Millwall Ratings (33 Viewers)

[Gibbo]

The problem was once again on the left in defence. Kitching and JDS concede goals. I expect there is some statistical index out there that proves me wrong, but my sense of it is that it is on the left where we are weakest. JDS is pleasing on the eye but as a defender is still woeful.

 

---

[fernandopartridge]

Latibeaudiere was a bit of a bomb scare but made some vital defensive contributions in the last 15 minutes.

That's on Woolfenden though , he should be competing with Kitching and Thomas for a starting place in our best xi. The fact he isn't suggests Lampard and his staff aren't seeing it and to be fair Lati scares me at times but when it comes to the ugly defending I wouldn't choose anyone above him

Absolutely, he enjoys the battle and is a very good box defender.

Genuinely, people on here who bemoan our centre backs have no clue how difficult their role is, they play a very high line and have to try and deal with multiple runners at once.

 

[Calista]

Quite a few 6's given for EMC tonight. What has he got to do for some people?

 

[SkyblueTexan]

We might need to give Yang some game time especially with Rudoni and Grimes very sub-par.

 

[SleepyGinger]

Surprised at the scores for Lati, I thought has has been solid every time he’s been called upon this season. Hes not great in possession but he is a solid and reliable defender, wouldn’t mind him keeping his place Monday.

 

[Otis]

Surprised at the scores for Lati, I thought has has been solid every time he’s been called upon this season. Hes not great in possession but he is a solid and reliable defender, wouldn’t mind him keeping his place Monday.

It's his passing that worries me the most. It's atrocious at times. Think I counted three occasions in the first half where his passes went straight to Millwall players.

 

[SwanLane]

My main issue with Lati is his mobility. I don’t just mean pace either. He can look very ragged when faced with a nimble opponent. He doesn’t suit how we play (with a high line).

But he has defended well when called on this season including last night. Not really been exposed and has put his body on the line several times.

 

[skyblue_55]

A workmanlike performance, but Grimes is having a blip at present, with last night his poorest performance to date .
Thankfully Rushworth is our saviour , when the team should be showing their credentials.
Time for Rudoni to be benched & Asante given his place , to provide the pace & power to the team .
Saka to start against Norwich & let’s take the game to them .

 

[clint van damme]

I think some of the comments of Grimes are a bit harsh IMO - 95 passes 75.8 % accuracy suggests he wasn't that terrible, not that stats paint the whole picture!
Esse who certainly looks class - 27 passes 77.8% accuracy - 2 games and folks are cuming in their pants and I think of Bassett here. Early days
Just trying to look positive about a player who is seemingly not performing as he did earlier in the season.

I'm a fan of Bassett but there's no comparison with Esse, he's head and shoulders above Norman.

 

[Jamesimus]

Lati a real interesting player, can be a bombscare in possession - the ball is a hot potato! Flaps sometimes in a 1v1, mainly if the ball is on the ground.

Despite all that, he is fully committed and has an excellent mentality. Him and Kitch a little poor for the goal today I know, but both defended the box well.

I think at the moment I’d have him in the middle of a back 3/5 over Woolfy. Harsh on the Wolf who’s not been given a chance and is clearly a more cultured footballer, but sometimes you just need someone who is brave and got immense character.

 

[Jamesimus]

Esse who certainly looks class - 27 passes 77.8% accuracy - 2 games and folks are cuming in their pants and I think of Bassett here. Early days

 

[TomRad85]

Lati a real interesting player, can be a bombscare in possession - the ball is a hot potato! Flaps sometimes in a 1v1, mainly if the ball is on the ground.

Despite all that, he is fully committed and has an excellent mentality. Him and Kitch a little poor for the goal today I know, but both defended the box well.

I think at the moment I’d have him in the middle of a back 3/5 over Woolfy. Harsh on the Wolf who’s not been given a chance and is clearly a more cultured footballer, but sometimes you just need someone who is brave and got immense character.

I don't want to see Lati again. He's absolutely awful. Individually that was probably the most comical performance I've seen since Bidwell away at Derby last season (excluding all things Brad Collins) The bloke is fucking terrifying.

 

[torchomatic]

The problem was once again on the left in defence. Kitching and JDS concede goals. I expect there is some statistical index out there that proves me wrong, but my sense of it is that it is on the left where we are weakest. JDS is pleasing on the eye but as a defender is still woeful.

He's not 'woeful'. Ridiculous.

 

[torchomatic]

A workmanlike performance, but Grimes is having a blip at present, with last night his poorest performance to date .
Thankfully Rushworth is our saviour , when the team should be showing their credentials.
Time for Rudoni to be benched & Asante given his place , to provide the pace & power to the team .
Saka to start against Norwich & let’s take the game to them .

Yeah, last night was the worst game he's had, I think.

 

[Jamesimus]

I don't want to see Lati again. He's absolutely awful. Individually that was probably the most comical performance I've seen since Bidwell away at Derby last season (excluding all things Brad Collins) The bloke is fucking terrifying.

He is not easy on the eye, but you can’t fault his commitment.

Also, I’m trying really hard to like him and you are trying to ruin it.

 

[TomRad85]

He is not easy on the eye, but you can’t fault his commitment.

Also, I’m trying really hard to like him and you are trying to ruin it.

I don't dislike him on a human level, that would be mean. But when he plays football he scares the absolute shite out of me.

 

[Jamesimus]

I don't dislike him on a human level, that would be mean. But when he plays football he scares the absolute shite out of me.

He scares me to. But also, when you’re getting balls lifted in to the box at the end of the game, I see his worth.

 

[Sky Blue Pete]

The problem was once again on the left in defence. Kitching and JDS concede goals. I expect there is some statistical index out there that proves me wrong, but my sense of it is that it is on the left where we are weakest. JDS is pleasing on the eye but as a defender is still woeful.

You need to look at the way we play
Emc for 65 mins or so just didn’t track back

 

[Cally Fedora]

He's not 'woeful'. Ridiculous.

I’m afraid defensively he is.

 

[Gibbo]

Agree with the others above, Grimes was ineffective last night. In fact has been below par for several weeks. Looks lightweight. For whatever reason, a Grimes, Rudoni, Torp/Eccles midfield is not dominating. They were poor at getting the ball to EMC - that is probably why some above are giving poor scores to him, he hardly had the ball in the 2nd half. It was similar for Esse in the 1st half.

Sakamoto was having a poor spell before Esse arrived. But he played like a man possessed when he came on last night. He has more awareness than Esse but you can see that the latter has so much upward potential. Unbelievably fast feet

Wright put in a good shift. He even won the ball from Rushworth kicks, which Simms, despite his height, rarely does.

We can't keep relying on Rushworth. Without him we would be chasing the play offs.

15 shots 4 on target, is not very good. And the possession stats deceive - we had the ball in places where it was less important

Subs made a huge difference. Shout out for BTA - his muscularity in the middle of the park helped change the game.

 

[CovRes]

8.5 Eccles my MOTM. That through ball first half was one of the best passes of the season.

8 Mason-Clarkes work rate has improved so much and made the first superbly.
8 Rushworth’s handling AGAIN. There was one that he couldn’t quite hold at full stretch and that is the exception to the norm.

7 Rest all good. Can’t blame Esse for tiring, his fitness will get there. He’ll frustrate a lot of the old school fans but he’ll be a box of tricks and will make things happen as much as he’ll do the basics badly at times. Looking forward to seeing more.

On that pass from Eccles. You could hear a reaction from his haters in the crowd who had no idea what he was doing ... until Wright suddenly appeared and latched on to it.

 

[JSL]

Did he shush their fans?

Yes and then they developed a chant for him which rhymes with anchor.

Rushworth immense again. Lati got better but kept putting long balls early on which went in no mans land. Kitching and Grimes composed, JDS good with the ball and interplay but exposed defensively several times. Esse very lively but ran out of steam and starting to link up with MVE. He also actually takes players on and can cross. Eccles and Rudoni not standout but played an unsung part. Wright looking like a man possessed compared to recently. EMC my MOTM. Everything he did was good. When Tats came on we got a lift in pace to kill them off

 

[Gibbo]

You need to look at the way we play
Emc for 65 mins or so just didn’t track back

You can't blame it on EMC - JDS and Kitching have prime responsibility for not marking players

The Leicester goal came from the left as well and you could not blame EMC for that one. It's a brain thing. Neither JDS or KItching are smart enough and neither has the speed that MVE has to compensate

 

[Sky Blue Pete]

You can't blame it on EMC - JDS and Kitching have prime responsibility for not marking players

The Leicester goal came from the left as well and you could not blame EMC for that one. It's a brain thing. Neither JDS or KItching are smart enough and neither has the speed that MVE has to compensate

Not blaming anyone individually unlike you
What do you expect JDs to do when he has his right mid attacking him and the right back runs past or a midfielder doesn’t follow a midfielder run
The goal last night was rudi failing and leaving us over run
Dasilva having to stand off his man a he was outnumbered with no cover
Lati didn’t react quickly enough to the ball coming in

As an example

It’s so funny watching the meltdown as teams break and end up 2 on 1 or 5 on 4 and then blame Lati or Kitching or mve or Dasilva and don’t recognise if you have 8 players attacking and it breaks down you’ll struggle to defend with 3 players

Hey it’s how we play
Rushworth is sensational the back 4 are just very good
If you want to blame individuals it’s the coaches for setting us up to play that way

 

[Cally Fedora]

JDS just lets people cross. Never an attempt to close down. It’s madness.

 

[Snaily]

The issue is the huge gap in front of him that leaves him more exposed.

In part because he plays very deep, which I presume is because of our lack of pace at centre-back and desire to still allow the full backs to attack

 

[Speedie's Head]

Sakamoto was having a poor spell before Esse arrived. But he played like a man possessed when he came on last night. He has more awareness than Esse but you can see that the latter has so much upward potential. Unbelievably fast feet

He had flu like many of the others. I agree about the potential in Esse he might well be an international soon enough when he fills out a bit.

 

[Snaily]

Our defence is odd:
MVE: Ok technical defender, pace gets him out of trouble, great going forward
JDS: Poor technical defender, decent going forward, but makes bad decisions when in possession defensively
Kitching: Good defender positionally but ball watches and doesn’t mark, gets booked for no good reason, distribution is good - but not as good as he thinks.
Thomas: As per Kitching, but maybe slight better
Lati: Very good defender, poor control, poor passing, can’t run very well

Hence why we need to control possession. For the 20 minutes Millwall & Leicester dominated I felt we could concede at any time

 

[shmmeee]

Our defence is odd:
MVE: Ok technical defender, pace gets him out of trouble, great going forward
JDS: Poor technical defender, decent going forward, but makes bad decisions when in possession defensively
Kitching: Good defender positionally but ball watches and doesn’t mark, gets booked for no good reason, distribution is good - but not as good as he thinks.
Thomas: As per Kitching, but maybe slight better
Lati: Very good defender, poor control, poor passing, can’t run very well

Hence why we need to control possession. For the 20 minutes Millwall & Leicester dominated I felt we could concede at any time

Our biggest problem by far is our CBs constantly lose their man and make rash decisions and can’t defend their box but they’re “hard men” so get a complete pass from fans. Kitchings best attribute is his passing which as you say isn’t as good as he thinks and Thomas’ is his threat from set pieces. But the day job they’re both pretty poor at. However this is all Dasilvas fault cos reasons.

 

[Littlewood CCFC]

One of the worst examples of defending i have ever seen last night was when Lati tried to play the offside trap when Ivanovic was sent clean through for the 1 v 1 Rushworth saved.

Amazing how varied football options are as i'm seeing some 7/10 ratings for him, i thought he was shocking!

 

[TomRad85]

Our biggest problem by far is our CBs constantly lose their man and make rash decisions and can’t defend their box but they’re “hard men” so get a complete pass from fans. Kitchings best attribute is his passing which as you say isn’t as good as he thinks and Thomas’ is his threat from set pieces. But the day job they’re both pretty poor at. However this is all Dasilvas fault cos reasons.

Dasilva is the lowest rated of all our regular back 4 this season, although tbf none of them rate poorly. As for you thinking Lati is the best defender, it's hard to know where to start.

 

[shmmeee]

Dasilva is the lowest rated of all our regular back 4 this season, although tbf none of them rate poorly. As for you thinking Lati is the best defender, it's hard to know where to start.

Rated by who?

You realise when I say defender I mean purely the act of defending not the rest of the game?

Kitching and Thomas are very good at things that aren’t defending and under Lampard that matters as we attack more than defend. I would drop Lats next game because of this. But that doesn’t change that they are two poor defenders (lowercase d) and if we were under the cosh I’d rather have Lats defending than either of them.

 

[TomRad85]

Rated by who?

You realise when I say defender I mean purely the act of defending not the rest of the game?

Kitching and Thomas are very good at things that aren’t defending and under Lampard that matters as we attack more than defend. I would drop Lats next game because of this. But that doesn’t change that they are two poor defenders (lowercase d) and if we were under the cosh I’d rather have Lats defending than either of them.

Fotmob for starters. I'm a fan of the eye test personally but i know many on here love the stats unless they don't suit. Over the course of the season Dasilva has the lowest rating.

I'm struggling to understand how giving the ball away in honking positions, being a bomb scare with an opposition player in close proximity and running like you have a weighted belt on aren't parts of defending tbh.

 

[Shannerz]

Our biggest problem by far is our CBs constantly lose their man and make rash decisions and can’t defend their box but they’re “hard men” so get a complete pass from fans. Kitchings best attribute is his passing which as you say isn’t as good as he thinks and Thomas’ is his threat from set pieces. But the day job they’re both pretty poor at. However this is all Dasilvas fault cos reasons.

Don't think any of our centre-halves are particularly 'hard'.

Thomas is a top-end Championship centre-half, and Kitching is a very good one.

Lati is limited, but puts his body on the line. Woolfenden hasn't really shown anything yet.

Our defence isn't our strength, but that's mainly due to tactics, instructions and perhaps lacking a little athleticism in midfield.

Dasilva isn't blamed for this this season any more than the others are, but he gave me kittens last night with some of the risks he was taking playing it out.

 

[Otis]

Our defence is odd:
MVE: Ok technical defender, pace gets him out of trouble, great going forward
JDS: Poor technical defender, decent going forward, but makes bad decisions when in possession defensively
Kitching: Good defender positionally but ball watches and doesn’t mark, gets booked for no good reason, distribution is good - but not as good as he thinks.
Thomas: As per Kitching, but maybe slight better
Lati: Very good defender, poor control, poor passing, can’t run very well

Hence why we need to control possession. For the 20 minutes Millwall & Leicester dominated I felt we could concede at any time

Kitching is terrible sometimes in terms of ball watching and not tracking his man.

Happened a few times lately. Shame, because i do rate him otherwise