Ratings v Everton

[lifeof...]

Some Bizarre ratings again this week. Whilst Crouch did not have a good game, He should have been awarded 2 pens, which of course would have put a far different slant on the game and the outcome.

I don't think Bale looked any more or less tired than any of the other players. Having to face 3 sometime 4 players, will limit your effectiveness...We needed to move the ball about sharper, to benefit from that.

Sandros impressed me again,, I can see him becoming a regular sooner rather than later.

I have seen some shouts for wishing Defoe back...And the need for a shiny new striker...and i agree with both.....But Where and how would you play Defoe, VDV, Lennon, Bale and Modric, In their most effective position? Then Add Shiny into the equation......

I hoenstly don't know the answer so its going to be interesting, at least

 

[Damian99]

Palacios 7 - worked hard, took a booking for the team as their guy was breaking dangerously. Made more passes in his 45 than Sandro did in his. Don't really see the point in taking him off at half time ?

No what it was, was a needless booking, took a yellow for the team my arse. It was Yakubu who was breaking and just inside our half. What you do is get back into a position goal side and hold the bloke up, like fatty yakubu was posing any danger at that point. He saw Palacios haring in and just cut inside and bought himself a easy free kick.

Im all for a player getting a card for the team, but thats not one of them. Palacios also took the legs away of another Everton player later on in the half.

Right to be taken off.

 

[scat1620]

The sensible thing would have been to leave Palacios on, bring Jenas/Sandro on for the ineffective Lennon and move Modric wide right and let him link up with VDV.

This is never, ever a sensible suggestion. Modric has not had a single good game for us on the right-hand side of midfield, and as far as I know that has never been anything other than an emergency position (for a couple of games) for him in his club and international career to date.

Modric is an excellent player in the centre or on the left, but not on the right. On the left hand side he can start out wide and drift inside into the centre, where there is more space and room to play, on his preferred right foot. If he starts on the right hand side, he doesn't have the pace to beat players down the outside on his stronger foot (he has a trick to gain a yard on someone, but a decent fullback with any pace at all will catch him before he has a chance to do anything with his yard 9 times out of 10), and cutting inside into the centre to give himself more space leaves him playing on his weaker left foot. It just demonstrably doesn't work, and as someone who is always so keen to talk up playing the game to players' strengths I'm a bit puzzled why you lobby so vigorously for Modric to be played on the right. Is it because Modric is just a naturally great player? Well so is Gomes: why not ask him to play wide-right as well?

I'd be happy with Modric playing in any of the CM, AM or LM positions, but the right side of midfield is just not his thing.

 

[rebrab]

Er...I watched the second half again and I have to hold my hands up. He looked quite useful. Watching the game the first time round, I couldn't understand why he was taking up more adavanced positions than Modders and VDV at times. That was my main gripe.

:up: takes a big man to say that, more than most on here would do I'm sure :wink:, so I've given you a dash of rep :beer:

 

[Bus-Conductor]

This is never, ever a sensible suggestion. Modric has not had a single good game for us on the right-hand side of midfield, and as far as I know that has never been anything other than an emergency position (for a couple of games) for him in his club and international career to date.

Modric is an excellent player in the centre or on the left, but not on the right. On the left hand side he can start out wide and drift inside into the centre, where there is more space and room to play, on his preferred right foot. If he starts on the right hand side, he doesn't have the pace to beat players down the outside on his stronger foot (he has a trick to gain a yard on someone, but a decent fullback with any pace at all will catch him before he has a chance to do anything with his yard 9 times out of 10), and cutting inside into the centre to give himself more space leaves him playing on his weaker left foot. It just demonstrably doesn't work, and as someone who is always so keen to talk up playing the game to players' strengths I'm a bit puzzled why you lobby so vigorously for Modric to be played on the right. Is it because Modric is just a naturally great player? Well so is Gomes: why not ask him to play wide-right as well?

I'd be happy with Modric playing in any of the CM, AM or LM positions, but the right side of midfield is just not his thing.

I just don't buy this at all. Modric is (and has) perfectly capable of playing on the right of a fluid "3" in a 4231. Besides, they are all interchangeable in game anyway. VDV/Bale/Modric (my first choice "3") can all move around during a game. Just watch players like Nasri or Arshavin.

 

[stemark44]

Gomes - 6 no keeper would have saved that free kick.
Hutton - 6 not his biggest fan but he did ok.
Gallas - 7 did a good job.
Kaboul - 8 the MOTM and he is turning into a hugely important defender for us.
The guy can play CB and for me he is also our best option at RB.
Ekotto - 7 had a fine game,no errors.
Palacios - 5 not great and at times lingers too long on the ball.
Modric - 6 did his best work coming in from the left but wasn't great in the middle.
Bale - 6 not one of his better days.
Lennon - 6 did some good defensive work.
VDV - 6 quiet game and our midfield really didn't provide him with much to work with,picked up a few scraps but was under-used.
Crouch - 3 it's hard to watch this guy trying to play football,I think he should have a go at basketball.

Subs

Sandro - 6 he did pretty good and was an improvement on Wilson.Still finding his feet but looks promising.
Pav - 4 shifts and shoots.

 

[guy]

Wilson had to come off IMO - maybe not at half time but sooner rather than later.

He was getting dangerously close to a second yellow, and being a man down wouldnt have helped our cause.

Sandro looks very useful to me, he's a clever player in defence, he positions himself well and is good at nicking the ball off the opposition.

Crouch did alright in general play, but he was woeful in front of goal. the free header he had which he hit straight at howard shouldve been a goal, and all his shots on goal were as weak as Ive seen from a professional footballer. Id be disappointed in myself if I hit one like that, god knows how he gets away with it

 

[Phantom]

Some harsh ratings for players in here, Crouch was being bullied all game and needed help from the ref. He is also not a lone striker, we are asking too much of him and as a consequence Vdv.

Wilson wasn't great but was given a yellow so early in the game for his first foul(wouldn't have a problem with it if there was equal treatment for bot sides).

How anyone can place blame on Kaboom for the free kick is just beyond belief.

Thought Sandro was good when he came on, I would probably start him ahead of Wilson.

 

[DarT]

Gomes 6 - OK throughout
Hutton 6 - Again OK.
Gallas 7 - Reasonably good game
Kaboul 7 - Thought he was MOM, unlucky goal came after a dive against him.
Ekotto 6 - Normal BAE performance generally good with the odd moment.
Lennon 5 - Ineffective.
Palacios 5 - Composure is something you couldnt use to describe him
Modric 7 - Set the tempo for the team, and was generally effective, but i still believe he has much more to add to the team.
Bale 6 - By his own high standards, he was not that effective in this match.
VDV 7 - Another good performance, if not up to the MOM showings previously
Crouch 6 - Worked hard enough, but clearly with VDV as a drop off striker we need a goal threat leading the line, and crouchy is not giving us this.

Sandro 7 - Thought he did well when he came on at half time, and was a considerable step up on wilson.

 

[Mr Pink]

I just don't buy this at all. Modric is (and has) perfectly capable of playing on the right of a fluid "3" in a 4231. Besides, they are all interchangeable in game anyway. VDV/Bale/Modric (my first choice "3") can all move around during a game. Just watch players like Nasri or Arshavin.

He is capable of playing on the right but thats not where you going to get the best out of him, even in a '3' in a 4-2-3-1.

Furthermore this is all to Keep Palacios on? Are you serious, it was absolutely the right decision to take him off. He was on a yellow and even more imortantly he had gone into another tackle just before HT which he could easily of got wrong and been sent off. His whole game is based on getting his foot in, a yellow card seriously affects his effectiveness.

You're wrong on that one.

 

[Wiener]

I voted Modric, but Kaboul came a close second.

Crouch's shooting was truly appalling. He does create chances, mostly from knock-downs, work incredibly hard, is great for set-pieces, both when defending and attacking, and is technically quite good. However we do tend to play the long ball too much with him playing and he is not a goal-scorer. He had 3 good chances, one with the head and 2 on the ground. If Defoe had had either of the latter it would probably have been a different story.

Some random observations:

Pavluychenko's crossing is pretty good.

How did Cahill not get booked?

The referee was terrible. The free-kick for their goal should never have been given.

Sandro looks promising. Good movement and defensively sound.

We are an attacking team and if anyone tries to football against us it should be an entertaining game. All credit to Redknapp, but also to Levy and Comolli for building a truly impressive squad.

 

[steve]

I don't understand the Palacios low marks on here. He was booked and taken off at HT but he played pretty well to my mind, won the ball and gave it simply and quickly. He also looked to receive it whenever possible. Sandro looked decent too when he came on. But a shiny new toy will always seem better than the older one we've had a while....

 

[Bus-Conductor]

I managed to see the Kaboul free kick again last night on MOTD2 and it was bollocks.

Kaboul stays on his feet, doesn't lunge in. Yakubu either plays for it, or thinks Kaboul is coming in and spins, either way it was a poor decision which was compounded by the ref's inability to spot two players kung fu sandwich on Crouch at the other end.

 

[stemark44]

It was never a free kick and the ref was shocking all game.