Independent Leyton Orient Forum

Vigouroux. 6. Nothing much to do.
Wood. Joint MOM. 7.5. Had a great game, neat and tidy throughout. Couple of lovely crosses.
Beccles. 6. Two of three times balls were played between him and Thompson and both looked out of position.
Ogie. 7. Long throws caused all sorts of problems. Slept on it once or twice but it’s generally when he is bored of inferior opponents and wants to amuse himself.
Thompson. 6. See Beccles. To be fair to Thompson they overloaded on the left hand side plus the winger was decent. Just not his best game.
Khan. Joint MOM. 7.5. Best game in an o’s shirt. Always available and some nice close control in tight situations.
Pratley. Joint MOM. 7.5. Le porteur d'eau. Never gave Harrogate a moments peace.
Hector. 7. Decent first half. Faded in the second. Was given so much time on the ball, not sure if that was the plan by Harrogate as they identified him as a weak link but didn’t work.
Archibald. 7. Ran his sweaty socks off.
Ruel. 7. Scored again. Missed another couple of good chances.
Drinnan. 7.5. Joint MOM for 2 goals albeit the first keeper beaten at near post and the second a tap in. Just good to have him scoring again. Never dropped his head in the last couple of months.

Subs. 6

Wellens. 7.5. Got the boys believing again albeit Harrogate were already on their summer holiday. The crowd either sat there like cardboard cutouts or did that ultras thing of bouncing up and down. Weird Yorkshire folk.

Vigoroux up to a 7, had to make an important save at 0-0 and generally solid. Else pretty fair, great work from all involved tonight, that scoreline doesn't flatter us, fully deserved.

So much better dropping Smith has made a big difference

Largely agree with OP.
How do you score a goal keeper who wasn't too busy but performed his duties perfectly? Not sure, but definitely more than 6.
Thompson a 7 in my book as well.

RBMarshall wrote: ↑Tue Mar 22, 2022 9:33 pm Largely agree with OP.
How do you score a goal keeper who wasn't too busy but performed his duties perfectly? Not sure, but definitely more than 6.
Thompson a 7 in my book as well.

I tend to start from 6 as a vanilla reference point and then go up one for positive impact, saves were made and handling good so minimum 7 for Vigoroux

Thompson has done a solid job filling in out of position so full credit to him too

Concluded that ratings from watching the stream are just a waste of time. You don’t see the whole picture.

The only one who struggled out there tonight was Thompson but he was up against a pacy winger (Diamond?) and was always going to be the case. Everyone else played well.

We look so much more cohesive as a unit it’s ridiculous and it’s just from doing the basics - everyone working harder to close players down, doubling up, pushing the back line up.

I’d take their striker (Catweazle, he’s plated well against us before) and their left winger diamond, both would fit our system perfectly,

As Wellens said Diamond looks to be one of the stand out players in the division. Need to find players at that kind of level to come in over summer so we can compete right at the top.

. Pretty fair ratings. A very good team performance.Wood was excellent. Ruel missed a few chances but his presence seemed to unsettle their defence. Makes you wonder how he struggled to get into the team under both RE and KJ.

I think it's apparent that the system under KJ was the problem and the players aren't that bad

Adz wrote: ↑Tue Mar 22, 2022 9:57 pm I think it's apparent that the system under KJ was the problem and the players aren't that bad

Also our confidence just drained away under Kenny Jackett

It's worth noting only one of KJ's January signings (Khan) was in the starting xl.

O my gawd wrote: ↑Tue Mar 22, 2022 10:23 pm It's worth noting only one of KJ's January signings (Khan) was in the starting xl.

Exactly which underlines just what a poor January window we had . Who’s to blame ? Kenny has gone and I sincerely hope our transfer committee will now take a back seat and let Richie choose our new signings

Thanks for the ratings Bera.

Pratley's best game for ages, and he seemed to be playing further forward which suited him.
Very pleased for Drinnan who has shown a great attitude throughout a difficult spell, and is our best central striker imo.

I think Thompson's remit was just to sit mainly and not get forward so much (in the way that Wood did). As others have said Diamond is no doubt one of the best wingers in the division.

Archibald worked very hard indeed, and though I like that he has a bit of fire/dark arts about him, he needs to be careful not too get embrolled with,and caught up in, vendettas with the opposition of he'll end up getting sent off again at some point.

An odd game in some ways in the way that whilst our football was superior in the first half we couldn't score, but a very promising night indeed.

Wellens said in his interview that Pratley was not a holding midfielder, so it looks like he was being played out of position by Jackett

Didn’t watch but by what Wellens said, we sat Kyp and out Pratley further forward which might be the key to getting the best out of both of them. Interesting to see how that develops

Apple Wumble wrote: ↑Wed Mar 23, 2022 8:57 am Didn’t watch but by what Wellens said, we sat Kyp and out Pratley further forward which might be the key to getting the best out of both of them. Interesting to see how that develops

Yes. Hector holding, khan and Pratley as a 2 ahead of him harrying.

All 3 worked their socks off though.

Pratley can hold. No question, he was doing so very effectively at the start of the season.

The important factor of this change around is Hector - he was the one being played out of position.

Gary the Plumber wrote: ↑Wed Mar 23, 2022 9:04 am Pratley can hold. No question, he was doing so very effectively at the start of the season.

The important factor of this change around is Hector - he was the one being played out of position.

He didn't say he couldn't hold, he said he's wasted there as his best aspect is getting up and down the ground

RedDwarf 1881 wrote: ↑Tue Mar 22, 2022 11:45 pm

O my gawd wrote: ↑Tue Mar 22, 2022 10:23 pm It's worth noting only one of KJ's January signings (Khan) was in the starting xl.

Exactly which underlines just what a poor January window we had . Who’s to blame ? Kenny has gone and I sincerely hope our transfer committee will now take a back seat and let Richie choose our new signings

Amen to that.

We’ve started playing football again. Plenty of pace all round the pitch. Pressing, pressure on the ball. Passing. No hoofing. We looked a really good side again. Bring on Saturday.

DrWindy wrote: ↑Wed Mar 23, 2022 11:47 am We’ve started playing football again.

Do you think that previously we were trying not to play football?

I think we changed our style of play around December. We started the season playing some really nice stuff. I remember early season against QPR we competed like for like against a very good side. We took some teams apart and I liked watching us.

I don’t know if it was deliberate but suddenly we stopped passing the ball and started going route one to Harry. We became really predictable. It was bad to watch and easy to play against. The results went really bad and the wheels fell off.

We are back to playing football again with pretty much the same players. We look a good side again.

Apart from a 10 minute spell 2nd half we put in an excellent performance. 7's and 8's throughout the team.

gshaw wrote: ↑Tue Mar 22, 2022 9:54 pm As Wellens said Diamond looks to be one of the stand out players in the division. Need to find players at that kind of level to come in over summer so we can compete right at the top.

Jack Diamond is on loan from Sunderland. His contract with Sunderland expires in May.Good prospect but has played only in the North