The first weekend of October in the Premier League finds harmony in performance analysis.
Harmony hits the Premier League in the first weekend of October
The opening of October in the Premier League saw a rare wave of widespread consensus in Ratings Review.
When it comes to analysing the marks offered under the Player Ratings tab of the latest batch of matches, highlighting those horribly and contrastingly wide of the mark is one of the perks. But there is no such opportunity this week as general agreement appears to have been the theme of Saturday and Sunday.
Mocking colleagues who have been a tad generous in their scores, and pointing out where readers have gone wrong, risks a lonely seven days, but both are equally enjoyable.
However, the chance is lacking this week as scores match across the board after the likes of
Cesc Fabregas,
Ross Turnbull,
Fernando Torres and
Frank Lampard shone in equal measure - a pat on the back to all.
Elsewhere, just as players who had a weekend to forget were breathing a sigh of relief that an international break has arrived and that they were safe to avoid full domestic focus,
Pablo Zabaleta,
Curtis Davis and
Dave Kitson should continue to hang their heads.
Pulse
We will start with a look at Arsenal's trip to Sunderland, where Roy Keane's Black Cats came within a kitten's whisker of defeating their visitors from North London.
Reporter James Dall appears to have been bang on the money with his ratings as you agree that
Grant Leadbitter deserved to be handed a seven, while Fabregas is rewarded for his late rescue act with a similar eight and 7.4.
Skysports.com Editor Chris Harvey, perhaps fortunately for me as drawing attention to where your boss has been a little inaccurate is not the best policy if you like being able to pay the bills, also had his finger on the pulse during West Brom's meeting with Fulham.
Not the most eye-catching of matches following a quick glance at the fixture list, but an impressed opinion that goalscorer
Roman Bednar deserved an eight was mirrored by those in internet land, while
Mark Schwarzer (eight and 6.7) also received praise.
Next up is a trip to the JJB Stadium, and the greatest difference of opinion is on offer as journalist Graeme Bailey deemed Wigan's
Wilson Palacios worthy of an eight, but readers were a little less generous by providing an average score of 5.8.
Punishment
Mr Bailey went on to give the thumbs up to Middlesbrough goalkeeper Turnbull (9), forward
Mido (8) and defender
Chris Riggot (8), which, when combined with a difference of 2.2 for Palacios, may appear a little liberal for a 1-0 result. But with you in close agreement regarding Turnbull et al, this week's trend of overall harmony becomes more than apparent.
Bolton's Saturday trip to West Ham offered similar conformity, with
Kevin Davies and
Jussi Jaaskelainen (both eights) scoring well, while Everton and Newcastle's 2-2 draw on Sunday saw
Leighton Baines and
Damien Duff make an impact.
Even writer Steve Pass sheathed his occasionally, wildly, kind-hearted ratings during Chelsea's victory over Aston Villa as a nine for Lampard was closely matched (8.6) and only two players in blue (
Franco Di Santo and
Juliano Belletti) scored below a seven from both parties. Curtis Davies also received almost equal punishment with a four and five.
But it would not be football if there was not a villain of the piece. It is an element of the beautiful game that - while heroes receive worship - a lonely individual becomes the fall guy for his side's shortcomings, and that man in the corner is Zabaleta.
The Manchester City player received this week's worst average rating (3.5) after his sending off proved crucial as Liverpool came from two goals down, thanks greatly to the efforts of Torres (nine), at Eastlands.
Zabaleta was the lowest of the low, but here at Ratings Review we do not always like to see one poor soul suffer solitary misery and a Stoke trio of
Dave Kitson (3.9),
Richard Cresswell (3.9) and
Mamady Sidibe (3.8) must also be named and shamed.
It is possible to interact with skysports.com throughout the entire Premier League season and you can analyse performances via the Player Rating tab of every fixture.
