Sheffield United 1-0 Luton (A)
Blades make if four wins on the bounce, with a hard-fought victory against 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 – 7
Made a few decent saves and caught a lot in the air. Extremely solid display.
Harry Clarke – 5
Decent second half but not so good in the first. Seems to allow crosses in too easily.
Anel Ahmedhodzic – 6
Wasn’t particularly good but scored the winner so can’t really go much lower.
Jack Robinson – 6
Lost a few aerial battles but was always bound to up against Luton’s two strikers, did well on the whole.
Sam McCallum – 5
Bit loose with the ball at times but won some free kicks under pressure. No strong feelings either way.
Hamza Choudhury – 5
Seemed to struggle in the chaos at times and didn’t really contribute in possession in the first half, but benefitted from the half-time changes and made some contributions defensively. Solid enough.
Vini Souza – 5
Didn’t have his best game but still provided some decent moments. Played one particularly good pass in the build-up to our only chance in the first half.
Ben Brereton Diaz – 5
Not going to slate him for the chance he missed because I genuinely think it was harder than it looked at first. Didn’t really manage to get into the game, though not so much his own fault, especially first half.
Jesurun Rak-Sakyi – 5
Had a run at the defence when he did manage to get the ball though that wasn’t often. Thought he still had something to offer in the game before being taken off but the subs clearly worked.
Rhian Brewster – 4
Ineffective. Missing for most of the time he was on and didn’t muster up much when he did get it.
Tyrese Campbell – 4
Been a big advocate for him regaining his starting place up top and that came to fruition here even if forced by injury to Cannon, but he struggled. Never made it stick up top, even if his pass to BBD for that chance was pretty sumptuous.
Subs:
Rob Holding – 6
Played one or two passes I wasn’t really a fan of, but he looked remarkably solid for the half he played. A good addition off the bench.
Sydie Peck – 6
Another who came on and had an impact. Gave us much-needed energy in the middle of the park and put some decent balls in too.
Harrison Burrows – 6
Showed a bit more quality than McCallum at LB when he came on, in my opinion. Felt more comfortable with him on the pitch.
Callum O’Hare – 6
Didn’t see much of the ball, only playing 12 minutes but it just so happened that his first touch of it was a brilliant, hooked ball into the area to keep a move alive, and in doing so assist the winner.
Average rating – 5.73
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.