Last words on last night from me - player assessments

Before I close this forum down and get on with my work, which I meant to do about an hour ago, here are a few notes about individual performances last night. Apologies if I repeat what I have already said:

Nick Townsend - just had a look at the BBC report of his arrival and it says he is a 20 years old youth loan. Surely some mistake there! He looks older and played with the maturity of a thirty year old. His shot stopping, catching and penalty box domination were a revelation. Really impressed with him. I know that sometimes keepers start well and then decline but he looks like a good goalkeeper who will only get better. I wouldn't be unhappy to see him displace Davies for a game or two.

James Bree - the star player in the making who has had his fitness problems, but didn't appear to be struggling last night. Fair enough, he wasn't up against a marauding, quick winger but what he did, he did with composure. He got up and down the wing often enough and put in some decent crosses. He looked sharp and moved with fluency. Then, to top that, he steps up and slots home the winning penalty. Mason Holgate will not be missed if James repeats this week after week.

George Smith - decent game and, like Bree, mobile and busy on the wing. He even tried a shot late on from an impossible angle that whistled past the angle of post and bar. Not there yet but he is coming along nicely and I hope the boo boys don't hamper his progress. It doesn't take too many mistakes for some people to get on players' backs. He needs patience and some good coaching and looks like being a regular for us this season.

Alfie Mawson - another assured outing from this terrific signing. He will play at a much higher level than this and could well attract unwelcome attention in January. A class player who defends well and runs out of defence with the ball at his feet.

Marc Roberts - what a step up this lad has made. He was a rock at Chesterfield and continued tonight. I didn't see him get his nose smashed in the opening minutes so to come back from that and play so well shows what a character he is. Great signing.

Lewin Nyatanga - all of the usual traits. Great tackling and clearing headers. The glue that will keep our defence together this season.

Josh Scowen - all action, speed on the ball, brilliant passer, sublime penalty taker. Another one for the scouts to keep tabs on for a January bid. We will do well to keep him. As always he got chopped down just about every time he ran with the ball. The opposition know what a good player he is!

Ben Pearson - mop-topped enigma! Will make a good player, no doubt, but frustrates more often than thrills. Too often he lays a ball off, either sideways or backwards, instead of taking responsibility. Often his forward passes go astray but that will improve as he progresses. He is well worth his place in the side, no doubt about that.

Joe Rothwell - very good game from the lad last night and noticeable willingness to shoot on sight. Most seemed to be over hit and lacking direction but it's good to see him having a go. Hard to see him keeping Crowley out of the team but what a prospect - we are very lucky to have players like this at the club. LJ has a big headache juggling the talent at his disposal.

Marley Watkins - not sure why he got the responsibility of taking the first half penalty and it was certainly a weak effort. He didn't seem to get too down about it though and played his part. He looks like a very mobile player and could prove a real find.

Conor Wilkinson - similar to Watkins for mobility but not sure about him yet. Took his goal on Saturday brilliantly and there is plenty more to come from him, but I don't see him as a first choice centre forward yet.

Sam Winnall - came on in the second half and is clearly still not fit. Really hope he gets that back because we need his goals badly. Confident penalty in the shootout.

Conor Hourihane - fairly anonymous when he came on, but not up to match sharpness yet so will make allowances for that. His chance to score came though and he played it straight at the keeper, just like SSW did on Saturday. Last August that would have sailed into the top corner. He will come good again though, I'm certain of it.

Matty Templeton - did nothing wrong when he came on and looks another fine prospect at full back.

The penalty shoot out showed us that we have some confident players in our team. Great penalties, apart from Pearson's which was similar to the Watkins miss earlier. Just put your foot through it Ben! No keeper will save one hit at pace about six feet off the ground. How refreshing though to see young defenders step up and take their penalties like it was the easiest thing they did all night. Really good to see that.

Ok - enough from me on last night. Thanks for reading!

 

Thanks for the breakdown. Good to hear that so many impressed! In terms of Pearson though, with 3 players playing centrally, do you not think that it might have been his role to sit a little and give the ball to either Rothwell or Scowen to attack with? When 3 players play centrally you will usually find that at least one will sit and distribute the ball to the two more attacking players.

 

Problem with Ben though is that he often gives it to a defender who is in no better position to do something with it than he is. It's just a minor irritation - he will pick out some killer passes as he gets more games behind him

 

You described Pearson exactly the same as folk described Perkins. Yet, because he on loan from Man U he's going to be some player. A lot to prove.

 

Yes, very similar to the blond midfield dynamo! Equally frustrating to watch.

 

Let's be honest! He's better than Perkins! In a recent interview LJ described him as a wonderful talent. How old is he? 20? A lot to learn maybe but plenty of time to do that.

 

Was Pearson always half a yard behind play, waving his arms around and then running in circles like someone from the anthill mob?

 

I don't see that at all.

Perkins was one of our best players for 2 years in the championship before he struggled in his 3rd & was sold.

Pearson has been no more than a decent first teamer in league one.

No way can he be described as better than Perkins was for us yet

 

Usually agree with most of what you post.

But describing Pearson as similar to Perkins? Give over Perkins was absolutely garbage except he ran around a lot, was borderline albino, so some people thought he was "everywhere". Never mind that everything he did was crap.

 

Bit harsh on Perkins, but I'm not defending him honestly! I thought he was just a running around pointing type most of the time as well, although he did have some good games for us.

Not really comparing the two as such, just using the "laying it off for someone else" analogy as a comparison. Pearson does do that a lot and I hope he does it less and less as the season goes on. Remember that run half the length of the pitch last season when he scored? Like to see him try that more. He's not a good player because of where he comes from - he's just a good player. But I hope to see a bit more in the way of forward passing to RED shirts as time goes by.

 

Good assessment, agree with most of that. Actually thought we played some very good football last night, looked solid defensively and we might challenge the top 6 if we play like that most weeks. Just a few important things to improve on. Defence looks a class above, especially Mawson and Roberts, but like on Saturday they were a bit slow to react to loose, bobbling balls in the box and it could have cost us. Our forwards need to shoot on sight as well, plenty of times Watkins/Wilkinson shifted the ball away from the defender but then took another touch instead of taking a shot.

Other than that, a good performance and well worth the trip and 12 quid entry fee.

 

He was the player you are wanting when he first came but to me it looks as though he has been told to do otherwise.

 

Agree. His last year went downhill, partly because there was nobody else to do the more creative stuff. Our best midfield for a long long time was Butterfield Drinkwater and Perkins.

As for Pearson, I don't rate the lad at all plus he's cynical and petulant with the referee. I'd happily send him back tomorrow and give Digby or Abbott more game time.

 

Agree with the stupid bookings Pearson picks up, needs to get that reight out of his game.

 

Perkins definitely wasnt garbage, his energy in the midfield was something we needed. Reckon we'd have suffered even worse without him.

 

You're only remembering his last season for us, no way would anyone have ever described him like that the two seasons before. He used to terrorise the defence. I wouldn't say that Pearson is as good as Perkins in his prime YET. That doesn't mean that he won't go on to be even better of course and we have seen flashes of it in him.

 

Fair enough. Garbage last season does stick in memory but before that he was a nuisance to opposition. Never rated him but appreciate others did.

With the right coaching, at 20, Pearson can be twice the player.

 

From what I've seen so far I'd say Pearson's a big club hype job. That's not to say he can't improve as he's only young but from what I've seen of him Bailey was better & he was our own player.

Like others have said there's potential in Pearson with the age he's at but I don't see him improving that much as he'll have had pretty the much the best there is certainly in this country in terms of coaching for the last decade

 

This sounds like a totally different match to what I heard on player !
I think they said we only had 3 shots on target in the whole match including the pens (not the shoot out).
It sounded like Scunny were the better team, but of two poor teams .

 

Terrorise the defence? Perkins?

Okay.....