Blackburn v Burnley - Player Ratings

[ClaretTony]

Please leave ratings for all players who have played 20 mins or more.


Scoring is from 3 to 10 as follows:

10 - Out of this World
9 - Excellent
8 - Very Good
7 -Good
6 - Average
5 - Below Par
4 - Poor
3 - Abysmal

[HahaYeah]

Trafford 7
Roberts 7
Egan Riley 8
Esteve 8
Humphreys 7
Cullen 6
Brownhill 6
Laurent 6
Sarmiento 5
Anthony 7
Flemming 7

Subs:
Foster na
Egan na

[kaptin1]

Trafford 8
Roberts 8
Egan Riley* 10 - awesome
Esteve 9
Humphreys 9
Cullen 8
Laurent 7
Brownhill 8
Antony 8
Sarmiento 7
Flemming 8 (+1)

Foster 7

[fidelcastro]

Trafford 7
Roberts 7
Egan-Riley 9
Esteve 8
Humphreys 8
Cullen 7
Brownhill 7
Laurent 7
Sarmiento 6
Anthony 7
Flemming 8

UTC!

[LincsWoldsClaret]

Trafford 8
Roberts 8
Egan Riley* 10
Esteve 9
Humphreys 7
Cullen 9
Laurent 7
Brownhill 7
Antony 8
Sarmiento 6
Flemming 7

Foster 7

[Pickles]

Trafford - 9

Humphreys - 8
Estéve - 10
Egan-Riley - 10
Roberts - 8

Cullen - 8
Laurent - 7
Brownhill - 7

Anthony - 7
Sarmiento - 6
Flemming - 7

(Foster - 7)

[Bosscat]

Trafford 8
Roberts 7
Egan Riley 9* MotM (awesome player get him signing an extension or new contract)
Esteve 8
Humphreys 8
Cullen 7
Brownhill 7
Laurent 7
Sarmiento 7
Anthony 8
Flemming 8

[RVclaret]

Trafford 8 - dealt with crosses through bodies quite well
Roberts 7 - used all his experience today
Egan-Riley 10 - outstanding
Esteve 10* - flawless
Humphreys 8 - great assist and competed well in duels
Cullen 7 - battled away but found it hard to get us playing
Laurent 6 - physical presence, wanted more on the ball tho
Anthony 7 - our main threat I felt
Brownhill 6 - good stuff off the ball but couldn’t influence on
Sarmiento 6 - left wanting more from him again
Flemming 8* - plus 1 for goal and held the ball up well

Today was all about the result, for obvious reasons, and given both teams have tight defences, and given the pitch was utter crap, it was never going to be a fluent performance or exciting game. Another clean sheet and this defensive record is becoming surreal now. We still don’t get the ball in the box as much as I’d like (see the goal) and hopefully now Parker finally has some time on the training pitch with them, after a chaotic month, we can see a bit more chance creation moving forward.

[Hipper]

From TV.

Trafford - 8 - No super saves to make but lots of punching and bar a couple did well under pressure. People complain about him slowing the game down but I guess they are his instructions and it was the order of the day today.

Roberts - 7 - Stuck at it and overall did well defensively and less often going forward. A bit too much play acting going on.

Egan-Riley - 8 - Grew into the game and had to deal mostly with an aerial assault and coped well. Long passing not up to standard.

Esteve - 8 - Also coped well with aerial side of the match and some good work on the ground too.

Humphreys - 8 - MoM - Defensively good and of course put in the winning cross.

Cullen - 6 - Difficult for him. Targeted by Cantwell, decided he needed revenge and I suspect that ultimately led to his yellow card.

Brownhill - 7 - Worked hard, little goal scoring opportunities but part of our rare better interplay which never led anywhere.

Laurent - 6 - Put in a shift defensively but not so great going forward.

Anthony - 6 - Our one obvious threat of crosses and shots but didn’t get much of a look in.

Flemming - 7 - One for the great finish but that was the only time he looked a threat. A thankless task though.

Sarmiento - 6 - Lucky not to be badly injured after the early foul by Baker (which should have seen a yellow if not a red as it was so late) but didn’t achieve a great deal.

Subs.

Good subs but both on too late to mark.

Foster - Worked hard and looked lively. Won a forward header (as I think did Flemming!).

Egan - Helped see them off.

What a horrible match to watch, pleasing ‘only’ because we won, which of course was the object of the exercise.

Blackburn came out aggressively starting with the early foul by Baker on Sarmiento, and Cantwell deciding to start things with Cullen. Unfortunately Cullen, and Laurent and later Roberts who tried to get him booked, all decided to retaliate. Why do these experienced players fall for this nonsense rather then just get on with the game? Other then that I thought they had a good plan but we were defensively to good for them and just had that one real scoring opportunity and took it.

The goal was brilliant from Flemming - a good cross from Humphreys but we’ve seen good crosses before and they are generally wasted because we have no-one to finish them off. As soon as the ball was hit Flemming was fighting his way forward to get to it and then actually put it in the net.

Other then that there was a good cross from Anthony - nobody on the end of it of course - and some nice interplay, mostly on the right, that achieved nothing.

I was impressed with Blackburns Tronstad.

A good win though and on we march!

[Buxtonclaret]

Trafford 7
Roberts 7
E-R 9 ***
Esteve 8
Humphreys 8
Cullen 8
Brownhill 7
Laurent 6
Sarmiento 6
Anthony 6
Flemming 7

Foster 6

[maidenover]

Trafford 7
Roberts 8
Egan-Riley 9 MoM
Esteve 8
Humphreys 8
Cullen 7
Brownhill 7
Laurent 7
Sarmiento 6
Anthony 7
Flemming 8

[BurnleyFC]

Probably score them a bit higher seeing as it’s against that lot, but…

Trafford 9
Roberts 8
Egan-Riley 10*
Esteve 9
Humphreys 9
Cullen 7
Brownhill 7
Laurent 7
Sarmiento 6
Anthony 7
Flemming 8 (plus one for a superb goal)

[PhiladelphiaChris]

Trafford 8
Roberts 8
Egan Riley 9
Esteve 9
Humphreys 9
Cullen 8
Brownhill 8
Laurent 8
Sarmiento 9
Anthony 8
Flemming 8

[helmclaret]

Trafford 8
Roberts 7
Egan Riley 10
Esteve 9
Humphreys 7
Cullen 8
Laurent 7
Brownhill 7
Antony 7
Sarmiento 6
Flemming 7

Foster 6

[fungus_the_bogeyman]

Trafford 9
Roberts 8
Humphreys 8
Esteve 9
Egan-Riley 9*
Cullen 8
Brownhill 8
Laurent 7
Anthony 7
Sarmiento 7
Flemming 7

Sorry but can’t give anything less than a 7 after beating that lot at their place (again!) Get in there!

[CrosspoolClarets]

Trafford 7 - they tried to swamp him and while not perfect he handled it well
Roberts 7 - bought a few free kicks and was generally OK but the worst of our defenders
Egan Riley 10 - imperious, JJ Watt probably thinks we bought a quarterback
Esteve 10 MOM* - far too good for this level and snuffed out anything in his general direction
Humphreys 9 - perfect cross got us 2 points we didn’t look like getting, and was OK defensively
Cullen 8 - magnificent at buying cheap free kicks and getting us out of trouble
Brownhill 7 - quiet for him but did the ugly stuff well
Laurent 6 - lucky not to be red carded
Sarmiento 6 - lacked the final ball but was committed and everywhere
Anthony 7 - some good moments while lacking that brilliant piece of skill or creativity
Flemming 7 - not much joy until a great finish

What. A. Win.

I was very critical of Parker in these ratings against Stoke (while not calling for him to go) because he doesn’t go for home wins against minnows (he clearly doesn’t, when we go behind we flick a switch and look a different side).

But in this kind of fixture a pragmatic approach to kill the game and grab a 1-0 win makes perfect sense. So I applaud it today.

We just looked we were in total dominance, more so than in the title win here. A strong defence can do that. Unlocking the door is a problem and based on his pre match words it sounds like we want two new forwards not one, I think that is correct. He wants players who can do it in tight spaces while we aren’t recklessly throwing men forward.

Our defence was imperious today. Hoovered up things again and again. We saw out lots of corners and free kicks. We also forced them to show fear and not overcommit numbers, which helped us and was a huge compliment.

It is great to win, though let’s be fair it is against a stable team who have done well in the first few furlongs but who have no chance of the top six.

[Luppy]

Trafford - 8 - commanded his box well

Roberts - 7 - good game
CJER - 9* - immense. His distribution was superb as well as his defensive work
Esteve - 8 - outstanding
Humphreys - 8 - another top performance

Cullen - 8 - I thought he was excellent
Laurent - 7 - just brings a physicality to the midfield
Brownhill - 8 - ran his legs off

Anthony - 7 - good game
Flemming - 7 - worked hard and great finish
Sarmiento - 7 - somethings worked, some didn't. Awful challenge on him early dorrs that should have been at least a yellow

Foster - 7 - thought he did well when he came on

5396 days and counting since they beat us and, let's be right, an isolated scramble aside, they never looked like scoring.

[RalphCoatesComb]

Trafford 8
Roberts 7
Egan Riley 9 *
Esteve 8
Humphreys 8
Cullen 7
Brownhill 7
Laurent 7
Sarmiento 6
Anthony 7
Flemming 8 (Lovely goal)

Foster 7

[jlup1980]

Trafford - 8 - dealt with the balls into the box really well, and slowed down the game nicely to take the sting of it on a few occasions
Humphreys - 8 - terrific performance. They rarely got past him, and he was up and down all afternoon.
Egan Riley - 10 MoM - where do you start? Imperious. Absolutely magnificent today.
Esteve - 9 - not far behind CJER, another outstanding performance.
Roberts - 8 - clever old footballer is Connor. Wasting time in front of their fans towards the end made me laugh.
Cullen - 8 - industrious and a nuisance, also kept the ball moving
Laurent - 7 - lucky to not see red, but given it was just about the only decision that went our way all afternoon I'll take it!
Brownhill - 8 - see Cullen
Anthony - 7 - struggled as he spent most of the match with a Rovers player trying to pull the shirt off his back. Worked hard and played his part.
Sarmiento - 7 - another quiet afternoon. There were two awful "tackles" on him in the first half though. How they didn't end up with half a dozen in the book I don't know.
Flemming - 10 - if you score the winner at Ewood you get a 10 for free!

Foster - 7 - won a couple of headers and closed down well enough to see the game out

All in we just about edged it, but we were up against 12 all afternoon. The referee allowed them to get away with niggly little fouls time and again, yet pulled us up if we got within a yard of Cantwell or Dolan. I never knew you won free kicks for just stopping, but Cantwell got them numerous times, yet Anthony had his shirt pulled every time he got the ball... nothing doing. Anyway, who cares, it's another win at Ewood. They can cry about Laurent not getting a second yellow, but they never really looked like scoring. Their only intend was to ****-house their way through the game and throw set pieces into the box, which we defended superbly. Till we meet again ha ha!!

[Goliath]

Trafford 8
Roberts 7
Egan Riley 9
Esteve 10
Humphreys 6
Cullen 7
Brownhill 7
Laurent 6
Sarmiento 5
Anthony 5
Flemming 6

Foster 5

[Herts Clarets]

Trafford 8
Roberts 7
Egan-Riley 9*
Esteve 9
Humphreys 8
Cullen 8
Brownhill 8
Laurent 7
Sarmiento 7
Anthony 8
Flemming 8

[Cirrus_Minor]

Trafford 8
Roberts 7
Egan-Rily 9
Estéve 9
Humpheys 7
Cullen 8
Brownhill 8
Laurent 7
Sarmiento 7
Anthony 8
Flemming 8

[Vim Fuego]

Trafford 8
Roberts 8
Egan Riley 9
Esteve 9
Humphreys 9
Cullen 9
Laurent 7
Brownhill 7
Antony 7
Sarmiento 7
Flemming 8

Foster 7

[fidelcastro]

I can't believe any of our players score a 5 today.

[Row x]

I can't believe any of our players score a 5 today.

I agree, if only for effort...but had it ended 0.0 with the same performance there would be no 8 9 or 10s

[Goliath]

I can't believe any of our players score a 5 today.

Why. We were poor in the attacking phases and created nothing of note bar the goal. I thought Sarmiento was particularly poor and gave the ball away numerous times on dangerous positions but was bailed out by our incredible centre halves.

Anthony was also poor and wasted numerous good positions with poor decision making.

[fidelcastro]

I agree, if only for effort...but had it ended 0.0 with the same performance there would be no 8 9 or 10s

Not as many, but I still think Esteve and Egan-Riley would have scored highly had it finished 0-0.

[Row x]

Not as many, but I still think Esteve and Egan-Riley would have scored highly had it finished 0-0.

They would have deserved it, but marking seems to revolve around the score

[fidelcastro]

Why. We were poor in the attacking phases and created nothing of note bar the goal. I thought Sarmiento was particularly poor and gave the ball away numerous times on dangerous positions but was bailed out by our incredible centre halves.

Anthony was also poor and wasted numerous good positions with poor decision making.

As usual, it seems you're on your own with those opinions.

Games against this lot are usually wars of attrition.

[NL Claret]

I can't believe any of our players score a 5 today.

I cannot either however if you want attention/interaction it is way of doing it.

Same poster once scored CJER as a 4 when others were marking double that. Some posters should be ignored
.

[Goliath]

I cannot either however if you want attention/interaction it is way of doing it.

Same poster once scored CJER as a 4 when others were marking double that. Some posters should be ignored
.

Grow up.

[helmclaret]

Why. We were poor in the attacking phases and created nothing of note bar the goal. I thought Sarmiento was particularly poor and gave the ball away numerous times on dangerous positions but was bailed out by our incredible centre halves.

Anthony was also poor and wasted numerous good positions with poor decision making.

Anthony, once again, put in two quality crosses but no one attacks the ball.

[strayclaret]

Trafford 7
Roberts 7
Egan Riley 8
Esteve 8
Humphreys 7
Cullen 7
Brownhill 7
Laurent 6
Sarmiento 6
Anthony 7
Flemming 7
A hard watch but it’s 3 more points following a defensive masterpiece

[FCBurnley]

Trafford 8
Roberts 7
EJR 9
Esteve 9
Humphreys 8 great assist to win the game
Anthony 7
Cullen 9 the difference between the sides
Brownhill 8
Sarmiento 7
Laurent 6 could have seen red
Flemming 9 great header

Foster 8 looked brighter than for some time

[AlargeClaret]

Trafford 7 nowt to do good kicking
Roberts 7 play acted but also played well
Egan Riley 8 a real talent and grows every game
Esteve 8 strong today with CJ
Humphreys 8 - this guy has nailed down the lb. Nice cross
Cullen 7 ticked it over if a little ragged
Laurent 7- lucky to stay on
Brownhill 7- scrappy but battled hard
Antony 8- very involved
Sarmiento 7- getting back to it shows flashes
Flemming 7 +1 lovely bullet header

Subs- Fozzy Bear- v weak defending , not much supply upfront -5

Foster 7

[Dodobdobodobo]

Trafford 7
Roberts 7
Egan-Riley 9 *
Esteve 8
Humphreys 7
Cullen 7
Brownhill 7
Laurent 6
Sarmiento 6
Anthony 6
Flemming 7

[IanMcL]

Trafford 7
Roberts 7
Egan Riley 8
Esteve 8
Humphreys 7
Cullen 7
Brownhill 7
Laurent 7
Sarmiento 7
Anthony 7
Flemming 7+1 for goal

Foster 7

Decent team performance although not a scintillating watch. Deserved the win.

[claretspice]

Not a great performance but the result it everything on derby day.

Trafford - 8 - I don't think he jade a save, but he dealt superbly with an aerial bombardment from Rovers.

Roberts - 7 - a steady days work.

Humphreys- 8 - gorgeous cross for the goal and defended solidly.

Egan Riley - 10 - the outstanding player on the pitch both defensively and in possession.

Esteve - 9 - almost as good as Egan Riley defensively as we protected Trafford expertly.

Cullen - 7 - got dragged into a more niggly game than he would have wanted but battled away without controlling possession as he does at his best.

Laurent - 6 - helped us just about win the midfield battle but he needs to be better than this in possession, even allowing for the blood and thunder of a Derby.

Brownhill- 7 - showed moments of quality without really imposing himself on the game but got through a mountain of work.

Anthony - 6 - saw plenty of the ball but although he produced a couple of nice crosses, he didn't do as much with it as might have. No questioning his work rate though.

Sarmiento - 5 - feisty enough and showed moments of technical quality but invariably they were too deep to really affect the game and he didn't stretch the game enough.

Flemming - 8 - superb header and linked the game better than might have been expected given how isolated he was at times.

Foster - 6 - not sure if he was on long enough but put himself about effectively.

We can play far, far better than this, and against a slightly understrength Blackburn side we probably spent longer defending than we really ought to have. Fortunately we are outstanding in that department and one scramble and one glanced header aside, Blackburn didn't threatened a goal. But we only created the one real opening and again we looked a bit insipid in attack - although the one goal we did score was a peach.

Overall we've come through a gruelling 4 game spell over Christmas with 8 points - that's an excellent return and the players will deserve a few days off before the next run of tough gamed begins after the FA cup weekend.

[Boss Hogg]

Trafford 7
Roberts 7
Egan-Riley 9 mom outstanding
Esteve 8 excellent very calm
Humphreys 8 excellent cross
Cullen 8
Laurent 6
Brownhill 7
Anthony 6
Sarmiento 6
Flemming 7 inc 1 for goal not great 1st half

Sub

Foster 6

[CoolClaret]

Trafford 8
Roberts 7
Egan Riley 10*
Esteve 9
Humphreys 7
Cullen 7
Brownhill 7
Laurent 6
Sarmiento 8
Anthony 7
Flemming 8

[quoonbeatz]

Really good derby this and whilst none will ever come close to the last time we were there, this was a far more dominant performance. Decent chances at an absolute premium and once we’d taken ours, there was little hope for them.

Trafford 9 no saves to make but he punched brilliantly under a lot of pressure

Roberts 8 canny player

Egan-Riley 10 faultless and our most forward-thinking passer

Esteve 10 would be churlish to mark him below CJ today

Humpreys 9 almost faultless at the back and providdd the telling ball at the front

Cullen 8 metronome

Laurent 7 big dogg rides again in the middle, calm and unfussy

Brownhill 7 no big chances for him today but as vital as ever in his best position

Sarmiento 6 the foul on him early on was a disgrace but he still got involved without anything really coming off for him

Anthony 7 another steady game and involved in the goal

Flemming 8 held the ball up well despite constant holding from their two lummoxes and everyone loves a proper diving header


Any side boasting Todd Cantwell as their best player isn’t really very good but you can only beat what’s in front of you and we did, with ease.

[Stonehouse]

Can’t believe one of the first posters only gave Cullen 6.

[warksclaret]

Trafford 8
Roberts 7
Egan Riley 9
Esteve 8
Humphreys 8
Brownhill 7
Cullen 8
Laurent 6
Anthony 7
Sarmiento 6
Flenming 7

Foster 6
Egan 6

[Superjohnnyfrancis]

Trafford 7 couple of good punches

Roberts 6
Esteve 7
CJ E-R 7
Humphries 8 quality assist

Flemming 8 Great header
Brown hill 6
Anthony 6 frustrating when he doesn't run on outside or try to beat his man
Cullen 8 put himself about, why he is marking the tallest guys in the box at corners though?
Laurent 6
Sarmiento 6

Foster 6 should have been Barnes on to rile then even more

[jdrobbo]

Trafford 8
Roberts 7
Egan Riley 9
Esteve 9
Humphreys 7
Cullen 7
Brownhill 7
Laurent 6
Sarmiento 6
Anthony 6
Flemming 7

Foster 6

[bfcjg]

Trafford 8
Roberts 7
Egan Riley 10 mom
Esteve 9
Humphreys 8
Cullen 8
Brownhill 7
Laurent 7
Sarmiento 6
Anthony 6 lightweight
Flemming 7 ran his socks of and constantly fouled

Foster 7

[Dark Cloud]

Trafford 8 (Some very brave punching under huge pressure! Kicking better today also)
Roberts 7
CJER 9 (Imperious!)
Esteve 9 (Equally imperious!)
Humphreys 7 (I actually thought he struggled defensively, but he put the best cross of the day in. Take note wingers!)
Cullen. 7
Brownhill 7
Laurent 6
Anthony 7
Sarmiento 6
Flemming 8 (Not JUST for the goal, but because he battled and battled and was basically getting nowhere)

Foster 6

Bastards are very physical and win loads of headers all over the pitch and that made it extremely difficult for us. Many of our players (Anthony, Roberts, Sarmiento, Cullen, Humphreys and even Brownhill) struggled with their physicality which regularly crossed the line and were absolutely dead on their feet by the end. When we went up under VK we were able to "dodge" the overly physical teams with brilliant football, but this team isn't quite in that league (yet!) That made today a tough and "attritional" watch, but thank God we stood up, battled for 96 minutes and put in the best cross of the game! Happy Days (as the young uns seem to say!)

[the_magic_rat]

Trafford 7

Roberts 7
Egan-Riley 8
Esteve 8
Humphries 7

Cullen 8
Brownhill 7
Laurent 6

Anthony 5
Flemming 8
Sarmiento 7

Foster 7

[colne-claret]

Trafford - 7
Roberts - 8
CJ - 8
Esteve - 8
Humphreys - 8
Cullen - 7
Brownhill - 7
Laurent - 6
Anthony - 6
Sarmiento - 6
Flemming - 7

Foster - 4 - thought he looked rubbish and lacking any sort of energy.

[Stacks]

Trafford - 7
Roberts - 8
CJ - 8
Esteve - 8
Humphreys - 8
Cullen - 7
Brownhill - 7
Laurent - 6
Anthony - 6
Sarmiento - 6
Flemming - 7

Foster - 4 - thought he looked rubbish and lacking any sort of energy.

Foster a 4? Wow that’s low…He has looked lively his last 2 limited appearances. He ran down everything