Player ratings v Bling

Here, have your win, but we're taking out your best player.....

All the best Iffie

Mossy 8 A couple of top saves that in the end gave us the win
Fenton 5 Heart in mouth when he has the ball at times. Always cuts inside, for Gods sake take them on down the wing occasionally
Siggy 6 Decided to hoof it when in doubt. About bloody time.
Dura 7 One very important block and generally organised things well
Manny 6 A shame he doesn't trust his left foot, but does very well considering
Ifill 7 Lifted the standard from the start, then it dropped when he was carried off
Reira 6.5 Starting to settle into a good reliable standard
Lia 6.5 Made sure Sydney didn't win the  midfield
Kenny 6.5 Lots of energy, maybe not quite enough on attack, but defended well
Carlos 7.5 Got into the box a few times, almost scored a great goal after feed from Stein, well saved, lovely pass to Stein for the goal.
Stein 8 Lovely finish, lots of good work, could have set up Ifill but didn't
Hicks 5 Passes not sure enough
Leo 5.5 Did the job for a few minutes
Brockie 5.5 Energy, didn't miss any sitters!

Ernie... Good luck on getting in players to replace Ifill and strengthen

To those who like to abuse... these are my opinions only, have your say.
What do you think?

agree with most - although I'd be more generous to Fenton - he works hard and is still learing to be a full back, his defending has improved markedly and a couple of his crosses would have been goals had Stein or Ifill been able to get on the end of them - 6.5 for me.

I'd drop Carlos by 1 too. Whilst he is all class he really hasn't shown a lot of it for us all season, and last night was the same - set pieces were woeful and in front of goal just took the wrong options.

I don't comment on ratings or motm, but would say that Manny is clearly our best LB, RB and a decent DM.

this is really frustrating me - when you play the system we are playing when your wide players are not wingers they are really playing like inside forwards the space for a FB to run into isn't inside - it's outside..

I think Fenton is the man to plug our fullback gap because he has some really good attributes he can use there - he is brave and will put his body on the line for a tackle, he is quick enough to track back, he is ovbiously listening to his defensive group and positioning is getting better week by week.

In possession to often in the middle third he looks for a pass square - which when not executced perfectly puts us under a lot of pressure, if the line or strikers feet option isn't available, check out and play back to the CB or the Keeper and rebuild - or worst case pop it down the line in the air and we can squeeze them in and win a throw or something back hopefully.

In the attacking third - just needs to work on option taking - when to cross when to check back - there was a opportunity against CCM when he could have popped it in but delayed waiting for the perfect cross and got shut down - we don't want to be heaving the ball in at every chance but if your on the goaline and we have people in the box put it in and see what happens.

Carlos 6.5
Leo 6
Fenton 6 He made a few awful wayward passes but he had so much to do in that game. He has to do the job of a Winger and a RB. He isn't always brilliant at both.

I was interested to see that, per minute, Brockie got in nearly as many touches as Stein

Good to see him working to get involved more, as Ernie has asked/demanded/suggested

Fentons runs forward off the ball have at least been excellent. Hes getting into good positions an awful lot. It helps that Lia plays quite centrally because he leaves gaps out there that are often ignored by the defenders. I'm actually quite happy with Fenton, lots to work on but lots of potential and he is in the meantime still making a positive contribution.

Also just got to mention Kenny. Starting to look quite promising, making much more impact than when he was first here.

His workrate is OK but that's it for me. For the money and import status he doesn't bring nearly enough attacking flair, certainly not at the moment anyway, and I'm not sure how long we are supposed to wait before he finds his feet in the A League and starts producing the sort of skills you'd expect from a guy who has played 10 times for his country.

Riera has more potential. He does sometimes make silly mistakes and seems strangely lacking in confidence whenever he gets into forward positions but I must say, having watched him closely during the Sydney game, he is very good at that quick short passing in midfield and generally tracks back and tackles well. His match fitness seems to be improving week by week too.

why does the imprt player need attacking flair and goal scoring ability? the work he does in the midfield is better than say Leo offers, and if he continues to improve he'll easily be better than manny or Lia in the midfield - he may not score a lot of goals this season, but I reckon was he has gotten into his work he'll be a star for us next season.