On way back/player ratings

[townend_owl]

Barkley easily our best player and Bothroyd easily our worst - otherwise a good summary.

Blackpool were simply a better side. We weren't bad by any stretch (certainly not as bad as the kop reaction suggested) - we just faced a very good side. We would have had to have played near our best to challenge them.

[DobbinTheDonkey]

I cannot remember Jones struggling, infact he only jumped in once. Stayed on his feet, watched the ball not the feet and when they tried to knock it past him had the pace to stay solid.

Otherside in the first half Buxton and Llera both struggled, infact I think they used their lefthand side more as Bothroyd offered no protection and little going forward. Jones could maybe should have put Antonio over there to help out. Might have exposed Jones but he has the pace to recover and then you just shift Semedo slightly left.

Bothroyd poor.

COG had springs on his feet, chest and head

McCabe chose the wrong option time and time again.

Barkley tried but couldn't find space

Gardner solid again.

Antonio the beacon of light, yes he could have scored but without him I think we are well and truly fvcked.

JJ's passing was simialr to McCabe's

Kirkland picked the ball out of the net twice.

Rodri erm.. showed enthusiasm

They could control the ball with one touch while we needed about 4 or 5 touches.

They could pass and move and also press, infact they were better than us all round.

Edited November 7, 2012 by DobbinTheDonkey

[swfc-dan]

I agree with some of the views, Jones was better than Buxton tonight. Kept up with Inces pace well

[Lincowl]

Thought the defence were generally okay against the best two wingers in the division. Buxton was good and DJones did well too IMO.

Midfield near non-existent, three bested by two.

COG had a decent enough first half and can feel harshly treated to go off at HT. JJ was a poor replacement and Bothroyd did nothing much in open play. The only reason for playing Bothroyd as far as I can see is he has the best dead ball delivery.

Antonio as usual was our only threat and that can make us very one dimensional. He can get caught offside by trying to constantly isolate himself against the last defender for the big lob over the top.

[ash60s]

'scuse me but we didn't we get a loan player that was a striker?

Kid from Cardiff or QPR or somewhere?

Big name striker as well

SO WHY R WE PLAYING HIM WIDE MIDFIELD?????????????????????????????????

AND WHY WASN'T HE SUBBED EARLY IN 2ND HALF TONITE????????????????????

It's a simple game, keep it simple........................

[Ronnie Starling]

It seems some of you must have been at home if you thought Daniel Jones was poor. He was one of our better players last night up against some real quality and held his own.

[latemodelchild]

I thought Jones had a decent game, which pleased me cos I'm not his biggest fan. Bothroyd was awful. I really try hard not to slag off our players, but I'm struggling to see what he brought to the table last night. When we break he doesn't get beyond the man with the ball. When we are in possession he never seems to be in space, almost drifting towards opposing players. Loses the ball too much too. He's not the player I thought we were getting.

It looked like the whole team didn't care last night. I don't know which match jones was watching but I didn't see our players working their socks off or creating plenty of chances. Their keeper had nothing to do. Very worrying.

[torres]

We created enough opportunities to win 2 matches, but the final ball, run, timing of the pass was dreadful (again).

Jones called it naive, i call it just plain THICK.

Antonio's ''effort'' in the 2nd half was a joke.

Buxton and Jones' crossing was sub standard.

It was also like playing with 10 men again, because Bothroyd is a passenger.

O Grady had another poor game and it's the worst Mcabe has been since he arrived.

Gardner had another positive performance and the effort shown by all but one can't be faulted.

[Lee A]

Antonio the beacon of light, yes he could have scored but without him I think we are well and truly fvcked.

Are we, or is he part of the problem?

Its all very impressive running past players, but JJ has done that for 5 years and offered next to nothing else, Antonio is capable of better, and he is a far better player than Johnson, but the end product is largely the same, with the clear cut chances he's had this season he should be the divisions top scorer.

Last night, they got down the side of us on 2 occasions, and scored twice, because the ball made its way into a dangerous area, we got in behind them probably 8-10 times but did nothing, because the likes of Antonio blazing the ball into the top tier of the leppings lane end is of no use to us, and its costing us games just as much as any poor defending.

I like the bloke, and when he's good he's fun to watch, but if over the course of the season thats what we can expect when he gets into these dangerous areas, it is a bit worrying, and last night he was no more than a 5 out of 10 for me.

Edited November 7, 2012 by Lee A

[townend_owl]

DJ couldn't bomb forward because he was playing behind a player who barely tracked back, was woefully out of position and lost the ball often.

[Euse]

Shows the contrast between peoples views about the game

I thought Jones was solid, but is playing the safe game instead of bombing forward and losing ball for crowd to get on his back, he simply defend's. How can anyone fault that and say he's "out of his depth" for a solid game, personally is beyond me.

Gardner was solid today and has improved to be our best defender. Long may it continue.

Llera was bad today. Missed alot of headers and was made to look like a mug for their second goal. People need to realise that he isn't championship defender and the sooner we realise that then the better. The guy is a legend and chews up everything in the air but on the deck he's a liability against pace

Couple were ok like Antonio, kirks and barcs to an extent but rest were tereeble

I agree with some of what you said, and disagree with other things.

I don't rate Daniel Jones at all and whilst he's been doing ok recently, I feared the worst when he was up against Ince for most of the match ... but I thought he did well considering he'll be a very good player in the Premier League not too far from now.

Llera did have a bad game, but I still think he is Championship quality. Gardener is quality and really shows Taylor what an experienced centre half needs to do.

Thought Kirkland could've done better with the 2nd goal, though ...