Manchester Evening News

[nelsons willie]

i remember vaguely years ago after england beat some little nation about 9-0 or something england keeper did nothing all game but got 7 out of 10..james h reeve reckoned it was for presentation..

 

[Brucie Bonus]

I can never understand ratings. Does one begin with zero and work up, or with ten and subtract? In either case one must have some idea of an absolute, for the player or some idea of the "perfect player" (in that position). Do ratings take into account opposition or not? Amount of work performed and how skilfull the execution? I'm not getting at Dunne, but he made one very nice run, and the comments about that seemed to actually make the case for getting a new CB! His ratings (where ratings have been followed by a comment) indicated that his score was in part a product of that one run. Again, not getting at Dunne, but I think the ratings reflect how easily pleased we can be. At the same time, low ratings actually indicate an unwillingness to be honest where a five ought to have been a one perhaps: don't want to hurt anyones feelings, so we patronize them instead. I can see the future where Joe Hart LITERALLY does nothing all game except a couple of goal kicks and claps his hands and he'll get, "Solid performance, if little to do. Worth a seven."

I'd prefer awful / poor / fair / average / good / very good / excellent than this numbers lark. It's an art, not a science, so why play games with numbers as though it is?