Player ratings v Reds

A hard ask, with 60 min of crap football and then a great result

Mossy 7 Did really well in tricky conditions
Boxall 6 A different approach to last week, composed in last 30
Siggy 8 No errors that I can remember, sound
Dura 8 Ditto, led by example
Fenton 6 Poor first hour, great last 30, set us on the road
Riera 6.5 Struggled first half tenacious second half
A Rod 5.5 Anonymous first half, better second half
Roly 6 Poor first half, didn't lose out so much second half. Finally got a free kick right, but hard in that wind.
McGlinchy 4.5 Seemed like most of his passes, when he was able to touch the ball, were intercepted
Burns 6.5 Tried hard, was very well contained by defence most of the day. Scored.
Krishna 5 Was well contained
Griffiths 7 Made a difference, didn't waste possession
Lia 6 Solidified the midfield

What do you think?

jeez. I don't remember Louis doing much wrong and he made the go ahead goal.  Has to be at least a 7?

Similar for Roly

and maybe a bit hard marking overall for a game where we beat a top four side 2-zip

we'd have given our nuts for that, and tens all round, a year or two ago

Roly was the best player on the pitch in the 2nd half; 6 is pretty harsh. Griffiths gets a 7 for arsing a goal and making 2 or 3 passes?

A-rod for 5.5 is very harsh. He does a very important role in this team and played a number of delightful balls

I think 7 is much more fair

Normally I have only minor differences of opinion with your ratings but I saw things quite differently for a number of players. Boxall and Fenton were excellent all night and Alex got through a crazy amount of work. I was less than 20 yards from Lia a fair chunk of the time he was on. He was dire, Anwar strolled past him at will - thankfully Fenton was covering. I counted 3 consecutive passes of his that went straight to the opposition.

Think the 3 midfielders were immense in the second half. All 7s. Wee Mac was ineffective as was Roy. I am a little concerned about Wee Macs form. When receiving the ball centrally he is struggling to keep it. He's a lot more effective getting it out wide.

Yeah, WeeMac is just holding onto it a bit long at the moment. I think today was one of his poorest games.

Perhaps, but he was the worst player in the first half, in fact I don't think I have seen him play so badly.

Pretty fair. First half was a classic both sides not giving an inch, big stakes games classico. I remember (I think) Isaisis getting off a shot, but for the most part all the class players Carusca, Burns, WeeMac, Roly, Cirio etc had little room etc.

Roly was a boss for the entire 90mins, not sure what game you watched. So strong on the ball and holds it better than  nearly everyone else 

I was at the game and he lost the ball a LOT in the first half. Also played some pretty poor balls.

2nd half he was great though.

Whole team struggled in the first half, and every player on the pitch misplaced passes. Took him a while to get used to the conditions, but he was the difference between the 2 teams in the end for mine.

Just read this, re: WeeMac

“Mikey’s been suffering from calf soreness all week. He and Dura (Andrew Durante) were touch and go for this game. I decided to play (McGlinchey) and I think I made life very tough for him," Merrick said.

“I think I’ll have a good look at (McGlinchey) before I throw him in again. He’s obviously suffering and couldn’t cover the distance he wanted to. He’s such a good player for our team that maybe he needs freshening up. I’m not sure yet.”

Read more at http://www.fourfourtwo.com/au/news/merrick-lauds-...

Explains a bit. We'll likely see Griffitihs in for him next week.

I think Hicks or Roly (with Lia coming into midfield) would be a more natural replacement.

Weemac had a poor game and if he is injured and carrying it, then park him and rest him, move Roly forward and Lia in or put Griffiths in Wee Macs spot. What got me in the game was the goal that would have been if Galac...golac...their goalkeeper, hadn't pulled of a world class save from Griffiths whom had run from just inside his own penalty area, looked up and saw the two defenders just about on top of his two support players so took the shot himself. That ball went like a rocket and swerved. Anyone else in goal and Griffiths would have scored. I know he might not be flavour of the day but in his two subs appearances thus far, he has made a positive difference.

Sharkty, blustery conditions so I will cut our guys a lot of slack. And we forget, the Reds are up there with us and they were pressuring all of our players pretty much most of the time. We should have been doing the same in the first half, especially their keeper and back 4 but wasn't to be.

Still a win and briefly, we were top of the league. However the 1-1 draw later has made it very interesting in the top 5.

No way was A-Rod a 5.5. He made the most passes of our entire team and was our most accurate passer as well. Also made a couple of good tackles too. Should at least be a 7, if not higher.

http://www.a-league.com.au/matchcentre/Wellington-...

15 points to our strength and conditioning coaches. Another game where we have run over the top of a team in the last 20 mins. I hope they have also signed three year extensions

Yeah there are some odd numbers in there.

I would play Griffith over Krishna.

try that after running near 100 meters flat out.

Griffith did the work but the ending was not as spectacular as made out.

Well it looked that way from the angle in the Zone.

All Eugene really had to do was raise his arm. No real goalkeeping effort required.

Oi Oi Edgecumbe 5 Usually gets it spot on, but had a bit of a stinker this week.

At least he sets the ball rolling. Everyone else is too lazy to bother! I'd give him at least a 7 for another solid effort.

Louis had a shocking start - he needs to learn to stay on his feet, rather than fall to the ground and wave his arms about (he never used to be like this; guess it's understandable after two dislocations but still..)

2nd half, like the rest of the team, was much better though.

Where were you standing in the 2nd half? Wondered where you had gone.

Krishna had a game of promise but delivered little because they were pretty much all over him whenever the ball went near him. He did well in a crouded situation. Griffiths doesn't take crap from opposition players and to be honest that is what we need as defences are now trying to hussle us off the ball. Good to see Boxall team up with Griffiths during one such incident. Although nothing happened as such, the presence of 2 bigger men gave a subliminal message out to the Reds.

I didn't mind the Louis/Boxall fullback combination for a couple of reasons. One may be that I missed the first 15 minutes.

Second- 

Boxall ads bite at set pieces. I remember his first start when he knocked down a ball for a goal, and he's now tucked one in at the back post. He's strong and has a good burst of pace. People try to foul him and bounce off. He suprises defenders with his feet skills for a big guy.

Fenton on the left can go to the by-line as he did for the break through goal, or he can cut back onto his right. I think his defending is improving, but that that is something that Ernie has been ok at trading off for pace and attacking skills. 

Thought they both added a bit to the victory. 

Was also surprised by old man Elrich. Was determined not to give Burns anything and that's probably why we didn't cut through earlier in the game. 

I thought Fenton did surprisingly well at LB, but I do think it would be a good thing if someone with a left foot was on our left side because there were a few times in the first half (and maybe in the second but I was on the other side of the field) where we strung a few passes together and looked to have created some space but then either Fenton, Roly, or Krishna would put the ball on their right foot and get tackled or lose the forward momentum because it was harder for them to get round the outside. I think Hicks and Doyle are the only natural lefties in our squad though, right?