TOPIC: Ratings

Anyone

Gillespie - kept us in it first 15 mins. Needs to commanding in the box 6
Atkinson -Assured performance with some great blocks and tackles 8
Rayners - not as commanding as he has been 6
Ellis - Second Pompey goal down to his poor control 6
Miller - tidy game 7
Kennedy - Covered a lot of ground today, can't fault his effort 7
Dicker - excellent distribution and tackles. All our good play came through him MOM 8.5
Graingers - Goal of season contender. Looks better on left of midfield 7
Joyce - can do a lot better 5
Jabo - Thankless task on his own today - very isolated 6
Gillihead - always looks dangerous but needs to learn to release when others are better placed 6

About right I'd say except I'd give Gillespie a 7 and dicker maybe not as much as 8.5

Jabo didn't look fit, were much more threatening when asamoah and wyke were on.

Gillespie 6 - couple of good saves.
Atkinson 6 solid enough
Raynes 6 " "
Ellis 6 " " apart from giving the ball away
Mller 5 not as good as previously
Dicker 7 - cultured display
Joyce 5 - over complicates things with the need to get the ball from our keeper.
Kennedy 7 - great second half
Grainger 5 - apart from the screamer and pen i thought he was poor. Too slow to play on the wing. Last ten he was great.
Gilliead 6 - better second half, shocking first half
Ibehre 6 - grafted

Wyke 6 - put himself about
Deggsy 5
Sweeney 5

Gillespie 8 Kept us in it in first half. Maybe could have done better with first goal?
Miller 5 didn't seem comfortable on the ball, just ok.
Raynes 6 Did ok for me, not sure why he was subbed.
Ellis 5 Bad mistake, doesn't hide though.
Atkinson. 4 For me he was poor.
Joyce 4 Poor, can't play with Dicker.
Grainger 7 Not ideal in midfield but put the pen away and scored a screamer.
Dicker 8 A few stray passes but is a good technical player.
Kennedy 6 Usual hard work but some poor touches here and there.
Gillead. 7 Great feet but needs to know when to release the ball
Ibehre 6 Not any where near fit and we didn't really help him much today.

Ref. An indifferent performance.

Wyke 6 Did better than ibehre.
Asamoah 7 Chases down well and closes people down.
Sweeney 6. nothing fancy but does contribute to the cause.

Really surprised the way we lined up after looking at the time, started a 4 2 31 really but got dragged back and luck to be in the game after 20 mins.

Dont understand how we can play Atkinson at left back other than pick our best 11 players and go from there, concerned that Curle at times tries too much to outwit the other manager than actually winning the game by playing better.

Gillespie 7 - could argue Pompey should have done better with their chances but saved well, handling very good today

Miller 6 - solid in the most part, did well last few minutes when we pushing to cover
Raynes 5 - not his best game, not his type of game, surprised he was brought off as his hight could have been useful
Ellis 4 - on the ball very poor today, before the goal in the 1st half gave it away too often, on the ropes at the end, not the best.
Atkinson 5 - strange decision to play him at left back, still feel he has a lt too offer us, just not at left back!! Turned inside out for their equaliser

Gilliad 6 - our brightest attacking prospect, takes a man on, tracked back as well which was just as well
Joyce 6- not his best day, some nice touchs but didnt get stuck in enough for me
Dicker 8 - our best player, not everything came off but kept going and has the class on the football that no none else
Granger 7 - 2 goals, 2nd a cracker, still dont see how Curle can play hm at left wing cause didnt get a kick until at left back for last 20, 2nd will live in the memory for a while

Kennedy 6 - better because he was involved, his strength is his industry and showed plenty of that today, still can play better and surprise he was MOTM at the ground

Ibhere 5 - poor, isolated, lacking match fitness i assume, as Lummy said minutes and battle will do him good

Asamoah 6 - at least ran at players
Wyke 6.5 - won more headers, would be nice to see him have a few games but unsure how it would work with Jabo
Sweeney 5 - more mobile than Joyce but didnt do much

All in all Lucky to get a point, Pompey much the better team. Our pen outside the box, they should have had a pen which the ref gave a free kick but still well done to the lads for keeping going.

As for Pompey, penalty aside, thought their 2 centre halfs were a class above, not troubled at all. Best team ive seen all year, including Plymouth, and doubt we will be outplayed that much at home for a long time.

I don't think anybody had a bad game, bar Ellis' cock up for their goal. The issue for me was the formation. I really rate Atkinson, but he's not a left back. We really caused them problems when we had the ball in wider areas. I feel we could have done this more if we had kept the same lineup, but with Miller at right wing back, and Grainger at left wing back.

Portsmouth are a good side, but so are we, and in my opinion, we showed them a little bit too much respect today. Every team in this league is in it for a reason. At home, I want to see us play like we're at home. And have Portsmouth have to adapt their gameplay to the way that we play, not the other way around.

We played a better team today and got a point. Wouldn't of happened previous years. So well done to them all. Few mistakes, team did set up a little odd and we got luck but got a result in the end and I would have taken a point before kick off.

The formation was wrong from the start , Grainger playing like a winger was a a joke,,yes he can deliver a fantastic ball but only when he has space ,no way he can go pass a man., totally wasted for the first 70 mins.
We where not allowed to play from the back today forced to hit long to a lone striker for most of the game by a Portsmouth manager who as Obviosly studied how we play.They are the best team in the league and for me Curle should have changed the formation after the first 15 mins.on his defence we went in at half time 1-0 up so results wise you can't argue.
We got out of jail today just hope we learn from it.

I'd love to know what Grainger was told by Curle before the game.
One minute he was the furthest man up the pitch, next he was somewhere between left back and a wing back, then just wandering around in deep midfield. That was when he wasn't getting frustrated at his own ineptitude and elbowing everyone in sight

Yes, he had a very good second half but Dicker was absolutely clart in the first half and lucky not to be subbed. Saw Curle lose his rag with him after a another pass which gave the ball away. 6/10 from across the whole game.

A long time since I've seen a team dominate possession against us for such long periods. They often strung 20+ passes together whereas we could hardly keep the ball for more than 3-4. That said, apart from the first 10 mins, they created few clear cut chances. We played much better after going 1-2 down and yet again showed real spirit in battling to the end. Despite being outplayed it almost felt like we'd won coming away at the end.

Gillespie 7 - a couple of great stops early on and one very poor effort at punching the ball clear
Miller 6 - steady and got forward well late on
Raynes 5 - thought him, Ellis and Atkinson were played the wrong way around
Ellis 4 - should have been on the left and Raynes in the middle. Weak
Atkinson 4 - didn't look comfortable on the left and he developed such a good understanding with Miller he should have been on the other side. Their right back was always a threat
Gilliad 6 - they'd done their homework on him and kept a close watch on him but a few good runs but overdid it a couple of times
Joyce 5- a couple of crunching tackles early on but chasing the game for the most part
Dicker 7 - just seems to have that little extra time on the ball to put in a few probing passes
Granger 6 - what a second goal but lack of pace out wide saw him often struggling to give Atkinson protection
Kennedy 7 - hard working as ever and had a good 2nd half
Ibhere 5 - poor service and first touch a bit rusty at times but he will improve as he gets more game time again

Asamoah 6 - lively
Wyke and Sweeney didn't really make much of an impression in the time they were on.

Somehow Joyce, Kennedy and Dicker as a threesome don't really seem to click and it seems a bit overcrowded. Should be Kennedy and Dicker plus someone else further forward, I think, probably Asamoah.

I get a bit cheesed off with the usual defender going down in the box and refs instantly blowing up. Ok, maybe, just maybe, their bloke was genuinely injured, but we had space wide left with the ball in a threatening position. Portsmouth then didn't even have the decency to play the ball back to our keeper and we ended up with a throw in deep in our own half. We should have contested the dropped ball. That said our penalty looked comfortably outside the box.

cufcmike wrote: I would blame Joyce for their second goal.Why did he pass it to Ellis who was 3 yards away and obviously not expecting the pass.

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Gillespie 7
Miller 5
Raynes 5
Ellis 5
Atkinson 5
Grainger 6
Joyce 5
Kennedy 7
Dicker 8
Gilliead 6
Ibehre 5

Gillespie kept us in it. Defence was all at sea, terrible decision playing a RCB at LB, Raynes and Ellis were poor. Joyce, Kennedy and Dicker don't look comfortable together, one has to drop to bench. Dicker was our best player by a long way. Grainger hasn't the pace to be a winger, well taken goals though. Gilliead tried to create but was well marshalled. Jabo looked well off the pace.

Graingers stunning strike has papered over the fact we were poor and got out of jail...

I have to disagree with saying Grainger isn't quick enough to be a winger. The quality of his crossing is far more useful than a few flying wingers we've had who constantly dribbled off the pitch, into a defender or put the ball straight at the first defender/over the Warwick roof. His tackling and positioning is good too. Admittedly he's slow to catch a player and heading is weak.

walwynlegend wrote:
He has a fantatic delivery, but if he receives the ball with the opposing fullback in front of him, he doesn't have the pace or trickery to beat him. He needs to receive the ball already beyond their fullback, which I feel he can do more as a wing back.

cufcmike wrote: li

Totally agree , in the first half receiving the ball with men infront like a winger is no use , for him to be effective he needs the ball when he has space to deliver ,that's when comming late or overlapping with players already in the box,no doubt he has a fantastic delivery.

Gillespie 6

Miller 7
Raynes 6
Ellis 6
Atkinson 6

Dicker 7.5
Kennedy 7
Joyce 5
Grainger 7
Gilliead 6

Ibhere 5

Poor performance for the first hour or so, couldn't get a foothold in the game, Pompey's pressing game totally unsettled a lot of our players.
Gillespie uncommanding again, he only made most of his early saves due to him flapping at the initial crosses, they were a result of his own errors, perhaps could have done better for their first. Atkinson not a left back, Joyce poor, Dicker and Kennedy the best players, Ibhere isolated, Grainger good as a left wingback with a back 3 but not so great as a left midfielder, Gilliead needs to wise up on when to shift the ball, there was four men around him at one point and he was trying to beat them all! Badly need someone to play in the hole behind the striker. If teams stand off us and let us play we look a good side, if they press us we aren't quick enough on the ball. Definitely a point gained though.

Yeah I get the point that pace is useful for a winger and ideally you cross from the goal line. I just think a winger can be effective crossing with their first or second touch sometimes from deeper.

Grainger's positional sense is, like his pace, awful whatever position of the three we have tried him in so far. Shame it's not the NFL and we could take him on and off for shooting and set-pieces.

thetashkentterror wrote:
Surprise surprise, another beat Danny grainger post! Ffs, what else does he have to do to get some credit? True, he's no world beater but that's why he's playing at this level. Some of our other players could follow his example as regards effort and committment. As for slagging him off for yesterday, well that beggars belief! Wins the pen, dubious I know, puts it away and then scores a screamer to rescue a point. He also put in a few more decent crosses into the box, why not berate our strikers more for not busting a gut to get on the end of them? Simple, it's easier to slag Danny G off! There were worse performers yesterday than Danny Grainger, Atkinson for one, Jabo for two( I appreciate he's just come back) Luke Joyce for three was poor, easy to fire more cheap shots at one of our own though eh.

I thought we played totally into Portsmouth's hands yesterday. I spoke to an old mate who is a Portsmouth fan in the Beehive before the game and he said that they didn't have much of a goal threat but their full-backs spent most of their time deep in the opposition half, leaving them a bit exposed. So by sitting back to soak up pressure, we just invited them to push forward. Their right-back Davies was excellent but he spent most of the match right up against Atkinson. Their centre-backs were never properly tested as they sat on the halfway line and were able to deal with Jabo on his own.

Gillespie - 7

A couple of shakey moments on crosses but made some great saves first-half (particularly the double one that was on the highlights).

Miller - 6
Raynes - 5
Ellis - 4
Atkinson - 5

Both centre-backs looked a bit shakey but the biggest problem was the actual line-up/formation. Atkinson has been by far our best centre-back this season - he's comfortable on the ball and likes to play it out (which is Curle's style). So why the hell do you put him on the left, where he looks uncomfortable and is constantly looking to bring it back onto his right-foot. It's not like Portsmouth had a big, bustling centre-forward today that required you to play Ellis and Raynes. Not convinced at all by Ellis - at least we've seen a bit of consistency from Raynes lately. Miller was solid enough but didn't get much of a chance to get forward.

Gilliead - 6
Dicker - 7.5
Joyce - 5
Grainger - 7

A solid-looking midfield but lacking flair. Joyce didn't impose himself on the game at all - he had one decent driving run in the second-half but that's not really what he's in the team for. Also put Ellis in trouble with that pass on their second goal. Dicker started slowly but gradually grew into the game and was excellent second-half - I felt dizzy when he did that quadruple turn to lose three players! I can accept him losing possession every now and then when you can see the quality he's got. Gilliead was too deep to have a meaningful impact - looked better second-half and caused a few problems. Grainger's a strange one - barely involved first-half but good link-up with DIcker and Jabo lead to the penalty which he scored. Second-half again, a bit out of the game at times but he's still our biggest threat with his crossing. But there's no point in expecting him to do the full-back with pace and skill. He's far better overlapping and coming from deep and putting a cross in. Brilliant finish for the second goal.

Kennedy - 6
Ibehre - 5

Thought Kennedy looked a bit lost playing just off Jabo. I don't know if it was some kind of attempt to get him into the box more and offer a goal threat but he's better coming from deep. Looked much better later on when he dropped back. Jabo just didn't look match fit, yet he still had enough quality to play in Grainger for the penalty. Really needed someone like Asamoah up along side him to do the running.

Subs

Asamoah - 6
Wyke - 6
Sweeney - N/A

Thought all three subs had a decent enough impact, Asamoah the strongest of the three with his running.


Listened to Curle's post-match interview on the way back and found what he said quite interesting. He basically admitted we changed formation to soak up pressure from Portsmouth and keep it tight. He went on about their budget and what a massive club they were as well - exactly the kind of things Greg Abbott used to get hammered for on the message board! Wasn't helped by James Phillips - you'd have thought we'd played Real Madrid the way he was going on about Portsmouth. They were decent but nothing spectacular. They were able to play with their centre-backs on the halfway line because of the way we lined up. If we'd pushed back both of their full-backs they'd have lost a lot of their threat. We got away with it on Sat but I'd rather we actually lined-up like a home team for games like this in future.

Dicker gives the ball away too much. Too slow

Gillespie 7.5 - MOM. We would have lost by some margin without him. Some great saves, particularly in the first half. Okay he flapped at a couple... But he saved our bacon this game.

Miller 5 - Not up to his usual standard. Got slaughtered by the winger on numerous occasions. Needs to work much harder on blocking crosses.

Rayners 5 - Poor marking on several occasions. Looked like he struggled to cope with the pace of Pompey

Ellis 4 - very poor. Letting players run past him. Shocking distribution. Poor marking. Bad error cost us a goal.

Atkinson 4 - Got slaughtered for pace numerous times. Looked very uncomfortable on the left, which wasn't his fault. Very shaky performance.

Gillead 5 - Closley marked. Needs to impose himself on the game more. Needs to look to pass more.

Joyce 5 - Made some good tackles and blocks. Sat way too deep though. Poor distribution.

Dicker 7 - Poor start to the game but picked up later. Good tackling. The best passer at the club by a mile. Very slow though.

Granger 6 - I gave him an extra point for the goal at the end. His general play was pretty poor though in reality.

Kennedy 6 - Decent enough game but didn't look that comfortable in the position.

Ibehre 5 - not match fit. Didn't hold the ball up well. Wasn't a threat

Subs

Asamoah 6 - made a big difference with his pace.

Wyke 5

Curle 2 - Stupid decision to pick Atkinson at left back. And as for his master plan to sit back and hit them on the break... It just didn't work. We showed them way too much respect and stood ten yards off them all first half... We hardly made a tackle and basically shuffled around admiring their passing. We should really have been about 3 goals down by half time. It was ridiculous that we went into half time 1 up. He left it way too long to make substitutions and it was a matter of time before they scored. We looked better after Asamoah came on and we actually tried to attack them.

Overall I thought it was a very poor performance and getting a point was daylight robbery. They must have been gutted that they didn't beat us. We really struggle when teams press us early and give the ball away far too easily... But then to drop off onto the edge of your own area and hardly look to make a tackle is just asking for trouble. The first half reminded me of watching a game like Andorra v Spain... One team totally parking the bus and showing zero ambition... And the other passing the ball around looking to find the inevitable gaps. Second half was a bit better but it took for us to go behind before we ditched the negative attitude and actually tried to score. Others may disagree but I thought we were very lucky to get a point... The tactics were all wrong and we showed way too much respect to them. It was awful having to listen to Curle pretend that went to plan... Basically showed no ambition whatsoever for most of the game even though we were the home team. Listening to Curle on the radio talking about budgets and crowd just made me think of Abbott. Thank god for Graingers wonder goal scraping us a point. Curle needs to have more faith in his players ability because that game plan was crap.