Norwich 1-2 Chelsea: Player ratings
- Daniel Emery
- @DanielEmeryRS
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- 6 min read
Yet another loss. It is now eight losses in nine matches…. simply not good enough.
You can blame officials, the players, the fans or Alex Neil but in truth, it is just a combination of them all. We haven’t had a single good referee this season, our players haven’t performed well another throughout the 90 minutes of games, the fans have got on the players backs at times and Alex Neil has made some mistakes (Picking Jerome yesterday…) Whatever you put it down to… something needs to change.
Anyway, here are my player ratings from last night.
John Ruddy: 6
Ruddy didn’t have a save to make in the match. He claimed a few crosses and dealt well with a ball over to the top to beat Costa to the ball but that was it. Couldn’t do much about either goal.
Ivo Pinto: 5
Pinto improved massively in the second half but was off the pace in the first half. You can’t single him out for that though as that pretty much summed up the whole team. The wing-back role is really showing that Pinto could be a good signing.
Ryan Bennett: 6
I am still mythed as to why Bennett was taken off instead of Martin when Neil brought Mbokani on. Bennett was impressive all night and made a few fantastic challenges on Eden Hazard.
Russell Martin: 5
Martin is looking better in the sweeper role, but still not Premier League quality. Sebastien Bassong should take his place when he returns from injury.
Timm Klose: 7
The best of the back five yet again. Klose won everything in the air and was composed on the ball as always. He made a number of good blocks and interceptions and was Klose (I’m so sorry) to getting my man of the match.
Robbie Brady: 5
I was really disappointed with Brady. He just seemed off his game all night. Even when we improved in the second half Brady still didn’t look up to it. However, I expect him to be back to his best against Swansea.
Alex Tettey: 6
Hopefully the injury he sustained isn’t too serious as he was having a decent game up until the injury. Hard to give a good or bad rating after a short time on the pitch.
Jonny Howson: 6
I don’t think there has been a game this season that Howson hasn’t impressed someone. He has been one of our players of the season so far. His compusre on the ball and passing range was excellent yesterday.
Nathan Redmond: 8 (MOTM)
It was really hard to pick between Redmond and Wes Hoolahan for man of the match. Both were superb but I am giving it to Redmond for the goal. It was a superb finish and he was good all round. He could easily have scored another but the shot from the edge of the box just drifted wide.
Wes Hoolahan: 8
Wes was sublime against Chelsea. One of his best performances in months. He worked hard and didn’t seem to lose the ball even once. He got the assist for Redmond to take him on to eight assists for the season, magical Wes.
Cameron Jerome: 3
I think three is generous. I really don’t care that he ‘works hard’. I could work hard, that doesn’t mean I should be a starting Premier League striker. His movement was poor, his first touch was dodgy and he wasn’t holding the ball up without losing it. To top it off, he had around five clear chances to get a shot on target and failed to hit it even once. The chance he missed from in the six-yard box just adds to his list of sitter. If the Premier League made a blooper reel of the worst misses of the season; Jerome would take the top-three places with his misses against Everton, Leicester and Chelsea.
Substitutes:
Gary O’Neil: 6
O’Neil impressed when he came on. It wasn’t easy being brought on so early but he adapted well and did well to carry on with a severe head cut.
Dieumerci Mbokani: 6
How on earth he didn’t start or come on at half-time I don’t know. Just Alex Neil for you. When he came on he was able to hold the ball up and win every header.