After a rather disappointing draw at home with Millwall on Saturday, we look at the players’ individual performances from that game.
After a rather disappointing draw at home with Millwall on Saturday, we look at the players’ individual performances from that game.
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Adam Federici – 6 – The Australian had a routine first half and only had two things to do in the second period, but got one wrong. He made a great early save from McDonald, but then brought him down for the penalty. It was the right call from the referee, but I don’t think Feders had any other option – I would put more blame on the defenders not tracking him and the midfield for letting the cross into the box in the first place.
Chris Gunter – 6 – It was reasonably solid from the right back in a defensive sense, yet from an attacking viewpoint, he is still frustrating at times. In the second half, he rarely pushed up high enough and offered any width, he doesn’t seem to have the confidence to take on a player.
Alex Pearce – 6 – He didn’t really look uncomfortable at any point, but still seems to struggle with the ball at his feet. Question marks will have to remain in the lead up to the equaliser though.
Sean Morrison – 6 – Similarly to his partner, was mainly very solid. One point of praise for Morrison over the past few weeks has been his distribution, but today, he seemed more inclined to be more direct than usual. This probably wasn’t helped by the outnumbering by Millwall in centre midfield, so I don’t want to attach too much of the blame on him.
Wayne Bridge – 7 – My man of the match in a rather dire performance from Reading. Bridge had to be on hand to deny the Lions two good openings in the first half, using his experience to compensate for the youth beside him. He didn’t seem to get forward much in the second half which was a shame, as he can provide from great deliveries from the wing.
Garath McCleary – 5 – The winger looked a completely different player from last week. His touch was awful throughout and was bullied out of the game by Millwall’s physicality. He was often caught too narrow sometimes as well, which wasn’t helped by Gunter’s refusal to great some width.
Chris Baird – 5 – You know what you are going to get from Baird every week, nothing special, but a solid performance. Having played as a central defender for most of his career, I would have hoped he would have had more of a bite in midfield when Millwall had most of the possession. Jem could have made the difference for us if he was fit.
Danny Guthrie – 5 – Another one of our star players this season, that did not have a good game. Millwall’s extra man in midfield denied him any space and when he did get some, he was very wasteful with the ball. Guthrie’s defensive game has improved massively recently, but didn’t seem to get his foot in much.
Jordan Obita – 6 – Much better than his performance last week, definitely one of the few positives to come out of this game. Young Obita doesn’t seem to lack in confidence, which is brilliant from a player of 19. A great solo run should have led to a second goal, but Alfie failed to take advantage.
Adam le Fondre – 5 – Alfie will be judged most games on his goalscoring and conversion of chances. He had one chance today, probably one of the easiest of his career, but somehow missed. Shittu, as you would expect, dominated him for most of the game, having been fed with hopeless long balls.
Pavel Pogrebnyak – 6 – The big Russian was another one of our better players, but was simply starved of service for most of the game. He held it up well and showed some good touches, but all he could offer was long-range efforts, which certainly isn’t his strong point.
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Hal Robson-Kanu – 6 – Came on as a central striker and had one decent effort which Forde had to save. Apart from that, he didn’t have a massive impact on the game.
Jobi McAnuff – 6 – It’s fair to say that the skipper has looked lively in his past two sub appearances. Could maybe of scored with his effort in the latter stages, but goal scoring has never been his forte!
Stephen Kelly – N/A – Brought on in the late stages for the preseumably injured Bridge, I can’t think of any other reason why he would come off. It was from his side that the cross for the penalty was conceded, so you have to ask why a cross should be allowed into the box in injury time.
