T
tobymillward
Guest
Marc Antoine-Fortune. His age showed a lot today. Peterborough played with a real intensity first half....pressing, closing down, harassing our players on the ball and as a player who relies on holding up the ball and being given time and space, he really suffered today. In addition to this I think that with Marc on the pitch, Armstrong has to drop deeper and could no longer play on the shoulder of the last defender.
He was replaced by Jim O'Brien, who played in the hole just behind Armstrong when he came on. This substitution, allowed Armstrong to play in his most natural position, as Jim O'Brien was doing the dirty work that Fortune wont do because of his age/stamina. Another thing Jim was able to do, as a result of Fleck and Vincelots brilliance, was pick up the ball high up the pitch, running at the back four. After the first goal when City were really pushing for a second, O'Brien was picking up the ball and driving at goal with Murphy on his left, Kent on the right and Armstrong in the middle. A terrifying sight for most league one defences and as a defensive unit, Peterborough struggled with our pace and trickery going forward and inevitably they collapsed.
Ruben Lameiras. I am a fan of his technical ability on the ball, however I feel that he is, by definition, a "luxury player". There were several occasions today where he would go for a ball and then back away, or wouldn't commit to a challenge. He also struggles physically and also doesn't possess the pace to beat a player one on one, and therefore was ineffective in the first half against Peterborough's aggressiveness off the ball. This all changed second half with the introduction of Ryan Kent. I have been very critical of Ryan Kent until today. Against Swindon last weekend and against Blackpool the weekend before that he had been very wasteful with the ball and had always in my opinion done "too much". At times he thinks he has the ability to take on 5 players and smash it into the top corner...which he doesnt. However, today he was a real asset to us in the second half and, I think he has really turned a corner in that his decision making seemed to improve tenfold. He showed his ability to beat a man but he did so at the right time and seemed to release the ball when needed, rather than loosing it after trying to beat one man too many.
John Fleck. In my opinion he is playing the best football I've seen him play under Mowbray. I felt he really ran the game second half. He was instrumental in our transitional play in the second half allowing us to attack effectively in the second half. A real unsung hero today and I was disappointed he wasn't mentioned more on C+W listening on the way home. When he's on the ball I'm no longer filled with dread that we're going to give the ball away deep as I have been in past seasons and he really looks like he's enjoying himself out there distributing the ball and pulling strings as well as beating a man or two.
Special Mentions:
My Ratings
RCC - 7
Phillips - 6
Ricketts - 7
Martin - 6
Stokes - 7
Vincelot - 8
Fleck - 9
Lameiras - 5.5
Murphy - 8
Fortune - 5
Armstrong - 9
Kent - 7
O'Brien - 9
Haynes - 6
Sky Blue Army - 10 (Won us the game IMHO)
He was replaced by Jim O'Brien, who played in the hole just behind Armstrong when he came on. This substitution, allowed Armstrong to play in his most natural position, as Jim O'Brien was doing the dirty work that Fortune wont do because of his age/stamina. Another thing Jim was able to do, as a result of Fleck and Vincelots brilliance, was pick up the ball high up the pitch, running at the back four. After the first goal when City were really pushing for a second, O'Brien was picking up the ball and driving at goal with Murphy on his left, Kent on the right and Armstrong in the middle. A terrifying sight for most league one defences and as a defensive unit, Peterborough struggled with our pace and trickery going forward and inevitably they collapsed.
Ruben Lameiras. I am a fan of his technical ability on the ball, however I feel that he is, by definition, a "luxury player". There were several occasions today where he would go for a ball and then back away, or wouldn't commit to a challenge. He also struggles physically and also doesn't possess the pace to beat a player one on one, and therefore was ineffective in the first half against Peterborough's aggressiveness off the ball. This all changed second half with the introduction of Ryan Kent. I have been very critical of Ryan Kent until today. Against Swindon last weekend and against Blackpool the weekend before that he had been very wasteful with the ball and had always in my opinion done "too much". At times he thinks he has the ability to take on 5 players and smash it into the top corner...which he doesnt. However, today he was a real asset to us in the second half and, I think he has really turned a corner in that his decision making seemed to improve tenfold. He showed his ability to beat a man but he did so at the right time and seemed to release the ball when needed, rather than loosing it after trying to beat one man too many.
John Fleck. In my opinion he is playing the best football I've seen him play under Mowbray. I felt he really ran the game second half. He was instrumental in our transitional play in the second half allowing us to attack effectively in the second half. A real unsung hero today and I was disappointed he wasn't mentioned more on C+W listening on the way home. When he's on the ball I'm no longer filled with dread that we're going to give the ball away deep as I have been in past seasons and he really looks like he's enjoying himself out there distributing the ball and pulling strings as well as beating a man or two.
Special Mentions:
- Vincelot - Great second half and chipped in with a goal.
- Stokes - Underrated and solid at the back when defending, don't know why he came off.
- Armstrong - 2 great goals, need to keep for the season.
- RCC - Made some key second half saves to stop the game slipping away from us.
My Ratings
RCC - 7
Phillips - 6
Ricketts - 7
Martin - 6
Stokes - 7
Vincelot - 8
Fleck - 9
Lameiras - 5.5
Murphy - 8
Fortune - 5
Armstrong - 9
Kent - 7
O'Brien - 9
Haynes - 6
Sky Blue Army - 10 (Won us the game IMHO)
