Burnley v Chelsea - Player Ratings

Dom · Post by **Dom** » Fri Apr 20, 2018 7:24 am

A rare off night that, I'm sure we'll be able to pick ourselves up and perform better than that the next game.

Pope - 5. Player of the year between him and Gudmundsson, but tonight he wasn't good.
Lowton - 6. One horror pass aside, I thought he generally did well.
Long - 5. Not as composed as he was against Leicester, struggled with the pairing of Morata and Giroud, lucky to not concede a penalty.
Tarky - 4. Abysmal.
Ward - 5. Struggled with Chelsea's width, should have done better with their second goal.
Gudmundsson - 7. MOM. Stand out performance for me, just edging Cork. Epitomised by his excellent tracking back tackle on Pedro to break up a promising attack.
Westwood - 6. Wasn't good, wasn't bad,.
Cork - 7. Good hard working performance.
Barnes - 6. Tried but didn't have much success.
Wood - 5. As above but didn't "score". Seemed a yard short tonight.

Forgot Lennon - 4. He was that anonymous, I missed him off my scoring.

JohnMcGreal · Post by **JohnMcGreal** » Fri Apr 20, 2018 7:33 am

Pope - 5
Lowton - 5
Long - 5
Tarkowski - 4
Ward - 4
Lennon - 4
Cork - 6
Westwood - 6
Gudmundsson - 6
Barnes - 4
Wood - 4

Difficult night against a very decent Chelsea team.

On to the next one.

Murger · Post by **Murger** » Fri Apr 20, 2018 7:35 am

Pope - 5 Poor handling and even worse kicking.
Lowton - 6 Solid enough. Was offered no help in front.
Tarks - 5 Everything seemed off tonight
Long - 5 I thought he was slightly better than Tarks, but not much.
Ward - 4 Deffo the worst I've seen him play
Lennon - 4 2nd game in a row where he's offered nowt going either way.
Cork - 7 Won his 50/50s and passing was ok
Westwood - 6 Passing was generally ok. Always showed for the ball.
JBG - 7 Deffo the best player. Always ran at the Chelsea defence.
Wood - 5 Not existent
Barnes - 6 Extra mark for the goal.

It has to be said, Chelsea looked like they could go up a few gears. No shame in what happened tonight.

Lancasterclaret · Post by **Lancasterclaret** » Fri Apr 20, 2018 8:07 am

I think the fact that if we are not 100% on it, then against the really good teams you are going to struggle. It is bound to happen in games with our style and physicality and it didn't help that Chelsea decided to play two up front, and one of them (Giroud) was really good. Hard to watch to be honest, as I don't think we were in it apart from that spell from half time to our rather fortunate goal (with our only shot on target).

Still, as has already been said, Chelsea play like that and Southampton don't have a prayer.

Pope 5 - not great on both goals and kicking a bit meh. A shame for him because if he'd had a stormer with this being the only real match on tonight he'd have showcased his England credentials a lot.
Lowton 7 - best of the defence
Long 5 - didn't get to grips with their attack
Tarks 5 - as above, plus his passing wasn't great either
Ward 5 - worst game for us, looked to be really struggling all game
Lennon 4 - very poor, two simple passes in particular just showed just how far off he was
Westwood 6 - against some really good players and stuck at it
Cork 7 - good display to be honest
JBG 8 - our only attacking player to look like he might cause them problems and worked his socks off
Wood 4 - didn't press, didn't work hard enough
Barnes 6 - some great touches and scored

Subs
Vokes 6

Needed a change at half time to be honest, and certainly needed all three subs to be used as we have another game in three days and we look shot. Still an amazing season, but our first attempt at Thursday night football isn't going to live long in the memory.

EDIT - two things that I really have to mention, one that already has, the half time game of football some of the skills and ball control were seriously impressive and the booing of Gary Cahill?!? I know when he was here we only had about half this amount on but I thought people would remember just how good he was for us.

ClaretLoup · Post by **ClaretLoup** » Fri Apr 20, 2018 8:10 am

Pope 5 - not the assured performance we have come to expect
Lowton 7 - did his best to get the team moving forward and stem the tide. His flank was targeted big time.
Long 6 - not sure what he was doing for the goal but was the better of the two centre backs.
Tarky 5 - Morata had him on toast and his distribution went haywire as a result. Needs to get back to basics.
Ward 5 - struggled defensively and not much going forward
Lennon 3 - total passenger looked like a novice and not an experienced PL player
Cork 6 - put himself about but creatively not much on offer
Westwood 6 - ditto
Gudmundsson 8 - only player to have a real positive impact and carry any threat. Created the goal.
Barnes 6 - always looking for the ball and was persistent as usual.
Wood 4 - looked very limited technically tonight

Vokes 6 - put himself about and got our only other effort on target.

Although he was only on a short time I thought Wells looked lively and worth at least a longer look. We had no pace up front and thus were easily contained deploying the laborious build up on show last night. The performance was on the cards from the first time we gained possession and started to turn round and go backwards and hand the initiative to the opposition which they gratefully received and we remained on the back foot throughout. A disappointing performance overall irrespective of the opposition and some individuals well below par.

Milltown1882 · Post by **Milltown1882** » Fri Apr 20, 2018 8:19 am

Pope - 5
Lowton - 6
Long - 6
Tarkowski - 4
Ward - 4
Lennon - 4
Cork - 6
Westwood - 6
Gudmundsson - 6
Barnes - 5
Wood - 5

Not much we could do, tactical masterclass from Conte.

Muted reaction when Wells came on and he did ok in the time he had, imagine we could get behind our own players as much as fans love to do when Jay Rod plays against us.

the_magic_rat · Post by **the_magic_rat** » Fri Apr 20, 2018 8:28 am

Pope 6

Lowton 6
Long 6
Tarkowski 6
Ward 6

Lennon 6
Westwood 7
Cork 8
Gudmundsson 7

Barnes 6
Wood 5

Vokes 6

Roosterbooster · Post by **Roosterbooster** » Fri Apr 20, 2018 8:47 am

These scores might appear harsh, but remember, 7 means they had a good game, 4 means they were poor. 6 is average, and anybody scoring a 6 against what was an excellent side littered with world class talent should be happy with their performance

Pope 4
Lowton 6
Ward 4
Long 5
Tarks 5
Cork 7
Westwood 6
JBG 7
Lennon 5
Wood 4
Barnes 5

Pope and Ward’s worst games as far back as I can remember
Wood was utterly awful, really struggled to do anything against Cahill, who is basically now an average CB
Lennon tried to be too fancy too often, which is a pity because at times he looked like he had the run of them

I think Conte out-thought Dyche by playing the formation he did. Against what was always going to be a 442, it gave their key men so much room, they looked like they could have stepped up 2-3 gears in the first half

However, I didn’t expect anything from last night. Chelsea were excellent. Their movement and speed of play was consistently brilliant. Technically they were on another level, and we are obviously missing our most technical player. Might be a little blessing in disguise. Shows the areas we need to strengthen in if we want to take the next step

LoveCurryPies · Post by **LoveCurryPies** » Fri Apr 20, 2018 8:47 am

I know little about football and you guys seem to have covered the player's performance. So I will judge other aspects...

The weather...a wonderful start but did get quite cool during the second half. 8 points.
The happy atmosphere...8 points. Plenty of Burnley smiles and optimism before the game.
The singing from the Cricket Field Stand was enthusiast but I haven't a clue what the words are so only 7 points.
The friendly security guy in the Lower JL...7 points.
The peppered steak pie...8 points and the highlight of my night.
Parking in the cricket field. I made an early exit because it's a 2 hour drive home but my car was blocked in by some total knob....0 points to him.

ashtonlongsider · Post by **ashtonlongsider** » Fri Apr 20, 2018 8:50 am

Pope 5-Very poor and hesitant on the night and this didn't help the defenders in front of him.
Lowton 7-Bar a couple of mix ups with JBG when he switched wings I thought he played reasonably well
Long 5-Unlucky with og but didn't play well with Tarks as a unit.
Tarkowski 6-Set his own high stands but tonight he was well off the pace. Early booking didn't help.
Ward 5- Normally Mr Reliable but tonight his mind seemed elsewhere.
Lennon 5-Poor and should have been hooked well before he was.
Westwood 7-Sound game.
Cork 7- same as Westwood.
Gudmundsson 8- The bright light on the night.
Barnes 6-Well marshalled by the quality Chelsea undoubtably have.
Wood 5- Like Lennon I'd have subbed him at HT, he contributed very little.

CFS · Post by **CFS** » Fri Apr 20, 2018 8:55 am

Pope 6
Lowton 6
Long 7
Tarks 4
Ward 4
JBG 6
Cork 7
Westwood 5
Lennon 6
Barnes 6
Wood 6

IAmAClaret · Post by **IAmAClaret** » Fri Apr 20, 2018 8:59 am

Pope 5
Lowton 6
Long 6
Tark 5
Ward 5
Lennon 4
Cork 7
Westwood 6
JBG 6
Wood 5
Barnes 5

Hipper · Post by **Hipper** » Fri Apr 20, 2018 8:59 am

I wonder if the problem for Ward last night was Chelsea playing two big forwards. The tradition is that fullbacks cover the two centre backs in those circumstances meaning him losing his eyes on Moses. This is where help from others should come, and it didn't at the crucial times.

BOYSIE31 · Post by **BOYSIE31** » Fri Apr 20, 2018 9:02 am

Pope 6
Lowton 5
Tarks 4
Long 5
Ward 5
Lennon 5
JBG 7 MoM
Cork 6
Westwood 5
Barnes 5
Wood 4

A never got going sort of performance but it happens now and again.

CFS · Post by **CFS** » Fri Apr 20, 2018 9:04 am

Hipper wrote:I wonder if the problem for Ward last night was Chelsea playing two big forwards. The tradition is that fullbacks cover the two centre backs in those circumstances meaning him losing his eyes on Moses. This is where help from others should come, and it didn't at the crucial times.

It was just poor defending and switching off. Lots off them yesterday looked mentally exhausted.

RalphCoatesComb · Post by **RalphCoatesComb** » Fri Apr 20, 2018 9:32 am

starting_11 wrote:How long is the pathetic excuse of "WHO" we are playing going to last?

Or do we shout

"STOP PRESS: WE ARE PLAYING THOSE 2 LEAGUE POSITIONS ABOVE US!"

Have you read what you have written there?

SalisburyClaret · Post by **SalisburyClaret** » Fri Apr 20, 2018 9:38 am

Pope 7 Poor with 1st, unsighted with the 2nd, superb save from Morata
Lowton 7 one of the few who kept going
Long 5
Tarkowski 4
Ward 5 lot of mistakes but not helped much
JBG 7
Cork 7*
Westwood 6
Lennon 4 being generous
Wood 4
Barnes 5

Vokes 6

Dark Cloud · Post by **Dark Cloud** » Fri Apr 20, 2018 9:43 am

Pope 6 (not sure about the goals, but kicking was very wayward)
Lowton 7
Long 7 (worked his bench splintered butt off against some world class strikers and all credit to him)
Tarks 6 (as someone else said, too busy reading his own press cuttings)
Ward 5 (usually so reliable, but caught sleeping yesterday)
Cork 7
Westwood 7
JBG 8 (MOM because he constantly tried to make things happen and refused to give up despite some below par efforts around him)
Lennon 4 (awful)
Barnes 5
Wood 5

Subs N/A

I really fancied we could get at this lot and rattle them, especially the way we've been playing recently and considering the way they've been playing. However we never got into any stride or rhythm, we never got at them and we allowed them far too much space to play. Having said that, for all their clear superiority Chelsea actually created hardly any clear cut chances either and the OG has go down as somewhat unfortunate imo. A very poor night compounded I think by SD's reluctance to change things and use subs earlier when it was obvious so many on the pitch were having an off day.

mdd2 · Post by **mdd2** » Fri Apr 20, 2018 9:43 am

We looked poor because they did a Burnley on us and have better players than us in every position.Closed us down and harassed us all night, let us play across our half to our hearts content. I thought we were less effective after Wood was taken off and what little speed we had up front disappeared. I think he should have pulled Lennon off with Wood and put Wells and Vokes on. But hey we lost 2-1 to a good side. Still only Spurs who have played us off the Park at the Turf.

RalphCoatesComb · Post by **RalphCoatesComb** » Fri Apr 20, 2018 9:49 am

Not been rolled out yet.

For those of you who still believe that we should be in the Champions League, rather than the Europa League.

Burnley Squad - less than £100m to assemble

Chelsea - almost £600m and Premier League Champions last term.

claretdons · Post by **claretdons** » Fri Apr 20, 2018 9:55 am

Pope 5
Lowton 5
Long 5
Tarkowski 5
Ward 5
Gudmundsson 7
Cork 6
Westwood 5
Lennon 4
Wood 5
Barnes 6

Vokes 5

Buxtonclaret · Post by **Buxtonclaret** » Fri Apr 20, 2018 10:26 am

EDIT - two things that I really have to mention, one that already has, the half time game of football some of the skills and ball control were seriously impressive and the booing of Gary Cahill?!? I know when he was here we only had about half this amount on but I thought people would remember just how good he was for us.[/quote]

Was still able to get on for most games when Cahill was on loan and, your right.
He was excellent playing for us.
It's a shame some of the booers don't remember that.

Milltown1882 · Post by **Milltown1882** » Fri Apr 20, 2018 10:40 am

Cahill was a brilliant player for us. Looked like he learnt so much from Sinclair and McGreal too. Anyone booing him is simply ridiculous.

quoonbeatz · Post by **quoonbeatz** » Fri Apr 20, 2018 10:42 am

he let his country down.

Beagleheart · Post by **Beagleheart** » Fri Apr 20, 2018 10:44 am

Pope 6
Lowton 7
Long 6
Tarks 5
Ward 5
Lennon 6
Westwood 7
Cork 7
JGB 7*
Wood 5
Barnes 6

Vokes 6

IanMcL · Post by **IanMcL** » Fri Apr 20, 2018 10:47 am

Pope 5

Lowton 7
Long 7
Tarkowski 6
Ward 6

Lennon 5
Westwood 7
Cork 7
Gudmundsson 8

Barnes 7
Wood 6

Vokes 6

Lots of effort from our heroes. Chelsea very efficient.
Guddy looked a class apart. Keeper had a very mixed game for him. Lots of good work but catches not always clean. That's a first.

Roll on next match.

UpTheBeehole · Post by **UpTheBeehole** » Fri Apr 20, 2018 10:51 am

Our fans were embarrassing on a few occasions.

Booing Cahill, singing endless songs about the ref (who had a decent game), and generally thinking the world was against them when actually it was just a good, hard game.

Turned into real Premier League whingers recently, screaming about good challenges on us or for free kicks when our players had just been not good enough.

CaptJohn · Post by **CaptJohn** » Fri Apr 20, 2018 11:12 am

Well beaten by a quality side tonight but it's part of a learning curve for a few players plus we learned one or two things about our players.

Pope 6 This England call up has unsettled him IMHO. Not quite as good as he has been.
Lowton 7 Kept at it and was one of the better players for us.
Long 5 Loses mark for OG but big Kev stuck at it. He won't have played against that level of opposition before.
Tarkowski 5 See Pope. Still has a lot to learn.
Ward 6 This guy works so hard.
JBG 8 Our one shining star tonight. Played very well.
Cork 6 Outplayed in middle of the park.
Westwood 6 See Cork
Lennon 4 We discovered that he cannot play two games in a week tonight. Legs had gone early 2nd half and should have been hooked at half time.
Wood 4 We discovered that Mr Wood will go missing in matches if he gets some rough treatment. Not the same level of movement tonight as we've come to expect.
Barnes 6 Some nice touches from Ash. Never gave up.

Vokes 6 I'd have Big Sam start alongside Ash on Sunday.

I think tonight was an indication of how far ahead the top six teams are in terms of speed, skill and game management. Chelski were up for it tonight and wow did it show. 1-2 is no disgrace but anyone who was there will know that it was not really a fair reflection of the game.

Duffer_ · Post by **Duffer_** » Fri Apr 20, 2018 12:14 pm

UpTheBeehole wrote:Our fans were embarrassing on a few occasions.

Booing Cahill, singing endless songs about the ref (who had a decent game), and generally thinking the world was against them when actually it was just a good, hard game.

Turned into real Premier League whingers recently, screaming about good challenges on us or for free kicks when our players had just been not good enough.

I think it would have been embarassing if we got on our players backs for not being as good at football as the Chelsea players.

I suspect your post is deliberately provocative but I have taken it at face value.

UTC!

UpTheBeehole · Post by **UpTheBeehole** » Fri Apr 20, 2018 12:19 pm

Duffer_ wrote:I think it would have been embarassing if we got on our players backs for not being as good at football as the Chelsea players.

I suspect your post is deliberately provocative but I have taken it at face value.

UTC!

The lack of football knowledge from the fans is embarassing. Madley had a good game, yet he got dogs abuse all game, and particularly singled out at the end. That was embarrassing.

claptrappers_union · Post by **claptrappers_union** » Fri Apr 20, 2018 12:34 pm

I don’t bother with player rating anymore, but I though Jack Cork was absolutely tanatious.

Top Claret · Post by **Top Claret** » Fri Apr 20, 2018 12:37 pm

Dyche got it wrong tactically. We should have played a 4-5-1 or a 4-4-1-1. We could not cope with their 5 man midfield, there 3 centre halfs completely dominated Woods and Barnes. Both full backs were poor due to the Chelsea wing backs pegging them back, has was Lennon.
Our only players who could come out of the game with any recognition are Gudmonson and Cork who I thought were excellent and have been all season.
The score line flattered us as it did against Leicester

JTClaret · Post by **JTClaret** » Fri Apr 20, 2018 1:01 pm

We weren't on it today, but credit has to partly go to Chelsea.
However despite never really looking great I certainly don't think we were awful like some are saying.
I did think it says a lot about the team when they don't play particularly well against the likes of Chelsea and I don't think we looked like getting hammered at any point.

Pope - 6
Lowton - 6
Tarks - 5
Long - 6
Ward - 6
Cork - 7
Westwood - 6 - (Sometimes his passing was great, other times sloppy)
JBG - 8 MOM - Stand out player in attack and fantastic tackle in the second half
Lennon - 4 - I think he kept seeing an imaginary Burnley player, a couple of times he backheeled it or flicked on to nobody. Just wasn't on the right page.
Barnes - 6
Wood - 5

TVC15 · Post by **TVC15** » Fri Apr 20, 2018 1:21 pm

UpTheBeehole wrote:The lack of football knowledge from the fans is embarassing. Madley had a good game, yet he got dogs abuse all game, and particularly singled out at the end. That was embarrassing.

Given some of the utter sh-ite you post on this board it’s pretty rich to be calling out our fans

claretspice · Post by **claretspice** » Fri Apr 20, 2018 1:24 pm

I'll post ratings later, but I don't think its a coincidence that the two teams that have completely outplayed us - certainly at Turf Moor - this season have played in a similar way - quite direct, very physically strong down the centre and focusing on fixing our centre backs and then exploiting the space in front and behind them. Spurs didn't exactly play with a front 2, but at times they weren't far short and they too beat us up a little bit in midfield, which probably goes to show you can't entirely solve these things by formations.

But - I thought Chelsea did a job on us last night. Morata and Giroud as a front 2 gave us a problem we've barely had all season, with our 2 centre halves matched up 1 v 1. By playing with a central midfied 2, and then Pedro also buzzing around, they managed to either outnumber us in the centre of midfield, or against our centre halves. Our full backs are used to dealing with runners joining a lone striker, with one centre back generally spare, but that was reversed last night and we didn't entirely cope. Conte clearly learnt from the last - last season Hazard and Pedro both played as inside forwards and spent most of the afternoon in the space Ward and Lowton occupied, leaving us with a centre half free and no problem in midfield where we were 4 v 4 with Barnes helping out.

The result was our full backs had no-one to mark for long periods and we weren't sure who should engage Pedro, whilst our midfield 2 got stuck between engaging the midfielders when they dropped deep (so leaving extra space for Pedro) and sitting deep to stop that space existing. I'd have liked to see Hendrick on for Wood at half time to try and stiffen things up but of course by then we were behind.

I wouldn't be surprised if it is a challenge we're presented with again - perhaps sooner than we know - and we'll have to adapt to it.

superdimitri · Post by **superdimitri** » Fri Apr 20, 2018 1:33 pm

They play in a way that means they always have an extra man. Every time they attack they had an extra man. Made it look like we were playing with 10 men.

When you play 442 vs 532 you either need pace to break away which we don't hence why they cleverly pushed so far up the pitch or you need your strikers involved more coming deep to receive the ball which we tried to do but Barnes and in particular Wood offered little in this respect.

All playing Hendrick would have done is give us an extra man to run and defend, it wouldn't solve our poor off the ball movement and players not coming to receive the ball.

We need a better strike partnership, big man little man really.

claretspice · Post by **claretspice** » Fri Apr 20, 2018 3:09 pm

superdimitri wrote:They play in a way that means they always have an extra man. Every time they attack they had an extra man. Made it look like we were playing with 10 men.

When you play 442 vs 532 you either need pace to break away which we don't hence why they cleverly pushed so far up the pitch or you need your strikers involved more coming deep to receive the ball which we tried to do but Barnes and in particular Wood offered little in this respect.

All playing Hendrick would have done is give us an extra man to run and defend, it wouldn't solve our poor off the ball movement and players not coming to receive the ball.

We need a better strike partnership, big man little man really.

I think what 4-5-1 might have allowed us to do is press a bit more effectively higher up the pitch, with one central midfielder patrolling the space Pedro was operating in (also stopping the easy ball into the front 2), and the other four across midfield given licence to press up with the full backs also pressing up to squeeze space. That's what we did on occasions earlier in the season playing 4-5-1 against some of the bigger teams. It mighthave allowed us to engage Kante in particular much earlier, and potentially allowed us to release our wide players higher up the pitch. Hendrick is also a better runner than either Barnes or Westwood and it would have given us legs between midfield and attack.

But you're right, we can't get away from the fact that fundamentally, we were playing against a better team.

Spijed · Post by **Spijed** » Fri Apr 20, 2018 4:23 pm

claretspice wrote:I think what 4-5-1 might have allowed us to do is press a bit more effectively higher up the pitch, with one central midfielder patrolling the space Pedro was operating in (also stopping the easy ball into the front 2), and the other four across midfield given licence to press up with the full backs also pressing up to squeeze space. That's what we did on occasions earlier in the season playing 4-5-1 against some of the bigger teams. It mighthave allowed us to engage Kante in particular much earlier, and potentially allowed us to release our wide players higher up the pitch. Hendrick is also a better runner than either Barnes or Westwood and it would have given us legs between midfield and attack.

As you say, Spurs and Chelsea are the only two teams to really nullify us yet it makes you wonder why they haven't been able to do it to others, thus leaving them well short in the title race.

Do we make it easier for some teams, this it's something Dyche might look at in the summer?

But you're right, we can't get away from the fact that fundamentally, we were playing against a better team.

Spijed · Post by **Spijed** » Fri Apr 20, 2018 4:24 pm

claretspice wrote:I think what 4-5-1 might have allowed us to do is press a bit more effectively higher up the pitch, with one central midfielder patrolling the space Pedro was operating in (also stopping the easy ball into the front 2), and the other four across midfield given licence to press up with the full backs also pressing up to squeeze space. That's what we did on occasions earlier in the season playing 4-5-1 against some of the bigger teams. It mighthave allowed us to engage Kante in particular much earlier, and potentially allowed us to release our wide players higher up the pitch. Hendrick is also a better runner than either Barnes or Westwood and it would have given us legs between midfield and attack.

As you say, Spurs and Chelsea are the only two teams to really nullify us yet it makes you wonder why they haven't been able to do it to others, thus leaving them well short in the title race.

Do we make it easier for some teams, this it's something Dyche might look at in the summer?

bfc1984 · Post by **bfc1984** » Fri Apr 20, 2018 4:33 pm

Hbclaret007 wrote:Ha ha ha - a fantastic opportunity for all the naysayers to jump back out of their boxes. Well done guys.
Chelsea were the better side and underlined the difference between the top 6 and the rest.
We had some below par performances, but nothing like the mass hysteria of throwing around ratings of 3 and 4.

Well said i am particularly disappointed in long’s Marks thought he was fantastic when I watched the game back this morn!

strayclaret · Post by **strayclaret** » Fri Apr 20, 2018 4:49 pm

From TV in Paphos.
Pope 6
Lowton 5
Tarks 5
Long 6
Ward 5
Lennon 5
JBG 7
Cork 7
Westwood 7
Barnes 5
Wood 5
The woman sat next to me (load mouth cockney) really got on my nerves, best laugh was when we scored I let out an enormous "get in", shocking her so much she spilt her red wine down her top.

after then she was somewhat subdued.
Let's face it the best team won

RalphCoatesComb · Post by **RalphCoatesComb** » Fri Apr 20, 2018 8:36 pm

strayclaret wrote:She spilt her red wine down her top.

I hope you offered to suck it out (of her top)

claretspice · Post by **claretspice** » Fri Apr 20, 2018 8:58 pm

So ratings....

- 6 - Made one good 1 v 1 save first half, other than that it was quite routine apart from the two goals - I thought the first was unlucky, but he might have done better, and the second half was just a good finish (and Ward unsighted him), so no blame there. However, once again, his distribution was poor and contributed to the pressure we found ourselves under.

Lowton - 6 - One sloppy pass aside, he was fine, but like Ward he never quite worked out what his role should be given the questions Chelsea posed us.

Ward - 4 - Even allowing for the opposition, this was one of his poorest games in memory.

Long - 7 - Given everything this was a really tough examination and he came through it really well. Defensively, he's really solid, but his shortcomings in possession are getting increasingly exposed as teams get wise to it. Too often Chelsea let him have the ball last night and too often it resulted in us giving the ball away.

Tarkowski - 6 - Given the amount of times our centre backs found themselves 2 or 3 v 2, I thought both our centre halves did OK to restrict Chelsea to the number of clear chances they actually got, so I think the marks Tarks has got are a bit harsh even if he was unsettled by Giroud in particular. His distribution was a bit sloppy occasionally, but there are mitigations for this - he looks nowhere near as comfortable (in any respect, but especially on the ball) playing on the left compared to the right, and the fact teams are happy for Long to have the ball is also meaning teams are putting a hell of a lot of pressure on Tarks (frequently, both Chelsea forwards went to press him) andd he's probably guilty of not making enough allowances for this and trying to play too much.

Cork - 7 - Thought he battled away manfully despite being outgunned in the midfield area and was clearly our best player in that department.

Westwood - 6 - Caught chasing shadows a bit at times, albeit in an impossible situation given the numbers in that department, and at times he looked a bit lightweight by comparison to the specimens Chelsea had in midfield, but much much tidier in possession than on Saturday.

Gudmundsson - 7 - Not everything came off, and he didn't get as much of the ball as he'd have liked, but he worked hard and looked more of a threat than anyone else, as the goal showed.

Lennon - 5 - Tough night to be a genuine winger - we didn't get him anything like enough ball facing the Chelsea goal for him to be effective (he's nothing like as good as JBG with his back to goal) and so he was forced to feed on scraps, which made him a bit peripheral. Continued to work hard, although he switched off a bit for Chelsea's second.

Barnes - 6 - Steady enough, given he was starved of service, but I thoughtm we needed more of him defensively to deal with Kante than we got.

Wood - 4 - Some nights, it doesn't happen. This was one of them, and he arguably should have been withdrawn at half time. Had one chance to stretch his legs beyond Cahill, but took a touch rather than going for the tough first time chance, and the chance had gone.

Vokes - 5 - Nearly had an immediate impact but the notion of partnering him and Barnes against a team of Chelsea's quality always seemed a bit odd, and truth be told if anything it impeded our rhythm.

Comments - see above. We were well beaten.

turfytopper · Post by **turfytopper** » Fri Apr 20, 2018 8:59 pm

Pope 6
Lowton 6
Long 5
Tark 6
Ward 5
Lennon 5
Cork 7
Westwood 7*
JBG 7
Wood 5
Barnes 5

Rhxdes · Post by **Rhxdes** » Sat Apr 21, 2018 12:28 pm

Pope 5

Lowton 6
Long 5
Tarkowski 5
Ward 6

Lennon 5
Cork 7
Westwood 7
Gudmundsson 7

Barnes 6
Wood 6

strayclaret · Post by **strayclaret** » Sat Apr 21, 2018 4:19 pm

RalphCoatesComb wrote:I hope you offered to suck it out (of her top)

No chance even for my like of blonde women, her accent did my head in

RalphCoatesComb · Post by **RalphCoatesComb** » Sat Apr 21, 2018 7:42 pm

strayclaret wrote:No chance even for my like of blonde women, her accent did my head in