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swjf50

Ratings v Everton?

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I''m particularly interested in the form of the players I think may be good enough for the game v Man City and following games.

Ie Rudd, Wisdom, Vadis, O''Neil, Mulumbu ?

Was O''Neil captain? Out of the players we have I think he would make a good captain and better than Martin. The only question is whether he is better than Tettey or Mulumbu?

Would Vadis be better than Dorrans or Howson and is Wisdom a better option than Martin or Whittaker?

I am really puzzled why Lafferty wasn''t given at least 20 minutes game time tonight. AN knows what Grabban can offer, but what he doesn''t know is how well Lafferty can play at this level. The excuse cannot be that he isn''t fit or he wouldn''t be on the bench.

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Of the ''fringe/injured players'', Mulumbu was the most impressive for me. Rudd was good, did nothing wrong, although I did notice that we were hoofing the ball up from him almost 100% of the time, very dissimilar to how we play from Ruddy''s feet- who''s distribution is generally quite a useful asset for building attacks IMO that often gets overlooked. Bennett was also strong and solid, all 3 must now be pushing the first choice 11.

Vadis, Wisdom and O''Neil were all decent but not sure if their performances quite warranted a starting place just yet. Special mention to Dorrans as well who played an important part when he came on, really put himself about well.

Although, Its hard to gauge how much our good performance was down to how poor Everton were. Especially before the 2 subs they made on 60 odd minutes.

I''m expecting to see us line up like this on Saturday:

-------------------------Ruddy------------------------

--Whitaker--Bennett-----Bassong---Olsson------

--------------Mulumbu------Tettey------------------

-------Redmond------Howson*------Brady---------

------------------------Mbokani----------------------

*Hoolahan ran the show tonight but can''t see him having anywhere near as much an influence against Man City!

Depending on Ruddy''s performance here I feel that Rudd may be given a chance against Swansea.

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@LordEddardStark

Why can''t you see Hoolahan having as much an influence against Man City? That man is unplayable on his day. I''m pretty sure the German national team would also agree given his recent man of the match performance against them.

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Perhaps he will have another stormer as he did tonight and against Germany, but there is a certain amount of risk involved whenever we do choose to start with him and there are plenty of cases of this backfiring on us...see our previous 2 games prior to tonight..

It''s fair to say that the likelihood of the risk paying off is smaller against better quality opposition, for obvious reasons, and, with this in mind, expect us to set up in a similar manner to that of the Liverpool away game.

I hate to lean in Hughton''s favour but our main aim for Saturday must surely be to stifle Man City, only then can we realistically start thinking about our own attacking outlets. I imagine Hoolahan will come on in an attempt to shake things up midway through the second half should we find ourselves a goal or 2 down.

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Rudd - did more or less everything that was requiredWisdom - looked a better option for RB than either Whittaker or MartinOlsson - our best LB by farBennett - another solid gameBassong - played well & beginning to form a solid partnership with BennettO''Neil - steady & did little wrongMulumbu - played well & looks promisingOfoe - played well & looks promisingHoolahan - brilliant and ran the showRedmond - busy, some nice touches but ultimately dissapointingGrabban - had a couple of chances but overall looked lightweight

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Lord Eddard Stark wrote: "Rudd was good, did nothing wrong, although I did notice that we were

hoofing the ball up from him almost 100% of the time, very dissimilar to

how we play from Ruddy''s feet- who''s distribution is generally quite a

useful asset for building attacks IMO that often gets overlooked."Simple explanation -- no RM at RCB. Martin is far more comfortable than Bennett with receiving the ball from the keeper in tighter situations, moving forward and inter-passing with the midfielders ahead of him. Bennett''s instinct is first and foremost to get the ball as far up the field as he can, whether with head or boot. The only time you see Bennett building attacks is when there''s no opposition pressure on the back line. Making Plans wrote: "Redmond - busy, some nice touches but ultimately [disappointing]"You might have added "as usual", except that he was worse than usual. How many times did he waste good opportunities even with time to pick his pass or measure his cross? We don''t need to have Redmond starting to reap the benefit of what he does; giving him 20--30 minutes against a tiring defence maximises the benefit and reduces the cost.Furthermore, having clearly done their homework, Everton continually exposed us down our right side i.e. same old problem irrespective of changes at RB and RCB. If Miralles had been less wasteful the game would have been over well before extra time.

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Rudd - hard to compare him to Ruddy when in truth he didn''t have a huge amount to do at times. Made a few tidy saves but I''m not convinced he can play to the same calibre that Ruddy can. A clean sheet would have done wonders and he didn''t save any of the Pens (but got very close to one). His distribution etc. were largely okay. Doesn''t quite have the presence of Ruddy though. Verdict: Unlikely to replace Ruddy.

Wisdom - Actually looked very good on the ball and the defence was solid for the most part. Took a knock so probably a doubt fort he weekend. That said, Whittaker looked very good when he came on and whipped in a few good crosses and got forward well. Verdict: Unlikely to replace Whittaker.

Olsson - Better at defending than Brady for the most part, solid performance. What great competition we have in that position now! Personally, I''d probably stick with Brady and Jarvis. Verdict: Fairly likely to start.

Bennett - I''ve always liked him and think it''s a shame he doesn''t play more. Biggest issue is you either have to drop Martin or Bassong for him to play. Verdict: Unlikely to start.

O''Neil - Showing his age in a solid if unspectacular performance. Will get his chances and is a useful player to have on board. Verdict: Unlikely to start.

Mulumbu - Has quality, controlled the pace of the game at times which is something we sometimes lack other than Hoolahan - actually told him to go away when Hoolahan was trying to take a quick free-kick last night and Hoolahan duly listened. Surely only a matter of time before he hits the first 11 with fitness being the main issue. Verdict: Likely to break into the 11.

Ofoe - Played well but still looks a little short of quality and a bit lightweight. Was played out on the left in fairness but I undertstand he is very versatile. Like O''Neil will get his chances but, Verdict; unlikely to start.

Grabban - Never struck me as having the same kind of presence as Jerome but did his fair share of running last night. Should have scored with a header which he''ll be disappointed with - pretty much straight at the keeper. Needed to score to stake a claim, didn''t. Verdict: Unlikely

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Great to get to a game under floodlights - overall a more than decent performance from City who can consider themselves unlucky not to be progressing. Biggest concerns - we looked toothless up front for the most part - so many wasted opportunities to get the ball in the box, but instead passed it to death around the edge of the box with no penetration - and secondly we still look really vulnerable on the counter attack.

Ratings:

Rudd 8 - calm, commanding and assured

Wisdom 6

Bennett 8 (MotM for me)

Bassong 7

Olsson 7

Vadis 6

Mulumbu 7

O Neil 6

Redmond 6

Hoolahan 7

Grabban 7 - lead the line well, but never looked like scoring

Subs

Dorrans 6

Jarvis 6 - was in so much space, but rarely found

Whittaker 6 - saw a lot of the ball in extra time and mostly used it well

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