TOPIC: Player ratings v Dagenham

Entertaining game and created enough chances to win more comfortably.

Gillespie 6 felt he should have done better for their goal. Can someone teach him to drill his kicks into the wind
McQueen 6 some poor touches but did better in 2nd half. Great cross for Jabo
Miller 7 generally comfortable on the ball
Raynes 8 by far the best I've seen from him. Commanding in the air
Grainger 7 much improved
Kennedy 7 wasted wide left. Need another option in this position as Brough is not the answer
Dicker 7 brings stability and calmness
Joyce 7 couple of great tackles and worked hard
Balanta 6 took a while to get going but took his goal well
Asamoah 7 lively but wrong option on a couple of occasions in good positions
Ibehre 8 lead the line well, held it up well and works hard defensively. Out on his feet at the end

Generally good substitutions that fitted in well for us all all worked hard but Osei wasted a couple of chances we created by not passing to McQueen when he was in space and unmarked.

Ref easily the best I've seen this season.

Indeed, the ref did very well.

Gillespie 6 maybe could've come for the cross for their goal?
McQueen 6 disappointed but then great cross for the winner
Miller 6 solid, looks a good signing
Raynes 7 much improved
Grainger 6 great set pieces but very poor for their goal
Kennedy 6 improved second half, missed two good chances
Dicker 6 doesn't give the ball away
Joyce 7 probably his best game
Balanta 6 great finish for goal
Asamoah 7 looks sharp now he's getting a run in the team
Ibehre 8 great hold up play, good feet, great finish

Subs
Hery 6
Thompson 6
Osei 6

Dagenham could be in trouble this year, they posed very little threat. We were dominant in the second half and really should've had 4 or 5

Gillespie 6
Miller 7
Raynes 8
Grainger 7
McQueen 5
Kennedy 5
Joyce 6
Dicker 7
Balanta 6
Ibhere 7.5
Asamoah 6

Osei 5
Thompson 6

Bit of a scrappy win against a poor side. Football wasn't up to recent standards but the defence seemed a bit tighter even thought we gave away a really soft goal. Whilst it's disappointing to keep on going behind in games it's refreshing to see a resilience to come back, something we've been missing for a while now.

Gillespie 6

Miller 7
Raynes 8
Grainger 5

McQueen 6
Dicker 5
Joyce 8
Balanta 7
Kennedy 7

Ibhere 6
Asamoah 4

Gillespie 6

Miller 7
Raynes 8
Grainger 6

McQueen 7
Dicker 7
Joyce 7
Balanta 7
Kennedy 7

Ibhere 7
Asamoah 6
Ref. 9

Gillespie 6
Miller 6
Raynes 7
Grainger 6
McQueen 5
Dicker 7
Joyce 7
Balanta 6
Kennedy 6
Asamoah 6
Ibhere 8

Thought there was a lot of mediocre play today ,but we did enough to win. Not a big fan of Joyce or Dicker but thought they had quite good games today. Find Ibhere a joy to watch though. How we've needed a player like that up front, he 'puts in a shift' and that makes all the difference.

Gillespie 7 no fault for goal , handled pressure well under corner bombardment
Lighting McQueen 6 - Can do a lot better , but what across for our winner
Kennedy 6- Not a wing back , put the graft in , shouldhaveopened scoring
Miller 7 - great find consistent again and unlucky with header of line
Raynes 9 - mom really consistent never missed a header and some good tackles
granger 7 - caught out for goal other than that steady
Joyce 8 good game from Luke one superb tackle in first half when they were on break
Bolanta 7 some heat touches and a fantastic strike
Asamoah 7 - good energy couple of wrong decisions when on ball , out on his feet at end
Dicker 7 - steady performance , some superb passes
Ibehre 8 - our fans have always loved hard workers and Jabo gives his all great header

Subs
Hery - 6. Good impact on the game
Osei - 7 - gave fresh zest up front
Thompson 6 - solid performance

First chance to get down from Fife to see the Blues. Surprisingly was not too worried once we went behind, had already seen enough to see there are goals in this team . There is also a good work ethic , and that included the subs who came on

Gillespie 6 - Think he is a bit uncertain after his long injuries --game time will cure that
Miller 7 -- Was always a good out for Gillespie. Would have been a belter of a goal with header from corner cleared off the line .
Raynes 7 -- Read so much negatives about him --thought he was very impressive in the air
Grainger 6-- He is a better player now than when he was a big lump for the PARS.
McQueen 6 - some of the older Pros need to toughen him up in training. Something there though ,he can cross like Cleevland !!
Dicker 8 - MoM --big surprise to me --thought he ran the show.
Joyce 6- did his job well
Balanta 6 Took his goal well --was right behind his line of fire
Kennedy 7 Was not sure at first , but he grew on me -good foil for dicker
Asamoah 7 Like him , Will be good to get an hour each game out of him
Ibhere 8- For a big thick set guy he works his socks off --do not wear him out Kieth .

Hery 7-- Thought that was a great sub effort.
Osei 6 ---Maybe needs a better warm up .Missed a couple of great chances by not being sharp enough

Alwaysblue17 wrote:

Have to disagree with a few of your comments - Raynes did miss a few headers towards the end of the game.....but the opponent he was marking missed the high ball too. Grainger was not in a position to see the ball for their goal. the ball directly above him as it came down and the scorer should have been closed down from a midfield player.....Joyce or Dicker perhaps. Hery could have done a lot better with the ball when he had it.

Solid win, they rarely threatened us, we should have scored more second half to make it comfortable.

7's all round except Raynes, Dicker and Iberhe 8 and Kennedy 6

Kennedy did ok but out of position kept drifting inside too much leaving loads of space, and had a few good chances to score.

Things looking positive, except the disappointing attendance.

can't understand why dickers ratings are low by many viewpoints- i feel he takes the panic out of situations and is one of the few who are clearly comfortable with the ball. is it a throw back to last years painter and dickerhaters? i am impressed that Curle is willing to put things behind and play him, benefiting the team. i just hope the rest can learn when to play and when to hoof it up. we are getting caught out needlessly too often.

Gillespie 6 - Not his fault for the first but needs to claim more crosses. They clearly saw this as a weakness of his from the Barnet game and were crowding him out at corners. Notice we seem to be conceding from crosses a lot recently?
Raynes 7 - Best game I've seen him play. Won most of his headers though needs to play it simple and not attempt the Hollywood pass which he's not capable of!
Grainger 6 - Can't win a header to save his life but he's not actually a CB so can't really blame him too much, sweet left peg as we all know. Lovely corner technique where he's drilling them in flat (e.g. when Miller's header was cleared off the line).
Miller 7 - Really do think this lad is a find, can't remember him doing much wrong today.
McQueen 6 - Rusty positionally. bit raw but he has talent and pace. Definitely more to come from him, as mentioned by others a great ball for Ibehre's goal. Had to deal with their best player I though (No. 23) and did ok.
Kennedy 5 - Not a wing back but still has to know to track his man! Pretty sure he heard me screaming at him from the East Stand. Should have buried 2 chances also.
Joyce 7 - Did the ugly stuff brilliantly today, got stuck in. Solid defensive performance.
Dicker 8 - Love the lad. Calm on the ball and love the reverse balls he attempts, can see he's played higher level than this. Got to keep playing him.
Balanta 6 - Took the goal well, clearly has talent but not the best execution. I think he'll improve.
Asamoah 6 - Always looks a threat on the turn and tends to beat the 1st man everytime. He is v.greedy however although that isn't always bad?
Ibehre 8 - Great goal, great hold up play, great turn of pace.. Surely offer him a contract extension now? Would have been happy if he'd only scored 10 goals all season when we signed him!

Subs 6.

Thought we should have won by more today against a very very poor Dagenham side. Shame to concede a poor goal again but we did look more solid than against Barnet. Fair play to Curle for sticking with the formation (which I like) though still think we need a LCB and a LWB. Hopefully these are the loan signings he's trying to bring in. Bring on York. COYB.

Ps. Surely more than 3,800 there today?!

Good win, not often we have been able to say that over the last few years.

My major thing is about Kennedy. He was our best player last year after he came in, pretty much the catalyst for us staying up comfortably.What i felt he was so good at was when he was in the middle, picking of scraps and reading the game to around before anybody else.
When he is on the left we lose this!
Why is he out wide?

Is it cause KC s picking his best 11 players and that is where JK is fitting in, or cause there is no one better to play there?
For me we are wasting one of our best players

Gillespie 6 - Thought he should have saved their goal but made up for it it with a smart close range save in 2nd half, needs to be more positive when claiming crosses.
Raynes 7.5 Played well very solid at the back if he could improve his passing just a bit he would be one hell of a find
Milller 7 Another good solid game looks assured at this level
Grainger 6,5 Sees plenty of the ball and got in some good crosses caught out for their goal
McQueen 6.5 Always seemed to be in loads of space down the left but too far away from where the action was, perfect cross for our winner
Joyce 7 Always chasing down and harrying their midfielders
Kennedy 6 Busy but not a lot of good end product wasted a couple of half decent chances
Dicker 7.5 Calm on the ball and some good passes, if he got a bit further forward and delivered them passes would cut defences wide open
Balanta 6.5 Great goal ran around a lot trying hard
Asamoah 7 Very busy ran himself into the ground needs to shoot on sight more instead of trying to beat every man
Ibhere 9 Every ball is aimed at Jabo and he controlled most of them today holding up play well , great worker took his goal well

Hery 6 put himself about
Osei 6.5 looked dangerous when he came on put a bit of zip into the attack could have done a bit better with his chances
Thompson 6 Solid and helped see the game out

thought everyone of our players had good games yesterday,looked more solid as a group.best game Joyce has had for us, dicker would of been my MOM, by far the best passer of the ball in our team, really stands out to me.

I think the points made by Dixy and Trevor are very valid ones.

We do not have much in the way of options if we persist with wing backs - Brough not up to it, Atkinson injury+TAH injury prone prevent moving Grainger there ( which is his better position IMO ). We could switch McQueen onto the left and put Thompson on the right but that would make us even weaker defensively I think.

Kennedy is indeed wasted on the left. I liked Dicker and Kennedy together in the centre and felt they were instrumental in us surviving last season. Now Joyce is in the equation has it to be any 2 from 3 or are we able to accommodate all three somehow? A flat back four and 4-1-3-2 might work with Joyce in front of the four and Kenneddy, Dicker and one more ( Hery?) in midfield. At least this would be a plan B.

Gillespie 6 - Not an awful lot to do, feel he could have claimed the cross for their goal, made a good save in the first half.
McQueen 7 - Did well, excellent cross for Ibehre's goal.
Miller 7 - Very solid.
Raynes 8 - I'll give him credit, he was dreadful vs Barnet but he was excellent today, won everything, commanding performance.
Grainger 5 - Caught out for their goal, went backwards too often, other than that he did alright.
Kennedy 6 - Seen better from him but he did well in an unfamiliar position.
Balanta 7 - Took his goal well, good showing but looked knackered when he came off.
Joyce 6 - Decent performance from him, better than recent weeks
Dicker 7 - Very good, picked out some great passes, shielded the backline well.
Asamoah 7 - Covered every blade of grass, looked very sharp.
Ibehre 8 - Great hold up play, took his goal very well.

Osei 6.5 - Was murdering the defenders with his dribbling but lacks the end product
Hery and Thompson 6 - Did their jobs.

Some marks way ott for an average performance against poor opposition imo...

Gillespie 6
Miller 6
Raynes 7
Grainger 5
McQueen 5
Kennedy 5
Joyce 6
Dicker 7
Balanta 7
Asamoah 6
Ibehre 7

Balanta and Ibehre got a mark up for their goals, likewise deducted a mark from Grainger for terrible defending for their goal...

Raynes and Dicker our best two. McQueen and Kennedy poor yesterday...

I didn't think they were that poor, they were 4 unbeaten coming into this game including wins at Cambridge & Northampton. We defended better (apart from the goal), the 2 deep midfielders helped I think, we controlled the game more apart from a spell right after Ibehre's goal. Joyce was defensively good filling in the space left when McQueen went into the final third, made a couple of excellent blocks/tackles. I think Dicker's inclusion in the starting 11 meant that Joyce was less pinned to that central defensive midfield role which helped us.

Dagenham were exactly what we are suited to playing against to be honest. They weren't poor but they were less physical than the 3 previous home opponents. We definitely struggle against big physical brute attackers.