It seems that nobody has the time recently to write match reports recently. I for one really enjoy reading them, particularly the player ratings. I was unable to watch the boys this time, would anyone have the time to at least provide some player ratings ?
Neil or Waz, you guys have great incite....
Travers 7 - didn’t have much to do TBH. He made two very good saves (he wasn’t to know a flag had gone up) and recycled the ball intelligently
Smith 7 - in the first half I thought he was off the pace and never seemed to overlap which left Christie a bit lonely on the right. However, he defended well and created the goal with a surging run
Cahill 9 MoM - immense at the back, marshalled the defence and didn’t put a foot wrong himself. We were all concerned about Cardiff’s aerial threat but he snuffed it out. If he’d snuck in with a goal he’d have a 10. What a signing
Kelly 7 - generally defended well but made a horrible mistake in the first half, passing straight to an opponent. However, this was offset by some excellent tackles
Zemura 8 - Superb again, he was a thorn in Cardiff’s side all afternoon and defended well too. Linked well with Anthony. A couple of times his favourite step over routine came out when he could have done something simpler but I can forgive him that for all round entertainment value. I’m excited when he gets the ball
Christie 6 - Struggled to get into the game on occasion and was often a bit lonely on the right. It was the one strange thing in the first half, there was often a big hole where in the old days there would have been an inside right. Made a couple of good runs and challenges
Lerma 8 - all round action performance only marred by a couple of his standard wayward passes and a really tough tackle that got a deserved yellow. However, his performance after the yellow if anything was even more noticeable
Pearson 9 - brilliant performance, broke up attacks regularly and also made several box clearances late on when we needed them. Recycled the ball well and kept us moving
Billing 9 - outstanding display, only let down by his finishing! Apart from a sublime goal which seemed to go in in slow motion but even then the keeper never moved, he should have had two more and could have had four more
Anthony 8 - dynamic running, good link up play with JZ and could have scored himself. Our left side is, dare I say it, looking like 2014/5 on steroids. Got a great reception when subbed as he came off the pitch in the corner in front of us and absolutely loved it!
Solanke 8 - plenty of good hold up play, unselfish running and also good defensive work when needed. One thing I like about him is that he never seems to give the ball away, he always finds someone
SUBS
Rogers 7 - slotted in well and made one good attack
Lowe 7 - no time to judge but came on totally committed and covered a lot of ground in a short perio
Scott Parker 10 - well, why not? That was as dominant a 1-0 win as you’ll ever see. The first half was quiet and we could see that we were not attacking with enough pace and getting numbers forward, especially on the right, but after half time Smithy bombed forward more and created a goal, JZ and JA created havoc, and we could have scored four or five, we were that dominant.
