Player ratings following our defeat on the final day of the season
Oh, hello again. It`s been a while. You thought you got rid of me. Don`t worry, I`ll be gone soon.
On Saturday I ventured up north to the Macron for the usual end of season clash against Birmingham.
Here is how the players fared:
Adam Bogdan-6
Bogdan had a reasonable game, he made a few simple saves and commanded his box well. Kicking at times was sloppy and he, along with Sparky could have dealt with Tesche`s goal better.
Oscar Threlkeld-6
There appears to be some weird Threlkeld hate club, a club of which I am not a member. He looked composed on the ball and got forward well, aiding our lack of wingers in the first half. His touch was great. His crosses, not so much. Also left Taylor exposed at times, though.
Quade Taylor-6
The Crystal Palace reject had a good professional debut. However, he`ll be 22 this year and people gave him much more leeway. Threlkeld`s younger and in my opinion had the better gain, though Taylor will gain all the plaudits. He lost most of his ariel duels, panicked on the ball and looked very shaky when a short pass was not the obvious answer. He almost gifted the Brummies a goal. You might be wondering why I gave him a 6 then, well he happened to be in the right place at the right time? a lot. That cannot be taught, though while technique can, I would hope for a more skillful player at this age.
Tim Ream-7
Ream is so cool. The only regular featuring in the back four today did a very good job organizing everything and was as composed on the ball as ever. Reasonable in the air and very good at tackling.
Dean Moxey-9
Woah. What a performance from Dean Moxey. I`ve said even during his darkest hours that there is a very good player in him and I`ve been proven right. His defending was sound and never seemed to let his man past. However, that`s just half the story. He made up for others` mistakes and going forward he was tremendous. In the second half alone he put in countless delicious crosses for our strikers to attack.
Neil Danns-5
Danns just hasn`t been very good at all since his sending off at Liverpool and I`m fed up of writing the same every week. He`ll win the ball at the expense of a possible foul + booking before giving it away in a wonderful position for an opposition attacker.
Barry Bannan-8
I`d be very surprised if you agreed with me on this, but I thought he was tremendous in midfield. He battles like Muamba. Runs and passes like Mark Davies. What do you get if you put the two together? Stuart Holden. Add a little more passing flair? Barry Bannan.
Mark Davies-6
Sparky looked quite sharp at times, and was characteristically good on the ball. However, he faded in and out of the game a lot and he lacks presence in the midfield. Really should`ve done better for their goal.
Eidur Gudjohnsen-5
I`ve been underwhelmed by the Iceman`s return. Of course he scored a penalty against Liverpool and done other great things and blah blah blah but for me he`s just too slow on the ball. He`ll often take a lot of touches before just playing a really simple passes, slowing down our rhythm. Saturday was no different. Though my heart wants him to stay, my head says I`d rather have Heskey.
Adam Le Fondre-5
A performance to forget for the now departed ALFie. His work rate was good, however it never really worked out for him. He wasn`t provided with much, though he didn`t find any gaps.
Emile Heskey-6
I thought Heskey did quite well given what he was given. He won the ball in the air which is basically just what he`s there to do. Similarly to Le Fondre he was given very little work with but he did quite well with what he got. A few nice touches on the ball too.
Subs:
Feeney, Walker and Janko all got the ball a few times and played simple passes, failing to penetrate Birmingham