An Assessment of Player Performance v Millwall

[tonyoz]

You’ve got to be keen to do this for a 0-0 draw! But I got some good feedback last time, so here goes.

There are lies, damn lies and statistics as Disraeli may have said. I was thinking about this after reading the fans comments on the post-match comments for the Ipswich game. I compared the fans’ opinions to the ratings on the whoscored.com website. Apparently Williams was our best player (7.62) and Nyambe the worst (5.82). There wasn’t much correlation!

Anyway, here’s my effort for the Millwall game:

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

 

Raya                                  **                                                   **                         

Nyambe                             *****                                           ***                    *

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

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

 

Bell                                      ******                                         ****      

Smallwood₍₆₆₎                     ****                                             * 

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

Bennett₍₈₀₎         *               **********                                       

Dack₍₈₂₎              **             *********                                ***

Graham             **             ******                                          *                          *

Palmer₍₆₃₎                            ****                                             **                        

 

Rothwell₍₆₃₎       *                **                                                  *                                                      

 Armstrong₍₆₆₎                            ****                                             

Travis₍₈₀₎                             ***                                               * 

 

Highlights and Lowlights

(A justification for the main ratings above)

 

 

6.     Lenihan plays his second “too short” pass in a minute putting pressure on his team mates. This  one almost allows the Millwall man a clear run on goal - fortunately Mulgrew just gets a touch.

9.      Evans and Smallwood don’t do enough to prevent Millwall working the ball right across the edge of the box. Saville hits the post.

11.    A nice ball from Bennett to Graham in the box. Graham heads down to Dack but he can’t quite get there.

26.    Lenihan manages to get his head on a long ball but it doesn’t go far and comes straight back. Mulgrew sells himself in a poor challenge and Lenihan is too slow to stop Morrison taking a clear run on goal. He hits the post.

37.   Terrible throw-in from Nyambe allows the Millwall man a run towards goal. Lenihan is too easily brushed aside. Fortunately the shot is blocked.

44.   An excellent low free kick to the bottom corner by Dack. Good save.

45.  Good cross from Dack is met by Lenihan. His header lands on the top of the bar.

50.   Graham bursts through on to a long low ball, fighting off the defender superbly. He gets his shot in but the goalie saves with his legs. Having set it up so well, Graham should have scored.

59.   A wonderful through ball by Dack. This time Graham has a clearer run on goal. He holds off the defender well but his shot hits the goalies legs again. Sorry Danny but this time it’s got to be “red”.

69.   Graham chests down a long ball into the path of Rothwell who takes it on at speed and releases a fine shot from 25 metres. Another good save.

89.   Evans drives forward brilliantly from the edge of his own box, holding off two Millwall men. Sadly his cross was a stinker!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited August 15, 2018 by tonyoz

[philipl]

Really appreciate reading this type of analysis. 

Thank you for doing it.

 

[JBiz]

Thanks again Tonyoz. Interesting stuff 

[toogs]

Wow the time it must take to put that together - much appreciated and very interesting. 

[punerover]

Two consecutive red marks for mulgrew. Interesting.

[JacknOry]

1 minute ago, OnePhilT said:

Mulgrew is still our best set-piece taker, but if Dack starts doing more on that front, it might start raising questions about his place in the side. That being said, Mulgrew won't lose his starting place in the team this season, given that he's captain.

Think when you compare the past two league games, its clear that Lenihan has done most of the good work back there. That said, Mulgrew brings other qualities such as leadership and his set pieces.

[roversfan99]

1 hour ago, OnePhilT said:

Mulgrew is still our best set-piece taker, but if Dack starts doing more on that front, it might start raising questions about his place in the side. That being said, Mulgrew won't lose his starting place in the team this season, given that he's captain.

 

1 hour ago, JacknOry said:

Think when you compare the past two league games, its clear that Lenihan has done most of the good work back there. That said, Mulgrew brings other qualities such as leadership and his set pieces.

Find it baffling that people overlook Mulgrews defensive capabilities. To suggest that hes only guaranteed a start due to his set pieces is crazy talk, without even considering who the replacement could be.

As much as I rate Lenihan, im not sure how hes become considered as the superior of the 2, doing "most of the good work." Both are very capable Championship centre backs but id suggest that Lenihan makes at least if not more mistakes than Mulgrew. Maybe its because hes more of an orthodox defender and the additional aspects of Mulgrews game, ability on the ball, set pieces etc gloss over his defensive quality.

Hes the second name on the team sheet for me.

[DeeCee]

If only I wasn't colour blind?

 

[blueboy3333]

Lenihan is a better defender than Mulgrew. He was the best piece of business we did this summer. 

[JacknOry]

3 hours ago, roversfan99 said:

 

Find it baffling that people overlook Mulgrews defensive capabilities. To suggest that hes only guaranteed a start due to his set pieces is crazy talk, without even considering who the replacement could be.

As much as I rate Lenihan, im not sure how hes become considered as the superior of the 2, doing "most of the good work." Both are very capable Championship centre backs but id suggest that Lenihan makes at least if not more mistakes than Mulgrew. Maybe its because hes more of an orthodox defender and the additional aspects of Mulgrews game, ability on the ball, set pieces etc gloss over his defensive quality.

Hes the second name on the team sheet for me.

I didnt actually say that, just going off the two games gone. Its more to do with the good work that Lenihan has been doing - at no stage did I suggest he should be replaced.

[roversfan99]

1 minute ago, JacknOry said:

I didnt actually say that, just going off the two games gone. Its more to do with the good work that Lenihan has been doing - at no stage did I suggest he should be replaced.

Apologies, that wasnt aimed at you. I personally think the pair of them are very good, Mulgrew in my opinion is underated.

[Butty]

Reading this makes it even worse that Carragher got his job back at Sky sports. You should be alongside Neville on MNF. Top work pal.

[tonyoz]

I enjoy doing it for some strange reason but I'm on holiday for 2 weeks and I don't think my wife would be impressed if I did the next couple of matches. But thanks for the nice comments.

[tonyoz]

I’m sat in Brisbane airport with a few hours to spare so here are a few reflections:

Mulgrew and Lenihan are both top players at this level. I remember saying to den after Lenihan’s return match......”we’ve really missed that brand of aggression.” One thing I do notice though is how much we tend to underrate effective defensive headers of the ball. I know there were issues at the end but Duffy was the master at this in recent times.....Hanley was pretty good too. We were usually at the top of the “won most aerial contests” stats. Some of Duffy’s clearances went over the half-way line!

Neither Lenihan nor Mulgrew dominate in this respect.......so the ball often falls dangerously, even if the challenge is won. The Morrison shot on the post came from exactly that kind of situation. I remember commenting on this problem once before when Duffy and Hanley were both out of the team one time........two fluffed headers in succession, one by each centre back......one down.

Kevin Moran, Colin Hendry..........that’s what I’m talking about heh heh!

 

[Give 'Em the Axe]

4 hours ago, tonyoz said:

I enjoy doing it for some strange reason but I'm on holiday for 2 weeks and I don't think my wife would be impressed if I did the next couple of matches. But thanks for the nice comments.

Enjoy your holiday! Listen, I'm not gonna reply to many of these threads but will be reading eagerly. The charts a quite fascinating, frankly. Let this message of gratitude suffice for the season, hahaha. Thanks for the effort, man, it's really appreciated.

[tonyoz]

21 hours ago, toogs said:

Wow the time it must take to put that together - much appreciated and very interesting. 

Oh! Here’s a sad (embarrassing) confession. Initially I typed directly into the website.......hoping that I could improve the formatting. Normally I use word. Anyway.....I was pleased with the finished result and posted.it. To my horror, when I looked for it the next day.it wasn’t there!

Sooooooo.........i did it again!

very sad!

[JacknOry]

6 hours ago, tonyoz said:

Oh! Here’s a sad (embarrassing) confession. Initially I typed directly into the website.......hoping that I could improve the formatting. Normally I use word. Anyway.....I was pleased with the finished result and posted.it. To my horror, when I looked for it the next day.it wasn’t there!

Sooooooo.........i did it again!

very sad!

Ouch! Definitely do it externally and save it - could even reuse them all by combining them at the end of the season to get a feel of how they all performed overall! Now that will be some work haha. 

[tonyoz]

Yes, I’ve thought about that. It will be possible to keep an “average” rating running once we have a few games under our belts.