Player Ratings - Yeovil Away

[Piglet_Phoenix]

Smoke and mirrors.

Not a classic performance by any means and lots of room for improvement.

I’m not sure of the wisdom of continuing to play an offside trap when you have a defence with an obvious and chronic lack of pace. You’re relying on the linesmen to make correct decisions and also hoping the opposition is not skilful enough to expose you. Yeovil had a couple of really good opportunities in the first half, but thankfully weren’t good enough to score. At times we were defending by the seat of our incontinence pants and a better side than Yeovil might’ve scored four or five against us.

Also, our decision making in the final third of the pitch needs much work. We had the ball in decent positions on numerous occasions but either poor technique or too much crazy thinking wasted things. Hope must’ve tried his finish four or five times before it actually went in (and credit to him). However it’s got to be incredibly frustrating for the Yeovil management team something so obvious wasn’t defended against – he has no left foot, so as a defender you always send him wide. Anyway, this moment of schoolboy ineptitude and Hope’s persistence ultimately won us the game.

Bonham – 6 – His indecision nearly cost us an early goal and his judgement of when to come for crosses needs work, as does his distribution. A ton of flapping and scrambling in the second half and looked really unconvincing in the goalmouth scrambles towards the end. This being said, when our offside trap evaporated towards the end of the first half he was decisive enough to act quickly by getting close to the ball, making himself big and getting a ***** touch (which was missed by the referee) to prevent a goal. Two points back on his balance for this save...

Liddle – 6 – I only wish he would pass the ball more than trying to launch those long hoofs across the pitch. Did a decent defensive job at right-back today, some excellent tackles, won some good headers and provided some steel in midfield when required. Also some nice technique on the ball...

Parkes – 5 – Not at his best today, especially when he had to try and be a full back against a little nippy winger – which led to him being turned inside out countless times. I can’t fault his attitude however, but still needs to work on his weight, fitness, concentration and positioning.

Hill – 6 – Really solid today and more vocal then he has been for a while. A good combative tier four central defending performance with no airs or graces. Exposed for pace a few times, but in fairness, so was the rest of our back four.

Ellis – 6 - I’m not sure what Curle has against Ellis – he’s the one who brought him to the club in the first place and his attitude his been fantastic. I’ve liked the way he’s chosen to go on loan rather than warm the bench – and his fully committed performance today was an example of why he should’ve been given more of an opportunity to start (both this season and last).

Joyce – 5 – Worked like a Trojan but his use of the ball was not good and his positioning gradually too deep as the game started to pass him by. However it’s got to be hard playing in a central midfield where your only partner is the ethereal Devitt. Where’s Jamie Devitt on the pitch? I don’t think even he knows...

Devitt – 4 – Ran about aimlessly quite a lot, fouled needlessly several times when trying to tackle, wasted a mouth-wateringly good goal-scoring opportunity he created for himself, tried to pass creatively and failed – and generally got involved to little or no positive effect. I’m sick of talking about the position he needs to play, we seem obsessed with trying to make him a central midfielder.

Twardek – 6 – Tough afternoon being man-marked but caused no end of problems for the Yeovil defence. Looked a really strange decision to substitute him (especially with one of our other forwards having an absolute stinker). Maybe he’s injured or due to he treatment he was getting we decided to protect him?

Bennett – 7* - Won absolutely everything in the air, never stopped running, worked the channels excellently and always gave us an option. Looked like he wanted the ball and was probably trying a little too hard in and around the penalty area. Our coaching staff need to tell him just to take the extra half second in and around the box and to not try to think himself out of the game. Remember the simple things Richie, put your foot through the ball when facing goal and square the ball to unmarked colleagues – you don’t have to do anything elaborate. I really wish we had a coaching team who could get the best out of our players and get them to play to their strengths.

Stockton – 0 – Lazy, disinterested, garbage. I don’t see the justification for giving him a shirt any longer. He spends 75% of his time walking around in the centre-forward position watching the game and when he’s in the box he’s on his heels, flat-footed. His backside is probably the fattest we’ve seen at the club since the late 80s, which for a modern day professional footballer is an absolute disgrace. Slow, rubbish in the air, behind the play, not a single element of his game is good enough. A really incredulous decision to leave him on the pitch longer than Bennett and Twardek, if you’d bought him in a shop you’d be asking for a refund right now, but it’s beyond a joke our manager paid a fee for this poor excuse for a footballer.

Hope – 7 – Credit to him to for the goal and was a constant problem for the Yeovil defence all afternoon. This is Hope’s best position, being an annoying little sh_t on the left wing is what he’s good at and is his natural game – it also keeps him out of the centre-forward position (which is the last place you want him). His burst of pace was a great outlet for us, he worked back well in defence and midfield and you have to say he deserves to keep the shirt.

Subs:

Jones – 5 – Still not at his best but a decent combative effort defending in midfield. I’m not sure where his excellent form from last season his disappeared to?

Nadesan – 5 – So when we finally bring our form striker on – we revert to one upfront and leave him totally isolated (a la S Miller), managerial genius. A shame we couldn’t see him in partnership with Bennett seeing as it was the combination which turned the game midweek...

O’Sullivan – 4 – Was brought on to defend, but I can’t get over his ridiculous gloves.