Independent Leyton Orient Forum

Hemming- no mistakes today and some good catches 7
James- meh 6
Beckles- could have been a bit sharper at times, but solid 6
Cooper- looked lively, tried a couple of direct balls to kelman 6
Simpson- solid 6
Currie- 6
Ball- looks a class act 7
Clare - i like him in midfield, he's agile and intercepts well 6
Donley - good but didn't get on the ball enough 6
Galbraith- same as donley 6
Kelman- had to score that early chance 6

Brown- usual self 6
Graham- wasteful 5
Agyei- good to see a forward who can receive the ball, turn and run at goal 6


We were the better team but the subs and change of shape ended the game for us. Wrexham came for a point which was weird, we were patient and dominated possession but couldn't craft many chances

We totally dominated them for 60 minutes and everyone gets a 6?

"Hemming- no mistakes today and some good catches"

Second half he dropped a low shot that he should have caught. He had an OK game for sure, "but no mistakes today" is in correct.

Hoover Attack wrote: ↑Sat Sep 28, 2024 8:40 pm We totally dominated them for 60 minutes and everyone gets a 6?

Dominated without seriously threatening them. Did their keeper have a save to make?

Hemming - 6 - he didn’t have a shot to save but did the basics right and a couple of good collections late on.

James - 6 - didn’t do a lot but a few decent covering clearances.
Beckles - 7 - really solid and didn’t let their strikers have anything.
Cooper - 6 - same as Beckles but came off early
Simpson - 7.5 - was really impressed. Reads the game well and made a great tackle on Mullins in the box.
Currie - 7 - didn’t do anything outstanding but clearly a very good footballer. Good tackler and decent going forward.


Clare - 7 - would have been 8 but went off early. Won a lot and carried it forward. Was let of almost everything we did first half hour.
Ball - 7 - really solid. Won a lot of ‘balls’ and was taking a lot. Seems like a winner.
Galbraith - 6 - didn’t do much of note. Missed a great chance.
Donely - 7 - best I’ve seen him. Great lay off to Kelman but also missed a great chance.

Kelman - 6 - did the usual good running but missed our best chance and didn’t get anything else.

Subs:
Brown - 5 - looked leggy and we looked worse once he came on.
Ageyi - 4 - love him but you’ve got to make more of an impact than that. Stands out like a sore thumb when players who’ve been playing for 75 mins press better than someone who’s played for 5.
Graham - 4 - didn’t have the desired effect.

Few things I noticed about Hemming today:

1. He really only made one “mistake” which was parrying a low shot which he really should have smothered. It meant that Wrexham’s attack continued. We got away with it

2. He was much more dominant in the box, especially when dealing with crosses.

3. The defence clearly has developed some trust in him. Couple of occasions where the ball was headed or passed back to him by CBs in relatively dangerous circumstances. In previous weeks I don’t think this would have happened.

He is by no means perfect but significantly more confident than the first few games which were a horror show.


Also, there’s no way Wrexham are winning this league. Their early position in the table flatters them.

Wrexham were genuinely dogshit. A team of cloggers that will get found out. Mullins, with only a few touch’s looked class - surprised he weren’t starting

Rich Tea Wellin wrote: ↑Sat Sep 28, 2024 8:54 pm
Galbraith - 6 - didn’t do much of note. Missed a great chance.
Donely - 7 - best I’ve seen him. Great lay off to Kelman but also missed a great chance.

Not seen highlights back but could have sworn it was Ethan who put Kelman away for that chance, after Clare had won the ball back?

Which chances did they miss? The only other good one I recall was from the corner but I’ve no idea who that was.

The game changed when we took Galbraith out of midfield and put him at wing back. No one comes close to pressing like he does. (Admittedly Agyei replacing Kelman up top also had a massive impact on our press).

Hoover Attack wrote: ↑Sat Sep 28, 2024 9:10 pm

Rich Tea Wellin wrote: ↑Sat Sep 28, 2024 8:54 pm
Galbraith - 6 - didn’t do much of note. Missed a great chance.
Donely - 7 - best I’ve seen him. Great lay off to Kelman but also missed a great chance.

Not seen highlights back but could have sworn it was Ethan who put Kelman away for that chance, after Clare had won the ball back?

Which chances did they miss? The only other good one I recall was from the corner but I’ve no idea who that was.

The game changed when we took Galbraith out of midfield and put him at wing back. No one comes close to pressing like he does. (Admittedly Agyei replacing Kelman up top also had a massive impact on our press).

Might have been tbf.

Also not 100% but thought it was galbraiths header and then donley skying the chance straight after in front of goal.

I was a million miles away but thought it was Donley at the back stick with a half volley then Galbraith scooping over the top at the near post when the ball came back in.

One of us must have been drinking…

Another good performance from the O's. A game we deserved to win
Some of our players appeared to be suffering the after-effects of their non stop running against Posh, Currie and Galbraith didn't match their excellent showing of Tuesday night , although both played well. Hemming looked much improved on his nightmare start to the season.
Beckles just edges it as MOM for me following on from his good display on Tuesday


Hemming 7
James 7
Beckles 8
Simpson 7
Cooper 7
Currie 6
Ball 7
Clare 7
Donley 6
Galbraith 7
Kelman 6

Subs
Brown 5
Agyei 5
Graham 4

Wrexham 5

Ref 7

Rich Tea Wellin wrote: ↑Sat Sep 28, 2024 8:54 pm Hemming - 6 - he didn’t have a shot to save but did the basics right and a couple of good collections late on.

J
Simpson - 7.5 - was really impressed. Reads the game well and made a great tackle on Mullins in the box.

Only Currie made the tackle you are referring to, but Simpson did not look out of place.

The axis of Ball - Clare and Galbraith impressed.

Kelman should have scored and whomever never scored on 20 won't sleep tonight.

Having held us at 0-0 they were unlucky not to win, having been outplayed by us for most of the game.

Oh, and the people saying Hemmings should have caught that shot in the second half need reminding that keepers catch very little these days. That's why it was good to see Hemmings made 2 good claims in the last quarter.

Hemming 6. Couple of confident claims late on. Routine stuff really but would have fluffed them both 4 games ago. Still a couple of half moments so not totally there yet.

James 7. Has definitely improved of late now theres some competition in the squad.

Currie 6. Possibly a bit harsh but their right winger definitely had the beating of him first half.

Beckles 7. Solid again. Played the ball across the back line well and even managed a couple of forays forward.

Cooper 7. Lead the back line well. Totally nullified Palmer. Hope the injury isn’t anything serious.

Simpson 7. Never in trouble at the back. Got forward well especially early second half.

Ball 8. El Miz who ni?

Clare 7. Another one just carrying on with the solid performances.

EG 6. Usual non stop pressing meant they had to play the ball long aimlessly but didn’t get on the ball enough (mainly due to our cautious line up meaning he had no space). Wasted out at wing back, glad Richie realised that and got him back up top.

Donley 6. Can be happy enough with that showing.

Kelman 6. One chance he had to take, but didn’t. Does enough out of possession to press them as always, didn’t do enough to test their centre half when we had the ball.

Subs

Agyei 6 opposite to Kelman, gives them a problem when we have the ball, just lets them play out from the back with ease when they have it.

Brown 7 carried on as Clare had left off.

Graham 5 bit disappointing.

Wrexham 6 Professional. Uninspiring. Will finish top half unless they splash the cash in January. Parkinson is such a dinosaur, he’ll need to go if they’re going to push on any further.

Ref 5. Another one who lets these ridiculous pushes go.

Richie 6 too cautious. We didn’t need 5 at the back. We had Simpson pushing up as left winger as the free man. He’s really not what you need up there, would have been so much more dangerous if we’d been brave and gone with 4 at the back. Kelman and Agyei occupying their back line would have given Galbraith and donley more space to work in.

Parkinson must have been a bit frightened from what he witnessed on Tuesday as we largely dominated Peterborough.
Wrexham were very negative and clearly came for a point, putting 11 back behind the ball, denying us space and offered little threat themselves.
Hemming looked far more confident and made two good catches as Wrexham finally threatened.
I think it was Galbraith who slipped Kelman In for that early chance , great pass and we would have seen a different game if Charlie had taken the opportunity.
I thought that Cooper looks much improved from the CB who joined us last season, Beckles and Simpson also did well.
Overall we played well and we dominated possession for long spells without creating too many chances.

Hoover Attack wrote: ↑Sat Sep 28, 2024 9:56 pm Richie 6 too cautious. We didn’t need 5 at the back. We had Simpson pushing up as left winger as the free man. He’s really not what you need up there, would have been so much more dangerous if we’d been brave and gone with 4 at the back. Kelman and Agyei occupying their back line would have given Galbraith and donley more space to work in.

Bit harsh. A team top of the table who we dominated for 65 mins playing 5 at the back. You change to 4 and who knows? We completely contained their threat.

The only criticsm I’d have, as you say, was the random 5 mins he put Galbraith at full back and that the subs didn’t really work

Not sure why Galbraith is getting such a good rating, was completely anonymous. Donley was the classiest player on the field. Didn't always make the right decisions but always showed for the ball, despite most of the team being too ponderous to pass to him. The structure fell apart horrifically after Graham replaced him. We had dominated the game up until that point.

As a whole the centre halves were excellent, midfield were good, but in general we were too slow with the ball so didn't create the chances we could have. RW was doing his sh*t on the sideline when kept taking the easy option playing it back

Oh, and Wrexham were dogshit. If that is the quality of the opposition we expect to get promoted we should be up there

Adz wrote: ↑Sat Sep 28, 2024 11:54 pm Not sure why Galbraith is getting such a good rating, was completely anonymous. Donley was the classiest player on the field. Didn't always make the right decisions but always showed for the ball, despite most of the team being too ponderous to pass to him. The structure fell apart horrifically after Graham replaced him. We had dominated the game up until that point.

As a whole the centre halves were excellent, midfield were good, but in general we were too slow with the ball so didn't create the chances we could have. RW was doing his sh*t on the sideline when kept taking the easy option playing it back

The reason we fell away was because of the changes but not because of Donley.

Agyei replaced Kelman up top. Agyei is not disciplined or hard working enough to lead the press and stop them playing out like Kelman does. We also moved Galbraith out to wing back. There is no one in the squad that comes close to Ethans energy levels. These 2 factors combined meant our press fell away and they were able to start playing football.

I don’t think we were too slow moving the ball around today. The problem was we had 3 CBs on the pitch and only 1 forward. So they always had extra men in their defensive third. We needed to be braver with our formation.

I thought everyone played their part today, especially in that first half, where we played the ball around beautifully. But there were three players that particularly caught my eye. I thought Cooper was very good at the back and hardly put a foot wrong before having to go off. Clare, another casualty, was good on the ball with very good control. And Ball's all round display was also a stand out.

Going to chime in here as a bit of a one off

We dominated the first half and played some lovely stuff having changed our starting formation to match/counter theirs. Fair play to Wellens for that, no doubt his plan was working

Having had 4 central defenders secured early in the transfer window - and adding no others - indicates it was never the plan to play 3 CBs this season. It worked fantastically when we switched to 3 CBs at Stockport - allowing us to protect a lead against an attacking team, while breaking extremely effectively on the counter - but with Happe unavailable today, it was always a risk to start all of our fit CBs. James did well when we were forced to switch him to CB once Cooper went off injured, but he's hardly a natural in that position, and at this level, facing strikers the size of Palmer or Fletcher, he's fighting a losing battle when the ball is is up in the air

Once Brown came on for the injured Clare, it was a different game for me. The excellent Dom Ball adapted his style of play, as if he felt he could not risk getting injured or booked, with his natural "like for like" in the squad now playing beside him. Great player he is though. Not saying we've found our El Miz replacement - it was always going to be near impossible to find a CM who can attack and defend as effectively as him (remember Dawson and Vincelot?) - but Ball has certainly started his Orient career well and adds some nous and know how to a young team while still having plenty of legs left in him it seems. And hopefully he brings an extra winning mentality with him considering the 2 seasons Ipswich have had.

Other than Kelmans 1v1 early on - Wrexham probably had the best chance of the game in the second half, when amongst a scramble in the box, we somehow kept it out - that felt as good as actually scoring a goal, and those 50/50 moments often go against us

It's weird how within a couple of weeks we've gone from seemingly being short on depth to now feeling like we have a really strong squad with plenty of options (options atleast for the 4-2-3-1 formation). If everyone stays fit and can put in 6/7s out of 10 regularly, we'll comfortably manage a top half finish. If our main danger men - Ethan, Agyei, Kelman - and with the competition who aren't a massive step behind - can all outperform 7/10 occasionally and provide the goals and assists - we'll be a threat to the playoffs in what is clearly a difficult league this season. Otherwise, that may depend on the squad - for example, if Ollie can regain some of the form he showed when he first arrived, it gives opposition defenders even more to worry about, cutting in from the left onto his right foot

5 points from those 3 tough games - most of us would have taken that, yet it still feels like we could have had 7 or 9 - a testament to how well we have played recently, so credit to Wellens and the players

Up the O's

Hemming does seem to be growing into the role. It's still early days but, so far, it looks like the criticism heaped on him by the messageboard has done some good. There's a lesson there.

I so miss ComeUpYourNose coming on here (usually after a defeat or a "two points lost" draw) and miserably slating Orient and predicting his annual "Wellens will be gone by Christmas" crud. But I guess we now have Qin to do that instead... could they be related?

Some good player observations here. As for Wrexham, very prosaic style has served them well over the past few years but wouldn't be surprised if they hit a brick wall sooner rather than later. Certainly hope that teams who play with more brio will go up.