Sheffield United 2-0 Blackburn (A)

Big away win for the Blades, and Riley Roberts dishes out the marks out of ten.

These ratings will follow after every game of the Championship season, and they will — depending on your outlook — be harsh or too kind. Any 1-10 rating should make use of every number, and as Riley explains below, the ratings system starts at a 5 (when a player enters the field) and goes up or down depending on their contribution.

Riley Roberts

Michael Cooper – 7

No saves to make, but still a good performance. Distribution was top drawer.

Alfie Gilchrist – 5

He was fine. I feel like I’m generally underrating him compared to everyone else so willing to hold my hands up and say I might be missing something. A 5 sounds harsh but I’ll refer to my criteria here — five’s the baseline, it’s not criticism — and I think it describes a lot of his performances. Not a negative thing.

Harry Souttar – 7

Didn’t have to do much actual defending but still impressed. Picked out a few beautiful diagonals.

Jack Robinson – 7

Defended the left-hand side so well, especially when Burrows was further up the pitch, covering the wide areas like a monster.

Harrison Burrows – 8

Excellent. Great finish and put in some absolutely delightful crosses. Solid defensively too. Case could be made for a 9.

Vinicius Souza – 7

Yeah, good. Monster tracking back to make tackles. Will give my notably harsh criticism here and say he would’ve been an 8 if not for their chance in the first half. Watch it back, he should’ve tracked that run better. Good performance though on the whole.

Oliver Arblaster – 6

Struggled in the first half conceding possession too easily but played some good passes in the second and really raised his level. 

Jesurun Rak-Sakyi – 7

Massive threat, as usual. He played some good combinations with Moore, and tracked back well. Good stuff.

Callum O’Hare – 5

Didn’t do much with the ball but worked hard and helped out defensively.

Rhian Brewster – 5

Very quiet. Was fine.

Kieffer Moore – 8

Massive. Won absolutely everything, and unfortunate not to score.

Sub — Tyrese Campbell – 7

Came on, won fouls, scored, and made a real difference.

Average rating – 6.58

---

Ratings system:

• 0 – Reserved for anyone who has a wayward effort at goal smash me in the face, unlikely to ever happen.

• 1 – Worst of the worst. Saved for disastrous performances, with result-altering mistakes.

• 2 – A terrible performance. Performances where a player offers very little and has many unsuccessful actions, ultimately proving to be a major detriment to the team’s overall performance.

• 3 – A bad performance. Negative contribution. Like a 2, just a bit less rubbish.

• 4 – A below-average performance. Not necessarily having a negative impact on the game; it could just be a player who struggled to impact the game at all.

• 5 – The baseline rating. All players go into a game starting on a 5 — it’s bang average, given out for an unremarkable yet solid performance, for a postman delivering the post.

• 6 – A decent performance. A player who gets a 6 has positively contributed to the game, and at the very least has had some impressive moments while being generally solid outside of them.

• 7 – A good performance. Awarded for players who had a noticeable positive impact on the game.

• 8 – A very good performance. A player who made significant contributions to the outcome of the game with their performance and consistently displayed a high level throughout.

• 9 – An outstanding performance. To score as high as a 9, a player needs to be dominant throughout the match, performing at a level well above the standard and/or making multiple game-changing contributions.

• 10 – A perfect 10, unlikely to ever see the light of day as nobody has a flawless game. For me to even think about giving out a 10 it would probably have to be a player doing something historic or unheard of.