Can’t agree with Bishops Finger there, Loft has the worst touch I’ve seen in professional football! Hippolyte played well, especially given he’s by no means a fullback.
We can’t string passes together because as soon as it goes to Loft…who should be our focal point of attacks…it either just bounces off his knee/shin/shoulder and off the pitch or he passes straight to the opposition. He’s a really, really poor footballer!
Get out of jail free card played tonight, nice to see us score an injury time winner though!
Thought Hippolyte did well at LB and finally started taking players on in the 2nd half. Loft on the other hand…deary deary me, have we had a worse striker in the last decade!? He is absolute garbage! Can’t control a football, can’t pass, won’t pass, nowhere to be seen in the box. Apart from goalkeepers he officially has the worst pass completion % in the entire football league!
One thing that’s for sure is nobody can say our manager doesn’t show any passion from the touchline (which seemed a common bugbear for many on here with previous managers). You can literally hear him screaming all game…the most common line being “GO ON LOFTY, GO ON LOFTY!!”
Howard – 8 – penalty save was crucial and made a few other decent ones.
Clarke – 7 – good to see him complete 90 mins.
McGahey – 7 – solid.
Onariase – 8 – signing of the season.
O’Malley – 9 – my MOTM. Keeps getting better, great cross for the goal and looked strong against a winger twice his size.
Gilliead – 7 – not his best game but still influential.
Spence – 7 – a real terrier.
Beestin – 9 – gets classier every game.
Eisa – 7 – not quite at the standard as he was Tuesday night but at least he beat the first man taking a corner this time!
McAtee – 7 – decent, always wants the ball and harries the opposition.
Loft – 7 – put in a good shift. Great header for his goal but also started it all off by winning back possession in midfield.
Cox – 8 – nice to see him sticking to the formula that clearly works.
He’s done very well since getting the more experienced players back from injury. It’s nice that one of his biggest headaches now is how/where to fit McAtee, Taylor and Van Veen in this team.
O’Malley my MOTM, closely followed by Beestin who gets classier every game. Agree with the above in that this was much more pleasing than Vs Harrogate (who were absolutely terrible).
Howard – 5 – can’t remember him making a save and really needs to be commanding and come off his line more.
Clarke – 6 – decent, will only get better with game time.
Onariase – 7 – defended well but too many aimless hoofs to nobody.
McGahey – 6 – not his best game, only really did the basics.
O’Malley – 7 – first time he’s made me think we have a prospect here!
Gilliead – 9 – class above.
Spence – 9 – must have broken up play around 20 times and led by example in our high tempo press which was great to see the whole team doing well!
Beestin – 8 – looked classy tonight.
Eisa – 9 – a constant threat when he’s on song as he was tonight (let’s ignore the shocking corners).
McAtee – 8 – looked the McAtee we know he can be, great pass for Eisa’s first.
Loft – 6.5 – decent enough and actually managed 1 or 2 passes that found a teammate.
Jarvis – 7 – thought he did really well after coming on, the ball definitely sticks with him a lot more than it does Loft.
Taylor – 6.5 – definitely better being further up the pitch.
Rowe – N/A – not really involved in the game enough to give a rating.
Cox – 9 – please let this be the proof that 442 is our best formation and anything else is garbage. Each player knew their role, the team played with the most tempo I’ve seen this season and pressed really well. Harrogate are very much a kick and rush team but I think our press forced them into this much more than they would have liked. I don’t think the scoreline would have flattered us if we’d have scored 8 tonight…more of the same please!
Pathetic, pathetic, pathetic. Cox the main problem tonight in dropping a formation that has seen our only decent performances this season. At least we now know it’s his shite formations and tactics that are more to blame rather than no experience or Watson in goal.
Used to be really good for Reading against us but that was way back in the Championship days. Whatever he’s like nowadays I think we could do with central midfield reinforcements with Vincent being out. If Beestin or Spence join him on the treatment table we’ve only really got Hornshaw and Pugh, neither of whom are ready IMHO.
Can’t really argue with the ratings above. Loft is so frustrating, he holds up the ball well but then either hangs onto it too long and gets dispossessed, plays the wrong pass or just hoofs the ball to nobody. I’d rather still have Wootton going by what I’ve seen from him so far.
Morecambe changed the game when they brought Stockton on and he bullied our centre backs. Would have been daylight robbery if we won the game but still sucks conceding so late!
