Russell Martin

[GJP 79]

He had the highest pass completion of all our defenders.

[Monty13 2,231]

http://www.whoscored.com/Matches/830403/Live/England-Championship-2014-2015-Norwich-Ipswich

Whittaker 60%, better than the rest of the backline but only just ahead of Martin on 59%. Olsson 55% and Bassong was 38%!

[Lessingham Canary 99]

i rest my case ! now lets concentrate on all pulling together !

[Monty13 2,231]

Can I just add I was about to add elsewhere what a good game Whittaker had and how solid he now looks at RB. Can''t believe anyone is knocking him after today, he was very strong against Mings and Tabb.

[canarycop 206]

I thought Whittaker had one of his best games in a Norwich shirt today. Looked really comfortable and more confident. Alex has faith in him and I feel he is starting to repay that faith

[mrs miggins 0]

Monty13 wrote the following post at 01/03/2015 9:38 PM:http://www.whoscored.com/Matches/830403/Live/England-Championship-2014-2015-Norwich-Ipswich

Whittaker 60%, better than the rest of the backline but only just ahead of Martin on 59%. Olsson 55% and Bassong was 38%!

-----------------------------------

Cheers Monty. If the passing accuracy stats shown are correct then I''ve done a disservice to Whittaker so must apologise in terms of his criticising his passing, when really it was just in key areas where he''s lost the ball, but not half as much as I thought. I do wonder about those stats though, the crossing stats for example I know for certain are wrong.

I also noticed from these stats that they''ve given him and Redmond, as well as Olsson the lowest match ratings, which i''d agree with, (in my post).

When watching the game every time he gave the ball away there was a moan from the supporters, therefore perhaps it was not his passing that was a problem as I first thought, but more his overall game and is perhaps the reason why he splits opinion, which he clearly does. Like I say, if those stats are correct, then his general passing is better than I thought, as I remember so many times him losing the ball trying to pass it in the middle of the park. I would say that you can''t argue with facts, but to be honest i''m not sure that they are facts (as I said previously with those crossing stats).

[Monty13 2,231]

The stats are from opta, while I doubt they are infallible I was under the impression that opta are very highly regarded for their accuracy. Perhaps you could further articulate how the crossing is wrong?

As for Whitaker he scored a 7.04, lower then the majority but higher than olssons 6.89. I have no personal idea what the numbers players get are based on, but they look a pretty good account of what I saw.

I personally don''t remember Whittaker giving it away in key areas, but I do remember others such as Tettey. Perhaps the benefit of watching on TV was I couldn''t hear the moans and therefore wasn''t influenced by them.

[mrs miggins 0]

True Monty, if those stats are correct, and lets just say they are, then it''s clear that I have been influenced by the crowd. Like I said before, with every ball given away from Whittaker comes the groan from my section of the crowd, which doesn''t happen as much as when someone else gives it away. Therefore perhaps there is an agenda which I have previously said hadn''t really existed. From this I could well be wrong.

[Ray 111]

Back to the OP, what follows are the whoscored.com player ratings

John Ruddy 7.69

Steven Whittaker 7.04

Sebastien Bassong 7.68

Russell Martin 8.75

Martin Olsson 6.89

Alexander Tettey 7.78

Bradley Johnson 8.30

Nathan Redmond 6.95

Jonny Howson 7.73

Wes Hoolahan 7.14

Lewis Grabban 7.47

So, well called King Canary

[damn that Ralph Coates! 47]

Redmond scores higher rating today than I expected.... barely a single cross, corner or free kick made it over the first defender, and looked lightweight when contesting ball with opposition.