Player Ratings v Luton

[Beauchief Owl]

Looking on the positive side, the Man City match is almost certainly not going to be  boring 0-0 draw, is it?

 

On second thoughts maybe most of our support will be hoping it is, at least with a penalty shoot-out we could even score.

[Bulldog]

FF 6 - Why did he go off?

The others 2s & 3s

Monk - Kelvin scale reading. I don't think I've ever lost as much faith in a manager in such a short space of time

[DesWalker]

What the f was that formation all about?

 

We'd lost the game before a ball was kicked.  Players lost all belief in Monk.

 

Harris 5 

FF 4

Rest 2

[HOOTIE AND THE SHIT TU]

Dawson 3

 

Lees 1

Iorfa 0

Borner 1

 

Palmer 1

Lee 1

Bannan 1

FF 4

 

Windass 1

Wickham 1

Da Cruz 3

[Lombardo]

Dawson - not his fault last night

FF -Ii thought he was the one who may do something positive, but Monk saw through him

Lee - played the same as the few games before but this time looked one of the better ones.

Palmer - did have a go but needs better players around him.

 

Only these four get points I'm afraid...zero for the rest.

[mcmigo]

3 minutes ago, Lombado said:

Dawson - not his fault last night

FF -Ii thought he was the one who may do something positive, but Monk saw through him

Lee - played the same as the few games before but this time looked one of the better ones.

Palmer - did have a go but needs better players around him.

 

Only these four get points I'm afraid...zero for the rest.

All subs were ok compared to the starting eleven.

[frastheowl]

 

Dawson - 6 - To be fair to the lad, he couldn't have done much more last night. Made a couple of regulation saves, and looked as assured as he could, in amongst all the carnage and disarray in front of him.

 

Lees - 2 - Absolute dross. He cannot pass water. He has the turning circle of an articulated lorry. And he has the heart the size of a pea. He was played totally out of position last night, but it still doesn't forgive a pathetic display. Gave penalty away in the first minute, and never recovered from then on. 

 

Iorfa - 3 - OH. MY. GOD. He goes from looking magnificent some weeks, to an accident waiting to happen. At fault for the goal, and was caught in possession numerous times. Seemed to get exposed by the wandering centre halves either side of him, but it really was a horror show. Why not play him as a wide centre half? He's got the mobility, and athleticism to play that role perfectly.

 

Borner - 5 - Felt for him a bit to be honest. He was essentially playing left centre back, and left back, and against the mobility of Cornick, it was a tough ask. That said, too many errors yet again, from a defender that looked calm and assured earlier on in the season. At least tried to use the space in front of him, and brought the ball out at times in the 2nd half. Should've scored with the header at the near post.

 

Palmer - 4 - Lazy. Half-arsed. No quality. Everything that he's got in him when the chips are down. He doesn't deal with pressure well, never has, and last night, he was a shrinking violet. 

 

Forestieri - 6 - Actually thought, despite him playing a role that was utterly bewildering, he looked the brightest player for us in the 1st half. Picked up the ball in good areas, facing Luton's goal, and manoeuvred himself into some promising positions. But, playing him in a pseudo-free role from left wing, was always going to leave us woefully exposed. 

 

Bannan - 2 - Like Lees, one of our mainstays and "senior" players, who has simply downed tools. This isn't the enigmatic, hard-working Bannan we're used to. I accept, we're going to get the hopeful Hollywood balls, and I accept, he's going to stand on the centre halves toes and leave us short in key, central areas. What i cannot accept is not giving 100%. Set the tone in the 1st minute, allowing Brown to just waltz past him without a challenge, that lead to the penalty. Ended the game with the type of nesh tackle we've expect from the likes of Adam Reach. And everything in between just followed a similar pattern. Have a week off Barry.

 

Lee - 6 - Man of the Match - The best of a bad bunch. Not saying a lot. But he kept going. He was still trying to make things happen despite others close by, simply not pulling their weight. 

 

Windass - 4 - Thought he got into some nice positions, especially in the inside right channel on a few occasions early on. But, as the game went on, struggled to get into it, and looked a forlorn figure at times. 

 

Da Cruz - 5 - A bit like Lee, in the sense, he kept going. Things never really went for him, and quality wise, he was off it, but he worked hard, and continued to press and at least, try to make something happen.

 

Wickham - 4 - We've brought in a quality footballer, and play to him like he's Gary Madine. Can't remember him winning a great deal in the air all night, and just didn't have any impact on the game at all.

 

Harris - 6 - Hit and miss, but at least there was some positives. Couple of good runs, and a nice delivery to set up Borner's chance. Surely has to play on Saturday.

 

Nuhiu - 5 - Pretty poor when he came on. Didn't win enough, gave too many fouls away.

 

Murphy - 6 - Like Harris, couple of nice moments, but like often, final ball missing. 

 

Overall...

 

Baffling display. Both from the players and the management. 

 

First off, the team selection. I saw the team before kick off, and thought, fair enough. Pelupessy replaced by Lee, that should give us the legs we were missing on Saturday. And then I see people tweeting about Forestieri at left back. Three at the back. And thought, "What are these idiots talking about?"

 

And then, I started watching the game, and I couldn't believe what i was seeing. Forestieri at left wing back?! How is that even an idea? Never mind translated on the pitch. What must have been the players reaction to that been in the team meeting? There must have been giggles behind hands. 

 

But forget that...the centre halves. Iorfa is a ready-made, athletic, physically dominant, mobile centre half. Why play him in the centre? And shift Lees, who can't move, can't pass, can't dominate into a position where you are exposed to runners. Baffling. Utterly baffling.

 

I'm not one of these reactionary people who's calling for Monk's head. But, he's starting to make rash, passion-driven decisions...and it's going to cost him. I didn't blame him for his outburst after the Wigan game, but I worried what effect it would have on the very players he was forced to work with for the rest of the season. And my fears seem to have come to fruition. I was concerned by the ultra-attacking line-up at Barnsley, lacking legs in midfield that would cause us to get overrun in midfield. And my concerns played out exactly like I feared.

 

And now, last night, that selection just is ridiculous. It's like a the sort of thing you try out on Football Manager or FIFA. It showed a total lack of respect to Luton Town, and our lack of respect, was rightfully smacked straight back down our throats. We were hammered. By the worst team in the league.

 

And now the players...PLEASE, NOBODY, DEFEND THESE WASTERS. And don't put these players before yet another manager. These players have sold three managers down the river, and now they are moving onto number four. It was absolutely clear after Wigan, that Monk laid his cards out, and certain players knew they were finished here in the summer. And since that day, they've been spineless, disinterested and utterly unprofessional.

 

Monk needs to go back to those players he can trust. There's not many, but there's enough. And he's got to remain calm, and get us playing like we did early on in his reign. It might not have been pretty, but it was effective. We could stay in games, we could exploit sides' weaknesses, and there's no reason, we've the added bits of attacking options we've got, why we can't begin to be on the right side of these tight games again. But, changing formations on a whim, playing players in unfamiliar positions and showing a lack of respect to opposition, isn't going to end well. 

Edited February 13, 2020 by frastheowl

[fudge27]

Next game he's got to go back to something more resolute and get the grafters in for me 

 

Dawson 

 

Urgohide

Iorfa

Borner

Palmer

 

Harris

Luongo/Lee 

Bannan

Reach/Murphy 

 

Windass

 

Wickham 

 

Depending on the fitness of Luongo and Reach and even Fox 

 

 

 

 

[doubled123456]

On 12/02/2020 at 16:44, LSOwls said:

Dawson - 5

Palmer - 5

Lees - 2

Iorfa - 1

Börner - 2

Lee - 6

Bannan - 3

Windass - 3

Da Cruz - 3

FF - 6

Wickham - 3

 

Nuhiu - 3

Murphy - 4

Harris- 5

Iorfa minus 10.

[Ian]

15 hours ago, mcmigo said:

Dawson 5. A few decent saves kept score down but looks short of confidence. Can’t see why second goal for them wasn’t given.

Palmer 5. Our best defender on the night.

Borner 3. Played like a pub player. Gave the ball away so many times, made runs that were pointless. Think he was some weird sweeper , a disaster tactically

Iorfa 2. Will never play that badly again. Horrendous.

Lees 3. Marginally better than Iorfa and Borner but looks way, way short of form. 
FF 6. Must have been wondering what his team mates were playing at.

Bannan 3. Now completely out of form in all areas. Incredibly poor.

Da Cruz. 3. Looks a long way short at this level. No craft or guile at all, ran down blind alleys, didn’t use the ball well

Windass 3. Has added nothing. Got we miss Luongo.

Lee 5. Not the player he was, but ran and tried.

Wickham 2. Houston, we have a striker problem. Looks a shadow of the player he was. 

Murphy 6. Lively , ran and did ok

harris 6. Same as murph

Nuhiu 6. Ran, battled and did ok .

So in your view no one played better than Nuhiu......wow