Swindon ratings

[steveo]

as no one seems to have done it yet, this is how i saw it:
Flavs - solid as ever 7
Francis - good going forward steady at the back 7
Mulgrew as above
Barret and Clarke - Untroubled for about 80 minutes then these boys were all over the place as Swindon found some momentum and created 2 or 3 really good chances. - 6 each
Maca - 6
Bailey - 8 must now be the most important player in the team
Gower - 8 or 5 -sometimes brilliant sometimes looks like a Sunday morning player
Black 6 - looks menacing but doesnt ever seem to beat the full back
Kanu - 5 - nothing like the bloke who played against Swansea
Walker - 6 ok

As a team we look well balanced except for the front two. This was a game where we were very very comfortable but could easily have lost or drawn in the last 10 minutes which is worrying. Best thing is another 3 points in the bag.

 

[sufcintheprem]

Might have a go myself:

Flahavan - did he actually have any saves to make? Read the play quite well to sweep up at the back on several occasions and released players quickly to counter. Decent. 7

Francis - As mentioned in another thread, I thought he could have done better stopping crosses coming in to the box but he had the hardest job in our team to be fair. Got forward well and linked up well with Black. The best player in our team at running the ball with pace. His rating possibly has more to do with attacking performance. 8
Barrett - Often dominates at this level and the same today. Uncompromising as ever and more composed than normal. 8
Clarke - Slightly harshly dealt with at times but gave away a lot of free kicks and Swindon's only aerial joy through the middle was at his expense. Committed but shown up a bit by Barett. 6
Mulgrew - Slow to react to several Swindon first half moves but improved strongly in the second. Set piece delivery was top drawer as ever and his slightly unorthodox technique was very effective at times. 8

Black - Based on what the guy behind me was saying, you'd think he had the worst game in history even when he was contributing positively to our attacks. Worked well in the middle third but much less effective in the final third. Not bad. 6
McCormack - very solid, a decent display of controlled aggression. Notably under-utilised when surging through the middle. Could have done more to help us get the ball down and play more. 7
Bailey - in contrast, did try and get the ball down. Close control - excellent, aerial presence - excellent, interceptions, excellent. Notable when he did something wrong because it was so out of character. One thing wrong. 9
Gower - always an outlet, generally a nuisance to the other team but not enough final deliveries to get excited about. Set pieces disappointing. 6

Walker - Saw far more of the ball than his attacking partner but struggled to get free of his markers to make any impact. Almost sealed the win showing excellent pace and strength. Not enough in the first half for an eight. 7
Robson Kanu - Didn't so much do anything wrong but barely imposed himself on the game at all. Possibly harsh given goalscoring exploits but I wouldn't be surprised to see Barnard back soon as I feel the management see Walker and Barnard as the first choice. 6

Subs:
Barnard - ran about a bit but got penalised by the ref every time he brushed back his quiff. Ran for everything, not convinced he definitely touched the ball. 5
Grant - Came on and ran about enthusiastically. Did what was needed of him 7

 

[Cliff Pavilion]

I thought it was a terrible game (other than the result). Two games in three days and a boggy pitch didn't help so won't be too critical but was very disappointed in the midfield today - such poor service to the front two. Defence looked more stable than usual but let's not forget how bad the opposition were. Given the clear cut chances they created in the last few minutes, we were very lucky to win a game that should have been well out of their reach after an hour.

Flavs - 6.5 - Little to do. Caught a cross on the penalty spot though.

Francis - 7 - Attacks well, defends averagely. Like him though.
Barrett - 7.5 - Looks confident again. Won a lot in the air.
Clarke - 7 - Apart from one excellent pass in the first half to Gower - appalling distribution.
Mulgrew - 7 - Wish he'd take corners from the right

Black - 4 - Bad defensively and wasted several good attacking opportunities
Bailey - 7 - Good but not dominating
Macca - 6 - We haven't had as poor a passer of the ball in central midfield for a few years
Gower - 6.5 - Frustrating and often wasteful

Robson-Kanu - 5 - Tried hard but failed to make any impression
Walker - 7 - Heavily involved and won lots of free-kicks - but not enough of a goal threat

SUBS:
Barnard - 6.5 - Gives away too many cheap free-kicks relieving pressure on them
Grant - 6 - Not on long enough to judge

 

[sufcintheprem]

I thought it was a terrible game (other than the result). Two games in three days and a boggy pitch didn't help

It really was wasn't it. I tried to gloss over it in my mind. Take one off of each of mine if you want!

:)

 

[mattytheshrimper]

always really interesting seeing different peoples ratings. thought the team battled hard today and it was by know means pretty but they did the job they set out to do.

flavs - 7 - pretty decent game but still looked dodgy when coming out to collect crosses.

francis - 7 continued with another good performance not quite sure how his goal went in though, have to see that again

clarke - 7 done his job

barrett - 7 same as clarke

mulgrew - 7 a lot better i felt, made some good tackles.

black - 6 didn't really notice him that much

bailey - 7 ruled the midfield

macca - 7 same

gower - 5 terrible game, horrible crossing alll game long, head down for half the game not interested, left mulgrew isolated the whole game but luckily for us they were crap and didn't take advantage. bottled about 5 tackles and just didnt want to be there. very dissappointed at his performance as i know how good he can be.

walker - 7.5 had a very decent game, was getting round players with ease buti constantly getting fouled but looked good.

kanu - 6.5 just a quiet game from him, not bad though

subs

barnard - 6.5 typical barnard getting up the defenders **** and being annoying as hell for them but didn;t get much time.

grant - no point only on for a few mins.

 

[Shrimpersarmy]

Agree it was a woeful game played on a sunday league pitch. People who whinge about Clarke's distribution from the back should have watched their number 5 (Ifil?). He must have sliced the ball straight off the pitch about 5 times in the second half...

Flavs 7

Francis 7 (Cracking goal)
Mulgrew 7.5 (Class act in my eyes)
Barrett 7
Clarke 7

Gower 6 (For gods sake stop the short ****ing corners...!!)
Black 5 (Haven't seen him successfully beat his full back for weeks)
Macca 6.5
Bailey 7

Walker 6.5
Kanu 6

Subs: Barnard 6
Grant ?

Ref 5 (Whistle happy)
Atmosphere 4 (Very queit, both them and us, mainly due to the dull game happening on the pitch i think)

Billy Paynter 9 - (Done absolutely nothing for a majority of the time he was on, then decided to miss 2 good chances towards the end of the game! Cheers Billy...)

 

[Peter Pan]

Flavs 7

Francis 7
Mulgrew 8
Barrett
Clarke 7

Gower 6
Black 6
Macca 6.5
Bailey 7.5

Walker 7.5
Kanu 5

Subs: Barnard 5

 

[OldBlueLady]

This is how I saw it:

Flavs - 7, did make some saves and caught every high ball that came his way with confidence
Francis - 7, did well against a very tricky opponent, scored a great goal - who else was convinced it was going over?!
Clarke - 7, did his job, can't really ask any more, and a clearance off the line
Barrett - 7.5, pick of the defence for me, strong and committed
Mulgrew - 7, growing in stature all the time, another good game marred by being caught out on a couple of occasions, especially late on in game after they brought on that sub with the orange boots!
Black - 5, made a couple of decent runs but really didn't get going, woeful defensively
Bailey - 8, not as strong a game as we've seen from him but still MOM for me, not afraid to have a shot from distance
Macca - 9 for effort but has to be a 7 overall because passing was pretty poor, made some decent runs in 2nd half
Gower - 6, very similar to Black really. Please let Charlie take more set pieces and corners!
Robson-Kanu - 6, a shadow of the player against Swansea, probably not up to 2 matches so close
Walker - 6.5, fairly ineffectual but got away a few times, and was getting fouled all over the place

Subs:
Barnard (for R-K) - 7, looked more dangerous when he came on, similarly to Walker was being fouled terribly yet the ref turned a blind eye or gave it the other way
Grant (for Black) - 6.5, should've come on earlier, looked busy when he did

Ref - 4, complete poo!

 

[Cliff Pavilion]

People who whinge about Clarke's distribution from the back should have watched their number 5 (Ifil?). He must have sliced the ball straight off the pitch about 5 times in the second half...

He had an absolute mare!! Agreed.

 

[Ricky Otto]

This is how I saw it:


Mulgrew - 7, growing in stature all the time, another good game marred by being caught out on a couple of occasions, especially late on in game after they brought on that sub with the orange boots

I thought Mulgrew had a great game. The fella with the orange boots certainly had pace and looked like he had passed Mulgrew several times but each time Charlie managed to get a foot in. I think the full backs were brilliant yesterday and I'd give MOM to Francis.

 

[Sandbach Shrimper]

Agree it was a woeful game played on a sunday league pitch. People who whinge about Clarke's distribution from the back should have watched their number 5 (Ifil?). He must have sliced the ball straight off the pitch about 5 times in the second half...

Nice to see I'm not the only one who noticed. He's one of the worst players I've seen this season, most of his passes ended up with the advertising boards. He made Clarke look like David Beckham.

I thought it was a good team performance. Defence were solid and Francis continued his good form. Nice to see him get a goal. I thought Gower had a poor game, his crossing was very frustrating and pleease can Mulgrew take the corners. I thought Macca had a very good game. Did his usual job of tackling and closing down but got forward well too and had a couple of openings in the 2nd half. Walker was excellent, worked his nuts off, held the ball up superbly and the only way Swindon could stop him was by hacking him. Kanu was quiet. Referee was poor, very fussy and gave a lot in their favour. Home fans were awful but not surprising if they have to watch that every week. Their little black winger looked good but other than they looked very poor. Our fans were pretty quiet too, got louder towards the end.

 

[turkishm]

always really interesting seeing different peoples ratings. thought the team battled hard today and it was by know means pretty but they did the job they set out to do.

flavs - 7 - pretty decent game but still looked dodgy when coming out to collect crosses.

francis - 7 continued with another good performance not quite sure how his goal went in though, have to see that again

clarke - 7 done his job

barrett - 7 same as clarke

mulgrew - 7 a lot better i felt, made some good tackles.

black - 6 didn't really notice him that much

bailey - 7 ruled the midfield

macca - 7 same

gower - 5 terrible game, horrible crossing alll game long, head down for half the game not interested, left mulgrew isolated the whole game but luckily for us they were crap and didn't take advantage. bottled about 5 tackles and just didnt want to be there. very dissappointed at his performance as i know how good he can be.

walker - 7.5 had a very decent game, was getting round players with ease buti constantly getting fouled but looked good.

kanu - 6.5 just a quiet game from him, not bad though

subs

barnard - 6.5 typical barnard getting up the defenders **** and being annoying as hell for them but didn;t get much time.

grant - no point only on werfor a few mins.

Have always thought Gower to be a fine player,but lately seems to turn in one bad display after another. Dont see the games, so does anyone no what this lads problem is, or is it just loss of form.

 

[seany t]

Have always thought Gower to be a fine player,but lately seems to turn in one bad display after another. Dont see the games, so does anyone no what this lads problem is, or is it just loss of form.

I thought he looked very good against Swansea. One of our 2 or 3 best players that day...

 

[Jam_Man]

Gower has been better recently, strangely when Black was in great form Gower went off the boil, now Gower is getting back on his game Black seems to be having a dip.

 

[Shrimper2thecore]

Bailey was awesome.

Black was uterly terrible, and Mulgrew was poor for me. Gower was his usual frustrating self, from the sublime to the rediculous. I was pretty disaapointed with our front two to be honest.

At t

 

[Shrimper2thecore]

Bailey was awesome.

Black was uterly terrible, and Mulgrew was poor for me. Gower was his usual frustrating self, from the sublime to the rediculous. I was pretty disaapointed with our front two to be honest.

All said and done Swindon went for the 0-0 draw, and killed the game, and the ref was a ****ing joke

 

[Suffolk Blue]

My view from the front of the away stand (awful perspective - bu hey that'll balance out my rose-tinted specs)

Flavs - 7 - pretty decent game thought he was very confident when it came to collecting crosses.

Francis - 8 - Must have started or been involved in virtually every attacking move. Showed Black how to get past the full back; and then how to get back to defend.

Clarke - 7 - Solid today; didn't even notice one of his trademark, once-every-game Rickets.

Barrett - 7.5 - As solid as Clarkey but with more likelihood to bring the ball out of defence usefully.

Mulgrew - 7.5 - Tackled well; distribution was improved over recent matches. Mulgrew's dead-balls are a delight too; another goal-scoring avenue for the team without the 20 goals-per-season striker.

Black - 5 - Needs a rest, and needs to stop trying to play like Gower; He spent far too much time with his hands on his hips watching the rest of the team working their socks off. Something's wrong when he isn't beating his man to the byline but Francis is.

Bailey - 8.5 MOTM - Player of the season for some time now in my book. Another masterclass in how to boss the midfield.

Macca - 7.5 - Played high up the pitch for most of the match giving Walker two outlets; should probably have made more of a couple of excellent through-balls from Walker. ** extra half-mark for managing not to get booked **

Gower - 6 - I didn't think Gower was as bad as some folks behind me did. He got behind the Swindon defence on numerous occassions but his final ball into the box never materialsed. Gower's corners were rubbish too; hardly bothering the defence on most occassions and completely wasting one corner (as he does most weeks) by trying some complicated little manouever with Black.

Walker - 8 - When we stopped trying to play as if we had Harrold up front and started instead to play to JW's strengths we saw something of the talent that management and team-mates have been talking about. Some of the weighted passes into space were sublime and wouldn't have looked out of place on any field anywhere. If he could then have showed a little more eagerness to get into the box for the ball back in (and if half of these balls unfortunately ended up on the toes of Mark Gower) then we might have been looking at a different scoreline.

Kanu - 6.5 - Looked a little tired and seemed to be going through the motions somewhat. Still showed he has talent and class though; just needed a bit more passion and drive to go with it.

Subs

Barnard - 6.5 - I'd hate to play against Barney; the defender given the job of keeping him in check must have been glad he wasn't on for the 90minutes. He twists and turns, shoves and pulls, and then he's goal-side of you with the ball. Should have scored again today in the short time he was on; I guess he must be being nursed through the matches because he is a first-team starter in my book.

Grant -5.5 - Should have replaced Black a lot earlier. Even in the short time he was on he showed how he would have applied himself.

Ref: Didn't exactly protect Walker from the crunching tackles going through him all through the first half. He did though play an excellent piece of advantage at one stage before returning to book the Swindon player afterwards.

Overall verdict: 7/10 - Must do better - We made Swindon look as poor as they really are for most of the game; should have brought fresh legs on as soon as they did as this led to their only decent spell of the match. A Christmas card will be winging its way down to Billy Paynter's house too to reward him for his falure to bury the two chances he had when he came on.

Atmosphere - 3.5/10. We were silent for 75minutes; they were silent for 85minutes. Cold weather and poor fare on display probably to blame.

 

[haveaguiness]

how can you say mulgrew was awful, i fought he along with bailey and francis were our most solid players. Was my first game for a while yesterday because its near my uni and i have heard he can't defend (mulgrew that is) but he looked like the new paulo maldini yesterday and i had to ask if i was watching the same player as my brother had described to me. So heres my view on the game

Flavs- 6.5 no real saves to make but they nearly scored from a ball which he should have caught but got beaten far too easily by there centre forward.
mulgrew - 8 distribution was superb, looks dangerous from his own half with set pieces, an all round solid display.
francis - 8 lucky bobble for his goal but the run was superb and so positive, was marking by far there best player in mcnamee and kept him as quite as possible, which was a task.
clarke and barrett - 7 were both solid. They had some rather large strikers on the pitch but they delt wqith 75% of the balls in the air, which is good enough. Clarke played some lovely passes aswell.
Macca - 6 just didn't do enough the entire game. He seems a little over shadowed by bailey. He won a couple of tackles but his distribution was very poor and just never really made any impact on the game.
Bailey - 9 Easily the best player on the pitch. He was everywhere. so many times he seemed to appear at right back to help francis out with macnamee, and cut out so many balls at the front post. How are we going to be able to keep hold of him if we don't go up thats what i want to know. Can easily play championship, premiership not too sure though.
gower - 4 put one cross in that beat the first man and looked dangerous. Thats all he did all game. He kept losing it, putting in weak crosses and just genrally wasn't good. Its gone from him being good 2 games in 3 which he did when we won this league last time, to playing well 1 in 5 games. Needs to be dropped to the bench to let him know his place isn't guaranteed.
Black - 5 put in a couple of crosses, but looked better in the second half. Did more than gower did but obviously not as good mates with tilson as he was the one to be taken off.
Robson-kanu - 6 had a few nice touches and looks like he has something about him but wasn't firing yesterday. want to see him on the left wing instead of gower!!!
Walker - 6 to be fair he must of had one hell of a game against them eariler in the season for yeovil because they kicked the c*** out of him from the first minute. Second half he looked dangerous but first half was non existent

grant - 7 was bought on to control macnamee in the later stage of the game and did well, but not enough time to make any impact really.

barnard - why does he not start? my dad said yesterday if ronaldo got injured for man utd for a couple of games do you recon alex ferguson would make him sit on the bench until they lost a game?!?!?!
he was constantly fowled, climed over and the ref gave nothing!!! looks like he has a great footballing mind though, and when he had that little tussle in the goal mouth you could see he was trying to wind the guy up to raise an arm or something to get him sent off. Needs to be back in the starting line up.

ref - 4 how much of a home ref was he. Gave them so many decisions gave us hardly anything, didn't book their players for some absolutley disgraceful tackels and how late was he in giving free kicks. There was one i remeber when barnard handballed it, we carried on playing then about 5 seconds later he blew for a free kick. Wat was he doing, trying to work out what hand he handballed it with or something. and there handball in the penatly area!!!!!! the most blatent handfball of all time!!!!

anyone agree with these
, i think there pretty right but then i wrote them