Aldershot Ratings

[Y Glowr tlawd]

Originally Posted by joe

Howard 4
Forde 6.5
EOC 5
Tozer 6
Cleworth 7
Mendy 4
Jones 6
Young 6
Lee 7
Mullin 9
Palmer 7

Pretty much spot on for me. How other posters are giving the same marks to Mendy and O'Connell as the other defenders is beyond me. They were clearly the weakest links on the day. (I've been impressed by O'Connell in previous games so hopefully a one-off yesterday.)

[Ddraigoch]

Howard 5 - Have been a supporter throughout the season but seemed all at sea yesterday. Thought he could have done better with all 3 goals. 1st - straight at him, 2nd - didn’t cover itoff well and the 3rd was a calamity.
Cleworth 6 - Should have scored with a great headed opportunity.
Tozer 6 - Best of the three centre backs. I think Cleworth going forward leaves him exposed.
O'Connell 5 - Didn’t see that coming but their goals came from his side and it was obvious he was struggling.
Forde 7 - my only wish is that he would go past his man a bit more but a great assist.
Mendy 5 - he blows hot and cold and lacks consistency at the moment
Young 7 - his deliveries are high quality and his corner for the winner was top drawer. Lost a bit of zip in the past few weeks but still decent.
Jones 7 - great energy and can run for fun but is targeted by opposing teams and often caught in possession.
Lee 8 - he looked leggy midway through the 2nd half but got his energy back and was still dictating the play at the end. Created all of our good stuff.
Palmer 8 - yesterday we saw the decent Ollie Palmer and he was very good in the first half in particular.
Mullin - 9 they looked frightened to death when he was running at them. Third ‘goal’ might be up for debate but he should have had 2 more when putthrough. Still a MOTM performance.

SUBS
Tunnicliffe 6 - Parky played a blinder having him on the bench. His OG should have been dealt with by Howard before it got to the farcical situation.
McAlinden 7 - Fair play, he changed the left hand side when he came on & we started to look decent.
Dalby 8 - has ability to get free and score some great goals. Has the odd howler in him but he never stops working. Keep going Sam.

Hope all the fans got home safely with the train difficulties.

Onwards we go.

[newyorkred]

I think the ratings sound about right.

But I also think we need some perspective (well, some of us do). We have been consistently without our first-choice defence for weeks now and, while I get all of the arguments about Lainton v Howard, for me there is no doubting that Lainton would have been first choice if he had not had the injury he sustained last season.

When you add to that that we only have one CDM, and a very good one at that, who we are also now without, is it any wonder we have been a little easier to score against in the past few games?!? What do people expect? We may have decent resources, but they are not out of control - nobody is going to spend a fortune on a replacement TOC for a few weeks, just to have him sitting on the bench after that (a little like the Mullin theoretical argument we are having right now). If we had been lucky enough to have a homegrown CDM coming through the ranks, then that would be different.

So, every game until we are back to full strength has to be looked at, from a supporter's point of view, as a compromise; how much can we contain the opposition while people are played out of position to compromise for the fact that we have these injuries. With each player coming back, we will get stronger again, and we will ship fewer goals. To be fair, this happened a little yesterday with Tunni coming back much earlier than expected - not that O'Connell hasn't generally done a decent job, by the way - but we tightened up after the break. There is no replacing Hayden, in my opinion, so we will improve again immeasurably when he is back and, with TOC back as CDM, we will be back to nearly full strength.

I say 'nearly' because, in my view, at least for now, McFadzean is a better bet than Mendy, certainly from a defensive point of view. I think we have looked most balanced when McFadzean and Forde are both on the pitch.

And with Davies coming back we have three CAM options (Lee, Cannon and Davies), two box-to-box options (Jones and Young), which will allow us to change the one part of the team that has not yet been disrupted, ie. the whole attacking unit. They have more than done their bit, generally, to make up for the disruptions and weakness in the defensive unit.

If we can suffer through the next few games, improving the team bit by bit as we can, we will find ourselves back to having a full squad to choose from by around the end of March. Assuming we have kept in touch at the top, then being full strength for April and, if needed, May will be a major strength. I would fear nobody in the play-offs with our best team available.

[Huffy]

Originally Posted by newyorkred

I think the ratings sound about right.

But I also think we need some perspective (well, some of us do). We have been consistently without our first-choice defence for weeks now and, while I get all of the arguments about Lainton v Howard, for me there is no doubting that Lainton would have been first choice if he had not had the injury he sustained last season.

When you add to that that we only have one CDM, and a very good one at that, who we are also now without, is it any wonder we have been a little easier to score against in the past few games?!? What do people expect? We may have decent resources, but they are not out of control - nobody is going to spend a fortune on a replacement TOC for a few weeks, just to have him sitting on the bench after that (a little like the Mullin theoretical argument we are having right now). If we had been lucky enough to have a homegrown CDM coming through the ranks, then that would be different.

So, every game until we are back to full strength has to be looked at, from a supporter's point of view, as a compromise; how much can we contain the opposition while people are played out of position to compromise for the fact that we have these injuries. With each player coming back, we will get stronger again, and we will ship fewer goals. To be fair, this happened a little yesterday with Tunni coming back much earlier than expected - not that O'Connell hasn't generally done a decent job, by the way - but we tightened up after the break. There is no replacing Hayden, in my opinion, so we will improve again immeasurably when he is back and, with TOC back as CDM, we will be back to nearly full strength.

I say 'nearly' because, in my view, at least for now, McFadzean is a better bet than Mendy, certainly from a defensive point of view. I think we have looked most balanced when McFadzean and Forde are both on the pitch.

And with Davies coming back we have three CAM options (Lee, Cannon and Davies), two box-to-box options (Jones and Young), which will allow us to change the one part of the team that has not yet been disrupted, ie. the whole attacking unit. They have more than done their bit, generally, to make up for the disruptions and weakness in the defensive unit.

If we can suffer through the next few games, improving the team bit by bit as we can, we will find ourselves back to having a full squad to choose from by around the end of March. Assuming we have kept in touch at the top, then being full strength for April and, if needed, May will be a major strength. I would fear nobody in the play-offs with our best team available.

Cant argue with any of that

[Jenko]

Originally Posted by newyorkred

I think the ratings sound about right.

But I also think we need some perspective (well, some of us do). We have been consistently without our first-choice defence for weeks now and, while I get all of the arguments about Lainton v Howard, for me there is no doubting that Lainton would have been first choice if he had not had the injury he sustained last season.

When you add to that that we only have one CDM, and a very good one at that, who we are also now without, is it any wonder we have been a little easier to score against in the past few games?!? What do people expect? We may have decent resources, but they are not out of control - nobody is going to spend a fortune on a replacement TOC for a few weeks, just to have him sitting on the bench after that (a little like the Mullin theoretical argument we are having right now). If we had been lucky enough to have a homegrown CDM coming through the ranks, then that would be different.

So, every game until we are back to full strength has to be looked at, from a supporter's point of view, as a compromise; how much can we contain the opposition while people are played out of position to compromise for the fact that we have these injuries. With each player coming back, we will get stronger again, and we will ship fewer goals. To be fair, this happened a little yesterday with Tunni coming back much earlier than expected - not that O'Connell hasn't generally done a decent job, by the way - but we tightened up after the break. There is no replacing Hayden, in my opinion, so we will improve again immeasurably when he is back and, with TOC back as CDM, we will be back to nearly full strength.

I say 'nearly' because, in my view, at least for now, McFadzean is a better bet than Mendy, certainly from a defensive point of view. I think we have looked most balanced when McFadzean and Forde are both on the pitch.

And with Davies coming back we have three CAM options (Lee, Cannon and Davies), two box-to-box options (Jones and Young), which will allow us to change the one part of the team that has not yet been disrupted, ie. the whole attacking unit. They have more than done their bit, generally, to make up for the disruptions and weakness in the defensive unit.

If we can suffer through the next few games, improving the team bit by bit as we can, we will find ourselves back to having a full squad to choose from by around the end of March. Assuming we have kept in touch at the top, then being full strength for April and, if needed, May will be a major strength. I would fear nobody in the play-offs with our best team available.

Excellent sensible post.
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