Match report v Wolves - player ratings

Player ratings:

Gonzales 6: a confident and athletic keeper, who could not be faulted with the goals. He did make one nonsense of a cross, but was able to gather at the second attempt. His positional play was good and he caught the dangerous crosses from Jarvis well. Nice save from Doyle’s long-ranger. Worth a contract, although we don’t need another keeper with Alnwick coming back soon.

Hassell 5: I was looking forward to seeing how Stones would cope with Jarvis, but either way, whoever was marking him had a key role to play, the outcome of which might determine the game’s outcome. Bobby did struggle with Jarvis, but battled well against one of the premiership’s top wide-men, who could yet return there, and possibly to the England squad, with Liverpool, or the likes. Bobby was done for pace more than once, which is unusual for him and, when combinations of players were coming at him, he needed more support from our right midfield, which was slow in coming. Wolves most potent threat was down our right, but I would like to think that was down to the quality of the opposition, rather than too many short-comings from Mr. Reliable. Don’t be too hard on him, folks!

Foster 5: did ok in the middle, but maybe not as dominant as sometimes. Was at fault for Wolves second, as it was a misjudgement that Ebanks-Blake was offside and Foster should have played on, rather than stopping for a whistle which did not come. Otherwise, reasonably effective against some probing Wolves attacks in which quality centres were key.

Wiseman 6: I thought this would be an Achilles heel for us with Wiseman in the centre, but he did remarkably well. Playing in the centre seemed to give him more time on the ball and he used it well again and again, rarely giving the ball away and making some quality passes out of defence. His lack of physical presence did not seem an issue for us, although it would have been against a more physical player such as Fletcher. Moved to right back when Cranie came on. No complaints. Good game.

Golbourne 6: looked up for it and made some good early forays into attack in the first half. Concentrated more on defence as Wolves started to dominate, so had fewer chances to get forwards. Did little wrong, although got stitched up for the Wolves third, but, apart from that, did not look out of place, nor out of his depth. This season should see him develop into the player Hill saw in him when he brought him in from Exeter.

Cywka 6: lively and, at times, incisive, although what we really lacked was pace down our flanks and Cywka is not a flier, but a technically tricky player. He started on the right, but switched to the left and did ok that side as well. He was involved in two of our best moments – the good move with Mellis to the by-line and his pull-back with no one on the end of it and the goal, which he took well. I think that he will get us goals this season, either through buzzing around with like-minded players such as Perkins, or through his own trickery in the box.

Mellis 5: if Hill has cast him in the role of creative midfielder, he needs to have a word with him about getting stuck into some of the physical stuff more effectively. You can’t be creative unless you make yourself the space. He just tried a little too much fancy stuff for me at times, when the simple pass was needed. He showed some sublime skills, especially in controlling difficult balls, but we needed to continue to be a threat to Wolves at the times when they were starting to control the game and it was our midfield which was getting over-run to allow them to do so, hence Mellis’ need to get his foot in first before he can start to run the midfield show. He is a player with real quality, but found it hard to impose himself on the game last night.

Perkins 7: just buzzing around everywhere, putting Wolves’ midfield under pressure and getting forwards to support attacks. A ‘box-to-box’ player if ever there was one. You cannot fault his effort for the whole time he was on. If he is injured for Brighton, that could be a problem for us, but Dawson has done enough to convince me that he is a capable replacement. He needs to work out how best to work with Mellis. If perkins’ job is to win back the ball and give it to Mellis, they need to develop a greater sense of pairing and working together. It was there at times last night, nut needs to come on a bit more. On slight mis-judgement when he might have taken a shot, rather than passing to Davies, but that was minor. Should rightly become an Oakwell legend with performances like this.

Etuhu 5: did some good stuff at times and has the pace to cause problems, but he only occasionally used his pace to threaten Wolves’ defence. A good move near the end, which could have resulted in a second goal for us. I thought he looked much more at home when switching to the right side during the first half. A player who could ‘do a Vaz Te’ as the season wears on – let’s hope so. Needs to get back some more confidence and match fitness.

Davies 6: looked good early on, but, as Wolves took a strangle-hold and the chances dried up, he looked more and more isolated. He battled well with the physical side and was always ready to look for the shots at goal. He will prove his worth before the season is out and I would expect him to score a good few. Last night it was not to be.

Harewood 5: did his bit, but looks a little less than bursting with fitness yet. We need another Vaz Te from him this season, but that looks a few games away. If we are playing two up top, we need someone to combine with Davies and take the pressure from him a bit. Marlon rarely did that last night. I would be bringing him back to full fitness over a number of games and then we might see the gem of a player that we know he is.
Dagnall sub 5: made a couple of runs to goal, but did not add much to freshen up our impetus up front in the time he was on.

Dawson 5: battled well enough when coming on, but the balance of the game had already gone Wolves’ way by that time, so he had limited impact. I thought he had a blinder of a game at Bristol City at the end of last season and, based on that, think he is great cover for Perkins and could still become the ‘Billy Bremner’ midfielder he has in him.

Cranie 6: I thought he did well when coming on and it would help the balance of our defence if he starts alongside Foster at Brighton. He is comfortable in the left-central role and looked assured. There were good signs that he reads the game well and looks to have quality on the ball. Made some telling tackles late on and showed good awareness of positional play. I think he could be a real asset by the season’s end – good signing.

So, there you have it! A fair result in a game which Wolves dominated for the middle hour, but either side of which we did enough to suggest that we will scrap some away points this season against less quality opposition. You have to credit Solbakken in this match. Especially in the second half, his side throttled the midfield, so we could not get much possession at all. His defence also kept Harewood and, increasingly, Davies, under control with the result that Wolves dictated the play in the middle part of the game, blunted our threat and scored three goals. Credit to him and his team. To our lads – keep the faith! We played some good stuff when we could. We gave Middlesbrough a pounding last weekend. We need a bit more steel in defence and central midfield for the game at Brighton in order to bring anything back. I would take a point now!!!

Yours in sport as ever - TE

 

Think that's more or less spot on, really struggling to pick fault with many of those ratings. Perhaps you saw a little bit more from Perkins than I did and I think Hassell and Cywka might have been worth one extra mark each, but I'm nitpicking.

By the way, you weren't the chap that I sat next to on the front row were you, just with you saying you are living in the South Midlands? Nice to meet you if so.

 

Speeddatingmenatbarnsleyawaygames.com

 

Hardly speed dating over 90 minutes is it? We had dinner, drinks and two rounds of loving.

 

And you didnt even swap names. Good work.

I hope you wiped your bell end on his jacket and whispered awooga in his ear.

 

I was on the end of row P, hoping not to fall off into the abyss!!!

 

I am so un-street-wise I thought that Bell End was an area of Sheffield!!

 

now that's more like the BBS of old.

Keep it up.

 

If I say that is what I think of Perkins from last season, that will automatically make you a t w at too, so I wont. But you get my gist!!!

 

I disagree about Gonzales, he threw it straight to their player for the first goal. Agree with the ratings other than that though. Perkins was the stand out player.

Not sure about Jarvis being one of the premiership's top wide men.