Another poor display in front of an ever decreasing number of travelling fans, a single goal defeat and a league position that is beginning to look uncomfortable given other results and there we have a summary of our trip to Middlesbrough.
Neil Redfern once again rang the changes in an effort to arrest our current slump. I didn't travel to Derby at the weekend but others at last night's game told me that we played so much better than we did at the weekend! No wonder fans were so disgruntled after that 3 0 defeat if that was the case.
Here are my ratings for each of the players who played some part:-
Camp : 7 Dealt with pretty much everything a misfiring Boro forward line threw at him, which was considerable as the game came to a close. I wonder if he might have done slightly better with their goal? Perhaps, I'm too critical of him?
Richardson: 4 Poor, a long way short of being a Championship player in my opinion. Replaced Buxton but surely no better?
Rawson: 6 One of our better performers although it didn't take a lot to beat the others. Good positional play and good tackling, tired as the game wore on.
Collins: 6 Did okay alongside Rawson, short of pace but definitely an improvement in his performance from those first few games.
Toffolo: 5 Struggled to get to grips with a pacey attack, ran around a lot but something of a little boy lost at times.
Grant Ward: 5 Responsible for the error that led to their goal, showed quite a bit of skill at times but struggled in a struggling team to have any impact. Always looked under extreme pressure when in possession. Would have done well had he been in the Middlesbrough team with better players around him.
Thorpe: 6 Has a bit of pace, a quality so lacking amongst our squad. Spent much of his time trying to shield the defence to have any major impact
Green: 3 What can I say? Poor, way past sell by date, slow and unable to pass the ball. Like a lot of his team mates appeared to be under constant pressure even when there's no opponent nearby!
Andreu: 5 Ran around a lot, huffed and puffed a lot, slipped over quite a bit! Under pressure at all times!
Clarke-Harris: 5 Led the line again but very ineffective ploughing that lone furrow. Where was his co striker? His headers and flick ons rarely, if ever, went to a team mate, difficult night for him.
Danny Ward: 3 Oh dear, what a dreadful display from our number 9. Way off the pace, offered nothing. Positionally inept....shall I go on? Next game give him a tenner and send him to the pictures, better use of his time I think! Looked injured when coming off, how was that?
Newell: 5 A surprise substitution for JCH despite this puzzling move by NR, Newell offered some calmness in a jittery midfield.
Bowery: 3 Okay, it's difficult to get involved when coming on as a substitute but when an opportunity presents itself as it did with that slip from their defender, the least we can expect is that his effort on a one on one hits the target! Looked way below par, cannot head the ball and his ball control is atrocious.
Maguire: Unrated, on for a few minuted made no impact.
A poor night to be a Rotherham fan once again. Despite losing to a single goal, Middlesbrough always looked in control and had we scored, unlikely, no we wouldn't have scored anyway, they'd have stepped up a gear and scored more I think.
Where was Ledesma, surely he'd have given his all against his former club? Not even on the bench? Why was Green preferred to Smallwood, again against his former club he'd have wanted to play well against his former club. A very strange decision to leave him on the bench, in what was, in my opinion, a very strange team selection from our new manager.
Where was Mattock? Surely not sick again?
Listened to NR's post match interview and found it difficult to accept. We simply didn't deserve a point and our display was inept at best.
Need new recruits before the next game now as that gap is finally beginning to appear at the foot of the table.
Even those diehard fans, down to 270 last night are finally running out of patience and there wasn't much love in the away end at the Riverside!
Pretty much agree with all your ratings Axeholme. I'm convinced that if JCH had still been on the pitch & had the Chance that Bowery had, he'd have scored!!!!
Yes looking dire indeed, amazingly though there is still hope thanks more to several other teams being as useless as us! Thank goodness season ticket sales were so high this time around otherwise I fear that home attendances would fall dramatically. We demand to be entertained!!!
Yes looking dire indeed, amazingly though there is still hope thanks more to several other teams being as useless as us! Thank goodness season ticket sales were so high this time around otherwise I fear that home attendances would fall dramatically. We demand to be entertained!!!
What a depressing thought.
I hope it is not true.
You are right about the entertainment.
In L1 we were getting some home attendances bigger than in the championship.
Yes looking dire indeed, amazingly though there is still hope thanks more to several other teams being as useless as us! Thank goodness season ticket sales were so high this time around otherwise I fear that home attendances would fall dramatically. We demand to be entertained!!!
What a depressing thought.
I hope it is not true.
You are right about the entertainment.
In L1 we were getting some home attendances bigger than in the championship.
Ah, Ian. Well noted. This is an example of the Ridgeway paradox whereby success leads inevitably to a situation that results in failure. It's a related phenomenon to that whereby everyone is promoted to one place beyond their ability.
Ah, Andy, to hear again the great Ukranian poet and patriot Cicic. I often sing his songs on the way back from NYS although they don't really translate to English that well.
