Match ratings

Disclaimer - I took the 44th minute toilet break gamble and lost, missing Huddersfields goal. The pair I was sat with clearly don't take it seriously enough and couldn't give me an idea of who was to blame, so these are written ignoring any down marks for blame

Marshall - solid display, made a few good saves in the sparks of pressure Huddersfield created. Looked a bit shaky on crosses though and was responsible for some eye watering messing around with Connolly after the third goal went in - 7

Brayford - why didn't Malky play him again? Looked great going forward and whips in a hell of a cross. Also very solid defensively, Huddersfield struggled to get anything past him - 9

Hudson - solid if unspectacular. Will probably end up getting replaced by one of the new boys, he was getting outmuscled by Stead in the early exchanges and lacked the pace of the others around him. He's had a good run - 7

Connolly - excellent throughout, brick wall in defence and played the ball forward very well. Less trying to pass the ball back to Marshall instead of just booting it out though, forgiven since we had the game won but uncomfortable viewing - 9

Fabio - a real worry. Offered very little going forward at times and Connolly had to consistently move out wide to cover for him when he was left standing by his mark. I can see goals being conceded down our left if the opposition were stronger - 6

Whitingham - more of what we've gotten used to. Spectacularly taking goal from where I was sat and his set pieces seem to be looking dangerous once again with Jones, Connolly and in particular Gunnarrson all coming close. Would like to see a bit more urgency in his pressing however - 7

Adeyemi - I like this kid. I didn't expect him to be as good as Medel but the early signs are a genuine surprise. He's relentless in chasing down the ball and not afraid to get stuck in, and he linked up superbly with Daehli on a number of occasions. Seems afraid to get past the half way line though, not sure that's a bad thing - 9

Burgstaller - what a shame. Came with so much presence after his performance against Coventry but was a bitter didappointment. Ruined many good attacks with sloppy passing and didn't have the pace or skill to trouble Huddersfields impressive left back - 4

Daehli -I don't know what to make of him. At times majestic, at time works too hard and loses it unessecerily. For a little guy he is not afraid of a challenge though, and all our good work seems to come through him in some way. Looked much sharper when allowed to play a little more centrally, I'm sure that's his position - 7

Le Fondre - came alive in extra time but it was only a bright spark in an otherwise dull performance. Not convinced his partnership with Jones works - both require a creator to provide them chances, and Fondre's small stature is struggling in particular - 5

Jones - man of the match. I criticised him in the first ten minutes but he proved me wrong. Clinically put it away after his first shot was rebounded and his second was excellently taken in both position and finish. A rock in defence too, won countless headers from set pieces to relive pressure - 9

Guerra - I don't know, he worries me. He seemed to have a brief spat with le Fondre who quite rightly throughout he should be passing more often instead of battling hopeless odds. Needs to work on that but he has a fair bit of pace, don't think he saw a shot today though - 6

Gunnarrson - he is NOT an attacking midfield Solskjaer. Stop playing him like one - 6

Eikrem - so unremarkable I forgot he was our final sub. Why did he take set pieces off Whittingham? - 5

Not too different to my own thoughts Red. In general terms i will say the negatives are that the goal was sloppy again. I am not sure who wasn't doing their job but the Huddersfield player seemed to have tons of space for the header which, though saved, then immediately ended in the goal. I thought we gave Huddersfield far too much space around 20-30 yards out on a regular basis as well. Things to improve on but a decent performance altogether and no player really dropping below the 'ok' level.

Marshall - 7 - No major errors but bizarrely chose to punch on one occasion where it seemed simple to catch it under little pressure.

Brayford - 8 - Did very little wrong and looked to get forward often but with a sense of composure often missing from Fabio's sortees.

Hudson - 7 - I Think he still has a lot to offer and am worried that his absense might leave us without a leader type figure on the pitch. Is likely to be the one to make way for our new CB though. I thought that would have been more likely to be Connolly but ...

Connolly - 8 - I have never been Connolly's biggest fan and actually thought he looked worse every time i saw him at CB rather than right back. It looks like i might have been wrong as he was fantastic today (almost fantastic if it turns out to be him who lost his man just before Huddersfield scored   ) . To add to his sound defensive work he actually started playing as a football playing CB bringing the ball out of defense to good effect. Surprised but very pleased.

Fabio - 6 - Like a few players at the moment he is slighly Jeckyll & Hyde. For every excellent piece of tracking back and dispossessing someone there is a moment of losing posession in a dangerous place. For every surging run forward there is a lack of control carrying the ball which leads to play breaking down while he is out of position. I think he CAN be the answer at left back but he still needs to up his game.

Whittingham - 7 - Early on i looked at his position on the pitch and he was sitting very deep in front of the back four as the deepest lying midfielder. It went through my mind that we will never see the best of Whittingham again if managers persist in asking him to play that role. Then next thing i know he is popping up near to the opposition box and it is 1-0 and i am screaming deleriously. He didn't play as deep as i feared he was going to and as long as he can mostly operate near the final third of the pitch then i am sure he will a very important player to us this season. I think he is a confidence player and he seems to be getting that back.

Adeyemi - 9 - I am pleased you rated him too Red. I think some people might fail to see how good he can be (and was today). There seems to be very little flashy about his play but he works like mad, always seems to want to be on the ball and kept the ball moving to great effect. I am not sure we will see much in the way of sublime skills, mazy runs or killer passes but what he does is important and he does it well. Ole said he was a perfect replacement for Mutch and i can see why.

Burgstaller - 6 - I am being kinder on him than Red and to be honest have probably given him an extra point for potential rather than being based just on what i saw on the day. At one point he was put clear of the Huddersfield defense but showed a shocking lack of acceleration. He was also very wasteful with the ball and at the center of a lot of our moves breaking down. I do believe he will get better but with so many other players sitting in the wings waiting their chance he needs to do it very quickly.

Daehli - 8 - A very skilful player. I actually think he loses the ball remarkably infrequently which considering his stature is an even bigger feat. He will probably need to develop the knack of playing the 'killer pass' or contributing with a few goals of his own if he is not to end up being thought of as having no end product. As mentioned with Adeyemi though it is not always about that and i think Daehli is well worth his starting place at the moment.

Le Fondre - 6 - If he is going to succeed (and i think he will) then i think it will be playing as part of front 2 with a big man alongside him. Partnerships take time to build up though and today was not a day to remember for The Fonze. As with Burgstaller competition for places will mean he will have to push on and have some better days sooner rather than later. If the team is doing well however then he is likely to be given more time to come better.

Jones - 9 - I am not so sure that Jones needs a provider as such to play well or get his goals. Yes he is hardly likely to create his own oppertunities from 30 yards out but provide any kind of service (ball at head height in front of goal, long ball played up to him in the area, slide pass through to him in space) and he is showing that he knows how to find the back of the net (we will gloss over that glaring miss during the first half). His performance today was superb with great hold up play and link up play at times along with 2 goals. The key is always his mindset and with that right we look to have a real player.

Guerra - 6 - Another Jeckyll & Hyde performance in his cameo. His attitude seems good and he looks reasonably skillful but his decision making was dubious today to say the least. Nearly loses ball (boo), recovers and shields ball well (yay), goes on run with the ball (yay), runs into trouble (boo), fails to pass the ball to open player when running into trouble (boo), manages to win free kick (yay). There are enough signs that he could be an asset for me to feel optimistic about having him in the squad and he might well be a bit rusty. Things to work on however.

Gunnarsson - 7 - Does anyone remember when Gunnar lost his mojo once before and was dropped for a series of games the subs bench? If so do you also remember his performances off the bench being much better than anything he had produced for a while when starting? I thought this was his best (mini) performance for a while now. He may not be an attacking midfielder generally but he contributed almost right away to us getting our third goal and just looked more 'on his game' than at any time for quite a while now. An extended spell on the subs bench perhaps to get the best out of him?

Eikrem - 6 - I didn't contribute to the 'Who will be the biggest failure?' thread or whatever its exact title was. However when i saw it Eikrem's name came into my head. I have yet to see what he brings to the table yet and think it might only be Ole's faith in him and not his actual performances which give him continued game time as the season goes on.

Nice work chaps! Well deserved flair for both efforts.........  

Interesting to also compare with the WO ratings and what Ole had to say, particularly in respect of Adeyemi.

Cheers TDA.

Today was encouraging. It is still very early days yet to either get excited or pessimistic but the main thing i look for at this stage of the season is signs of improvement and i think they were present today  

Yeah, we seemed to keep our shape better today although it's another head scratcher. Daehli was originally left wing, but appeared to swap when Burgstaller left and then kept popping up in the centre. Gunnarrson was frequently further forward than Le Fondre. Fabio was often the deepest lying player, which is highly unusual. I'm not quite sure whether Solskjaer needs to rein the lead in a little or it's the beginning of a tactical master class. If I don't know who the he'll is playing where, then how does the opponent?

Defending crosses needs to be worked on too. I lost count of how many times Connolly went to head it and change his mind, Marshall went to punch it then quit on it, and then the ball bobbles awkwardly put of play. I don't think it's the players as individually they are all competent, I think there's a lack of leadership or practice in there.

Jones definetely doesn't need extra creativity, but I think Le Fondre does. He's an old school striker, he needs the ball at his feet in the penalty box to score. The problem I see is none of our strikers are really 'creators' - maybe Maynard.

The introduction of Pilkington might help things along, but I think we have still to see the best purchase of the summer...............Macheda.

TDA wrote:The introduction of Pilkington might help things along, but I think we have still to see the best purchase of the summer...............Macheda.

I'm not even convinced he'll start, it's gone under the radar somewhat but we're spoilt for choice suddenly in practically every position on the pitch. If I throw up two starting elevens, one first team and one a back up 11, take a look -

Marshall
Brayford, Morrison, Connolly, Fabio
Noone, Dikgacoi, Daehli, Whittingham
Jones, Le Fondre

Moore
KTC, Hudson, Cala, John
Pilkington, Adeyemi, Gunnarrson, Burgstaller
Macheda, Guerrera

... That's two very, very strong teams. Massive competition between them too - the strikers will always be fighting for spots (Macheda and Jones sounds inviting) and it's really tough to mentally have to justify benching Adeyemi for the experience of Dikgacoi. We might be alright for centrebacks now realistically. Feeling very optimistic.

Top work Gents!

We genuinely have strength in depth and, dare I say it, a better collective team than the past 2 or 3 seasons. I've actually been very impressed with Ole's transfer dealings and if he can fix the few teething problems on 4 he pitch we could be in for a very exciting season.

TDA wrote:Nice work chaps!  Well deserved flair for both efforts.........  

Interesting to also compare with the WO ratings and what Ole had to say, particularly in respect of Adeyemi.

WalesOnline have picked up on the differing opinions about Adeyemi......only 24 hours after being reported on here....  

TDA wrote:

TDA wrote:Nice work chaps!  Well deserved flair for both efforts.........  

Interesting to also compare with the WO ratings and what Ole had to say, particularly in respect of Adeyemi.

WalesOnline have picked up on the differing opinions about Adeyemi......only 24 hours after being reported on here....  

I said that i thought some people would fail to appreciate the unfussy style of Adeyemi. It is all about opinions of course but i think that WO and in particular Delme Parfitt have done this. I am sure there is more to come from Adeyemi but i thought his debut was excellent.

Me and Toast to take over WalesOnline match reports, since we apparently at least watch the game?

Just read the walesonline report myself, and it's a total joke. Hudson had a standout performance? Completely missed Connolly out shining him then? Kim should play more - did they not see how poor he was in preseason?

Embarrassing, frankly. Only thing they got right was the lack of true midfield authority / I fear we might miss Mutch greatly.

Mutch was a great prospect, no doubt about it, but he did go missing for large parts of games.

Don't forget we have got Digkacoi to come into the team and I have always thought he was a really class act. With Adeyemi and him anchoring things between them, our midfield balance will be completely different.

TDA wrote:Mutch was a great prospect, no doubt about it, but he did go missing for large parts of games.  

Don't forget we have got Digkacoi to come into the team and I have always thought he was a really class act.  With Adeyemi and him anchoring things between them, our midfield balance will be completely different.

Would they play together though? Both seem to e fundamentally defensive midfielders, Adeyemi only scored one goal and provided one assist for Birmingham all of last season. Pretty common in a 4-4-2 to go for the diamond nowadays, one player sorting back to allow the other to to be more creative. Daehli has that ability and Kim if he comes back to form has it too, but I'm worried neither are really quite up to scratch yet. Daehli in particular might struggle if teams start to target him. Mutch comparatively was a big guy who wouldn't take being bullied.

Whitingham is another possibility, but we need a left winger to free him up to play more centrally. Noone might fix that. If he was willing to drop the 4-4-2, Daehli and Whittingham playing in the centre with Dikgakoi behind them is a really interesting prospect.

Dikgacoi does get forward more than Adeyemi and is powerful and difficult to dispossess. Playing them both would give the freedom for him to surge forward a la Mutch..................just a thought......  

I can't categorically say yes or no as that would mean pretending to know more about Dikgacoi than I actually do. All I have is stats, and his 7 goals and 4 assists in 79 championship appearances don't scream creative.