PLAYER WATCH v WBA (A)

[tonyoz]

PLAYER WATCH v WBA (A)

Each incident in the match was rated on the following scale: 

+5 GOAL 

+4 Excellent play 

+3 Very good play 

+2 Pleasing/good play 

+1 Decent play 

  0 Routine stuff 

 -1 Sloppy play 

 -2 Disappointing/poor play 

 -3 Very poor play 

 -4 Terrible play 

 -5 Own goal 

The ratings for each player were then combined to produce a measure of the players overall contribution to the match. 

 
Ratings       

Key incidents per player = coloured stars              Overall contribution = numbers

Kaminski                         **  **     0                               

R-Costello (73)               ************  *********     5    

Nyambe                          ****************   ****     21

Wharton                         *************************  ************     23

van Hecke                       ********************  *******      22

Giles                                ***************  ********     6

Travis                              ************  ********     6     

Buckley (89)                   ******************  *******    22        

Rothwell                         *******************  ******     20     

Gallagher                        ******** ************     -5

Diaz (69)                         *********** *********     5 

  

Khadra (69)                    ** *****      -6   

Dolan (73)                      ***  *     7

Johnson (89)                  0

                                                                        

Highlights and Lowlights 

(A justification for the main ratings given above)

 

Ayala is injured during warm-up so JRC comes in, Nyambe moves into the centre.

00 Poor touch by Buckley loses the ball.

02 Awful attempt at a long pass by Rothwell goes for a goal kick.

04 Rovers are awarded a free kick midway in West Brom’s half on the right wing. It’s a decent cross by Rothwell but a defender heads clear. It falls to Buckley 22 yards out who immediately fires back a powerful half-volley. It’s goal bound but deflected by a defender’s leg, behind for a corner. Great technique after the criticism of his shooting in recent games!

05 Rothwell slides a nice ball through the centre to Gallagher who miscontrols but it falls perfectly to Diaz in the D, he nets but both Rovers were offside.

10 Nice Rovers approach play but Travis passes straight into touch.

17 A nice ball down the wing from JRC to Gallagher who’s in the clear. He heads to goal but his “no-look” attempted cross is poor and Diaz, in the centre, holds his head.

19 Wharton has tried a couple of long cross-field passes and neither have been good enough. Now Furlong has the ball on their right wing and he strolls towards goal with no one attempting to challenge him. Diaz can’t get back, Giles and Wharton stay with their men and Rothwell is spectating which allows Furlong to get a dangerous cross into the 6 yard box where it bounces off Grant for a goal-kick. Close!

21 An all too familiar “nudge in the back” Rothwell tackle concedes a free kick 32 yards out. The ball goes to Carroll eventually on the far edge of the box. He beats Nyambe and Travis before firing in a shot which Kaminski beats away at his near post.

24 Rothwell miscontrols and is dispossessed 30 yards out. Wharton and van Hecke combine to clear up. West Brom come straight back and this time it’s Diaz who commits a dumb foul from behind, just 25 yards out. Furlong’s attempt at goal is comfortably wide.

27 Lots of West Brom pressure around the Rovers box and some rushed, unpolished defending from Rovers. Now it’s JRC, then Travis with sloppy passes, and momentum is lost again. West Brom are first to every ball right now and we can’t get out of our half.

36 Giles gives Reach too much room down their right wing allowing him to cross. There’s a bit of ping-pong before Kaminski collects. Still plenty of self-induced pressure on Rovers. Fortunately West Brom aren’t very good.

39 A nice long ball into the left channel from Rothwell sends Diaz away but the defender out-muscles him and Diaz is judged to have fouled him.

40 JRC tries to play too much football close to our own goal, he loses control and has to foul the attacker. Yellow card. Fortunately the free kick comes to nothing but that’s the third free cross into the box we’ve given them…..with Carroll lurking!

43 Diaz brings the ball out of our half, beautifully side-stepping opponents as he goes, before laying off a nice pass to JRC who lobs a decent ball into the box where Furlong does well to launch himself and head the ball away from Gallagher who was getting ready to shoot. I’m not sure if Sam could have gone for a header but anyway, it was good defending.

45 The half-time whistle goes and we’ve struggled to produce anything of real quality. West Brom haven’t been much better.

 

45 Clarke beats Gallagher and Buckley, setting up Townsend for the cross. Carroll outjumps Wharton but heads well over the bar.

47 Reach is away from Travis, haring down the wing. Thankfully Rothwell has got back to cut out the cross.

48 Everyone is back for the WBA corner. Carroll beats Gallagher and Wharton in the air but Diaz is first to the bouncing ball.

49 Reach tries a shot from outside the box but it’s deflected high into the air. Kaminski fails to punch clear because Townsend backed into him and Clarke heads into the net. But the foul's given.

50 JRC puts in a long crossfield ball to Diaz in the box. He tries to volley it unsuccessfully but he was offside anyway.

53 A nice long ball down the wing from Giles for Diaz to chase but he’s outmuscled by the defender.

54 Van Hecke passes long down the wing to Nyambe and he takes it on and crosses flat across the box, 8 yards out. The defender somehow misses it which puts Gallagher off and, unbelievably, Gallagher does the splits and the ball rolls between his legs with the goal gaping wide! The next defender puts it out for a corner. Rothwell takes it and Wharton gets up first but gets under the ball and his header is well over. A bit disappointing.

56 Buckley wins a corner on the right. Rothwell’s cross finds Wharton again. It’s a clearer chance but again the header is off-target. He should have troubled the keeper this time.

58 Buckley slightly to the right and 40 yards out bends a lovely ball behind the defence to Diaz who finishes beautifully with his left foot. Frustratingly it’s all for nothing because Diaz was offside AGAIN! With so few chances coming our way, we can’t afford these misjudgements.

59 A bit of Rovers pressure and JRC crosses into the box. The defender’s header falls to Buckley on the left side of the box. He drives infield and dummies to shoot before firing from 16 yards. It takes two deflections and Johnstone does well to push it behind for a corner.

62 It’s more Rovers pressure and Buckley picks up the ball on the left wing. He moves forward confidently to the edge of the box and fires in a lovely cross which Gallagher and JRC just fail to connect with.

63 West Brom attack and JRC fails to prevent the winger getting in a good cross but van Hecke heads clear.

64 Diangana goes past Buckley too easily and passes to Furlong near the corner flag. This time it’s Giles who fails to prevent the cross but JRC heads away. West Brom come again, and again, JRC fails to prevent the cross. Carroll fouls Wharton but play goes on as Kaminski collects.

65 A lot of inter-passing by Rovers, then Rothwell slots the ball nicely down the left channel to Diaz’s feet. He takes it on and from just outside the box fires in a shot but it’s comfortably saved by Johnstone. Oh dear! It looks like Diaz has injured himself.

68 Play continues against Rovers 10 men. Giles is not getting close enough to his man and Diangana is allowed to cross under no pressure. Carroll heads it down to Reach on the edge of the box but he blasts the ball over the bar. I’m not sure Giles is a good enough defender to play wing back!

69 Diaz off, Khadra on.

72 Khadra runs down a blind alley on the edge of the box and loses the ball. Play continues and then he runs down another alley and loses possession.

73 JRC off, Dolan on.

74 Gallagher steals the ball from last defender Clarke but his lack of control means it’s all for nothing and the keeper collects.

75 Giles slips it down the wing to Khadra near the corner flag. He takes it into the box, nutmegging the first defender and beating a second before firing in a powerful shot from a narrow angle. The keeper parries away. There were Rovers players in the box…..perhaps trying to find one would have been a better option?

76 Travis gives away a soft foul just inside Rovers half. Wharton beats Carroll to the header.

77 Khadra gives the ball away in a dangerous position but Rothwell clears the subsequent cross.

78 Again Khadra gives the ball away. Apart from that one twinkling moment, he’s been awful since he came on! Finally Nyambe gets the ball clear. He’s had some excellent moments in the back 3 today!

80 Khadra fires a nice long ball towards Gallagher in the box. He controls first time (no really!) and lays back to Buckley who feeds Travis but he loses the ball.

84 Rovers get a free kick, central but over 30 yards out. Khadra decides to go for goal but it’s 2 yards wide.

85 Dolan collects a long Kaminski kick on the wing. He beats Townsend and takes it to the byline where he crosses to Gallagher who has his back to goal but it runs to Buckley who hits a decent shot on target but a defenders leg gets in the important block.

86 Travis steals the ball from Carroll then immediately gives the ball away! Wharton fouls Carroll near the centre circle. It’s taken short and persistent pressing by Buckley sees the ball go all the way back to their goalie.

87 It’s a West Brom corner. It’s deep and Carroll beats both Gallagher and Wharton and Kaminski, under pressure, paws away his header. A tired looking van Hecke chases the ball and puts it out for a throw. Furlong lines up his long throw and 3 or 4 players go up for it at the neat post. Someone heads it straight to a West Brom man just on the edge of the 6 yard box and his header has a diving Kaminski beaten but miraculously there’s Dolan to intercept at full stretch and prevent a certain goal! The ball flies high in the air, Nyambe gets an important foot in and Dolan runs it out of the box. All the Rovers players are streaming forward. We win a corner! Phew! 

89 Buckley off, Johnson on. Nothing exciting happens from the corner.

93 Final whistle. A better second half but where is our next goal gonna come from?

Edited February 16, 2022 by tonyoz

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

Thanks again Tony, I didn’t get to see the match but your report makes up for that.

[tonyoz]

34 minutes ago, Tyrone Shoelaces said:

Thanks again Tony, I didn’t get to see the match but your report makes up for that.

I remember at the start of the season, many of us were convinced that we would struggle to score after Armstrong left. Some argued that others (collectively) would step up. Then Diaz turned up out of the blue to make the worriers look silly. Now Brereton’s come back, the old fears have returned. 

To be fair though, he did show some nice flashes (offsides excepted) on Wednesday….so let’s hope his injury is trivial. I haven’t seen any news yet.