Players RATINGS v tiger moths

Well, well , well. Thoroughly deserved Nix.

Pasty 5 Pretty shaky several times, but a clean sheet.
Leo Bretos 7 His best game as a defender, a couple of fine crosses too.
Siggy 7 Kept Heskey quiet, sensible not diving in.
Dura 8 Mopped things up well, great leadership
Lochie 8 Great defending, an assist for Brockie's second
Fenton 6 Kept his defender on his toes
Manny 6.5 Held shape very well
Smith 8 Excellent flick ons, got forward and back well
Vinnie 6.5 kept up the pressure in midfield. A couple of wayward passes, very few fouls
Ifill 7.5 Showed up to great effect occasionally, assist, penalty, gut busting tracking back too. 
Brockie 8 Super showing, gutsy, pity the poor keeper
Benji 7 Awesome fifteen minutes, a shame about the one on one, but he nailed their coffin down pretty much.
All the boys, excellent discipline
Ricki Game plan worked a treat
What do you think?

I presume Stein was unavailable (?), in which case I'm not sure how much we can give Ricki credit for the tactics and formation change - pretty much forced on him.  May be unfair to jump to that conclusion, but I wonder.

Great result, but wasn't a great game; maybe a few could drop by half a point?

Thought Smith had a very good game. He isn't really that creative with the ball at his feet, but holds the ball up and provided some great flick ons. Having Lia do the donkey work further back, let him get further up the park.

The formation we played really is Phoenix football, not pretty but is effective.

 Wife and I thought Smith.

think ifill deserves a 6 

he did get a goal ( a well striken penalty)

and an assist but didnt do too much more for me, is very slow. i think there were lots better players than him on the field 

Think Stein's injury was a blessing in disguise. Meant RH had to decided between Boyd & Lia and he chose right.

I would drop fenton once stein is good.

Tactics were spot on, and would have been even more effective if clarke and totri had more time 

Pasty 4 Sluggish ,did enough though,only player who seemed to be having a China crisis !
Leo Bertos 8 never stopped working,great stuff from Two Scoops improving every week 
Siggy 7 Grafted well against the big over paid Englishman  and kept discipline for once 
Captain 7 Yet another good solid performance from our leader 
Lochie 8 Best Lochy game in a long time 
Fenton 6 Not his best but muscled it well on the wing
Manny 6 Quiet for him but still had presence
Smith 7 Good use off the head and unlucky not to score ,couple of slack passes  from the yank though
Vinnie 5.5 hot and cold as per usual
Ifill 7.5 Very hard working particularly in defence ,good cross for goal (form is temporary class is forever)
Brockie 8.5 Good stuff from  the emotionless assassin 
Benji 7 Starting to show promise as a super sub when we are at least two goals up,jury's still out though!
Ricki - Sack him

 Looks pretty good, though I would drop Ifill to a 6.5, because I thought apart from the few times he got the ball going forward, he was sitting too deep near the right back position. Not effective when you aren't defending anyone nor in a position to help on attack either.

 By the man's own words during the week he said he was playing too deep, and he wanders back when he didn't need to.

 Paston was also a shambles, palmed a few meek efforts instead of holding onto them.

A couple of times I saw our defenders prefering to put the ball out rather than risking a not-too-difficult (at this level) backpass to Paston. It worries me seeing how much slower he has got this season. 

Leo was gr8.

More likely to be the pitch conditions

Totori was one of the best on show for me.

Very important game for the performance as well as the 3 points. Change in formation seemed a bit better, still quite scratchy and frustrating at times though. Big boost that Brockie has started scoring, maybe look to play Huysegems on the wing in a 4-3-3 if fit next week?

A front 3 with Stein, Ifill & Brockie means we essentially have 3 wings converted to strikers, so they could all actually play a bit free form as all are comfortable anywhere in a front three.

We seemed to start with Ifill up top yesterday, and then they swapped early on. And then whenever Ifill found himself forward, Broickie would hold the wing for a while. Could also work with a front 3

Though Pston was poor, Moss maybe to get a look in.

Fenton has not done much in his last couple of games so may be at risk of  losing his spot.