PLayer ratings v WSW

Patchy performance this one

Mossy 8 Won us the game with a couple of top saves, one dodgy moment dropping the ball, but his luck held
Louis 6.5 Defended well,  some good link ups going forward
Siggy 7 Sound
Dura 7 Solid
Doyle 6.5 Good game tonight
Riera 7 One crucial bit of tracking blocked a goal, good game
Lia 6 Some poor passes but some damned good work in the engine room too 
Roly 6.5 Good moments early and especially in second half but went missing for quite a while
Burns 6 Didn't really happen tonight
Mikey 6.5 Nice passing
Krishna 6 Good running created the pen, poor pen but followed up well
Brocks 5 A few flick-ons, one close shot
Boxall 6 We needed him earlier to cope with their height advantage
Kenny hmmmm 3

What do you think?

Moss a 6. His friggen risky one handed punching scares the crap. You never know where it is going to go. Often punching when he really should have caught the ball. Excellent shot stopper but makes me nervous.

Moss was at least an 8 if not more. Punching was a fine option, because it was effective. He tried to catch one that caused some problems, otherwise he was super solid at every single test.

Also thought Brockie was a bit at sea with how they were playing. Burns didn't want to play him the ball I don't think. Burns is an amazingly good player. 

Fenton's versatility and play in midfield to finish the game, and his work getting forward says for me he is a half point better than Doyle.  And I did not think Doyle had much more than a serviceable solid game.  I'd drop Doyle a half.

Lia does some good stuff but he gifted some seriously dangerous turnovers and gets left for dead; 5.5, and bring back Alex.

Dura deserves an extra half point, he had a very tidy and organised game, particularly against some very strong tall timber. 

I thought he was a significant part of the reason we got "lucky".

Plus I think the 6's for Krishna and Burns are a bit harsh.  It didn't quite flow for them, but they were threats and busy.  6.5 for me.  Maybe without Alex, Roly wasn't quite where they expected him to be as an option.

And Moss just the 7.  Some good shot stopping and positioning, and though he managed to control the six yard box well enough against a big side it wasn't without a bit of luck.

Pleased to get away with that one, but at times we looked very good.

I agree that Moss was effective - he punches because probably he does not feel confident enough to catch those dodgy ones, too easy to spill (maybe he has nightmare flashes of the game against the Mariners when he spilled a regulation catch to Simon's delight).

Maybe Doloras could comment on this? She is probably the only expert here on goalkeeping that I would trust.

I think you should stand up and applaud Moss of the pitch for that, he was under a tremendous amount of pressure for much of the game.

Not sure about Lia being that high. In the first 20 minutes he made more errors than the team combined. 

I had a feeling Moss would split opinion on here. All the punching made me nervous as well, didn't inspire confidence. But I'm not much of an expert on goalkeeping and what you're all saying about punching makes sense. Plus a clean sheet is all you can ask for innit, so I will defer to your superior knowledge. Onya Mossy.  

Doloras or 2B.

Other than the one handed punch which almost made me wet myself, I thought he had a great match (and yes he caught the ball in quite a few corners in the 2nd half).

Having just watched the replay I would definitely give Roly more than 6.5. That guy's workrate is just phenomenal. I swear he covered every square inch of the pitch. At one point he chased all the way back to his own 6 yard box, hung on to Haliti for dear life and blocked his shot to save an almost certain goal. He'd run so far back so quickly that Dewhurst assumed it was Durante made the block.

12 games into the season Roly is for me already shaping as one of our best ever players.

As a very , very average goalkeeper I was always taught that it is better to punch the ball away in a congested box rather then to catch it and risk dropping it to a box full of attacking opposition players.Moss was good but Roly was sublime , showed his pedigree once again and is fast becoming one of my favourite players.

I don't think people here know too much about goalkeeping. Yes I agree that you punch if you feel you cannot catch it and Moss is not a big goalkeeper. BUT his punches were into bad areas and he did not clear his 18 yard box. He is also not a very good sweeper and I feel he could do a better job hear. His kicking was terrible yesterday and struggles to get past halfway. The kick in the last few minutes was terrible and was weak right down the middle of the park and that would have cost us the 3 points. Last but not least he is a typical keeper and blames everyone else.

I agree, Roly was by far and away our best player today, was a monster in midfield where as Lia was an utter liabilty, our weakest link.  

I've never slagged Lia off before but I now feel that he's past his use-by date in the A-League; would be a better fit in the ASBP or state leagues now.

Thought Sigmund was immense. Cleaned up some mistakes from Fenton, and covered that wing well when Fenton bombed forward too, and was just generally solid all round

Siggy's flying lunge to deflect Haliti's shot over the bar was pretty special. Interesting that the Fox pundits made him man of the match, local pundits gave it to Durante. I wouldn't argue with either decision, they were both terrific.

Stop using logic to defend Lia. This can't end well!

'Moss is not a big goalkeeper'  I certainly don't think 1.88 m is too bad.

I thought Moss was outstanding - the freakishly tall Wanderers obviously targeted him at set pieces but he was brave (and smart) going for the punch whenever he clearly wasn't in a position to make the catch. A couple of great one on one saves 9.

Fenton was up and down the line all night causing problems without neglecting his defensive responsibilities. 7.5

Siggy and Dura saved our arse quite a few times with last chance lunges and their dogged determination not to concede. 8s

Doyle was not good - his first instinct is to go backwards so most times he gets the ball we lose momentum. Still has 2 or 3 brain fades every game. I think he'll get better with experience and confidence but some way to go. 5.5

Lia, even by his standards was awful - he was never quick but he has slowed up markedly this season and he kept giving the ball away. I don't question his effort or commitment but, performance wise, 5

Roly was superb, he has a ridiculous engine and work rate and sublime skill, especially his Ifillesk turn. 8 Aside from Burns he's the player I'd most hate to be without.

Weird that I thought Doyle was quite good. Thought it was his best performance this year

Agree with above but would give Doyle 6, not because of his absolute performance but judged against his overall profile (young, inexperienced, punching above his weight somewhat, first season etc).  By his own standards I would say he was a 6-6.5 on the day.

I think Lia is getting a bit of a rough one from a lot of people here. He gives the ball away just as much as Roly does but in a different way.

Lia will look for a pass, whereas Roly can do too much at times... why is his loss of possession more acceptable??

I thought he had a pretty good game. He used his strength and height and put himself around.  We had more problems coming from the other flank I think.

One of the main complaints about Doyle I find strange is that he always passes the ball backwards. I'm sure Ernie would love a flying fullback but the fact is he has to make to with Doyle and Manny who don't have the pace or skill to run past defenders. I think Ernie has done a good job getting the best out of Doyle's relatively modest talents. He is always there out wide to provide an outlet for the mids when under pressure, can play a good incisive pass forward to Krishna, McGee or Roly, but generally settles for the unspectacular but necessary work of recycling the ball to those who are more capable of getting an attack going.

I generally like what I see with Doyle. He's got the right attitude, works hard and although he's definitely not a standout he continues to improve with each game he plays.

Did you not watch the game MetLegNZ.  He was so poor in the first half that he should have been pulled prior to the second.  

Lacked match fitness, miss-timed tackles, put the defence under pressure from some decidely poor balls/passes, nearly got into a fight.   Need I say more?

In response to Leggy and Moss' height, I am a genuine 191cm and Moss is way shorter than me, i'd say his real height would be 6 foot. I consider that on the short side for a pro keeper.

2 clean sheets in a row.

That is because everyone is taller than me.

Based on the game stats vs wanderers...

Balls given away by bad passes:

Lia: 13

Roly: 8

Balls lost in tackles (based on total touches - passes/shots/crosses/clearances and %duels lost):

Lia: 1

Roly: 8

Obviously these only highlight negative contributions to a game and dont tell the whole story (e.g. losing the ball in your own half with a bad pass that leads to an opposition shot vs getting tackled while trying to shoot), but MetalLegNZ may have a point...