Player Ratings - Accrington Away
Curle is looking completely out of his depth as a manager - what he served up today, and at Lincoln, was as poor, embarrassing and pub team as anything Abbott or Kavanagh managed to contrive in their time here.
It was an absolute mistake persisting with ten of the same team that failed to beat Mansfield. Players who had played poorly and were ineffective were rewarded with another start - players who'd clearly been influential in the midweek game against Gateshead and against Morecambe - remained dropped. That's cretinism of the highest degree - and that stubborn failure to see the obvious was rewarded with a terrible performance and deserved thrashing.
Bonham – 2 – Repeatedly awful, not a league standard goalkeeper. Another bagful of goals conceded today. If only we had a young international goalkeeper who’d kept two clean sheets in his last two games. For the second goal, the position of his wall was bizarre and his attempt at getting across his goal pathetic. I’d send him back to Brentford asap, in fact I'd be happy sending him anywhere he wouldn't be able to play for us.
Miller – 5 – Unlucky to be subbed. Maybe he was injured, maybe it was due to the booking – but he wasn’t any worse than any of our other defenders – and the only reason he picked up the booking was because our central defenders had vanished into thin air.
Grainger – 2 – Ponderous in his passing, shocking with his set pieces, awol with his defending, a lumbering oaf. I have no idea why he’s captain. Not good enough at anything he does.
Parkes – 3 – Stiff as an ironing board, slow as your Grandma, with the turning circle of a brontosaurus. His attempts at getting forward? Laughable. Melted away into nothingness for the first and third goals - which is quite a trick for someone so fat.
Ellis – 3 – Same as Parkes (without the fatness), but better in the air, braver in the tackle and with a hexagonal right boot.
Joyce – 6 – Decent shift, worked well with Jones – but all kinds of chaos around him.
Jones – 6 – Despite the rest of the team being awful, the midfield two are the silver lining. Yes, he lost the ball for the third goal – but he was miles away from danger and it wasn’t his fault the defence evaporated.
Lambe – 2 – Powderpuff, pathetic and largely anonymous – which is probably why he escaped being subbed. Begging to be dropped when an effective, influential, player like Kennedy is warming the bench.
Adams – 6* - Fantastic shift, still lacking a little sharpness and thus quality in his delivery – but the front two in the first half didn’t help him in the slightest.
Bennett – 0 – Rubbish in the air, technically poor, awful movement – completely owned by the defence. You could’ve picked anyone from the crowd and they couldn’t have done any worse. Whatever money we paid for him, it looks too much. Even when he stumbled himself into a decent position in front of goal – he completely fluffed his lines. After his display last week it is almost beyond belief he started today – and he was lucky to last until half time. He doesn’t deserve, and has not warranted in any way, a place in the starting eleven.
Hope – 4 – Typical Hope. Ran about brainlessly with no end product, “battled” a bit, but too easy to defend against. We need a genuine centre-forward – Hope is not that player. It’s easy to see why he’s been farmed out wide in his career, it’s probably where he’s most effective – battling for balls on the wing.
Subs:
Liddle – 3 – Tesco value.
Miller – 6 – We looked much better when we had a forward who is football league standard upfront. Needs a run of starts.
Kennedy – 6 – Linked well with Miller – and we actually looked a bit like scoring with him on the pitch. Needs a run of starts.
