We ask our forum members to rate each player’s performance in the concerned game out of 10, which we then average out to get a rating representative of the fans’ views, we also collect a few user comments to summarise how the player did and show a few different viewpoints from the board. The top scoring player is man of the match; the lowest is mug of the match. Ratings are from this thread, and at the time of writing highlights can be found here.
Ratings for this match were noticeably higher than the previous game, and in particular the defence was markedly improved, with above average scores for all. The central midfield struggled to create, leading to low scores for Anita and Colback. Cissé's two big misses also gain him a low score. Mug of the match was Gouffran, quite simply he was a liability. User comments on Gouffran had already reached the stage of repetition by this game. Man of the match goes to Obertan for his strong running and eventual game winning goal.
Pardew's rating was 4.00. Whilst this was our first win, users were not pleased with the initial team, tactics and lack of attacking impetus against a poor Leicester side. Many suggested the win was quite fortuitous. As per every week, no user could understand why Gouffran got picked.
[tfi]141018[/tfi]
(You can click on player names to go to their pages)
Krul - 6.10 Ratings ranged between 5 and 7
"Good claiming for crosses, some dodgy kicking first half."
"Blocked a couple of good shots but his distribution is awful. Makes it look like the pitch is on a slope."
"Some good saves but he has some of the worst distribution I've ever saw from a Premier League GK."
Janmaat - 5.90 Ratings ranged between 5 and 7
"Solidish."
"Had very little to do defensively."
"One of his better games for us but rarely tested."
Taylor - 6.37 Ratings ranged between 5.5 and 7
"Definitely prefer him to Williamson, he can at least run and shout a bit."
"Thought he had a good game today, some good blocks and tackles."
"Some great blocks and did really well in the air against Ulloa. Made a big difference."
Coloccini - 5.90 Ratings ranged between 5 and 7
"Solid, although he should have scored."
"Missed a sitter and poor defensively, every time there was a tight offside call he was the one playing their man on, some rash tackles too, with each game it seems more and more stupid to let MYM go when Colo is clearly way past his best."
"Okay. Should have scored."
Dummett - 5.87 Ratings ranged between 4 and 7
"Quite poor aside from one nice clearance."
"Did ok, not sure why he was subbed to be honest."
"The most solid defensively I've seen him. Some of his passes though (and this happens every game) are ludicrously s***."
Colback - 5.20 Ratings ranged between 3 and 7.5
"He's ok when he keeps the ball on the floor, but he tries to ping Hollywood passes around the place and more often that not they sail out of play."
"Tidy job, for me best player on the park just doing simples and breaking things up."
"Poor again. He looks like he's lacking in confidence. I dislike him immensely for some reason (it could be cause he's ginger)."
Anita - 4.50 Ratings ranged between 3 and 5
"Not good enough, I don't know if getting dropped has knocked his confidence but his passing was wayward and he was getting bullied in the centre. Cambiasso couldn't believe his luck coming up against these two. We really need to sign a CM in Jan, we are really short on options there."
"Not as good as normal, better than Colback though."
"He needs to start positively influencing games. Yes I get that he's decent at finding space and laying off simple balls but it isn't near enough."
Obertan - 7.63 Ratings ranged between 7 and 8
"Easy man of the match, full of pace, great passing, even a bit of flair. Showboatan
.""Looked dangerous but he does try to overcomplicate everything. If he just beat his man and crossed it he would be a decent player. That said, great finish for the goal."
"Beasted it. Our player of the season so far."
Sissoko - 5.60 Ratings ranged between 2 and 7
"Runs, runs, runs, loses ball, runs, runs, runs."
"He was fairly decent."
"Worked hard, little of what he did let to anything good though."
Gouffran - 3.47 Ratings ranged between 2 and 5
"Did literally nothing except lose the ball."
"This bloke is currently stealing a living. He does nothing every single game and somehow gets away with it."
"Rubbish, needs to be dropped."
Cissé - 4.30 Ratings ranged between 1 and 6
"Decent build up play, should have scored twice."
"Embarrassing misses, especially the open goal. Has to be scoring 2 with the chances he had today."
"Just as I thought he'd turned a corner he's back to missing absolute sitters again. Should easily have scored twice today. Anyone who misses a f****** open net and heads straight into the ground from 4 yards out deserves a 1. s***."
Pérez - 6.30 Ratings ranged between 5 and 7.5
"Looks a little lightweight but he should definitely be given a start."
"Tricky. He looks like he could be a real handful and a good player for us if he doesn't get Pardewed."
"Looked great when he came on. Has to start, probably our best player bar Obertan."
Haïdara - 5.37 Ratings ranged between 4 and 6
"Improvement on Dummett."
"Got caught out twice in only 15 minutes. Not a particularly impressive cameo."
"Wasn't as good as Dummett."
Cabella - N/A
Wasn't on long enough to make an impact.
Pardew - 4.00 Ratings ranged between 2 and 6
"Would have liked to see 2 up top to start, don't know how Gouff keeps getting games. 1/3 subs were good (Perez sub). Haidara and Cabella sub unnecessary."
"Team selection was sadly predictable. Tactics were sadly predictable. Saved by a good finish by Obertan, but that isn't so much papering over the cracks as it is attempting to cover the Grand Canyon with a napkin. He needs to drop Gouffran, and if he insists on playing one up top he needs to stop applying tactics that are more suited to 2 strikers. He survives another week, but this is where the s*** hits the fan in regards to fixtures."
"A win's a win. Scrappy ugly yes, but thanks Obertan."
"Scraped a win against a promoted side by one moment of individual brilliance. It goes without saying though that this changes absolutely nothing and he's a s*** manager who needs sacked ASAP."
"Dunno why he keeps playing Gouffran, Colback and Sissoko no matter what they do. We have established for the past two years that one up top doesn't work for us and yet we persist with it. Pointless left back substitution. Even more pointless bringing Cabella on. Hoying Ferreyra on the bench with no intention of playing him when we had no centre-backs on the bench at all. Basically a bog-standard Pardew performance and he's kept his job for at least 10 more games with this win. I will praise him in that he did seem to set the team up really well for counter-attacking though."