Mixed performance, good flowing football at times (particularly when on the break) but also scrappy when trying to pick holes in Burton’s 5 man defence.
Ikeme – Good penalty save, and looked confident. Rarely troubled other than that. Would like to see him pass out to full backs more rather than just humping it down the middle, but he can’t be faulted for playing it safe I suppose.
Doherty – Not as good going forward when at RB, but largely dealt with Dyer quite well. Could he have done more for their goal?
Had a good chance to score late on, and probably should have.
CBJ – The majority of Burton’s attacks came down his side, and for the first 20 minutes he looked complacent, he was regularly caught under the ball and/or not goal side and gave a stupid unnecessary free kick away down in the South bank/Billy Wright corner. He improved as the game went on, and started to link well with Cavaliero and defended better. He was at fault for their goal though, firstly giving the ball away, and then standing off at least 5 yards further from the crosser than he should have. I’m sure that had Doherty been guilty of the same he would have faced a lot of criticism, certainly on here. It’s clear he has quality though, and played as you’d expect any 18/19 year old to as in, there were moments where he switched off.
Batth – A heading machine as we know, rarely good on the ball, and like Ikeme goes long far too often when he has good wide options at minimal risk. Was solid throughout though.
Stearman – I was astonished at the love in for Stearman, heralded as a returning hero by the South bank. Such an average player getting lauded like this is a little embarrassing really. However, it can’t be a bad thing for fans to be positive. It took approximately 6 minutes for us to see the Stearman drag back!
This was a standard Stearman performance, at times looked great on the ball, at other times was bullied. Very harsh penalty against him.
Batth and Stearman, at least on Saturday’s evidence look far more solid a pairing than Batth with either Hause or Iorfa – but I’m not convinced.
Coady – MOTM. Best I’ve seen him play, he has his confidence back, was clearly hamstrung by Jackett, as he couldn’t pass water last season! His vision was excellent on Saturday, finding our wingers with some great balls. Always available for a pass and broke down play well. Incredible difference from what we saw last season. Can’t justify Saiss coming in for Coady at the moment. Coady has the DM shirt on this performance.
Tex – Lightweight and off the pace, tried to make things happen, but was closed down well time and time again by their midfield and especially their excellent pony tailed midfielder Irvine.
Prince – Loved his energy, he played like Edwards max, broke up play, kept the ball, ran with the ball, and timed his run really well for the goal. I feel he is going to be a really important player for us when and if we start to click.
Cavaleiro – Started very quietly, and this was perhaps why Burton got so much of the ball on his side. Like CBJ he improved as the game went on, particularly in the 2nd half. He looks really strong, yet he goes down very easy, he put in a couple of superb crosses from the left, but he is very, very one footed (right). The prospect of him and CBJ linking is exciting, and we saw glimpses of it on Saturday, needs a few games to get going, and needs to learn that diving isn’t always going to get him free kicks.
Costa – More consistent than Cav, made things happen often, there was one run in the 2nd half where he ran 30 or 40 yards drifted around 4 players and then was tripped/dived on the edge of the area, would have loved to see him ride that challenge as he was probably in on goal. Impressive display.
Gladon – After about 30 mins I had memories of the Hoff, he jumps but doesn’t win the ball, he was caught offside several times, doesn’t look quick and given his lack of pace was isolated playing centre forward against Burton’s 3 burly centre backs. I’m struggling to give him the benefit of the doubt as I saw nothing from him that looked positive.
Bod – An instant improvement from the whole team when he came on, energy, drive, physical presence, a bit of pace, and within 5 minutes he had got an assist. Certainly didn’t look tired, and I’m sure that had he played the whole game we’d have won. Obviously we have no idea how fit/unfit he was before the game and will have to give Zenga the benefit of the doubt.
Mason – again, really made a difference, has energy and drive and like Coady looks like a different player under Zenga! Needs to be more clinical though.
Edwards – McCarthy, Solbakken, Saunders, Jackett and now Zenga all see something in him, what is it? Price was surely the right substitution if Zenga’s aim was to “hold on” to the 1-0? Did nothing of note at all.
In summary, we were a little disjointed, but improved as the game went on. Burton set up with 352/532 and we struggled to create a lot more than a few half chances. Overall a fair result.
Disappointed not to see Wallace start, he’d been involved in so many of our goals so far this season, I was surprised that he didn’t get a chance, however given the strength of our squad, if Costa or Cav had started on the bench I would have been equally surprised.
Piss poor of Wolves to be time wasting with 10 minutes to go in our own corner, however 6 minutes of added seemed ridiculous. 6 subs is supposedly 3 minutes, not sure where the other 3 minutes came from if there was only 1 minute added in the first half when there were no noticeable stoppages in either half?
