Ratings

[CA Baggie]

Griffiths - looks devoid of confidence. Cheers Ryan.

He’s also playing in front of a “defence” that is most certainly less than the sum of its parts. Charlie Taylor was laughably bad and played the 90. Blues have sold us an asoljte whopper based on the last couple of games. Non-existant in midfield and a sieve at centre back.

What’s happened to the Phillips and Mepham from Stoke away? They fought that day for everything.

Tonight they genuinely gave up. A performance Brian Little would have been embarrassed about, that’s not a dig at Ramsey, but given where he’s found us he’s not going to have long before the knives are out.

[HeggebøsBarnDoor]

I've got more of a problem with the CB's we've signed and paying decent money to that have turned out to either be total shite or have the mental fragility of toddlers then i am JG.

Whole team tonight was a total disgrace. Not nearly enough fight in any of them. Almost like they believe their own hype and bullshit that they're good players and this isn't their fault. They need a rocket up them quickly. Don't matter what formation you play, if there isn't an ounce of fight and you can't win second balls and you can't pass...MAJOR work to be done in the summer.

[Hughie Reed 31]

Griffiths: 3 it seems every shot against us goes in
Philips: 2 expected him to control defence he hides
Mepham: 2 awful can’t pass or block anything at the moment
Taylor: -2 send him back legs have gone.
Price: 2, not a right wing back
SiJ: 3 one of his better games for us still only worth an 3
Styles: 2 did nothing tonight easily his worst game for us
Bielik: 2 won the toss I think
Maja: 1 not very good looks like he wants out
Johnston: 3 a few bursts but got frustrated
Grant:3 tried but no centre forward

Subs, no impact for any all marked as 2

Ramsey: 2 set up completely wrong a lot of tonight on him needs
To wise up quick

[Tom Joad 25]

Not worth rating any of that. What I would say though is Grant barely got a ball to feet or to run with, Heggebo the same, SIJ did ok, Jed tried but was overcrowded too often, Griffiths had no chance with the goals, Mikey kept at it albeit ineffectivly and Mowatt actually found the odd teammate - unlike the rest. Those not mentioned should be made to walk home in the rain and report to training at 6am tomorrow. It won't improve them but it would make me feel better.

[Jacko]

Griffiths 5 - no chance with any of the goals, plucks a good ball out of the back of the net though getting it back to the centre circle quickly for kick-off.

Mepham -3 - this guy could not look any further from a mainstay in a promoted side last year. He can't pass, can't tackle, doesn’t anticipate danger, nothing.
Phillips 2 - I hope to Christ he picked up a knock because he was the best of the 3 centre halves 1st half.
Taylor 0 - looks like he's won a contest. Get him booked on the next cross-country train back to Hampshire and forget he ever darkened our door.

Price 3 - I was extremely frustrated Mepham didn't get the ball to him more often and quicker so he must have been furious, I was bamboozled by his withdrawal after his performance in centre mid on Friday.
Styles 3 - Early yellow card did for him really, but he and Bielik were outnumbered in the middle of the park.
Bielik 3 - See Styles, plus fared no better at centre back.
SIJ 5 (MOTM) - Incredibly low bar, but hit the post and looks the part in this system.

Maja 2 - Didn't really work for Josh, like everyone else I thought him and Grant were in the wrong positions.
Grant 1 - Can we give him the assist for the 4th goal? Possibly. He's never a striker while he's got a hole in his arse.
Johnston 3 - Nothing came off tonight for MJ, extra point for looking extremely disappointed with himself at the end.

Subs CBA, but Molumby was dogshit.

[Josh1873]

Birdman, you're talking absolute shite. You've been far too kind. 0's all around.

[AnelkasBeard]

Just so so poor all over it’s hard to analyse ( and that’s just up to 3-0).
Players looked out thought, out battled and like the team that had been in the bottom three most of the season.
What’s happened to Griffiths? Seems to be getting generally worse rather than better.
How we have missed Palmer.

In what world is Griffiths to blame?

Genuinely amazes me what some people see when they watch football.

Not to blame but just not very good and so easily beaten most games.
Do you watch the game ?

Hilarious.

So he’s doing well then? He is better than Wildsmith but that’s not difficult!

Absolutely nothing he could do about any of the goals.

We also all seem to agree that the CBs in front of him are playing absolutely woefully. Give players in the Champ the amount of time and space we did last night to get their shots off, and they should give keepers no chance. Someone else said it last night; no blocks, no tackles, no closing down of angles for ANY of the goals last night. The Norwich commentators on stream last night called it correctly, they were first to every second ball or rebound.

The problem will be, as Birdy alluded to, his confidence will be rock bottom (as they all will be), so it's likely he will start making actual mistakes and perpetuate the cycle of decline.

[Peachofacross]

Is there a centre half unit in the U21's that's hiding away? Someone that wants to come in and fight for everything. Because at the moment I don't want to see Phillips, Mepham or Taylor starting a game.

If we are sticking with 3 at the back (which we shouldn't btw) then I'd go for Gilchrist, Campbell and Diakite! Total new defence. We need to do something radical.

[chasetownbaggie]

Not worth rating any of that. What I would say though is  Grant barely got a ball to feet or to run with, Heggebo the same, SIJ did ok, Jed tried but was overcrowded too often, Griffiths had no chance with the goals, Mikey kept at it albeit ineffectivly and Mowatt actually found the odd teammate - unlike the rest. Those not mentioned should be made to walk home in the rain and report to training at 6am tomorrow.  It won't improve them but it would make me feel better.

Agree with that. I'll add that it looked like no-one knew what they were doing in the 343* formation in the first half and Eric rightly changed it at HT but letting in the 2nd goal so soon after HT was a punch in the stomach that knocked the collective wind out of us and, given our lack of leaders**, we capitulated.

I've watched back the goals. 

First one, both Styles and Bielik closed down the Norwich player but neither tackled him, then all of the CBs backed off Schwartau, a clear indication of not knowing their roles

Second goal, not for the first time this season, Mepham bypassed by the player he's followed. When the ball went in, there were 5 Albion players (not including the GK!), closer to the goal than him.

Third goal, just weak from everyone, literally powder puff defending. (BTW, check out SIJ chilling on the edge of the 6 yard area - I'll pardon him this one time as he was the only player to look like scoring for us last night but why wasn't he trying to get to the goalline ready to make a block?).

Fourth goal - if that doesn't banish Mepham to the bench, nothing will.

Fifth goal - play for pride? Nah. If you'd left the ground at 3-0 thinking you'd seenit all, you missed the absolute nadir of the night (and I pray the low point of the season). An apology of a pass from Molumby was the prelude for a scene straight from a Harold Lloyd movie. Desperate.

Very worryingly, I've not seen anything like that since the 90s.



*IMO, we haven't had the players to play a 4 man midfield since the days of McInnes and AJ, both grafters who loved a battle. We have to play with 3 CMs, end of.

**Given where he'd come from, I did think Phillips would be a huge player for us this season, but he's a shadow of the player he was back in August/September, looks mentally shattered.

[AnelkasBeard]

If we stick to 3 at the back, it needs to be Campbell Phillips A.N.Other.

However unless we get a competent RWB in this month (we won't) or Alex Williams can come back soon, we shouldn't stick with this formation as we just can't fill that hole at RWB.

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Not worth rating any of that. What I would say though is  Grant barely got a ball to feet or to run with, Heggebo the same, SIJ did ok, Jed tried but was overcrowded too often, Griffiths had no chance with the goals, Mikey kept at it albeit ineffectivly and Mowatt actually found the odd teammate - unlike the rest. Those not mentioned should be made to walk home in the rain and report to training at 6am tomorrow.  It won't improve them but it would make me feel better.

Agree with that. I'll add that it looked like no-one knew what they were doing in the 343* formation in the first half and Eric rightly changed it at HT but letting in the 2nd goal so soon after HT was a punch in the stomach that knocked the collective wind out of us and, given our lack of leaders**, we capitulated.

I've watched back the goals. 

First one, both Styles and Bielik closed down the Norwich player but neither tackled him, then all of the CBs backed off Schwartau, a clear indication of not knowing their roles

Second goal, not for the first time this season, Mepham bypassed by the player he's followed. When the ball went in, there were 5 Albion players (not including the GK!), closer to the goal than him.

Third goal, just weak from everyone, literally powder puff defending. (BTW, check out SIJ chilling on the edge of the 6 yard area - I'll pardon him this one time as he was the only player to look like scoring for us last night but why wasn't he trying to get to the goalline ready to make a block?).

Fourth goal - if that doesn't banish Mepham to the bench, nothing will.

Fifth goal - play for pride? Nah. If you'd left the ground at 3-0 thinking you'd seenit all, you missed the absolute nadir of the night (and I pray the low point of the season). An apology of a pass from Molumby was the prelude for a scene straight from a Harold Lloyd movie. Desperate.

Very worryingly, I've not seen anything like that since the 90s.



*IMO, we haven't had the players to play a 4 man midfield since the days of McInnes and AJ, both grafters who loved a battle. We have to play with 3 CMs, end of.

**Given where he'd come from, I did think Phillips would be a huge player for us this season, but he's a shadow of the player he was back in August/September, looks mentally shattered.

Agree with all that, but especially the point about the 2nd goal. We had made the changes and looked a bit better in the 5 mins before and after half time, and that goal just completely killed us and lead to the capitulation you describe.