TK's Ratings - Swansea (Capital Thingy Cup)

[Pureblood]

 

This Milk Cup tie proved to be a welcome distraction from our toils in the big two competitions, with a thrilling finale.  But, I hear you cry, how did each player fare on a scale of one to ten?  A little bit like this...

 

Jones - 6.  Couldn't do anything about the goal, but did most other things pretty well with the exception of some hospital balls   One good save.

 

Manquillo - 5.  Positionally he was almost playing as an out and out winger for the first 40 minutes.  If only he could cross like an out and out winger.  There is no faulting his endeavor, but he needs to improve the quality of his final ball. Got skinned (this is a technical term) once by Montero.

 

Lovren - 6.  Probably his best game in a red shirt.  You could argue he switched off for the goal, but aside from that he was very commanding and his distribution was top notch. One 80 yard raker into the chest of Lambert was particularly impressive.  Popped up with a headed goal deep into added time to clinch the game.  Splendid.

 

Toure - 6.  Not as eye-catching as Lovren but no less competent.  He only really let himself down when he picked up a booking for needlessly selling himself, but otherwise Kolo had a steady game.

 

Johnson - 7.  The pick of the back four he slotted in seamlessly at left back and produced the type of energetic display which belies the lazy "lazy" tag as the nonsense it is. Coped easily with Dyer and covered superbly on a couple of occasions.  Wasn't very effective going forward but it's a minor quibble.

 

Lucas - 6. Broke up the play when Swansea tried to build pressure in the second half and moved the ball very well, choosing his forward passes at the right time.  Long range shooting needs work.

 

Henderson - 6.  A rusty start, but he shook off his recent patchy form to put in another workaholic performance as Captain on the night.  Calm in possession when put in a horrible position by Jones early on and hit some crisp passes throughout.  His finishing continues to let him down, though.

 

Markovic - 5.  More economical with his passing in this match but he was always taking the safe option and sliced a chance horribly wide.  His work rate was decent, his touch when in space was not. 

 

Coutinho - 5.  Maddeningly inconsistent.  He is suffering from the absence of options ahead of him (and was visibly frustrated about it), but he sees so much of the ball he should make it count more often than he does.  Argh!  Dead ball delivery was reasonable and he set up Lovren for the winner with a precise free kick.

 

Lambert - 5.  He was involved early on with one nice turn and cross and a few decent lay-offs, but faded out of the game and didn't get a sniff at goal.  Justifiably substituted.

 

Borini - 6.  Nowhere to be seen in the early stages and when he did get the ball he was wasteful, but he came alive with a couple of testers on Swansea's goal and grew into the game from there.   Dug out a sublime cross to drag us back into the game. 

 

Subs:-

 

Lallana - 5.  The closing exchanges passed him by.

 

Balotelli - 6. The stage was set for Mario and he came up trumps to give us a lifeline. Duly decided he would then shoot from any distance, and why not?  Oh.

 

Manager:-

 

Rodgers - 6.  A well balanced starting line-up saw us take control of the first half.  The subs, although late, proved to be well timed.  A touch fortunate to benefit from a ridiculous red card for Swansea, but Brendan can be satisfied from a much improved first half performance from his players, who showed good character to come back from conceding first.

 

2014 © TK421 - All rights reserved

[Stickman]

Couldn't get the Star Wars theme out of my head so will have to come back at a later date for the ratings....

[Mathewbet1]

Spot on dude. Your kurt and too the point , and not a word wasted. Journalism stardom awaits.

[Jim MM]

After an indifferent start to the season I am now looking forward to every game with anticipation again. Win, lose or draw when I see that TK's Ratings thread pop up on the board it's like an injury time winner.

[Paul]

Great logo and a good summary. My only quibble is that I think Coutinho is a point shy of what he deserved. 

[JohnnyH]

I didn't see the game but I'm still going to pass comment as if I have because I'm one of those arsehole fans.

 

I agree and disagree in equal but differing amounts. Fuck the police and Sting.

[Salte]

Agree with Paul, a bit hars on Cou. He was at the heart of a lot of our promising (but in the end fruitless) play in the first half. Also, I'd say some of his "lack of end product" was due to other players not being alert.

 

Edit: Except for that, pretty much agree with TK.

[dandyman]

Pretty much spot on, but continuo is a couple points under rated there, he was MOTM for me, and not Johnson, as these rating show. He is suffering from a massive lack of ability and knowledge in front of him, that he had last season

[Dr Nowt]

It's a triumph, TK. A copper-bottomed hit.

[Wezza]

I can't wait until one of our players actually beats the current TK max score of 7.

[ngogswilly]

Best player ratings going. Magnifico

[Russ Atmosphere]

I wouldn't go lower than 7 for Balotelli or Coutinho. Mario, on for 15 mins and his goal changed the match - did his job, Coutinho excellent in the build-up but naff near goal, still our best player currently but for some reason Brendan won't play him.

[aws]

Excellent read.

[JohnnyH]

I think the marking structure should be changed to the Spinal Tap processu of 1-11.  Therefore allowing for a super-duper performance.

[Dr Nowt]

You're only saying that so you can give TK an 11.

[Pureblood]

I marked Coutinho down because he had so much good possession he should have created some clear cut chances or made the keeper work. I agree that he was our most influential player, but not the best.