Team Ratings v Millwall

Todays performance was not good enough and its certainly two points dropped however I don’t think it was anywhere near as bad as people have made out.

Confidence
This to me is the biggest problem, as soon as a pass wasn’t inch perfect in the first ten min’s our fans were grumbling and making noises, some players were then looking for the “easy” pass. Also a lot of players in good positions to have a strike at goal were taking an extra touch all the time, a huge sign of lack of confidence.

Marshall 7 – Made some very good saves.
Kev 7 – I felt it was his best game for a while, got up and down, made some cracking challanges and put some of the better quality crosses into the box
Hudson 6 – Was solid enough but we got caught far to easily through the middle when McPhail went off.
Turner 6 – As with Hudson really, solid but got caught, clean sheet though.
Taylor 8 – MOTM – I thought he was very good today, gave us width, defended well and confident on the ball, one that didn’t go hiding.
Mcphail 6 - calm composed and we are much better when he plays.
Lawrence 7 –Certainly his best home game for us, but a few balls into the box sadly lacking in pace though.
Gunnar 6 – Seems to be lacking in confidence a little in my opinion, id consider playing Cowie in his position next game.
Witts 6 – Good moving with the ball today but had chances to shoot and didn’t and his passing was way off, another who needs to get that confidence and sparkle back.
Mason 7 – thought he was quite lively, doesn’t give width but a felt he linked up with Taylor pretty well.
Miller 6 – severally lacking in confidence and was poor in the first half, his movement and runs were not what they had been but he did keep play ticking over. Second half he was a lot better especially when Rudy came on just for the simple fact he had more room.
Subs
Rudy 3 – He just kept on falling over???i
Conway 6 – Gave us a new option but his impact in the end was minimal
Earnie 5 – did nothing of note. Problem is neither Rudy or Earnie are anywhere good enough and neither are particularly good at holding up the ball so the last twenty mins was all a bit pointless unless something special happened going forward in midfield.
MM 6 – Subs were ok in theory but didn’t work and the one upfront was a mistake from the off.
The Refs 3 – really poor once again and for both teams. Good booking for the Millwall dive but generally poor. Some of the offside or not offside decisions were very very poor.

My ratings...

Marshall 7
Hudson 7
Turner 7
Taylor 7
Kev 6
McPhail 6
Mason 5
Lawrence 6
Whitts 6
Gunner 6
Milller 6

Back 5 were solid for most of the game, only a handful of chances for Millwall.
Going forward we knocked it about well, but still too slow with no cutting edge.

This 4-4-2 which so many are obsessed with -who are the 2 that can play up front since we only have one targetman and he really can't link up with anyone. (you gave him a 3 !)

I'm still gutted we missed out on Sordell, we could be fighting for the top 2 now if he and Phillips had come in.

MediaWales gave Taylor a 5

I thought he was MOM as reliable as always and stood out for me. Miller looks shot to pieces and Rudy / Earnie it's difficult to say which one was more ineffective. McPhail looked OK but it's difficult for him when there is so little movement in front of him.

The rest were much of a muchness. Lots of effort and huffing and puffing but didn't really look like blowing any houses down.

Please MM go back to the 4-5-1 with Kiss,Conway, Cowie, Gunnarsson and Whitts in midfield. That was the group that took us on our best run of the season. 21 points out of 27 and hardly played as a unit since December.

My ratings...

Marshall 7
Hudson 7
Turner 7
Taylor 7
Kev 6
McPhail 6
Mason 5
Lawrence 6
Whitts 6
Gunner 6
Milller 6

Back 5 were solid for most of the game, only a handful of chances for Millwall.
Going forward we knocked it about well, but still too slow with no cutting edge.

This 4-4-2 which so many are obsessed with -who are the 2 that can play up front since we only have one targetman and he really can't link up with anyone. (you gave him a 3 !)

I'm still gutted we missed out on Sordell, we could be fighting for the top 2 now if he and Phillips had come in.

Doesn't have to be a rigid 4-4-2 I'd have mason in just behind miller.

My ratings...

Marshall 7
Hudson 7
Turner 7
Taylor 7
Kev 6
McPhail 6
Mason 5
Lawrence 6
Whitts 6
Gunner 6
Milller 6

Back 5 were solid for most of the game, only a handful of chances for Millwall.
Going forward we knocked it about well, but still too slow with no cutting edge.

This 4-4-2 which so many are obsessed with -who are the 2 that can play up front since we only have one targetman and he really can't link up with anyone. (you gave him a 3 !)

I'm still gutted we missed out on Sordell, we could be fighting for the top 2 now if he and Phillips had come in.

Doesn't have to be a rigid 4-4-2 I'd have mason in just behind miller.

So you mean 4-4-1-1

In fact I agree. He picks up lots of loose bakll there and can also join in attacks quickly and get in behind without the offsides.
it seemed Gunner was always the 2nd man froward which doesn't seem right to me.

I'd also like to see Conway start out wide if Mason is behind the striker, but who to leave out then out of Gunner, Whitts and McPhail. Gunner would have to play or we'd have absolutely no bite in there. Do we play Whitts wide and leave McPhail in ?

They should all have must do better Chief

My ratings...

Marshall 7
Hudson 7
Turner 7
Taylor 7
Kev 6
McPhail 6
Mason 5
Lawrence 6
Whitts 6
Gunner 6
Milller 6

Back 5 were solid for most of the game, only a handful of chances for Millwall.
Going forward we knocked it about well, but still too slow with no cutting edge.

This 4-4-2 which so many are obsessed with -who are the 2 that can play up front since we only have one targetman and he really can't link up with anyone. (you gave him a 3 !)

I'm still gutted we missed out on Sordell, we could be fighting for the top 2 now if he and Phillips had come in.

Doesn't have to be a rigid 4-4-2 I'd have mason in just behind miller.

So you mean 4-4-1-1

In fact I agree. He picks up lots of loose bakll there and can also join in attacks quickly and get in behind without the offsides.
it seemed Gunner was always the 2nd man froward which doesn't seem right to me.

I'd also like to see Conway start out wide if Mason is behind the striker, but who to leave out then out of Gunner, Whitts and McPhail. Gunner would have to play or we'd have absolutely no bite in there. Do we play Whitts wide and leave McPhail in ?

I didn't say 4-4-2
Mason played the head of the diamond before so that kind of position would suit me, just with 4 behind him.

My ratings...

Marshall 7
Hudson 7
Turner 7
Taylor 7
Kev 6
McPhail 6
Mason 5
Lawrence 6
Whitts 6
Gunner 6
Milller 6

Back 5 were solid for most of the game, only a handful of chances for Millwall.
Going forward we knocked it about well, but still too slow with no cutting edge.

This 4-4-2 which so many are obsessed with -who are the 2 that can play up front since we only have one targetman and he really can't link up with anyone. (you gave him a 3 !)

I'm still gutted we missed out on Sordell, we could be fighting for the top 2 now if he and Phillips had come in.

Doesn't have to be a rigid 4-4-2 I'd have mason in just behind miller.

So you mean 4-4-1-1

In fact I agree. He picks up lots of loose bakll there and can also join in attacks quickly and get in behind without the offsides.
it seemed Gunner was always the 2nd man froward which doesn't seem right to me.

I'd also like to see Conway start out wide if Mason is behind the striker, but who to leave out then out of Gunner, Whitts and McPhail. Gunner would have to play or we'd have absolutely no bite in there. Do we play Whitts wide and leave McPhail in ?

I didn't say 4-4-2
Mason played the head of the diamond before so that kind of position would suit me, just with 4 behind him.

Thats still only 1 up front

Who would you leave out ? i think thats malky's problem, he wants to play McPhail AND wHitts, but needs a battler in there with them.

Not the way i would play it

ATM we play do narrow I don't think it would hurt playing witts wide

Witts mcphail gunarrson Conway
Mason
Miller

Especially for a home game.

Marshall 7
Hudson 7
Turner 7
Taylor 7
Kev 7 - Back five did reasonably well
McPhail 6
Mason 4 - I feel mason needs to be taken out of the side, did a lot first 20 minutes and never saw him again, hes a young boy though
Lawrence 6/7 - Best of the midfielder for me and I havent rated him before yesterday
Whitts 4 - Dreadful, I couldnt count one pass that actually went to our players
Gunner 5 - Not much better than whitts
Milller 4 - Good link up play, but everytime a shot didn't pay off he went rolling round on the floor, in 5 minutes I counted him hold his head, leg, back and face

But we keep going and fighting

Gestede hardly lost a header. When he came we actually had an outlet and attacking threat