John Simkin Posted November 10, 2007 Share Posted November 10, 2007 Anyone interested in rating Curbishley’s team selection, tactics and substitutions out of ten against Derby? His scores so far, in rank order, are as follows: Portsmouth (8.7) Reading (8.4) Middlesbrough (7.7) Birmingham (7.1) Sunderland (6.8) Arsenal (6.6) Wigan (6.5) Aston Villa (6.0) Bolton (5.9) Newcastle (5.1) Manchester City (3.7) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Gary Loughran Posted November 11, 2007 Share Posted November 11, 2007 Anyone interested in rating Curbishley’s team selection, tactics and substitutions out of ten against Derby? Watched it on Sky on Saturday night, so hope it counts. Thumping result. The big squad is being fully stretched, and once again, Curbs selection was easy given what was available. Smartly moved Neill to left back to allow Pantsil to play on the right following McCartney's injury. Carlton Cole (now top of the assists chart - 6!!) looked excellent again. Was Solano our first non-British scorer in the league albeit if Eddie Lewis is credit for Spectors shot?? Curbs also done well to resist the temptation to play Ljunberg, instead bringing on Collins and pushing Pantsil on. Whilst Pride Park may be a misnomer at the minute there can be no doubt this was a great victory to lead into the International break. The only downside being a hernia operation for Bowyer, though thanks to him for delaying the op. Curbs gets a resounding 9. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Simkin Posted November 12, 2007 Author Share Posted November 12, 2007 Interesting article about Lee Bowyer in today's Times. http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/foo...icle2853144.ece Smart work by Bowyer getting booked before going off on Saturday. It was his fifth yellow card of the season. His one-match suspension coincides with his hernia operation. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Simkin Posted November 14, 2007 Author Share Posted November 14, 2007 I think Curbishley is a good manager and have been unable to understand the calls for him to be sacked. However, I have found most of the praise of Curbishley’s performance against Derby well-over the top. It is true that it is difficult to identify any mistakes that he made in the game against Derby. The main reason is that Derby was so poor they were unable to exploit any mistakes that he made. To my mind, a manager deserves 9 or 10 when he innovates successfully, not when he fails to make mistakes. Curbishley was competent and not inspirational on Saturday. If you give him a 10/10 for a victory over Derby, what do you give him when he tactically out-thinks Ferguson and we get a good win at Old Trafford? To my mind he only deserves 7/10. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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