usual but not a lot else
Hery 5 - looked lively first 20 mins then slowly drifted out the game, anonymous second half

Asamoah 3 - would have been 4 but -1 for cheating, spunked 2 great chances

Subs 3 each - no impact whatsoever, forgot Rigg was on

Don't want to get into ratings as it's too depressing, but a few observations:

1) Although I wouldn't say we were a one-man team, we desperately missed Ibehre (or, indeed, A N Other target man) - not saying I want to go back to the bad old Kav days of lumping it forward to the big man but it gives another option, particularly when we've got a short-arse like Degsy up against strapping centre halves. Very telling that the goal came from Raynes winning the ball in the air for Degsy to shoot.
2) McQueen and Hery were awful today, offered nothing and ball retention was dismal.
3) Agree that Kennedy had a very good game first half, and looked likely to score, but faded into nothingness in the second.
4) Couldn't see whether Degsy dived or not to be fair but comments on here that he did seem fairly decisive. My view was that it was outside the box so wouldn't have been a pen and anyway, stupid thing to do and not the first time this season.
5) Basically, we again made an average team look good, by virtue of gifting them goals therefore giving them the confidence to start playing football.
6) This was the always going to be a well-attended match so particularly frustrating and disappointing that we had the chance to put on a good show and maintain 5k+, especially with going straight into another home game next Saturday, but have blown it yet again.

Agree with most of the marks given. We looked very good for the first 30 mins ,can't get my head around why after they scored we gradually went more and out of the game.After the subs came on we looked like a relegation outfit which is a real concern.
So mixed bag for me ,very good period then vey bad period. Missing 3 out of the 4 strikers doesn't help but that doesn't excuse the awful defensive display.

I'd agree with most of the above. Gillesphey's error was a real turning point as we looked reasonably comfortable up to then. I think our wing backs play far too far upfield, which turned out to be suicide against a team that played quickly on the break. A lot of danger came from when our set pieces broke down because we had too many players all in a line and no depth to cover when they cleared the set piece. Hery really annoyed me because he is so greedy. Often Grainger and McQueen were in loads of space and he refused to bring them into the play. Even if he'd passed to either of them occasionally it leaves the defenders in two minds and thus gives him a potential advantage that way. Generally we were far too slow to get the ball wide.

I think Curle would have done better to put Raynes forward earlier and bring TAH into defence instead of bringing Rigg on. Raynes was a real threat when he was pushed forward against Newport so I think Curle missed a trick there.

At the end of the day 2 abysmal home defeats that ain't gonna get the stay aways through the turnstiles is it......

Agree with most comments. Do think asamoah should get a 0 for cheating though. No place for it in the game.

Gillespie - 7

Miller - 5
Raynes - 5
Gillesphey - 3

McQueen - 3
Joyce - 5
Dicker - 7
Kennedy - 7
Grainger - 7

Hery - 5

Asamoah - 4

All-round, probably the poorest we've played all season, worse than the Newport game. Morecambe weren't great and won't have believed their luck with our defending on their counter attacks.

Gillespie did as much as he could. The back-three went to bits after their equaliser. Miller arguably the best of the three but not up to recent standard. Raynes nowhere near as dominant as he should be, and his supposed organisational skills weren't on show. Felt a bit sorry for Gillesphey - he's a young lad and will make mistakes, but Curle should have recognised that his head had gone a lot sooner than he did - personally, I'd have brought on Troy and kept Grainger at LWB as Osei offered sod all - I still think I'd rather see him down the middle than in this psuedo-wing back role.

McQueen may as well have been watching from the stand - awful first-touch and managed to get done by Ellison twice, despite the whole crowd shouting man on! Again, a young lad still learning so can let him off but would explain why Curle had previously been reluctant to start him every week. Grainger Man of the Match - forgetting that crossfield ball that went for a corner, his crossing was excellent and the finish for the goal superb.

In midfield, Joyce was sloppy in possession and one backpass in particular almost caught Gillespie out. Dicker very good - so calm on the ball and great at finding space to help his team mates out (who should use him more often). As mentioned above, Kennedy looked like the player we had on-loan last season - real goal threat and linked well with Dicker. Hery frustrating - some great moments, but far too often he tries one trick too many instead of releasing the pass.

Now, Asamoah... unbelievably frustrating. Good pace, linked well with Hery at times but when one-on-one... just hit the bloody thing! The first-half chance, he took one touch too many, the second-half incident... pathetic. The keeper wasn't even near making contact with him and he deserved the bollocking their defender and Grainger gave him. Should have been an easy goal. Not long after he was clearly brought down on the edge of the box but the ref didn't give it - served him right after that early incident. To give him credit, his finish for his goal was excellent, but he should have done it much sooner. As frustrating as he was, his pace means he will always be a threat with an early through ball.

Subs - Feel for Rigg, not involved at all for months then brought back in when we're chasing the game. Of course he won't look match sharp, should have done better with that chance just after coming on. Osei did look dangerous but decision maknig poor. Not sure what the point of bringing on Sweeney was - like I said earlier, just tighten up the defence and bring Troy on.

Bad day at the office but it's clear that we're still a shambles at the back. Unless it's sorted, we'll be mid-table at best this season.

Edit: Just to add, disappointed that Curle didn't answer the question in the post-match interview on BBCRC on Asamoah's dive - should have made it clear he won't stand for it.

In all honesty we got the tactics wrong again today. One up front works away from home as we've seen but we desperately needed a second body up there to try and stretch their defence. Their tactics were spot on the brought Ellison in to the team which helped on the counter attack and would really work our back 3 and we struggled with it!!