Burge - 8
Phillips - 6
Pennington -8
Martin -8
Stokes - 6
Barton - 6
Fleck - 6
O'Brien - 6
Williams -5
Samuel -7
Tudgay - 5
Midfield and strikers get lowish ratings as they weren't involved in an attacking sense for 60 minutes of the game, not through fault of there own as MK are a quality team. Burge, Martin and Pennington were superb. Stokes started well and did his best, thought both full backs were given a really tough time by Powell and Baker but both battled well.
Burge - 8
Phillips - 6
Pennington -8
Martin -8
Stokes - 6
Barton - 6
Fleck - 6
O'Brien - 6
Williams -5
Samuel -7
Tudgay - 5
Midfield and strikers get lowish ratings as they weren't involved in an attacking sense for 60 minutes of the game, not through fault of there own as MK are a quality team. Burge, Martin and Pennington were superb. Stokes started well and did his best, thought both full backs were given a really tough time by Powell and Baker but both battled well.
I'm going to be a little more negative. Yes we sat deep and decided to soak up pressure, but you have to maintain some semblance of a threat going forward or it just becomes a constant onslaught. We couldn't put more than 2 passes together all second half, and had MK not continually fluffed their lines in front of goal we certainly wouldn't have gone away with 3 points. There were at least 6 moments where I was 100% convinced they were about to score, only for their striker to somehow miss the ball, or Burge to somehow end up sitting on the ball.
Having said that, there was no shortage of effort. Tudgay and Barton both put in goal-saving challenges at one time or another and it was great to see the determination from every player. However, the gap in quality between the sides was embarrassingly stark and we'd be naive to ignore it just because we got the win.
Burge - 7 - Grew in confidence after looking a bit nervy early on. Looks good coming out for crosses and made a couple of good stops.
Phillips - 5 - Baker gave him a tough time. Gave the ball away in the build-up to their goal by needlessly trying to force the play.
Pennington - 7 - Dealt with everything as the last line of defence. Looked the most willing to push the defensive line forward when we got too deep.
Martin - 6 - Was reasonably commanding, with a few nervy moments.
Stokes - 7 - Looks tidy. Baker was far quieter whenever he got moved to the right. Looks composed on the ball, capable of controlling and playing a pass.
O'Brien - 5 - Lots of running, but I'd like him to move some of his blood from his legs to his brain. Too often charged infield leaving Phillips exposed.
Barton - 6 - When we're playing well (not that often) he's great, but when the chips are down he's not going to wrestle back control of the game. Gets an extra point for a great goal-saving tackle in the first half.
Fleck - 6 - Disappeared in the second half. Was nice to see him press high and create a goal in the first half, we need more of that.
Williams - 4 - I know he's out of position, but this isn't Jordan Clarke up front we're talking about, it's a number 10 on the wing - you see something similar in many teams. His touch was poor, he made terrible runs, very disappointing. Not surprised he was taken off at half-time.
Samuel - 7 - Touch of class - great composed finish. Looks our best player in terms of basic football skills.
Tudgay - 6 - Worked hard, defended from the front, and made a great goal-saving block in the second-half. Didn't do much going forward though.
Subs:
Thomas - 5 - Tried, but we were so deep that he couldn't do much other than run with it as far as possible before being tackled.
Proschwitz - 5 - Impossible job. So isolated.
Finch - 5 - Came on, headed a few clear.
I kind of hate myself for seeming negative after a win over a title challenger. Don't get me wrong, I'm delighted with the 3 points, but we were very fortunate, make no mistake.
i kind of hate myself for seeming negative after a win over a title challenger. Don't get me wrong, i'm delighted with the 3 points, but we were very fortunate, make no mistake.
I'm going to be a little more negative. Yes we sat deep and decided to soak up pressure, but you have to maintain some semblance of a threat going forward or it just becomes a constant onslaught. We couldn't put more than 2 passes together all second half, and had MK not continually fluffed their lines in front of goal we certainly wouldn't have gone away with 3 points. There were at least 6 moments where I was 100% convinced they were about to score, only for their striker to somehow miss the ball, or Burge to somehow end up sitting on the ball.
Having said that, there was no shortage of effort. Tudgay and Barton both put in goal-saving challenges at one time or another and it was great to see the determination from every player. However, the gap in quality between the sides was embarrassingly stark and we'd be naive to ignore it just because we got the win.
Burge - 7 - Grew in confidence after looking a bit nervy early on. Looks good coming out for crosses and made a couple of good stops.
Phillips - 5 - Baker gave him a tough time. Gave the ball away in the build-up to their goal by needlessly trying to force the play.
Pennington - 7 - Dealt with everything as the last line of defence. Looked the most willing to push the defensive line forward when we got too deep.
Martin - 6 - Was reasonably commanding, with a few nervy moments.
Stokes - 7 - Looks tidy. Baker was far quieter whenever he got moved to the right. Looks composed on the ball, capable of controlling and playing a pass.
O'Brien - 5 - Lots of running, but I'd like him to move some of his blood from his legs to his brain. Too often charged infield leaving Phillips exposed.
Barton - 6 - When we're playing well (not that often) he's great, but when the chips are down he's not going to wrestle back control of the game. Gets an extra point for a great goal-saving tackle in the first half.
Fleck - 6 - Disappeared in the second half. Was nice to see him press high and create a goal in the first half, we need more of that.
Williams - 4 - I know he's out of position, but this isn't Jordan Clarke up front we're talking about, it's a number 10 on the wing - you see something similar in many teams. His touch was poor, he made terrible runs, very disappointing. Not surprised he was taken off at half-time.
Samuel - 7 - Touch of class - great composed finish. Looks our best player in terms of basic football skills.
Tudgay - 6 - Worked hard, defended from the front, and made a great goal-saving block in the second-half. Didn't do much going forward though.
Subs:
Thomas - 5 - Tried, but we were so deep that he couldn't do much other than run with it as far as possible before being tackled.
Proschwitz - 5 - Impossible job. So isolated.
Finch - 5 - Came on, headed a few clear.
I kind of hate myself for seeming negative after a win over a title challenger. Don't get me wrong, I'm delighted with the 3 points, but we were very fortunate, make no mistake.
Pretty much bang on for me.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk - so please excuse any spelling or grammar errors
Could be that MK were just that much better than us in the second half but I thought we looked unfit.
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