Season-long ratings plus Sheffield United 2-0 Luton (H)
We assess the running ratings for every player, with Riley Roberts handing out the 1-10s for Luton.
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 – 6
Another quiet day for Cooper with neither of Luton’s two shots on target troubling United’s number one. Can only stop what comes at him though, and that he did once more.
Alfie Gilchrist – 5
Made some good tackles but was careless in possession at times, almost gifted them two pretty good opportunities.
Harry Souttar – 7
Impressive. Made an excellent block in the first half where he launched himself at the ball, and then a great tackle to stop a counterattack in the second.
Anel Ahmedhodzic – 7
Good knock onto Rak-Sakyi for the first goal, went a couple of marauding runs too.
Sam McCallum – 5
Game of ups and downs. Looked nervy with the ball early on which resulted in him almost conceding possession in our own half and put in some poor crosses. At the same time, he was solid defensively and my word can he jump? Fine for a first league start.
Oliver Arblaster – 6
Didn’t quite look his usual self when receiving the ball deep but still had some nice flashes where he evaded the press well and played some very neat forward passes.
Vinicius Souza – 8
Mightily impressed with the way he did just about everything to a high standard. Unfortunate not to score, but bossed the middle of the park.
Jesurun Rak-Sakyi – 9
What a birthday for the lad! Two well-taken goals and some monstrous work tracking back. Best performance by a Blade so far this season
Rhian Brewster – 6
Worked hard all day and played some neat passes which included an assist for Rak-Sakyi’s second goal. Positive.
Callum O’Hare – 5
Not that I want to be harsh on anyone following our best performance of the season but I’m unsure why the sentiment around O’Hare’s performance was any different today to the last few weeks, the only difference being we had 60% possession instead of 45%. He did most of the same stuff he’s doing every week.
Kieffer Moore – 7
Starting to win me over. Still didn’t offer a massive goal threat but he was excellent at bringing others into play and was massive as always at defending set-pieces.
Average rating – 6.45 (highest of the season)
Overall Season Average Rating - 5.80
Running total
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.
I think McCallums first half performance was hesitant as Vini was on at him every pass he made. Thought Sam grew into the game but as I’ve said, he wasn’t actually being encouraged in the first half hour at all.