| Half Term Report 11:48 - Dec 27 with 3753 views | LegendofthePhoenix |
Here are my one-liner player and manager reviews. I'm sure many see it different.
1) Palmer: C- disappointing before his injury, very nervous looking with ball at feet
3) Davis: B fairly consistent, works as hard as ever, not quite reaching previous heights
4) Kipre: A biggest nice surprise in the squad. Has nailed his place
5) Matusiwa: A- has exceeded hopes, would like to see him carry the ball forward more
6) O'Shea: C+ pretty solid defending, distribution a bit erratic, captaincy weighing heavy?
7) Burns - no grade yet, hope its an A by the season end
8) Egeli: B youngster in new league, he has improved rapidly, excited at what comes next
9) Hirst: C has toiled & been our best option at CF, but not done enough to keep the role
11) Jaden: A an A+ at home, but a B away. Terrific footballer.
12) Cajuste: D+ the occasional classy touch doesn't offset the all too casual norm
14) Taylor: B+ his best season so far, a touch inconsistent but several great games
15) Young: C+ can steady the ship, but not been at the level hoped for
18) Johnson: C+ only a few appearances, safe utility man or no place for him?
19) Furlong: C+ solid defender, but so negative with ball at feet. Slows us down.
20) MacAteer: C works hard, but ball never runs for him. Needs luck/confidence
23) Szmodics: C great attitude, but always half a yard short - is he past it?
24) Greaves: B- Mostly excellent, but too prone to a mistake unlike Kipre
28) Walton: A have been incredibly impressed - must keep the jersey now
29) Akpom: D It's his one golden season that seems to be the outlier
30) Humphreys - no grade sadly. Surely he gets game time soon?
31) Azon: D running around isn't enough. Not good enough for this level.
32) Nunez: A- first touch is often poor, but vision and effort are faultless.
47) Clarke: A- a huge threat on his day. Can be very predictable though.
Manager: B- should be doing better. In a Play-off position, but with the resources he has, it should be autos. Needs to see when it's not working and change things sooner. |  |
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| Half Term Report on 20:30 - Dec 28 with 713 views | TractorWood |
| Half Term Report on 19:37 - Dec 28 by TRUE_BLUE123 |
Clarke behind Egeli Palmer Hirst Taylor is egregious |
Agree. Clarke is a C at total worst and beyond fine at this level.
He's absolutely miles off the Prem though. |  |
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| Half Term Report on 21:25 - Dec 28 with 663 views | LeoMuff |
| Half Term Report on 17:51 - Dec 28 by EddyJ |
Look beyond the number of goals and analyse the goals he has scored. 2 penalties. 2 where the defender fell over and gifted him a free shot. 2 open goals. 1 good long shot. 1/7 that he did something good for.
Look at when he scores his goals. He has only been effective late in games when we are either 3-0 up and the defenders are shot or when we are piling players forward in search of an equaliser. He has been hopeless against an organised defense.
I mentioned elsewhere that our PPG when he starts is ~1.1 (relegation form). Our PPG when he doesn't start is ~2 (automatics form).
I'm sure someone will say "well he is a good sub and we need those". Except, our finishers are not really doing it for us this year. We have not yet won a game having been behind. Again, a lot of that is on Clarke, being the attacking focus of our "finishing" team.
Ultimately, we do not look like a good team when he is playing. Hence a D rating. |
Be nice if some of the strikers scored some “lucky” goals. What a silly take, Jack Clarke has been decent for us this season. |  |
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| Half Term Report on 21:28 - Dec 28 with 656 views | You_Bloo_Right |
I much prefer a shipping forecast type assessment and being glass half full I would see it as, "Moderate. Occasionally poor. Becoming good later." |  |
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| Half Term Report on 00:02 - Dec 29 with 606 views | TRUE_BLUE123 |
| Half Term Report on 20:21 - Dec 28 by EddyJ |
League starts:
Clarke: 9
Egeli: 11
Palmer: 10
Hirst: 17
Taylor: 12
There is a reason all of those players have started more games. |
The reason being they don’t play the same position as Jaden Philogene…..
I mean Clarke has been massively superior to Egeli. Palmer didn’t play well enough to get his place back (Walton actually been much better) Hirst hasn’t been as bad as some have made out but not been up to standard thus far. Taylor is just fine. |  |
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| Half Term Report on 01:11 - Dec 29 with 586 views | IPS_wich |
| Half Term Report on 19:29 - Dec 28 by LegendofthePhoenix |
Appreciate that we all see the game differently. For me, Furlong is a big problem in the team, and I know that is very controversial. Every game I end up frustrated that whenever the ball gets to Furlong he passes it back or square, and the entire forward momentum just grinds to a halt. We have a superb right wing player (Egeli) ahead of him, but there is no anticipation going on, Egeli has to literally stop and face back to Furlong before Furlong passes to him, so that Egeli has his back to goal. I can't wait to see Harry Clarke as right back, so that we can play those through balls for Egeli to run on to. We might get caught now and again defensively, but that's how we played in the promotion seasons and Furlong just doesn't fit our "brave" approach. |
Totally agree. He’s a solid enough defender, but in a team that has (in theory) an abundance of attacking talent, he’s the worst culprit for slowing things down (o’Shea rapidly catching him up in this regard as well).
On the occasions he does play the ball forward it exposes his awful distribution. So many times he plays an inside forward ball from the touchline to a Town player who’s already under pressure or more often or not plays the inside ball and it’s intercepted.
Alongside an upgrade to our main striker, I have upgrading our right back as our biggest need in January. Get rid of Clarke and Johnson, retire Young and let’s have Furlong as our backup. |  | | |
| Half Term Report on 01:58 - Dec 29 with 571 views | bournemouthblue |
| Half Term Report on 01:11 - Dec 29 by IPS_wich |
Totally agree. He’s a solid enough defender, but in a team that has (in theory) an abundance of attacking talent, he’s the worst culprit for slowing things down (o’Shea rapidly catching him up in this regard as well).
On the occasions he does play the ball forward it exposes his awful distribution. So many times he plays an inside forward ball from the touchline to a Town player who’s already under pressure or more often or not plays the inside ball and it’s intercepted.
Alongside an upgrade to our main striker, I have upgrading our right back as our biggest need in January. Get rid of Clarke and Johnson, retire Young and let’s have Furlong as our backup. |
In terms of an attacking right back, Furlong isn't it but then neither was Tuanzebe
I don't know what's going on with Clarke but I assume he is not in our plans going forward, disappointing as that is
I still never quite understand we weren't interested in Jaden Bogle when Sheffield United were relegated. He was available and hoovered up for Leeds and is now back in the Prem. He'd have ticked a lot of boxes. |  |
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| Half Term Report on 10:58 - Dec 29 with 492 views | LegendofthePhoenix |
| Half Term Report on 01:58 - Dec 29 by bournemouthblue |
In terms of an attacking right back, Furlong isn't it but then neither was Tuanzebe
I don't know what's going on with Clarke but I assume he is not in our plans going forward, disappointing as that is
I still never quite understand we weren't interested in Jaden Bogle when Sheffield United were relegated. He was available and hoovered up for Leeds and is now back in the Prem. He'd have ticked a lot of boxes. |
There’s a reason that most of our goals come from the left - Leif Davis. Even if he doesn’t actually make the assist, he is making the overlapping run that draws the defence out wide. We don’t get that with Furlong, he’s an old school solid right back, does his defensive duties well and is an option when we are under the cosh. But when we need to score goals, we need an attacking right back. I even wonder if we could use Wes in this role. | |
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| Half Term Report on 13:12 - Dec 29 with 456 views | Churchman |
I like this. It’s good fun. I don’t disagree with the OP either. I might upgrade O’Shea to a B and Jack Clarke down to a B.
For me, McKenna is a C. I can see what he is trying to do and I like the way he tries to get the team to play proper football. I believe we will get stronger and the long term picture is good. But something hasn’t been quite right and in truth I thought we might be a little further ahead than we are consistency wise.
Defence: improving - B. Midfield: Not quite right - C. Out wide: A. Central attack: D
Maybe harsh given we are 3rd and hardly in danger of relegation, but then I was always a rather harsh marker when doing appraisals, recruitment etc etc. |  | | |
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| Half Term Report on 08:08 - Dec 31 with 244 views | HighgateBlue |
| Half Term Report on 16:14 - Dec 28 by EddyJ |
A: Kipre
B: Matusiwa, Philogene, Davis, Nunez, Walton
C: Egeli, Taylor, Palmer, Hirst
D: Greaves, Cajuste, J Clarke, Furlong, Szmodics, Azon, O'Shea
E: Akpom, McAteer
Manager: C
Not going to rate people like Burns, Young, Johnson, Baggot, Humphreys etc... who have barely played. [Post edited 28 Dec 2025 16:15]
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I would have JClarke a lot higher, O'Shea a bit higher, and HIrst a bit lower.
Other than that, I agree on most of this. Including the manager, regretfully. |  | | |
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