PLAYER WATCH v Barnsley

[tonyoz]

PLAYER WATCH v Barnsley

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

Kaminski              ******

Nyambe               ****************  *****             

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

Ayala                    ********************  *****              

Pickering              ********************  *****             

Travis                    ************  *****    

Buckley                **************  *******              

Rothwell (71)        ******  ******              

Dolan (66)            ****  *****  

Poveda (66)          ******  *********

Brereton               ******  *********   

 

Khadra (66)           *****  ** 

Clarkson (66)         **  ****

Edun (71)               *  **              

 

Highlights and Lowlights

(A justification for the main ratings above)

01  Buckley plays a ball over the defence for Diaz to chase. It’s a nice idea but it’s just too far and the goalie gets there first to parry away.

01  Buckley just gets a foot in to dispossess the Barnsley man.

03  Buckley in Rovers half receives the ball, moves nicely inside his man and threads the ball towards Diaz, making a good run, but again it’s too hard. 

05  Lovely long ball from Lenihan finds Dolan unmarked in the left corner. A lot of nice interplay from Rovers until Poveda does too much, loses control and the move breaks down.

06  The Barnsley forward beats Buckley too easily and moves into the box. Fortunately his cross was just too high. First let-off!

07  Pointless free-kick given away by Buckley.

13  That’s the third overhit long ball in a row from Buckley. This time the ball beats Poveda and runs into touch. It’s also the third time that Poveda has been frustrated by poor balls from his new colleagues.

15  Travis picks up the ball on halfway and cuts between two defenders before laying the ball off perfectly to Diaz in the box. He cuts inside and his shot hits Dolan in the head………..it was heading for the corner flag anyway. Poor effort (the position was very similar to the goal he got against Hull) . The ball bounces out and that’s a high challenge from Buckley but he gets away with it. Travis wins a challenge and the ball runs to Diaz in the box but he’s offside.

19  Oduor picks up the ball in the centre circle. Travis falls over somehow, Rothwell is ineffective and Lenihan is nutmegged just outside the box!!! Kaminski spreads himself wide and makes a fantastic save with his leg. BIG let-off!

24  Another poor pass to Poveda, this time from Nyambe.

25  Nice one-two between Nyambe and Poveda but poor final pass from Nyambe. I think Diaz was offside anyway!

27  Twice in a minute Rovers are daydreaming when the ball comes in from quick Barnsley throws.

30  Buckley chases down a long ball and is hit in the face as the goalie clears the ball. Barnsley get a free-kick for some strange reason.

32  Dolan beats his fullback beautifully and crosses from the right edge of the box…….I think Diaz opted not to go for it…..anyway the ball flashes across the face of goal. Eventually Pickering slides a peach of a pass to Diaz making a good run into the goalmouth and from a narrow angle his deflected cross bisects Dolan and Poveda agonisingly as they waited for a tap-in.

Buckley gets a good foot in to dispossess his opponent.

33  Poveda gives the ball away in midfield leading to a Barnsley attack but Nyambe wins the ball back in a dangerous position.

36  Buckley intercepts a pass but can’t keep it in play.

38  Ayala beaten to a header for once but Lenihan wins the second header. After a bit of panic Ayala does well to block the ball out for a corner. Ayala and Lenihan get in each others way from the corner allowing Helik a free header but there’s not much power and Kaminski saves comfortably. The two centrebacks look at each other and shrug their shoulders. Let-off number 3.

42  Pickering slips in the corner making a clearance and Barnsley gather and put on a fair bit of pressure which we struggle to clear. Eventually Travis brings down his man just outside the box. The free-kick is blocked by the wall and cleared by Ayala.

Apparently our pass success rate in the attacking third  for the first half was 52%

 

49  Lenihan heads forward powerfully to Dolan but he’s offside.

51  Sloppy from Buckley as he lets the ball run over the line for a Barnsley throw.

52  He makes up for it with some nice control and a pass down the line to Pickering but it fizzles out and Buckley gives away a foul.

56  Poveda dispossessed again. Nicely picked up by Nyambe who puts in Dolan on the wing but his cross is poor.

57  The ball is won well by Rothwell in midfield but Buckley’s pass forward is awful.

57  Travis wins the ball and Rothwell drives forward and releases the ball sweetly to Diaz’s feet, he nets but is a mile offside! Sloppy, he set off far too early.

58  Lenihan intercepts and strolls into midfield before releasing Poveda to run down the wing. His cross is in front of everyone and runs out of play. Poveda looks really fed up!

61  Lenihan intercepts and Travis does well to feed Poveda on the wing but he is dispossessed again.

63  Nyambe wins the ball well in a tackle and feeds Poveda but his crossfield ball sails over Diaz’s head and out. Nothing’s working for the lad today.

64 Another of those ineffective “from behind” tackles from Rothwell results in a dangerous free-kick just outside the box. Deflected by the wall for a corner. Fortunately Barnsley give away a foul.

66  Clarkson and Khadra on. Poveda and Dolan off.

67  Travis beaten too easily but the resulting cross is cleared by Ayala.

67  Adeboyejo turns Khadra inside out twice in our box but the cross hits Pickering and it’s a corner. Frieser outjumps Travis and his powerful header is tipped over brilliantly by Kaminski.

Another let off. Finally Diaz heads a third corner clear. 

69  Lenihan heads clear and Khadra’s off like a whippet; he plays a superb ball through to Diaz to put him one on one with the goalie but his first touch is poor and the goalie closes him down. Terrible miss by Ben but I have to admit he did well to charge from our own box into the Barnsley box but it’s that poor first touch again!

70  We nearly paid for that immediately, Nyambe fails to prevent the cross and a totally unmarked Barnsley man smashes the ball past the post. How many let-offs is that?

71  Edun on for Rothwell. 

74  Edun gives away a free-kick in the middle of our half. Soft.

76  Lenihan loses a header but Buckley is there to clear.

77  Clarkson upends his man on the halfway line.

77  Frieser’s long throw is half cleared by Pickering to the wing but Diaz fails to chase down and is lazily claiming a throw…..but Frieser keeps the ball in and his cross finds Helik at the near post who outjumps Ayala. The ball falls almost on the line but Adeboyejo somehow fails to touch the ball into the net! BIG BIG let off.

80  Free-kick by Clarkson is overdone but the Barnsley man fails to clear but Khadra’s control let him down.

85  Clarkson does well to dispossess the Barnsley man and break down an attacking move.

Pickering slides the ball to Edun who avoids a nasty tackle neatly and sends Diaz chasing down the wing but he loses out in a shoulder to shoulder with Helik. Barnsley attack and Pickering wins the ball in the corner but Edun’s clearance is intercepted and Styles smashes a hard, low shot from 25m just past the post. 

87  A low seemingly innocuous cross comes in from the wing and Pickering seems to slip and, falling backwards, spoons the ball over his head and it’s nearly an own goal! Deary me we have been lucky today.

88  What’s this all about? Nyambe is the fourth player to pick up the ball for this throw in!

88  Pickering plays a lovely long ball for Khadra to chase into the box. He beats the defender with ease and lays off to Clarkson who takes one touch and tries to side-foot the ball into the net but there’s not enough power and the goalie saves. Khadra gets the ball back and feeds Edun in the D but he loses control. Eventually Nyambe wins a corner.

90  Another panic inducing run by Khadra into the box but this time there’s too many defenders….but still good to watch!

 

                                      Final pass success rate in the attacking third third is 50%!

 

Edited September 21, 2021 by tonyoz

[tonyoz]

Who contributed most to the win?

Although I used a colour scale for relative simplicity, I actually graded each bit of play on a numerical scale:

+5     GOAL

+4   Excellent play 

+3   Very good play

+2   Good play

+1   Decent play

  0   Routine stuff

-1   Sloppy play

-2   Poor play

-3   Awful stuff

-4   Terrible play

-5   Own goal

 

I can then add up each player's score and obtain a measure of his contribution to the game. This is what I got:

 

Kaminski   15

Nyambe   22

Lenihan   36

Ayala   28

Pickering   28

Travis   12

Buckley   12

Rothwell   -2

Dolan   -3

Poveda  -6

Brereton   -11

 

Khadra   10

Clarkson  -6

Edun  -1

 

What do you think?

[Sparks Rover]

You a fan of Bucko then...? 😄 he even made passes after he went off....bad ones though to balance your favouritism....

Looking at that you wonder why he was hooked just after half time...he had  stormer in the first half according to you.

Edited September 20, 2021 by Sparks Rover

[tonyoz]

4 minutes ago, Sparks Rover said:

You a fan of Bucko then...? 😄 he even made passes after he went off....bad ones though to balance your favouritism....

Looking at that you wonder why he was hooked just after half time...he had  stormer in the first half according to you.

You seem to be confused. Buckley was on for the entire game! I tried to justify the grades I gave in my commentary. Which Buckley comments do you think are inaccurate? I assure you I don't spend all this time posting to praise John Buckley!

[JacknOry]

5 hours ago, Sparks Rover said:

You a fan of Bucko then...? 😄 he even made passes after he went off....bad ones though to balance your favouritism....

Looking at that you wonder why he was hooked just after half time...he had  stormer in the first half according to you.

Look, I agree with your views on some things, but Bucko was never subbed lol. Its obvious you don't rate the guy but come on.

 

Edited September 20, 2021 by JacknOry

[Sparks Rover]

2 minutes ago, JacknOry said:

Look, I agree with your views on some things, but Bucko was never subbed lol. Its obvious you don't rate the guy but come on.

I thought he wasn't on the pitch the 2nd half....🤔

[roversfan99]

Speaking of Buckley though, why are his first 2 overhit passes deemed as good play, yet his third one was deemed as poor?

That was my major frustration again with him on Saturday, his slight physique isnt a big concern as he does hold his own and is tenacious, but when push came to shove, his final ball from an attacking sense was found to be lacking. Like all of our attacking players at the moment, he needs to massively improve the quality and consistency of what he does in the final third.

[JacknOry]

17 minutes ago, Sparks Rover said:

I thought he wasn't on the pitch the 2nd half....🤔

Admit your mistake man. Gonna call you Kamara from now on. 

[JacknOry]

Went down a rabbit hole because of sparks

 

[JacknOry]

Shearer sent off the referee.

Edited September 20, 2021 by JacknOry

[tonyoz]

4 hours ago, roversfan99 said:

Speaking of Buckley though, why are his first 2 overhit passes deemed as good play, yet his third one was deemed as poor?

That was my major frustration again with him on Saturday, his slight physique isnt a big concern as he does hold his own and is tenacious, but when push came to shove, his final ball from an attacking sense was found to be lacking. Like all of our attacking players at the moment, he needs to massively improve the quality and consistency of what he does in the final third.

It’s a good question. The three incidents were not the same. In the first minute Buckley played a long ball over the defence for Diaz to chase. It was excellent vision and nearly came off. The goalie was just aware enough to rush out and get there first. 
On 3 minutes he received the ball on the wing in his own half, neatly sidestepped the defender and immediately released the ball to Diaz who had made a good run towards the box. The ball was not accurate enough but I thought there was an element of good play so I rated it one on my scale. I nearly ignored it.

Finally the third cross on 13 minutes was just poor and over-hit.

It’s great to have vision but it’s of limited value if the execution is lacking. So after 3 attempts I thought it was worth mentioning the overall picture.
 

I try my best to be fair but sometimes individual incidents are not clear cut and other fans may disagree with my conclusion. Overall though, I hope my commentary and ratings give an accurate flavour of the game.

Edited September 20, 2021 by tonyoz