Player Ratings: Sheffield United 1-2 Norwich City (A)
When it comes to the play-offs, you get the feeling that the fat lady has warmed her voice up
Riley Roberts
Adam Davies - 5
Made a nice stop to deny Slimane with an effort that looked to be headed into the bottom corner, but looked uncomfortable when balls came into the box.
Femi Seriki - 4
Played a decent game with a couple of first-half crosses causing Norwich a world of danger. That said, he ultimately made the mistake which led to the winning goal, so is pretty capped.
Japhet Tanganga - 6
If we ever were to hold onto the 3 points after taking the lead, we would’ve had 2 CBs to thank. Tanganga battled well and made a couple of nice blocks, including a header off the line as Kvistgaarden was inexplicably left free in the box from back-to-back corners.
Tyler Bindon - 7
In danger of sounding a little snide here, as I think some of the praise going his way recently is a little overboard, but he was 100 per cent deserving in this one, with some big blocks/clearances and always being in the right place. Was fortunate not to give away a late penalty, though.
Harrison Burrows - 4
Probably a little too ambitious in his play on the ball, as he often went searching for a forward pass which wasn’t there. Left a fair bit of space defensively, which was exploited on the counter for the winning goal.
Jaïro Riedewald - 6
Started the game really well with his positional sense leading to him picking up numerous loose balls, before a five-minute spell where his athleticism left him a little exposed; though he bounced back by firing us in front.
Sydie Peck - 5
Didn’t impact the game in any meaningful way, though did make a couple of nice bursting, off-the-ball runs from midfield which we potentially could’ve made more of.
Andre Brooks - 5
Showed a lot of class with some lovely touches to keep possession of the ball in spots where it looked like he shouldn’t, but his actual impact at the top of the pitch was minimal, with a tame effort the best he could muster before Norwich went down the other end and scored the winner.
Callum O’Hare - 6
Assisted the goal and generally put himself in a lot of good positions, battling for everything and often managing to beat the Norwich defender/midfielder to whatever bouncing or loose ball he was challenging for.
Tom Cannon - 3
Struggled to make the ball stick when the Blades needed an outlet at 1-0 and 1-1. Later headed wide from a corner where you might have expected a goal.
Tyrese Campbell - 4
I don’t wish to be too harsh, because he didn’t really do much wrong – he just didn’t get on the ball enough to impact the game.
Average rating - 5.00
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.