Thetownend.com

decent attendance again but i doubt many of the extras in a crowd of 6700 or so will be coming back in two weeks time. imo, the performance was poor and i only saw glimpses of a decent side. my general observation is that league2 teams like to try and pass it around, but their finishing is dreadful. we should be dominating this league, and at the moment im not seeing that. we need a bit of experience in  the middle, pook is out of his depth, and generally follows the game around chucking in the occasional decent tackle. shakes for me is the second weak link. he just doesnt have the control on the ball, simple as that. for me, vincent seems like a very good signing. all through the game he looked calm and collected and knocked some decent passes down the wing. he only made a few mistakes and looked confident, just quietly got on with it. brezovan made a few decent saves but again had little to do. roberts penalty was very poor, he hit it too weak and deserved to be saved. evans on the other hand was a better penalty but great save. support was good, but i think crowds will start to drop off despite winning because the quality of the football was poor from both sides. anyway, a win is win and despite these negatives we maintain our 100%, and have a decent platform to build on. if ince comes in and plays regularly (and doesnt start trying to take control) thats the middle sorted. someone in on loan to take over from shakes would be great.

brezovan 6 - would have been a 7 had he had more to do. but overall another solid performance, great shot stopping ability, kicking needs working on

smith 6- probably our third weakest behind pook and shakes, does little to show himself and create space. lack of vocals. however, does what required when needed.

ifil 7- tackling improving all the time, distribution improving but still weak. id be happy keeping him there.

williams 7- brought some voice and experience to the back four but some of his decisions puzzled me, seemed reluctant to control and pass and always seemed to want to play it safe and into touch.

vincent 8- made very few mistakes, distribution down the wing excellent, confident touch and movement. good signing IMO

shakes 4- just hasnt got it. crap ball control, crap crossing shouldnt be in the team

pook 4- seemed uninterested at times, good tackling but not dominant enough to be playing cm

evans 7 - distribution much better than pook, tough tackler got himself about a lot another good signing

monkey 6 - not bad, but didnt stick out

roberts 8 - good effort, got himself about alot but wasted about 3 decent chances.

peacock 7 lots of effort, carrying a slight injury so slightly off the pace. distribution is good, wants to play good football

subs not on long enough to make an impression

you are a fool

(i did write more but you just deserve to know you're a fool and not have any sense told to you)

Brezovan - 7 - Did well to command his area. Had to make one decent save and that was it. Kicking was a lot better.

Smith - 6 - Did what was required of him.

Vincent - 7 - Fairly good distribution and positioning was good. Tackled well when needed.

Ifil - 8 - Another great performance from Jerel. Only made one wayward pass and looked full of confidence.

Williams - 7 - Good debut performance. Looked solid.

Shakes - 6 - Did well in parts of the match, and was involved in a few neat build up plays. Won the ball back whenever he lost it too, which was good.

Monkhouse - 5 - Wasnt really involved much, at all.

Pook - 5 - Made a few good tackles, but wasnt in the game much.

Evans - 8 - Is the sort of player we have missed for a few seasons. Looked very comfortable on the ball, passes very well and tackles hard but fair. My MOTM.

Roberts - 7 - Played well and should have come away with 2 goals at least today. Wasn't quite as influential as he was in Tuesday's game, but you cant expect a player to be playing at the top of their game, every match.

Peacock - 8 - Determind and worked very hard. Maybe should have went away with a goal to his name, but wanted a tad to long on the ball, on one occassion in the first half. Apart from that, he was everywhere. Tackled back when someone lost the ball and one header after header.

Pretty much what phil said, though  'the beast' is MOTM for me.

I thought pook looked alot better than he did on Tuesday night, despite nearly being sent off. After being taken out at the start of the second half he looked like he had some perpose.
Pooks problem is he is too slow in how he thinks and what he does when the balls played to him. But I thought he did enough to not effect the team in a negative way. (Just didnt add to it)

I thought Monkhouse carried the 'curse of the programme cover', and was weak.

The Defense though were as solid as I have see them for a while. Ady will help Ifils game loads, with his organisation.


With three average performances and 9 points, I think we can see that the team have extra gears that can be used, and they have the ability to step it up.

Rochdale did a good job of stopping us playing today. They seemed to kick lumps out of Roberts all through the first half and benefitted from Pook lacking a football brain. Other than that we still looked comfortable despite a poor performance. God help the rest of the league when we start playing well!!!

This was the first game I've seen this season and I was very dissapointed with the team performance as a whole. There just seemed to be no flowing moves, alot was hoofed long and the strikers were really given nothing in terms of service - apart from the one occasion in which Roberts was put through on goal. Because of this, I would give the following quite low ratings:

Brezovan 8: did well when called upon, made a good save in the first half diving to his left and really didn't look troubled by the occasional threats made by Rochdale.

Smith 5: distribution was poor and lost the winger a couple of times. made a rushed clearance in the second half, "row z"ing it when he had at least four other options.

Williams 6: nothing particularly dreadful or great to note, did his job and played it safely out when required.

Ifil 6: much improved on last season and made some good tackles. some of his distribution was awful however and his attempt at an overhead kick was depressing.

Vincent 4: looked nervous, passes went all over the place and didn't look at all comfortable in the first half particularly. Improved in the second half.

Shakes 5: lacked a first touch and although he looked dangerous when he ran with the ball, no final product ever appears from his occasional moments of brilliance.

Pook 4: ran lots but never seemed to get very near the ball. his passing was mediocre whilst the tackling side of his game seemed non existant. I really hope Wise gets his boots on soon and gives Pook the vacant place on the bench.

Evans 6: reasonably accurate passing after a nervous start, got stuck into tackles better than pook and his long balls had more direction than others played by his team mates. had the oppurtunity to seal the win but missed the penalty. looks promising.

Monkhouse 5: didn't really get the ball much, had one promising run in the second half but other than that, he didn't really get involved in the game.

Roberts 7: looked hungry and suffered due to lack of service. was unlucky to miss the penalty but should have scored after being put through on goal and taking it around the keeper. been watching too many don rogers videos me thinks! except rogers never fell over  :evil:

Peacock 7: won lots in the air and made some good flicks. also applied good pressure to force the defender to head into his own net. its hard to give him poor ratings when he always puts in so much effort, another 100% effort till the end from him. like Roberts, he suffered from a lack of service.

I know everyone sees a different game, I was sat in J56 of the Nationwide stand so thats where my perspective comes from.

I was sat in M48 of the Nationwide stand and must have been watching a different game to you  :shock:  Ah well, everyone has their own opinion. At least we won ay  :D

Fuck me i must have been watching a different game to you guys. I thought the defence and midfield did well

Brezovan 8: did well when called upon, but didnt really have much to do

All of the defence played pretty well, and restricted Rochdale to limited chances infront of goal.  Solid defence.

Shakes 7: First half he played well, and anything good about Town came through Shakes.  Second half he lost the plot a bit and became a bit quiet

Pook 6: Did ok,  but would much prefer an Ince or Wise in midfield

Evans 8: Controlled the midfield, had a good penalty saved, and didnt put a foot wrong

Monkhouse 5: didnt really see much of him

Roberts 1: extremley poor player.  He was always two or three seconds behind the play.  He missed a penalty, an easy 1 on 1 chance and generally played really cack.  Can't see him scoring many goals this season,  so im just hoping he had a really bad game today - otherwise Town shouldnt holdmany high hopes of him scoring many goals.

Peacock 2: .  Only won a few headers, and was always miles away from Roberts.  He gave 100% commitment granted, but never looked like scoring a goal to me.  In my opinion he should play in midfield as hes a competitive player who likes to get stuck in.  Failing that, Wise needsto teach him to try and stay resonably close to Roberts.

Overall we got the 3 points, but we never looked like scoring.  The amount of long balls which Roberts controlled then lost was incredible.

They stopped us playing in the first half by packing the midfield then fouling and hoofing everytime. Second half we dominated and should have had 4. Need better final product really.

I generally agreed with the majority of your ratings, untill i saw this!!??
Your opinion, i know, but come on......Peacock was very good, as always and Roberts was lively and caused their defence problems.

you wanna stop smoking that funny shit mate

To me, strikers are players who are paid to score goals.  Not for one moment did either Roberts or the Cock look like scoring.  When Brownlie came on, at least he ran towards the goal with the ball, even setting up Weston at the end with a great oppurtunity.

Peacock played well in the sense that he tracked back into his own half and helped the team defend.  But as an attacking player, he only won a few headers and did little else.  Purely on a strikers performance, Peacock played poor. He needs to play like Mooney did for Parkin  eg - nice neat passes and a player who can link up the play and create chances for his fellow striker.  However you will never do that when your spending a resonable amount of time in your own half defending.

As for Roberts, well i guess he had to feed on scraps today, but he only created any notable chances towards the end of the game when Rochdale were chasing for an equaliser.  He was given space to run at, yet still made a pigs ear of things.  Other then that, Rochdale's defence dealt easily with any swindon threats

stef you're on crack

Brezovan 8
Smith 7
Ifil 8
Williams 8
Vincent 8

Shakes 7
Pook 5
Evans 9
Monkhouse 6

Roberts 7
Peacock 7

Pretty Much the same as SY for me..

Brezovan 7 - drops a point for his wayward kicking, wasn't particularly troubled today but I can't help thinking he's going to be a formidable last line of defence

Smith 7
Ifil 8
Williams 8
Vincent 7 - Not quite worth of an 8 for me.. it was the centre backs who impressed me most

Shakes 6 - Disappointed
Pook 5 - Disappointed
Evans 7 -
Monkhouse 6 - Disappointed

Roberts 7 Has everything but the finishing touch at this moment in time, when he gets his first there'll be many more to come. Looked fucked when taken off
Peacock 7 Had a golden opportunity to score in the first half but seemed slow to react to a free ball in the 18yrd box. Worked his bollocks off, loves a back heel and a swivel! Looked fucked when taken off

Ah well, each to their own i guess.  However if Roberts and Peacock are getting 7's and 8's for that kind of performace then unfortunately i will have to hold little help that such a partnership will bring Town many goals

Vincent 4??????? Must be mad.  Did very well and dealt with his man, what more can you ask for? I'd give him a 7 at least.

Shakes - Clearly your first game of the season. I don't know how you can say no final product as he scored Tuesday from his "final ball" cross or no cross. Ok some of his crossing is still poor however a 5 isn't very fair IMO and also lets not forget that if the lad every does give it away my god does he fight to get it back. Thats what I like to see in a player.

Apart from Vincent not being able to pass to a Red shirt, yeah he did ok.

I think alex makes a fair enough point, there was no final product at all on saturday from Shakes, it would be a bit pointless rating players in a particular match if you based your judgement on their previous performances.

I didn't say it wasn't valid, I said a 5 IMO was lower than he deserved.

He said no final product EVER which isn't the case.  Clearly "ever" meant other matches were coming into consideration. How can you compare other games when you have only attended 1 out of 3?

I think Shakes will always divide opinion. I can appreciate his effort, and the times he manages to win possession. However, most of the good stuff he does is down to luck.

 :D

His pace is so dangerous though. When he makes the run and somebody bothers to pick it out he can be so dangerous!

Half the time you see he eaither doesn't make the run or nobody picks it out!

That could be applied to most of our players yesterday in fairness.

Brezovan 7 - Poor kicking but dealt with the rest without issue.

Smith 7 - Thought he did OK today.
Ifil 8 - Poor passing on occasion, but solid and some good passes too.
Williams 6- Thought he looked a bit rusty, to be expected
Vincent 7 - Did well with his  man

Shakes 7 - worked hard and won the frst pen, which was a pen (the second wasn't). Has no end product but at least he is trying
Pook 5 - Tried to get sent off by pushing a player then had the cheek to argue with the ref.
Evans 7 - Some missplaced passes but a bttler
Monkhouse 5 - A couple of good runs but I still can't see how he is better than Brown.

Roberts 7 - Worked hard but really needs a goal
Peacock 6 - Largely ineffective.

MOM: The Beast

Brezovan 6

Smith 6
Ifil 8
Williams 7
Vincent 6

Shakes 5 [mainly due to NO end product]
Pook 5 [should have been sent off for being a twat]
Evans 7
Monkhouse 6

Roberts 7
Peacock 7

I thought Roberts did everything right except shooting. He drifted wide to get space and became isolated a lot yet still managed to get the long ball down turn and create something from it. Unfortunately he couldn't finish for shit though.

i think he lacks some confidence when it comes to finishing, so he's playing within himself. he had 3 shots (i think) and he put them all within the frame of the goal. i'd be more fucked off if he put them miles over or wide. he'll come good