It was by no means a polished performance because at times we were absolutely woeful defending against their physical approach. That being said, some of our football was crisp as fuck and actually a joy to watch. We played on the grass as often as we possibly could and, IMO, that's down to us having two full-backs who can play football and having two central midfielders infront of the defence who will make space for themselves to receive the ball from the centre-backs. I hope Thursday's and yesterday's football is how we're going to approach games because if it is then we can beat anyone tbh.
Does Moyes just have to find a way to get Hibbert on the field? Is he his love child?
Howard - Shouldn't have been made to work as hard as he was but he made some crucial saves and earned his wages!
Baines - Brilliant going forward and it was nice that he got an assist for Saha's first. Apart from that big mistake he made I thought he was generally good defensively too; they aimed for him with their crossfield balls but I rarely remember him getting beaten in the air.
Distin - Kept it simple and was solid.
Yobo - In the past I've been critical of Yobo because of his lack of concentration but at the minute he's rock solid and I don't have any complaints. At this rate Jags will struggle to get back in.
Heitinga - I thought he was excellent and that one performance should, I hope, spell the end of Hibbert as our first choice right back. His first thought was always to get the ball moving forward and on the ground, the hoof was a last resort. He was strong when he needed to be as well.
Pienaar - Top, top, top, game from Pienaar yesterday. He was a bundle of energy and never stopped all game long. A couple of his flicks didn't come off but he was only really trying them once the game was over, so I have no problem with that. He was bringing players into the game while taking 3 or 4 Blackburn players out of the game with one pass. When he plays like he did yesterday we don't miss Arteta and that's why he was my MOTM.
Fellaini - Another excellent game from Felli yesterday, he's a different player now. He really looks like he could do the defensive midfield job for us IMO. Once again, he broke up play and used the ball brilliantly. I have one complaint - sometimes I wish he'd just drive forward with the ball instead of turning back and slowing an attack down.
Rodwell - I find it amazing how he can always get himself into acres of space. Then when the opposition surround him once he gets the ball he's so composed and unruffled. All I can say about Rodwell is WOW, he is phenomenal.
Cahill - Not our best player but he was a work horse for us yesterday and did a very good job. He's not there to be fancy, he's there to get in people's faces and pressurise and I think he did it well. He got extremely tired towards the end but that's no surprise with the effort he put in.
Osman - Ineffective, IMO. He ran into too many dead ends because he holds on to the ball for too long when he should have been giving a pass to another player.
Saha - A great game for a player that adds nothing to the team. Well, apart from being all over the pitch helping his teammates out, holding the ball up to bring other players into the attack, and then tops it off with 2 goals. Yeah, he adds absolutely nothing to our team.