As the season winds down I thought I would set up a topic to give ratings for the players so far. My criteria is 10 appearances at least (or likely to be on 10 by the end of the season.) It's been a season of two halves so I have often given Pre-January and post January ratings. Scores out of 10.
Bettinelli. 8/5. 1st half of the season he organised the defence well and made key saves without convincing. Second half he has been largely poor and prone to mistakes.
Dijksteel. 10/7. 1st half was a revelation. Second half he has been hampered by injury.
Fry. 10/9 Can't really ask for much more from a centre half than he has given this season.
McNair 10/9 Revelation at centre back but needs to play alongside a physically dominant stopper.
Hall -/8 Only started 14 games and most of those in second half of the season but rapidly becoming a dominant presence
Bola 9/8 Another revelation. His defensive performances have dropped in the second half of the season but he has added an attacking threat to his game.
Spence 5/4 Flatters to deceive. Maybe just a classic bad second season but he has a lot to prove.
Fisher -/8 Only 10 starts so far but probably the most defensively competent right back we have.
Coulson - Though he has made 15 appearances, 10 have been as sub. Hasn't made a case to start.
Saville 8/5 Possibly harsh scores. Nailed down a place as an attacking midfielder in the first half but has gone back into anonymous mediocrity in the second.
Tavernier 7/8 Warnock has come to rely on him more as the season has gone on. Seems to be rediscovering his scoring boots. Still no one knows what his best position is.
Wing -/- 15 appearances but only 7 starts.
Howson 9/5 Mr Reliable in the first half but seems to have lost his legs in the second half with games passing him by.
Morsy 8/6 Supposed to provide drive, bite and leadership but hasn't convinced in the second half. Could probably start a fight in an empty room.
Johnson 8/6 Key creative and attacking threat in the first half but of his 37 appearances, 18 are as a sub. Second half of the season he has largely disappointed when starting a game but been impressive as an impact sub.
Kebano -/6 not made much impact but has looked impressive at times
Akpom 4/2 Occasional hints that there might be a decent championship striker in there somewhere
Britt 3/0 'nuff said.
Fletcher - hasn't made 10 starts yet. Possibly been shown the door due to not signing a new contract.
NML - no impact yet with 1 goal and 1 assist
Bolasie -/? Only 7 starts so far but a goal and 3 assists does imply that if we had got him at the beginning of the season we might be doing a lot better than we are.
Watmore 10/8 Started like a house on fire but possibly a lack of fitness has told a little. Still a player of real quality who can score a goal out of nothing.
Great post I’ll have to think about this
only one I know for certain is Britt
0/0
OFB
Sorry, I don’t think any Boro player can be marked over 7 except McNair and Fry and then only 7.5.
Good post to get us thinking, Deleriad.
I think it all depends on your calibration.
Some might view Messi at his peak as a 10, in which case any Boro player might struggle to score even 5. Some may judge on Championship standards and nudge the scores up.
I suppose I would go with the latter.
Probably the standout player for us has been Fry but I don’t think he’s dominated the league in such a way that every other manager is talking about him being too good for the league. I’d perhaps rate his season as an 8 and work backwards from there on the others.
Bettinelli 5
Djiksteel 6.5
Fry 8
Hall 6.5
McNair 7
Bola 6.5
Spence 4
Fisher 7
Saville 6
Tavernier 7
Howson 6.5
Morsy 6.5
Johnson 6.5
Akpom 5
Britt 2
Watmore 6.5
I cannot see how Akpom can get more points than Britt. Both been terrible or we have played badly as a team in the final third except Watmore. But even he was not as good in the second half as in the first.
Our form in the second half was not very good, indeed. Up the Boro!
You're probably right Jarkko and there’s likely a bit of being fed up with Britt that creeps into judgements.
Akpom does run about a bit though.
You're probably right Jarkko and there’s likely a bit of being fed up with Britt that creeps into judgements.
Akpom does run about a bit though.
First few games of the season, Britt did put a shift in but wasn't scoring goals and his confidence seemed to drain. After that he had a couple of good games but that was it. He seemed to give up sometime around Christmas. Let's face it though, we've become a strikers graveyard over the last few years. I'm pretty sure if we had signed Ivan Toney he would be struggling to hit double figures for us.
There are very few I’d disagree with.
Fry has been the standout player.
Another thought or two.
How many of the above players are worth keeping to build a promotion team? Any advance on 11?
How many of the above players are capable of playing in the Premiership , either now or in the near future? Or to put it another way, how many would have a chance of getting into a lower Premiership team ?
Possibly Fry, Djiksteel, Bola, Tavernier,McNair. That’s about it.
Philip of Huddersfield
There are very few I’d disagree with.
Fry has been the standout player.
Another thought or two.
How many of the above players are worth keeping to build a promotion team? Any advance on 11?
How many of the above players are capable of playing in the Premiership , either now or in the near future? Or to put it another way, how many would have a chance of getting into a lower Premiership team ?
Possibly Fry, Djiksteel, Bola, Tavernier,McNair. That’s about it.
Philip of Huddersfield
I could see Fry and McNair being poached by one of the promoted sides because they seem to be capable squad players for a bottom 6 team. If Norwich don't keep Gibson I can see them going for Fry. Someone might take a punt on Watmore.
Tav is not premier league standard yet but I could see someone buying him and loaning him out to see if he makes it.
I think that's it really. After another season, if they stay injury free, maybe Dijksteel or Bola might be good enough for a premier league squad but I doubt it.
Browne, Wing, Coulson, Spence: these possibly all have just a short time left to prove themselves championship standard yet alone Premier.
Thought I would update my scores for the second half of the season now the season has limped to its end. Red shows reduced score, green shows improved. Spoiler, there is no green. Most defenders have been downgraded because of the tendency to leak poor goals during the run in.
- Bettinelli 8/4
- Dijksteel 10/7
- Fry 10/8
- McNair 10/8
- Hall -/8
- Bola 9/7
- Spence 5/2
- Fisher -/7
- Coulson -/5 Has shown almost nothing in attack or defence.
- Saville 8/5
- Tav 7/8 - his injury has shown that the team relies on him too much
- Howson 9/5
- Morsy 8/6
- Johnson 8/6 - can consider himself unlucky not to be upgraded to 8/7 but has tended not to have an impact when he starts.
- Kebano -/5 Downgraded for scootergate
- Akpom 4/0
- Britt 3/0
- Bolasie -/6 Stats for goals and assists make him look to have had more of an impact than his performances. Probably still not fully match sharp and the team doesn't play to his strengths.
- Watmore 10/8