[Archived] An Assessment Of Individual Players V Newcastle

[tonyoz]

An assessment of individual player performance on Saturday

Each player was judged on the following criteria:

Instance of excellent play _*

Instance of decent/good play *

Instance of disappointing/poor play *

Instance of terrible play * E&OE

​

Ratings

Steele * ***** **

Marshall ****** *****

Lenihan * *********** **

Mulgrew * ***************** ***** *

Williams ***** *****

Lowe * ******* **

Evans ********* **

Feeney ** ********* *

Gallagher₍₆₁₎ ****

Graham **** ************* *

Conway *********** *

Emnes₍₆₁₎ *** ****** *

The_* ​and _* ​incidents are described below:

Highlights and Lowlights

1. Excellent covering tackle by Lowe.

4. An excellent cross by Feeney is met by Graham and his expertly flicked header to the top corner is tipped over brilliantly by the goalie.

6. The ball is won by Lenihan and he delivers a crunching tackle as a second Newcastle player tries to challenge.

6. Excellent control by Graham as he collects a long ball and neatly lays it off to Conway on the wing.

39. Mulgrew plays a poor back-pass to Steele and then gives the ball away in a dangerous position but we survive.

64. Graham wins yet another header, Emnes collects in the box, swivels past his defender but is off balance as he shoots and the ball goes wide.

68. Steele, on his backside, somehow manages to get his body in front of the ball as the Newcastle striker fails to score from 2 metres.

73. Emnes takes on his man with clever footwork and wins THE corner.

74. Short corner. Feeney into a crowd of bodies and Mulgrew is horizontal as he volleys the ball into the net.

78. The ball is cleared to Emnes who holds it up brilliantly to relieve pressure. He then unloads to Conway who wins a corner.

85. Graham collects a long ball and holds it up until Emnes arrives to collect the pass. Emnes’ shot is deflected for a corner.

I apologise for the varying font sizes! It happens when I cut and paste from Word for some reason.

Hmmm! I've just noticed that the formatting is all to pot on some mobile devices! Ah well. I tried.

[Stuart]

Have to say, your insights are amazing, Tony.

The effort that goes into these deserves a better Rovers than we are currently enduring.

Alway interesting that it's the more adventurous players who do something terrible now and again. I guess they naturally take more risks.

Compare and contrast with steady players who get game time for doing nothing of note. I guess there needs to be a balance.

The only thing I would add is that it's a bit subjective in that something 'terrible' by Marshall's standards might be 'average' by Lowe's standards, for example.

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

Lots of this is relative. A terrible pass on the edge of our penalty area can be much more disastrous than a terrible pass on the edge of our opponents penalty.

[tonyoz]

Thanks for your comments guys.

The only thing I would add is that it's a bit subjective in that something 'terrible' by Marshall's standards might be 'average' by Lowe's standards, for example.

It's bound to be subjective to some extent. I'm only human after all and this is football - we're supposed to argue the point. But a crap pass is a crap pass and I try to use that philosophy...............I try not to be blind to the faults of my favourite players! The bit I find most difficult to get right is when I apportion blame to defenders after we concede a goal. I know we often argue amongst ourselves on the board as to who was to blame. Nevertheless, I think the overall picture is accurate:

• Graham was exceptional
• Emnes came on and had an immediate impact. I like the way he relieves pressure by collecting the cleared ball and making a mischief of himself.
• Mulgrew had an excellent game
• Williams' and Marshall's net contributions weren't much to write home about.

Lots of this is relative. A terrible pass on the edge of our penalty area can be much more disastrous than a terrible pass on the edge of our opponents penalty.

I'm not sure about "lots" Tyrone but you did prick a nerve! I knew there was something wrong about classing Feeney's wild cross-field ball as terrible - because although it was terrible, it wasn't life-threatening.

The criteria I use for "terrible" is a serious goal threatening blunder (see Mulgrew at 39 minutes) or, up front, something like a missed open goal. However, I note that I have credited several examples of "excellent" play in other parts of the field and I am comfortable with that. If it leads to a good attack for us or breaks up a dangerous attack by them then it is worthy of merit I think. Even Lenihan's simple bone-crunching tackle (6 min) was worthy as it lifted the crowd into a roar and no doubt inspired his teammates.I made a mistake including Feeney's blunder so I have now corrected it - it is now "an incidence of poor/disappointing play".

[Dunnfc]

Love the analysis Tony. Cracking idea