Well, that was a remember of the bad old days on Saturday before the Tilson era wasn't it?!
Both, the fans and the players, performed poor in my opinion, with very few players coming out with any credit whatsoever.
Now, I'm a massive Tilson fan, and I have backed 99% of what he has done here, but the last two home games (Col Ewe and Wycombe) I've had a problem with. Firstly, putting Laurent upfront against Col Ewe, when he has been fantastic on the wing was a mistake, and Saturday lining up 4-5-1 against second bottom is an equal mistake in my eyes. Home teams should look to dominate the match, come out of the traps flying and do the majority of the pressing, I don't see how we can do that playing 4-5-1.
Anyways, here are my views on the players:
Mildenhall - Our best player, and without him we'd have lost. Couple of cracking saves in the second half, and looked to dominate his box as normal. Must be a shoe-in for player of the season now Barnard has gone.
Sankofa - Got forward quite well actually, which surprised me. Fantastic cross for Macca's goal and did what was expected of him.
Francis - He clearly isn't a centre back, so its hard to be too critical. With him in the middle we lose his attacking play from the right. He'd have had a field day down the wing on Saturday.
Barrett - Its difficult for him. He has already had 7 different central defensive partners this season, when over the course of the last 2/3 years he had mainly had one in Clarke. Did an alright job, but my concern is, when he is playing with someone out of position, like Francis, he is always trying to help him out, which means his own game suffers. He has looked captain fantastic alongside M'Voto, and good with Heath and Morrison, but when its someone else, he struggles.
Malone - Not his biggest fan, and I'd prefer Herd there despite his flaws. With him signing a loan till the end of the season, we will have to get used to him but he needs to up his performances sharpish.
Laurent - Not his best game, and a shocking miss in the second half, but still our playing that looks to create stuff. I thought Scannell played better than Laurent, but I still thought Laurent would be the one to make something happen, even playing like that.
Moussa - His performance was an upgrade from his left wing performances of late, but only because he has been well out of form on the left and not because he played well in the middle.
Macca - Good goal, which upped his rating in my eyes, but then he dropped it by giving away a stupid free-kick which lead to the goal with a silly push on a player as he was getting to his feet. My main gripe with him on Saturday, was the amount of passes he plays without looking. He just keeps hooking the ball over his shoulder when he has no idea what is around him.
Grant - Wasted against Wycombe. Plays fair too deep and was basically a 5th defender rather than a midfielder. Not a great performance.
Scannell - As mentioned in the Laurent ratings, I thought he had a good game which was backed up by my anti-Scannell mate who agreed. Our 2nd best player in my eyes on Saturday.
Paterson - Difficult for him up top on his own. Very difficult role to play as everytime he did win something in the air, there was no-one around to pick up the second ball. Held the ball up well and his link up play was good, but should have scored. At that distance, just put your left foot through it. Instead, he tried to run round the ball, and bend it into the far corner, but mi**** the shoot. Encouraging signs but needs a partner.
Subs:
Spencer - Looked lively when he come on, but didn't get much of the ball. Has more pace than I realised.
Freedman - Didn't see much of the ball.
Walker - Looked to make things happen from the left flank, kept cutting in onto his right foot but actually did very little.
Not many positives to come out of Saturdays game apart from Mildenhall, Scannell and Paterson's performances, and we edged a point further away from the drop zone.
