TOPIC: Player ratings for Crawley match

Anyone

Gillespie 7
Atkinson 6
Ellis 7
Raynes 8
Grainger 8
Sweeney 7
Joyce 7
Kennedy 7
Gillead 8
Ibhere 7
Wyke 8

Gillespie 7
Atkinson 7
Ellis 6
Raynes 7
Grainger 7
Sweeney 6
Joyce 8
Kennedy 7
Gilliead 7
Ibhere 7
Wyke 8

Gillespie 7
Atkinson 7
Ellis 6
Raynes 7
Grainger 8
Gilliead 8
Joyce 8
Kennedy 7
Sweeney 6
Wyke 8
Ibehre 7

Decent performance today I thought.Apart from 10 minutes towards the nd of the first half I felt we were in control.Joyce seemed to have a calming influence,kept the ball when needed but also went direct when the pass was on.
Felt Ellis struggled first half,especially with his distribution but grew into it as it went on.Wyke looks far more effective in a front two.

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Gillespie 7
Atkinson 6
Ellis 5 - decent interceptions but distribution was awful.
Raynes 8 - dominating in the air and a leader.
Grainger 8 - much more solid defensively this season and his left foot is a wand.
Gilliead 9 - awesome, had the beating of his man and got to the bye line on so many occasions, with the end product to boot. Didn't get the ball to him often enough.
Joyce 8 - people complain about backwards and sideward passing but he really keeps the play flowing.
Kennedy 5 - just don't see what he adds with Joyce in there. Runs about a bit with no real clue on where he is going or how to use the ball. Would prefer Hery.
Sweeney 6
Wyke 8 - looked really up for it in the first half.
Ibehre 7 - still not fully fit but holds the ball up and gets into goalscoring positions excellently.

Carlislefan wrote: Bit harsh on Kennedy IMO.His touch to set up Wyke for the second time was quality.
Game of opinions though!

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Kennedy 5 what the F***( care in the community gone wrong ) 8 for me

Totally agree about Kennedy. He was close to being man of the match for me. A real driving force in midfield, the number of headers and interceptions he made were vital to us completely bossing the game, especially in midfield.

Thought we looked really solid except for the goal where Gilliead lost possession trying to beat his man on the half way line. Decent goal to be fair though.

Re Ellis' distribution. I noticed KC urging him to try and hit Gilliead with a diagonal ball just about every time he had it. It's just not really Ellis' game to be hitting 50 yard passes.
Otherwise I'd say the marks were pretty much spot on. 7 ' s and 8's all round. Wyke probably shades mom if only for his goals!

Exciting to see Assamoah (and Thompson to a lesser extent) come on and try to keep the forward momentum. Gary Dicker was dreadful when he came on - gave it away about 4 times in as many minutes!

Gillespie 7
Atkinson 7
Ellis 6
Raynes 7
Grainger 7.5
Sweeney 7
Joyce 8
Kennedy 7
Gilliead 7.5
Ibhere 7
Wyke 8

Nice to see us go with a proper 442 and take the game to a team for once. Should've been 4up by H/T...

Gillespie 7
Atkinson 6
Ellis 5
Raynes 7
Grainger 7
Gilliead 8
Joyce 7
Kennedy 7
Sweeney 6
Ibehre 7
Wyke 8

Miller in at RB (Had a twinge yesterday seemingly) and Atkinson back in at CB please. One of Raynes best games yesterday. Ellis is shite. Grainger showed he's far more a LB and that's where he should play.

Sign a proper left winger to compliment Gilliead on the right. Sweeney was a square peg in a round hole, not his fault though.

Finally a proper front two! They were all over Crawley from the first minute. Then you've Asamoah comes on to run at them for fun.

A very enjoyable and entertaining game, especially given the conditions. We should have won more comfortably and probably would have if we'd taken only some of the numerous chances we created.

Gillespie 6 couple of good stops, poor communication with his defence at times, a two handed flap in an effort to punch the ball when he had plenty of time and space to catch it
Atkinson 6 not as comfortable as at right CB and looked a bit exposed on the rare times they broke quickly
Ellis 5 - good in the air, dreadful distribution, stupid yellow going in like a headless chicken with the ball well inside their own half
Raynes 8 - very solid throughout and didn't fall over
Grainger 7 - apart from a couple of defensive slips ( including one ridiculous skied clearance when ended up in our penalty area ) a good game, good corners and mostly crossed the ball well
Gilliead 8 - made the first two goals but gave the ball away needlessly on the half way line for their goal by trying to take on two men when closely marked and a simple back pass to Atkinson was the better option. Still a joy to watch
Joyce 7 - had a hand in all three goals but both he and Atkinson managed to mess up 2 defenders against their one attacker when they broke quickly from a corner and a free kick
Kennedy 8 - calms things down with good close passings and moving and works very hard defensively. Clever flick to set up Wyke's 2nd goal
Sweeney 6 - filled in well and made a lot of forward runs
Wyke 8 - took his two goals well but missed two even easier chances - one on one with GK in 1st half and a simple header in 2nd. Made a lot of good runs not picked up by our midfielders
Ibehre 7 - still a bit rusty but improved as the game went on and took his goal well.

Asamoah very lively when he came on and some lovely trickery out wide in stoppage time. Thompson had one very good run down the left before he was hacked down. Thought Dicker might have been on before Thompson but I notice he is on 4 yellows so perhaps that is why he came on later.

So have we decided Ellis is a shi'ite? There was a call for 2 or 3 year contracts for him after his debut

I'd say he is not our best option when all our defenders are fit, Markovitch. I think yesterday was only his 4th game so it's a bit early to form a definite opinion.

Jumpforfun wrote:
After a couple of games, Ellis had people creaming themselves on here, the next Kev Gray was how he was described. Physically he is nothing like the Great Gray, a bit of a short ass for a centre half and more often than not he gives the ball away. He's no Raynesie! But KC obviously sees something in him and he's experienced at this level so let's give him another month before we totally discount him.

And I can't believe there are people on here daring to criticise born again Dicker!

4-4-2 just looks like such a good shape for a football team. Front two were fantastic together, caused them all sorts of problems.

Crying out for some natural width on the left, the positive of having Sweeney there is that he's an intelligent player and makes plenty of runs inside with the aim of dragging their full back inside, so that Grainger has space to bomb on. Obviously we would rather have a left footed Gilliead there who just skins his man time and time again but in the absence of that Sweeney is alright.

Miller in at RB, Atkinson in for Ellis and you've got a really good team there.

sirjimmyglass wrote:
Where is Simon Hackney these days??

Gillespie 6 - poor communication and flapped at the ball more than once

Atkinson 7 - solid enough
Raynes 8 - quality again, should have scored though
Ellis 5 - poor distribution, should have scored aswell, bit disjointed
Grainger 8 - caught out of position for the goal but his delivery all game was absolute quality

Joyce 7 - steady away
Kennedy 7.5 - another consistent all action display
Sweeney 7 - never lets the team down
Gilliead 8 - good going forward, set up two goals but his tracking back was equally impressive

Wyke 7 - two decent goals, should have had his hat-trick by half time and his attempt at a header second half was terrible
Ibhere 8 - his hold up play was superb, when was the last time we had such a good target man

11 goals in 23 league starts for Wyke. Hopefully the 2 on Saturday will give him more confidence

I enjoyed the game on Saturday and thought it was a very good all round performance. It was a team win, and even though there are a lot of changes for each game we look as though we're getting little units all round the park who look as if they know what each other is going to do.

Gillespie didn't have a great deal to do, he made a couple of saves, and the one he punched with two hands where he looked as though he could have caught it, might have been caught by the wind. He's a solid keeper at this level.

The defence was generally very good, Raynes and Ellis look decent together defending, their distribution isn't the greatest, but hey that is starting to come. Both of them should have been on the scoresheet though. Atkinson was solid, he's a good signing to be fair. Grainger again was outstanding, unfortunate to be left in no man's land when Gilliead lost the ball for their goal, but it did look as if we were going forward. Some of his delivery is incredible, and he created mayhem at times in their box.

Midfield is starting to look very competent, regardless of who gets picked, Joyce and Kennedy (who was excellent again - the touch for the second goal was excellent) completely dominated that game and made it easy for us. Tireless displays by both, and a decent range of passing shown by both. Sweeney whilst not the flashy creative force does his job very well, and is always available. Gilliead really is a star in the making, his contribution was telling and he gave their full back a torrid time. I don't mind seeing him lose the ball sometimes trying to beat a man, he's going to learn from that, he's fabulous to see running at the opposition.

Up front I think our two terrified their players, in fact to such an extent that the big soft number 6 had to fall on the floor to try to get Jabo booked. Jabo looked to be getting back to where we now know he can be, his first touch was generally good, he held the ball up and he put himself about, I was pleased to see him score again. Wyke was a real handful, strong and determined they did not like him at all, he took his two goals really well and it is great to see him back on form.

They are a mid table team, and they were made to look like a bunch of amateurs by a very good team display. That is the most professionally I have seen us approach a game for a long time, and in fairness they were very lucky we didn't score a lot more, especially in the first 40 minutes.

Jabo makes a hell of a difference.

Not only his goals (10 league goals in 11 starts plus 2 sub appearances is up there with Meesi and Ronaldo in terms of strike rate ) but he keeps defenders occupied allowing Asamoah and Wyke a lot more space.

He is a great player at this level, solid and strong with a very good first touch and the ability to shield and hold the ball up very well. He also has some very nice touches to get himself away from defenders. What Curle has done particularly well with him is realise he isn't just that type of player who can hold the ball up and create for others, but with a partner alongside him he's a genuine goal threat. For most of his time, and we've seen him a lot over the years, he's been just that a battling centre forward who takes the knocks and works hard for the team. By putting another forward with him, whether Wyke or Asamoah, it allows him the space and incentive to get into great positions higher up the pitch.

Whichever of the coaching staff realised that he was best played in a 2 man forward line needs huge congratulations, because he's been an absolute revelation for us, and I can see him going on to get over 20 league goals if we carry on playing to his strengths. Certainly we're going to end up with 3 forwards well into double figures (Ibehre, Asamoah and Wyke) and it is a long time since we managed that, perhaps even 50 between them.

What a lovely feeling to feel like we're being really positive about what this team can achieve this year. Strong players in each area of the pitch and a squad capable of offering genuine competition for places.

Some genuine width on the left would still be nice, but there's some real momentum gathering around Brunton Park.

Haven't seen the Crawley game but watched Luton on united player. We definitely look a better team with 4 at the back and when we go longer. Ellis gets some cricitism but Raynes looks a lot better in terms of positioning when he has Ellis or Atkinson alongside him. Good to see Charlie Wyke scoring. If Balanta, Osei, Thomson and CMW are all gone at Christmas we should have the budget to bring in a left sided player and that would give us a strong team for the run. Wow, outbreaks of optimism

I've a feeling Thompson might be staying.

I hope not. Haven't seen anything from him that warrants a longer contract.

Lumsdon was saying on the radio that he thinks Thompson will get another 6 months.

Says he's such a positive and well liked character in the dressing room and that the management think he's still on the road to getting back to the levels he used to be and he'll be a different player second half of the season.

I'm with the above post, he's not done enough on the pitch to warrant a new deal. Having said that when he came on on Saturday I thought he looked that bit sharper and stronger than he had done previously.