Ratings thread

[gshaw]

Have to caveat these with the fact Cambridge were awful, worst side I've seen down here this season after Stevenage. That said a better performance today with players mostly in their correct positions for once.

Also great to have McAnuff back, his leadership makes all the difference seeing out a game.

Vigoroux - 6 - rarely troubled, slightly ropey kicking but good save at the end. Nice bit of shithousing / timewasting right at the end, that's what I like to see!

Brophy - 7 - usual high workrate at both ends
Coulson - 5 - bailed out by his colleagues a good few times, lack of pace at this level is a problem
Happe - 6 better of the two CBs
Marsh - 7 - solid performance and saved Coulson a few times

Clay - 7 - MOTM - looked up for it, assist for the goal. Think today proves you can't have him and Wright in the same team
Cissé - 7 - solid, get him signed
Dayton - 7 - gave us a bit more inventiveness in the middle

Sotiriou - 6 - hustle and bustle, has that bit of spark about him to make things happen but tried to do a bit too much today
Johnson - 7 - looked better down the middle than out wide, will be pleased with his poacher's goal, rewarded for his workrate
JMD - 7 - looked lively on the right, well taken goal

Subs:

McAnuff - 7 - calmness personified, just controls the play with his football brain and leads those around him
Widdowson - 6 - finally got him on at LB to help see the game out. Solid.
Angol - 4 - still not a target man, lost the ball every time it came to him

Cambridge keeper - 7 - only going to get a 3 from Cambridge fans but did well for us spilling the ball for the second goal and looking generally dodgy

Better game management and squad selection today. Has Embleton finally seen the light? Need to cut the sloppy errors out though.

Interesting selection decisions ahead once Wright and Wilkinson return. Neither should get back into starting XI automatically based on today.

[Fanny]

Agree with op, Cambridge were proper sh*t.

[Bergen]

Happe was Man of the Match for me.

[JimbO]

Clay for me

[banqo]

Clay plays so much better when Wright isn't there.

[Chief crazy horse]

Agree with opening post. And yes for me, Clay was stand out man of the match. But oh, if only he could shoot...!

[gshaw]

Agree with opening post. And yes for me, Clay was stand out man of the match. But oh, if only he could shoot...!

When he took on that curling long range one in the first half I thought we'd gone to a parallel universe. The left foot attempt second half was more like what we're used to seeing sliced off towards the corner flag

That's a minor gripe for an excellent overall performance. That's the standard he has to hit, not seen enough of that this season.

[The Big Shot]

Another proper gutting result for Apple Wumble, he'll be thankful we have Plymouth at home next.

[Kitch’s Magic Toes]

Vigouroux 6 - One good save, no chance with their (p*ss-poorly defended) goal. Solid on crosses.

Marsh 6 - Battled hard. Cambridge were very physical down their left and he stood up pretty well. Not great with the ball.

Brophy 7 - Good all-round showing. Better positional discipline defensively.

Coulson 6 - Think others have been a bit harsh. His lack of pace has been a liability, but he did pretty well today.

Happe 6 - Pretty solid overall. Caught for pace a couple of times and didn’t get an easy ride from a very physical Vic Adeboyejo.

Cissé 8 MOTM - An implacable thou-shalt-not-pass performance. Doesn’t give the ball away either.

Clay 7 - Our best player in the first half, but got increasingly sloppy on the ball as the game went on. Good overall.

Dayton 6 - Didn’t have a particularly good game, but having a more attack-minded central midfielder makes all the difference to the overall shape and dynamic of the team.

Sotiriou 4 - Didn’t stop trying, but absolutely nothing came off for him today. A game he’ll hopefully learn from.

JMD 7 - Incredibly frustrating at times, absolutely brilliant at others. He had f*cked up two prior attacks by trying to do too much, but then scores a great goal. A day where he did more right than wrong.

Johnson 5 - Works very hard, so no complaints there. Did essentially nothing of any use, but was in the right place at the right time to tap home into an empty net so mustn’t grumble.

Subs:

McAnuff 7 - Nice to have our best player back. Looked fit & sharp, calmed everything down, nearly scored a worldie and still a dreamboat. Pretty sure I’d leave my wife for him if he asked.

Widdowson 6 - Solid. Not much to do.

Angol 4 - Feckless like always.

[Rich Tea Wellin]

Another proper gutting result for Apple Wumble, he'll be thankful we have Plymouth at home next.

Get a life, weirdo

[Paddy Grealish]

Have to caveat these with the fact Cambridge were awful, worst side I've seen down here this season after Stevenage. That said a better performance today with players mostly in their correct positions for once.

Also great to have McAnuff back, his leadership makes all the difference seeing out a game.

Vigoroux - 6 - rarely troubled, slightly ropey kicking but good save at the end. Nice bit of shithousing / timewasting right at the end, that's what I like to see!

Brophy - 7 - usual high workrate at both ends
Coulson - 5 - bailed out by his colleagues a good few times, lack of pace at this level is a problem
Happe - 6 better of the two CBs
Marsh - 7 - solid performance and saved Coulson a few times

Clay - 7 - MOTM - looked up for it, assist for the goal. Think today proves you can't have him and Wright in the same team
Cissé - 7 - solid, get him signed
Dayton - 7 - gave us a bit more inventiveness in the middle

Sotiriou - 6 - hustle and bustle, has that bit of spark about him to make things happen but tried to do a bit too much today
Johnson - 7 - looked better down the middle than out wide, will be pleased with his poacher's goal, rewarded for his workrate
JMD - 7 - looked lively on the right, well taken goal

Subs:

McAnuff - 7 - calmness personified, just controls the play with his football brain and leads those around him
Widdowson - 6 - finally got him on at LB to help see the game out. Solid.
Angol - 4 - still not a target man, lost the ball every time it came to him

Cambridge keeper - 7 - only going to get a 3 from Cambridge fans but did well for us spilling the ball for the second goal and looking generally dodgy

Better game management and squad selection today. Has Embleton finally seen the light? Need to cut the sloppy errors out though.

Interesting selection decisions ahead once Wright and Wilkinson return. Neither should get back into starting XI automatically based on today.

Good ratings. I noticed that the team seemed to have added some shithousery overall today which seemed to disrupt Cambridge a bit.

Clay was excellent, although he walked on thin ice at times by getting involved in some of the pushing & shoving. Having Cissé around has really helped Clay to do more of the stuff that he's good at.

As for Jobi, what a guy

[Red_Army]

Clay has looked like the player he was last season for the last few weeks.

As others have said, I don't think its a coincidence that Wright hasn't been playing so much.

[gshaw]

I noticed that the team seemed to have added some shithousery overall today which seemed to disrupt Cambridge a bit.

Clay was excellent, although he walked on thin ice a bit by getting involved in some of the pushing & shoving. Having Cissé around has really helped Clay to do more of the stuff that he's good at.

As for Jobi, what a guy

Exactly, said for months we need to engage in the dark arts to get through tight games and today we matched and exceeded Cambridge's filth. Embleton can say we "did the League 2 things" tonight. Showing a bit more pragmatism at last, glad to see it.

[Ronnie Hotdogs]

Vigaro 6

Marsh 6

Brophy 7

Coulson 6

Happe 6

Cisse 6

Dayton 5

Clay 7

Ruel 6

JMD 6

Fat Brophy 5

Subs:

Jobi 10. If that volley had gone in, I would have ejaculated on the spot.

Angol 5.

Widdowson 6

Very average performance against a very bad Cambridge side. Highlights were a few flashes from JMD and Ruel (who is going to be such a good player - better than Koroma, no question) plus the return of the Mac. Jobi actually looked fitter and quicker than he did before the injury, incredible.

Sadly Dayton showed why he’s going to be released at the end of this season. And although Fat Brophy was much better than he last game, he was our other weak link. (Not that Angol was any better when he came on - actually, he was arguably worse).

[Ronnie Hotdogs]

Also, Cambridge were shocking.

And the ref was pony (for both sides in equal measure).

[Paddy Grealish]

Fat Brophy

Christ.

[Ronnie Hotdogs]

I had honestly forgotten his name. I meant the new lad (Johnson, just checked it).

[Real Al]

Also, Cambridge were shocking.

And the ref was pony (for both sides in equal measure).

Really, I thought the ref was pretty good. Let quite a lot go, which kept the game flowing.

[Ronnie Hotdogs]

Also, Cambridge were shocking.

And the ref was pony (for both sides in equal measure).

Really, I thought the ref was pretty good. Let quite a lot go, which kept the game flowing.

People were conning him (both sides) left, right and centre.

How Dayton got the free kick when trying to block their bloke at kick off I’ll never know

[Ghostkidofthenorth]

Thought Marsh was better than most have rated and my MoM today, closely followed by Cisse and Clay. Would like us to keep both Marsh and Cisse come the summer both are "league one capable".

[George M]

It was noticeable when Angol came on how difficult it was to get out of our half. He can’t hold the ball up so the midfield can’t get forward. The midfield will never take a risk and support the forwards if they feel the ball will come straight back leaving them vulnerable. The difference was obvious when Angol came on. He is another awful forward who waits for the ball , doesn’t anticipate , doesn’t work for the team , and when the ball arrives at his feet , can’t control it. Utterly pointless player.

[RedDwarf 1881]

Thought Marsh was better than most have rated and my MoM today, closely followed by Cisse and Clay. Would like us to keep both Marsh and Cisse come the summer both are "league one capable".

I agree . Marsh is far better than both Ling and Judd at RB and Cisse looks the central midfielder we've been crying out for now for ages .

[Ronnie Hotdogs]

Cisse, yes, clearly.

Marsh, no.

[Top of the JES]

Liked the look of Johnson and Soitirou up front today great movement and looked a goal threat, also Clay and Cisse in midfield were excellent. Craig seems to find his best form when Wright isn't in the team. Marsh had a very good game and bailed Coulson out more than once. Fantastic to see Jobi back he looked more like a 28 year old than 38, still class. We need to find a clinical edge and finish teams off we certainly made chances to do that today decision making just needs to be a bit better.

Negative was our defending doesn't improve set peices still an issue.

[Dohnut]

Pleased for the points but not getting too excited about scraping a home win against a very poor side. The performance was very hot and cold. Some good patches, some mediocre ones too. But improvement. Should have been all over by HT but we lack that ability to kill off games and the last 15 minutes of negativity holding on is irritating. A period where we made Cambridge look OK. They are poor.

Clay was outstanding first half, much improved. Marsh and Cisse better over the 98 minutes. Cisse overall MoTM. Jobi showed just what we have missed out on this season. Hope Johnson keeps up being in the right place, simple goal but he was there when it mattered.

I look at games with an eye on next season. We need to get Cisse signed up, he looked pretty happy at the end, settled, part of the squad. Hope it’s an indication he is enjoying life here. Would like us to keep Marsh who is in my opinion developing well. Be happy for him to stay at RB. Streets ahead of Ling.

Need to get Sortiriou signed too. I don’t mind him being greedy when perhaps a pass to others is best. A young man taking responsibility. His play alongside Johnson works well. Angol? Gone off the boil, shame, decent player in there somewhere.

Can we please play Widdowson at LB and Brophy further forward. Cambridge had masses of space as Brophy was walkabouts elsewhere too many times. Leave him to do what he does best and run at defences, he ain’t a LB.

Wright! Missing. Didn’t play which means his contribution to the game was better than normal.

The January signings of Johnson, Vigouroux and Cisse are all good and definitely upgrades on Sargeant, Alabi and Gorman. Let’s hope player improvement continues.