Brentford v Wolverhampton Wanderers Player Ratings
Johnstone 6 – conceded 5 but hard to blame him for any and he made lots of good saves. Perhaps given the total absence of any sort of aerial presence in the defence he should have left his line and tried to help on crosses but deserved far better than he got from his defence.
Semedo 4 – Forbs didn’t help but he was torn to shreds. Ok on the ball, (as to be fair most of the side were throughout the game) but a major part of the wholly inadequate defensive effort.
Dawson 4 – Is it a season too far? Had no answer to Brentford’s aerial power although not helped by the fact that we have so many short players in the team and Brentford had a number of giants who seemingly wanted it so much more!
Toti 3 – Oh dear. A truly hopeless first half performance. Got better in the second half but is weak in the air and poor on the ground both with and without the ball. He is quick and strong but just not good enough at the moment. Shame as last year with a younger fitter Dawson and Kilman holding his hands he looked ok. Can’t be dropped though as we have no realistic alternatives – Bueno and Dawson are both far too slow to play in a 4!
RAN 8 – I fear we may have a problem as surely his agent will be in Jeff’s office on Monday demanding a move this January. Looked distraught at the end – head in hands and shirt pulled up to hide his tears? Went straight down the tunnel and had to be persuaded to go over to the fans at the end!
Did ok defensively but was superb going forwards – a class act amongst the wreckage!
Andre 5 – Hard to mark the rest of the side as no house can stand without foundations and the back 4 were abject! Ok, but no better, on the ball but obviously unable to protect a back 4 from balls crossed 2 feet above his head!
Gomes 5 – Worked hard but was a little ragged at times and like one or two others seemed v frustrated at events – who can blame him- and occasionally, particularly in the second half when we might have got back into the game with a little bit more composure, lost his cool and discipline!
Lemina 5 – Best of a modest midfield 3 but taking one mark off for the 3rd goal when he passed straight to a Brentford player unmarked 8 yards out when he had all the time in the world to clear. However despite playing 20 mins or so as a 10 i.e. out of position, (GON why oh why waste one of your best players playing him out of position!) he worked his socks off and led by example. Another one looking far from happy at the end!
Forbs 4 – Was good for the first 10 mins or so going forward, (even then didn’t work hard enough to help Semedo), but got totally lost thereafter in the maelstrom flying around him. Might be ok in a better team but at the moment doesn’t do enough going forward to compensate for his lack of defence. Suspect he is not one for the trenches we are in now – although finding 11 fit players that are might be a problem after yet another disastrous summer transfer window.
Larsen 6 Works hard and really tries to link play. However a yard or 3 too slow to play on the break as surely we will be going forwards? Our lack of competent defenders means that sadly we need to play more of them and play deeper and with a lot more positional discipline and organisation – can GON instill this will he be given the time to do so? Got his goal so hard to be too critical. Must do more on defence from corners as he is one of our few players over 6ft!
Cunha 7 Another classy player who looks totally fed up but in his case not just with team mates. Picked up the ball and ran at defenders, linked play and worked tirelessly. He didn’t deserve to be on the losing side. However his ire also fed by two events that the ref didn’t see or if he did didn’t deem sufficient to take action.
Firstly taken out off the ball by Collins with a forearm smash to head that would have been a red if the ref had seen it, (what does VAR actually do?) and secondly would have got a pen if he was Salah at Anfield when brought down after a long mazy run that saw him knocked off the ball as he was in on goal – never going to be given to an away team from the lower reaches of the league sadly but that is the game!
Subs:
Hwang 3 – barely touched the ball and looks hoplessly out of his depth.
Guedes 5 – lightweight and needs to work harder but has great touch and is clearly a player but like Forbs probably not suited for the blood and grit we will need going forwards
Bellegard 5 – Was far better than I expected although that is a low bar. Worked hard and did ok in his cameo role
Ref 6 – did ok but Collins was a v lucky boy to get away with a cynical block on Cunha and their pen was certainly no clearer than the one he didn’t give us.
GON 1 – Ok, he has been dealt a v bad hand with a totally unbalanced squad, albeit one that probably has as much talent in it as last year’s one and def has more depth – although not in the right places! But the side after 7 games is going backwards and lacks even the semblance of of an organised defence. This cannot continue!
Solutons are very hard to find given the paucity ( well it appears with Dawson possibly “done” that we have none!) of competent premier league quality CBs. Maybe try one of Andre or Lemina at CB alongside Dawson and Bueno? Semedo, Toti as FBs 2DMs and Cunha and RAN playing off Larsen. All ideas however are tinged with madness and desperation as we simply don’t have a CB worthy of a place let alone 2 or 3!
Written by Thefutureisoldgold October 06 2024 08:07:27
