An amazing performance when you consider the side we put out really. We had countless chances to get our first victory over Chelsea in 14 games!!! The one thing that let's us down, and it's a constant thing, is our poor ball retention. It's what is separating us from competing with the top sides on a regular basis. If we can sort that out by cutting the hoofing down to a bare minimum (take note Yobo!) then we can seriously push on, because the foundation is all there. I agree with what other people have said; Moyes needs to be more proactive with his substitutions. We were absolutely crying out for some energy out there. Vaughan should have gotten a run out for sure, and even though I don't really rate Gosling that highly he would have ran all over the place. Oh and I'd put money on Jags starting at RB against City <_< .
Howard - His kicking was off but other than that he was excellent for us.
Jacobsen - You can see he's still rusty, unsurprisingly, but he put in a good shift for us. He was caught the wrong side of the man on a couple of occasions though!
Yobo - He does not inspire confidence. Maybe it was down to him not having played for a while but his timing was all over the place and he was easily flustered. I expect to see him starting on Saturday though after Jags was brought on for Jacobsen .
Lescott - He did well but he looked nervous having Yobo alongside him IMO. Hopefully they can work on their partnership if Yobo is to stay in the side.
Baines - That was a special performance from little Leighton. Going forward he was magnificant tbh, and although it's not difficult, he made Ashley Cole look like a bag of shite. It was his defensive work that really stood out for me though. That tackle on Lampard was perfect and how he beat Drogba in the air was amazing. My MOTM.
Osman - Poor, poor, performance. He should have been one of the players rested (I prefer dropped in his case) because he was out on his feet after 10minutes. 9 times out of 10 he gave the ball away too.
Neville - He battled as a good defensive midfielder always should but he tired badly towards the end and was pretty invisible.
Castillo - I shat myself when I seen he was starting tbh. And his first 10 or so minutes confirmed my fears; he was all over the place and rashly going for balls that he was never going to get anywhere near. He settled down eventually though and put in a very assured performance and actually looked better than Pip.
Pienaar - He put in a brilliant shift as ever but his end product is SO frustrating it's unbelievable!
Cahill - I thought he was excellent up until about 55 minutes. Before then he was running around like he was on a mission; chasing every single ball; running at Chelsea with the ball; holding the ball up etc. After the 55 minute mark he looked out on his feet and needed to be taken off.
Jo - That's got to be is best performance away from home. He was a good lone striker for us. At the end of the day though he's here to score goals and he failed miserably when he had a couple on a plate for him.