Originally Posted by Paxman II
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First hour of the match we were more than matching Norwich, and in my opinion we were the better team, what was lacking was clear, a playmaker in the final third and a speed merchant up front to stretch the opponents even more. The key difference in the game yesterday was the substitutes Norwich made, their 11 fresh players coming on just totally took the game beyond us, up untill that point we competed very well and were probably the better team, we're missing a couple of key links from having a very good first XI. Not sure about Keogh at centre half, at times he looks very indecisive and hesistant, his pace gets him out of trouble a lot of times, from a tactical and technical point of view the first and second goals were his fault. Clingan bossed the game from the base of the midfield as usual, Birgimania shown a few nice touches, but on the whole I don't feel he'll be ready, the game was played at a slower intensity yesterday than the cut throat speed of the Championship, he may struggle. Baker was his usual self, looks like a world beater one minute then the next second he'll show his true self, a league 2 player at best, he doesn't have the ability to play one two's or one touch playing, he holds on to the ball far too long and he isn't good/quick enough to do it, and like Bell he's just to one paced, hasn't got that turn of pace you need. Mcsheffrey was dissapointing, Juke linked up well at times and shown some nice touches as did Eastwood. On the whole a decent workout, had Norwich played via league rules (3 subs) we wouldn't of been on the end of a 3-0 defeat, their fresh legs won them the match, not that it really matters. The first half performance was impressive, Chris Hussey was very good aswell.
Player Ratings
1.Murphy - 6 - No chance with any of the goals, could here him from the top of block 21, claimed a few balls and played the ball out a lot quicker than Westwood did.
12.Christie - 7 - Good going forward, beat his opposite number with ease at times, not so sure defensively, positonally was caught out a lot.
15.Cranie - 7 - Solid as usual.
2.Keogh - 6 - Looked shaky and hesistant to me, not a centre half.
3.Hussey - 8 - Our best player on the day, very good going forward, solid defensively.
4.Clingan - 7 - Bossed the first half, some excellent switches of play.
16.Birgimania - 6 - Some nice touches, some bad touches. Definately a player there to work with though.
8.Baker - 5 - Sorry mate, you're just not upto this standard.
11.Mcsheffrey - 5 - Pretty anonymous, and with our style of play, theres no excuse for that.
9.Juke - 7 - Some strong hold up play, good link up play, needs to get on the end of crosses more.
10. Eastwood - 6 - Some nice touches here and there, but like Mcsheffrey he can be anonymous at times, needs to run in beyond a bit more and stretch the back four, he has the pace.
Subs
7.Thomas - 5 - Didn't really touch the ball, thought he was superb at Chesterfield. Had he been on in the first half he may have shone.
5. Wood - N/A -
19 - O'Donavon - 5 - good follow up play for the disallowed goal, didn't get involved enough.
