Many thanks to the 59 Lifers who gave marks.
A number of us have been quite critical of Stockley so I thought I'd do a comparison of the first 7 games last and this season, much to my surprise not much difference except in the fouls and cards:
LAST THIS
Minutes 693 664
Avg Mark 6.07 6.03
Fouls 19 10
Yellow 2 0
Shots on 4 7
Shots off 3 2
Misses 8 5
Goals 2 1
here are the stats
Comments
Is that fouls figure for O'Connell correct? 12 seems far too high, especially as the team total of 19 doesn't match the summary
I'll do an edit
It really isn't rocket science and Ben has to find a solution or else this brave new world will Garner less points than the respectful amount of points JJ amounted over his 33 games in charge last season.
Some time in the future we will realize that JJ overachieved with the players available, points wise under his tenure.
Both he and Morgan were put under extra pressure by the constantly out of position LB and LW though. We need that left back/left mid relationship resolved as we cannot keep relying on Clayden to go past Kirk as Kirk doesn't drop when possession is turned over. Morgan or Dobson are always pulled into that space to cover and invariably that gives us a two in midfield up against usually two forwards and two midfielders...
Clayden at LB when you come under pressure and you need him to defend. I tipped Bolton to win as I felt Evatt would win the battle of the two managers with the players available.
Against Plymouth every player played well with confidence from the first whistle to last other than a short spell at 3-0 when we tried to stick against the 10 men and let them back in at 3-1. After that we were pro active again and Stockley had a good game as the central striker/ forward and led the attack well.
This will be rare as it should be crystal clear by now Stockley is better in a two and thanks for the stats to prove it, Lancs lad.
Fraser and Rak-Sakyi were definitely our best two performers while O'Connell, Dobson, Wollacott and Clare were all solid without being outstanding.
Stockley, Kirk and Clayden deservedly in the top three while I thought Morgan was off the boil and Lavelle, while decent enough in patches, also had struggles at times too.
Overall a fair reflection of the performance in terms of rankings IMO.