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Evil Monkey

Stockport vs Norwich Player Ratings

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Since I''m probably one of the first ones home from the game (I''ve even had time to tidy the house, nip out for shopping and trim my beard) I''ll make an attempt to get us started on the player predictions.  These are somewhat subjective, since my view was frequently blocked by the drunk bloke in front... its also worth noting that the overall game was poor.Forster - 6 - relatively solid, but still needs to work more on his distribution, especially his kicking, which has a tendency to put us back under pressure.Drury - 5 - not the best performance to mark his 300th game.  Should really have done better, seasoned pro that he is, despite the switch of sides.  Seems to have no right foot.Askou - 7 - he and the Doc appear to have formed a pretty solid partnership. Still prone to some silly little errors that put us under pressure, but got away with it mostly.  Some great last-ditch tackles.The Doc - 8 (MOTM) - unconventional MOTM choice for me, since I''ve been one of his critics over the years.  But today he showed his quality, dealing capably with a Stockport attack that was thriving with the lack of defensive cover on the wings.  Marshalled the defence constantly and seemed to get in the way of everything Stockport threw at us.Lappin - 5 - Struggled on the left side of defence, as Drury did on the opposite side.  Prone to letting the attacker get past him too much.Gill - 5 - didn''t really notice him until the second half, to be honest.  I''m happy to be proven wrong on this assessment, since I can''t say I saw him do anything...Rusty - 6 - Looked a little, well, Rusty today... all over the place and didn''t really link that well with the forwards.  Plenty of running and heart though, as always, but I fail to see what major contribution he makes to the team.  Would have preferred to see Hughes in his place (is he injured?)Smith - 6 - Same as Rusty, to be honest.  Plenty of running, little end-product...Martin - 7 - Struggled to hit his stride today, but still showed plenty of flashes of class.  Gets an extra point for buying the penalty!Hoolahoop - 7 - To be far, all our forwards struggled, but Wes at least gave it a good crack.  Good penalty for our second, but too prone to lingering on the ball a little, which seems to be a recurring theme.  As long as he keeps on producing the goods, though, I''m happy with him!Holt - 7 - Never stopped running and putting himself about, and bagged two neat and tidy goals.  Nothing spectacular from the Horse, but plenty to be happy about - 12 goals already, fast turning into a bit of a legend.Subs:Cody Mac - 7 - never really got enough minutes, but still made a major impact, robbing their right back half way inside their half by the touchline, and sprinting into space to set up Holt for a nice easy tap-in.  Seemed to add a bit of spark to the game and would be interesting to see what he could do if any of the front 3 get injured or suspended.Adeyemi - 6 - didn''t really get into the game, taking over from the ineffectual Gill, but made some good runs and still looks like developing into a pretty decent player.Nelson - No time to tell.The Ref - 2 - and that''s being generous.  Seriously, one of the most inept refereeing performances I''ve seen in a long, long time - and we''ve seen some stinkers recently!  He and his linesmen never seemed to get a grip with the game and half the time seemed to be guessing about which way a throw or gk/corner would go.  Also didn''t seem to know what the ''advantage'' rule is.  Not a biased referee, since the Stockport fans have reason to be pretty pee''d off with him too, just a very, very bad one!The Fans:Norwich - 6 - never really got into the swing of things as the team laboured on the pitch, aside from a few small sections.  But we got there in the end, and everyone was in pretty high spirits!  Most interesting thing was the group of young gob-shites who were getting all cocky with the home fans on the way in, and then also on the way out, but never made a sound inside the ground!  Its almost as if they were only there to get beered up and shout abuse... hmmm...Stockport - 8 - for such a small crowd, they sure made a hell of a lot of noise!! Kept willing their team on all the way, more admirable considering lady luck doesn''t seem to be on their side!

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Would agree with that - although I really wouldn''t have given Martin and Holt the same score as I thought Holt was much better. Also just a small point but Cody robbed the left back not the right back.

Agree with the noise from the Stockport fans towards the end - considering there was so few of them they made some noise. How much were tickets in the away end? It was £17 in the home end - had a feeling they were more for the away end but I might be wrong.

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It wasn''t pretty but we scored 3 goals and got 3pts away from home.

The pitch was abysmal and didn''t allow for any decent football, I

certainly didn''t agree with the team selection, Drury at right back

when he cant use his right foot, Lappin isnt a left back and we had no

natural balance in midfield without Lappin on the left. Don''t see why

Gill didn''t slot in at right back meaning everything else was left

alone.

Forster - 6, made 1 great block early on but his kicking was rubbish

and he didnt look comfortable with balls coming into the box

Drury - 6, did a pretty decent job but didnt look very comfortable

Lappin - 5, looked very shakey and barely got forward

Askou - 9, rock at the back, won every header and some crucial interceptions

Doc - 9, see Askou

Russell - 7, not the same Rusty of recent weeks but battled hard

Smith - 7, don''t remember him doing anything in the first period but made some excellent forward runs in the second

Gill - 4, chased shadows but he isn''t a left sided midfielder

Hoolahan - 6, not his pitch, ball kept bobbling and plugging. More lively in the second half on the break

Holt - 8, led the line superbly, in these conditions it waas key he performed

Martin - 6, flashes of class, wound the Stockport defenders up and won the pen with a jinky run

Adeyemi - 6, looked far more lively than Gill but nothing of note.

McDonald - 7, really stretched them when they were pushing forward,

made the 3rd goal with superb tracking back, slide tackle and slide

ball.

Nelson - won a few headers late on

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[quote user="Jon Moorhouse"]Also just a small point but Cody robbed the left back not the right back.

[/quote]I was watching it backwards... [:P]

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yeh was at the game as well and agree with most of the ratings. Today was a battle on a poor pitch and was very much a typical lower league game. We stayed strong through most of the match, when I think in previous years we would have collapsed. And our extra bit of quality showed in the end and it was a very good result. Plus I agree with the Stockport fans for however few there were of them, when they got singing they were quite loud. Shame we couldn''t get much atmosphere in the away end with now roof.

And a question who was the random person who kept kicking the ball in the net by the Norwich fans at half time before he got moved on by stewards. Was he a fan?? He had some sort of pass round his neck by the looks of things

 

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Pretty much how I would sum it up.Not a great performance,  but I like to look at the positives of scoring three times on a poor pitch when you''re not playing well (ignoring the fact that they were poor).We struggled for structure almost all over the park in the first half in particular and I couldn''t see where our chances were going to come from. Doc and Askooooooo did play well together, but the rest didn''t really look comfortable with Drury and Lappin out of place. Stockport looked to take advantage of our ''missing'' right back a number of times early in first half.Gill was anonymous...Rusty and Smith only just grabbed my attention. My only other comment was that at times, I thought (all you need is...) Holt could have passed the ball more. I realise he is a striker, but when there are players in better positions I think he should consider his options more wisely. Chris Martin was not happy with him at all in the last minute when he squandered a chance - however it was late on and going for his 3rd so maybe being a little harsh on him. Thought McDonald did what substitutes should do - run around, chase the ball, and was rewarded with Holts goal. This was very unselfish as he could quite easily have shot himself, instead opting for a nicely timed pass giving Holt no other option than to score.Man of match - guy on college car park who let most fans park for free. Didn''t understand what he was saying about a back-hander, but wasn''t complaining.

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[quote user="Mister Chops"]Do you think the rugby match on Friday night had a bearing on the quality of the pitch?[/quote]Couldn''t have helped, absolutely nothing came through the diamond untill the game was more streteched in the 2nd half, had it not been for the centre backs and Grant Holt it may have been a long afternoon on that bog

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[quote user="Mister Chops"]Do you think the rugby match on Friday night had a bearing on the quality of the pitch?
[/quote]

yes definently. The lines from the rugby pitch were still clearly visible, it looked very uneven and a strip running the whole length of the pitch by the touchline just looked like bare earth.

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thanks for the ratings. it''s good to get the opinion of ''ordinary'' fans who are at the game rather than paid journos.

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Gill''s presence in the lineup was a mistake...I accept that he may be playing out of position like one or two others, and is building up his ''match fitness'', but he needs to improve and fit into this team pretty quickly as he made the midfield look weaker than it has been for a while.

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[quote user="Evil Monkey"]
Stockport - 8 - for such a small crowd, they sure made a hell of a lot of noise!! Kept willing their team on all the way, more admirable considering lady luck doesn''t seem to be on their side!
[/quote]

During the first half we heard nothing at the away end of the Stockport fans.......you could have got the impression they weren''t at the ground!  Correct me if I am wrong but I thought they only got going when they got a goal and then we could hear them.

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[quote user="FU MAN SHOE"]Gill''s presence in the lineup was a mistake...I accept that he may be playing out of position like one or two others, and is building up his ''match fitness'', but he needs to improve and fit into this team pretty quickly as he made the midfield look weaker than it has been for a while.[/quote]

I think it''s hard to see him being anything more than a backup player for us. But then it is a squad game and you need to have people in reserve.

 

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I disagree on Gill, I thought we looked much worse when he went off.

A note looking at our midfield today we used 6 players - Gill, Russell, Smith, Adeyemi, Martin and Hoolahan. All bar hoolahan are from our youth system and/or Norfolk born.

On the fans:

To the idiot Norwich fan two rows in front of me who cheered Hoolahan''s penalty. You sir are an idiot. Thanks for getting your two mates thrown out and making the stewards very attentive the 4 of us sitting behind you.

Otherwise, those of you who actually made it to the away end, reasonable amount of noise but not constant.

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[quote user="7rew"]I disagree on Gill, I thought we looked much worse when he went off.

A note looking at our midfield today we used 6 players - Gill, Russell, Smith, Adeyemi, Martin and Hoolahan. All bar hoolahan are from our youth system and/or Norfolk born.

On the fans:

To the idiot Norwich fan two rows in front of me who cheered Hoolahan''s penalty. You sir are an idiot. Thanks for getting your two mates thrown out and making the stewards very attentive the 4 of us sitting behind you.

Otherwise, those of you who actually made it to the away end, reasonable amount of noise but not constant.[/quote]Can you elaborate please? Didn''t all 1,300 of us cheer the penalty?

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[quote user="Canary_on_the Trent"][quote user="7rew"]I disagree on Gill, I thought we looked much worse when he went off.

A note looking at our midfield today we used 6 players - Gill, Russell, Smith, Adeyemi, Martin and Hoolahan. All bar hoolahan are from our youth system and/or Norfolk born.

On the fans:

To the idiot Norwich fan two rows in front of me who cheered Hoolahan''s penalty. You sir are an idiot. Thanks for getting your two mates thrown out and making the stewards very attentive the 4 of us sitting behind you.

Otherwise, those of you who actually made it to the away end, reasonable amount of noise but not constant.[/quote]Can you elaborate please? Didn''t all 1,300 of us cheer the penalty?[/quote]

It is *slightly* less sensible when sitting in the home end...

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[quote user="7rew"][quote user="Canary_on_the Trent"][quote user="7rew"]I disagree on Gill, I thought we looked much worse when he went off.

A note looking at our midfield today we used 6 players - Gill, Russell, Smith, Adeyemi, Martin and Hoolahan. All bar hoolahan are from our youth system and/or Norfolk born.

On the fans:

To the idiot Norwich fan two rows in front of me who cheered Hoolahan''s penalty. You sir are an idiot. Thanks for getting your two mates thrown out and making the stewards very attentive the 4 of us sitting behind you.

Otherwise, those of you who actually made it to the away end, reasonable amount of noise but not constant.[/quote]Can you elaborate please? Didn''t all 1,300 of us cheer the penalty?[/quote]

It is *slightly* less sensible when sitting in the home end...[/quote]Oh my mistake 7rew, didn''t realise we had fans in home ends.

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