Player Ratings

Marshall 7 – Boro flat out missed their better chances but they put some long range efforts on target and Marshall was up to the challenge. Leadbetter might have scored two crackers against another keeper. Charlton seems a long time ago.

Connolly 8 – Not much of the slick passing we've seen from him in the past but plenty of big balled defending. He spoke after the game of the need for City to put in more such backs to the wall defending, especially away from home. Well, lead the way Matt.

Hudson 9 – Did anyone see the episode of Red Dwarf when Kryten's replacement arrived? The 23rd century, indestructible, super-strong, uber-smart, humanity perfected android was called Hudson. Coincidence? I think not.

Nugent 8 – Tough debut. Up against one of the league's form sides, with possibly the most awkward target man in the Championship, the last thing you need is the full back on your side to limp off and be replaced by the only player in the team younger than you and who happens to making his first career appearance in defence. Still, it could have been worse. The referee could have been turning a blind one eye to the aforementioned target man smashing him in the face with his elbow and the defensive midfielder in front of him might have limped off hurt. Imagine that.

Ralls 7 - Overheard on the Cardiff bench;
Conway – 'Looks like Taylor's coming off'
Ralls – 'I pity whoever is going in at left back, what with Turner already off, the ref giving them everything and that Ledesma looking so dangerous and theatrical. I'm glad I'm a midfieler, that's for sure.'
Malky – 'Hey Ralls, you're left footed aren't you?'
Ralls- 's**t'
There was one moment in the second half when a ball was played in behind Ralls and he stood there looking around for our left back to come and cover until he realised, too late, it was him. After getting away with his one error he began to push forward and finished the match looking like he'd been a full back all his life. A very talented player.

Noone 8 – Yes, yes Craig, we get it. You can do it all. Attack, defend, keep the ball, win it back. Fly when we are on top, dig in when we are struggling. But you can play in goal? Probably. Two players were booked for hacking him down.

Whittingham 8 – A1,accomplished,admirable,attractive,capital,certified,champion,choice,choicest,desirable,distinctive,distinguished,estimable,exceptional,exemplary,exquisite,fine,finest,first,first-class,first-rate,good,great,high,incomparable,invaluable,magnificent,meritorious,notable,noted,outstanding,peerless,piked,premium,priceless,prime,select,skillful,sterling,striking,superb,superlative,supreme,tiptop,top-notch,transcendent,world-class

Your Whittingham rating is brought to you by Google and the words 'synonym' and 'excellent'. I don't know where 'piked' comes from but I do like 'incomparable' because in terms of City midfielders I've seen, he is.

Gunns 7 – If your wondering what the Icelandic word for lucky is and you bump into Aron don't bother asking him because he's probably never heard the word himself. Last week his attempts to cement his place in the side were thwarted when McNaughton went down, today the Middlesbrough supporters club rocked up dressed as officials and gleefully watched him get kicked off the pitch. When he wasn't limping or being kicked he was putting in a good shift. Let's hope he's ok

Kimbo 7 – Even without Mutch and Smith our midfield is very classy. Kim is a nice foil to Noone's more traditional winger style and pressed into service in the middle he was combative and energetic. That right foot still needs work and his attempts to figure out the physical nature of the Championship weren't helped by today's rule: if Cardiff do it, it's a foul; if Boro do it, it's a-ok. Your homework assignment is to memorise the phrase segseu ui sul namja chwal-yeong deul-eo, sswa* and shout it at Kimbo next week.

Mason 6 – Are we allowed to criticise our players after that team performance? I'm a fan but he's got his hand in the air asking to be replaced by the returning Bellamy. He does some good things but too often lets himself down with a wrong option or is easily pushed off the ball. At one point in the second half he lead a counter attack up to the Boro box and with options both sides, ran straight at his man and lost the ball. Without the injuries I think he'd have gone off. He'll come good again but right now I don't think he's playing at the standard we want.

Helguson 8 – I've enjoyed more than one moan at the man but today gave a line leading master-class. Quite how he wins so much high ball against players a foot taller and a decade younger is beyond me. Played with plenty of nous and was the winner of the free kick that drew bigger applause than some goals we've scored.

Bellamy – He looked to be playing within himself today. Understandable and good to see him back. Even at half speed he terrified Boro's defenders.

Turner – Injured making one fantastic challenge on Jutkiewicz after an appalling offside decision set his former Coventry team mate running free. Today would have been a game he'd have relished.

Taylor – He was hurt before Turner but tried and tried to play through the pain. I spotted him limping down the tunnel in one of those daft boot things.

*For fucks sake man shoot, just shoot

Top class write up again Mr K. Uza. 9/10

Good write up, but I dispute some of the ratings.

Marshall - Hr did indeed pull off some good saves, but quite often I found myself thinking he wouldn't of needed to make such a save I he wasnt out of position. He was worrying me too often by standing too far out when the ball was close, or even more awkwardly standing on the wrong side of goal. As I said, some top class saves, but ones that should never of been allowed to come anyway. He also quite a few times awkwardly battled the ball away, his weak punch of a cross dropped straight back to Borough on the edge of the box, for what could of been an easy goal if the guy had been more prepared for it. I also remember at one point he managed to smash his hands into the cross bar instead of catching tr ball, and was again lucky borough weren't ready for it.

Kimbo - I think he wasnt great. He's consistently taking too many touches on the ball, to the point I was screaming at him by the end to pass the ball instead of attempting to dribble past everyone. It seems to be a panic reaction, he puts his head down and just runs and completely misses any of his team mates finding space. Sometimes it worked, the sheer size of his balls to nutmeg a defender who would frighten Hulk Hogan causing their whole defence to fall apart, but he needs to grow more and look for those open channels.

Mason - I think as a striker, he was poor. I can't really recall anything he did of note except maybe make a couple of smart runs. When he was shifted to the wing though, he seemed to become a different player. What little chances we had in the second half almost always came from blistering runs from him and Noone, and that surprised me.

Kimbo is just a bit short of confidence I think, you could see his reluctance to take a shot despite looking a brilliant finisher when warming up. He looks classy and has a lot of potential, he played some good, simple stuff and he works hard. He does tend to tackle by simply running into an opponent but I think he will be Prem quality next year.

I liked Gunns as well, he really worked hard. Definitely a Hudson sort of game though. Not sure about Nooney getting MOTM, he played well but surely it should have gone to Connolly or Hudson!

And I think we are asking a bit too much of Mason at the minute, as we've said he's not the biggest guy and it's hard going for him. A shame Kenwyne Jones and Cameron Jerome aren't allowed to go out on loan.

Every touch Taylor had before he was injured seemed to be a 'mare.
I'm not sure if Ralls has played left-back before but he fitted-in very well for a teenager unused to the position.

Mason took the wrong option on too many occasions for my liking, but kept running throughout.

I'm not Helguson's biggest fan, but he had possibly his best game so far.

I'm not a Taylor fan either. If I'm honest I was disappointed to see him sign a new contract!

I think the big difference between the attacks down Mason's side and those from Noone's in the last twenty minutes was that Noone did all the work himself while Mason was on the end of good team play. After playing the ball forward, Connolly would sit and watch Noone do the damage. This meant that Hudson wasn't once dragged over to the right away from Nugent and Ralls. Compare with the Hull game when Gunns would step into midfield and Hudson had to cover in behind him, not such a problem with Turner and Taylor but it could have been disastrous yesterday. On Mason's side the best moves involved Ralls crossing half way, Bellamy drifting in and Whitts pushing up. Nothing wrong with that, it was good play and Mason was a big part of it. But it did leave us more exposed when the ball was lost and more often than not it was Mason who lost it.

When he first came on Bellamy went wide right but soon swapped with Mason. I wonder if that was because Bellamy didn't feel fit enough to work the flanks.

I don't want to be too down on young Joe. He's an intelligent, versatile, hard working player who'll come good.

Watching the risible highlights on TV, Marshall was hopelessly beaten by Ladesma's free kick which wasn't exactly Whittingham like, more of a looping long throw type of shot.

I didn't get the MOM either. I think if a forward had scored he'd have got it so why not Connolly? If only Hudson's howitzer shot had gone in - he might have scored a 10

Cracking write up again Kamuza I think yesterday's performance as part of a balanced season would be perfect... Grinding out a win and keeping a clean sheet against a dominant attacking side... My only worry is that we won't get promoted on Dunkirk spirit alone... We need to get our shite together on the road... I really enjoyed the match yesterday... Free flowing and entertaining... Would have probably felt totally different if we'd lost though

The Hudson shot was like watching a rocket propelled grenade! The one thing that really had me filling my pants was the way Malky had the team sitting deep and standing off the Boro players. It gave them the possession and meant they could keep attacking but in fairness we countered well.

Andre Bicycle is cut from the same cynical, complaining, cheating cloth as Stephen Warnock though, he's a good defender but couldn't shut up or stop blocking and shoulder barging. Sliding out of play with the ball between his legs and then a goal kick being given was astounding and arguably the worst point for a shocking refereeing performance

Slumdog's Son wrote:...Sliding out of play with the ball between his legs and then a goal kick being given was astounding and arguably the worst point for a shocking refereeing performance

I thought they gave a free-kick, rather than a goal kick?

I don't quite understand why we didn't target Bikey a bit more tbh. If we had players running at him / off him, I think we could've either got around him or drawn fouls*. He looked fat and slow, and I think he was there for the taking.




*Although we probably wouldn't have been given the fouls.

SteWells wrote:

Slumdog's Son wrote:...Sliding out of play with the ball between his legs and then a goal kick being given was astounding and arguably the worst point for a shocking refereeing performance

I thought they gave a free-kick, rather than a goal kick?

I don't quite understand why we didn't target Bikey a bit more tbh. If we had players running at him / off him, I think we could've either got around him or drawn fouls*. He looked fat and slow, and I think he was there for the taking.




*Although we probably wouldn't have been given the fouls.

Yes it was a free kick which sent Bellers orbital... Bicycle was a fat lumbering dufus but he filled a lot of space... He reminded me of William 'The Refigerator' Perry?... If Bikey were a refrigerator he would undoubtedly be a SMEG

Valley Trash wrote:

SteWells wrote:

Slumdog's Son wrote:...Sliding out of play with the ball between his legs and then a goal kick being given was astounding and arguably the worst point for a shocking refereeing performance

I thought they gave a free-kick, rather than a goal kick?

I don't quite understand why we didn't target Bikey a bit more tbh. If we had players running at him / off him, I think we could've either got around him or drawn fouls*. He looked fat and slow, and I think he was there for the taking.




*Although we probably wouldn't have been given the fouls.

Yes it was a free kick which sent Bellers orbital... Bicycle was a fat lumbering dufus but he filled a lot of space... He reminded me of William 'The Refigerator' Perry?... If Bikey were a refrigerator he would undoubtedly be a SMEG

It was noted in another post about that appalling foul on Whitts, when everyone stopped playing and effectively just waiting for the useless ref to blow his whistle. Everyone, that is, except Bikey, who went ballistic with his teammates for not playing on. Disgraceful.

Oh how I wish we could of exploited Bikey more. Every long ball hat went over his head he seemed incapable of even finding, let alone chasing down. He'll I think even HELGUSON out sprinted him onto one on one occasion. He was also getting more and more wound up, giving away what should of been plenty of fouls if the referee wasnt a borough fan. The penalty shout, for example, was a petulant kick at the ankle.

Saying that though, he wasnt the only one of their defence that should of seen red.

Fantastic - added to the blog again!

Agreed regarding Hudson as motm - I'm sure Noone only got it as a birthday treat.

An all action, proper captains performance from him. It amazes me how 'neat' Hudson is - always gets his foot or head in with minimal fuss. Top class player.