i normally rate the players on their performance but to do so, there should be some consistency. today we saw 2 halves been played by the same team in 2 of the most contrasting ways possible. the level of shit we were in the first half is unattainable. it was barely a professional performance and we were lucky that southampton dint want to press their advantage and that they barely tried to play. on the other hand the 2nd half was something different altogether. we pressed the ball, actually ran on the pitch rather than hoping that the ball and the opposition players would actually come right to the feet. we actually showed some passion for the game, the club and the fans. here is what i think of the players : cech - dint have much to do except for picking the ball from the goal in the 15th second. very unlucky not to get a clean sheet. 7/10 iva - good crosses, even in the 1st half. i expected him to be the one who would be the most lost and the weakest point of our defence in this match but iva was simply brilliant. he keeps blowing hot and cold in consecutive games. was really solid today with his defending and even his attacking contribution. 7/10 JT-GC - the trend to couple them together continues. i can safely say this again, both were solid, both were good in the air, decisive on the ground and both scored a long overdue goal for us. it is shocking that we dont score more goals from setpieces given that we have these 2 and iva in the box. 8.5/10 azpi - was pretty decent. dint do much in the attack but a lot of that has to be blamed on hazard. defensively he was decent too and dint put a foot wrong. 7/10 essien - any squad in the world has some deadwood and this should tell us exactly who that is for us. i loved the "BISON". essien in my mind will always be the guy who scored screamers, literally bulldozed past players, bullied the other teams' midfielders but this is not that guy. this is not 10% of that guy. it is time we sold him, be it for 1mil or 500K but that is what should be done. players like AKE deserve a chance more than essien does and free-loaders like him who are earning 100k/week are threatening the development of those players. time for the us to move on from him. he will never be even the shadow of the player he was. 0/10 ramires - tried to do a lot in the first half but due to no support from any1 else in the mid, he was just tackling AIR. was a completely different player in the 2nd half when he played like the player he is. 8/10 hazard - was he on the pitch for 90 minutes? seriously!!! i actually dint see much of him for LARGE portions of the match. today i saw some1 actually get outmuscled by JAMES WARD PROWSE. i mean WTF!!! is that even possible. that too, not just once but many times. very disappointing performance. 5/10 mata - another proof that MAZACAR must not play together. they were pathetic in the first half together and the only time we sparked was when oscar got injured and subbed. there is no fucking point in playing mata and oscar together specially when u have wingers like schurrle and willian. it makes no bloody sense. as for mata's performance it was a decent one. could not assert himself in the first half as the deep midfielders simply could not provide the ball to him and we dint have the aerial ability to win first and 2nd balls. but literally controlled the 2nd half. also its not suprising that we scored from set-pieces today. the last time i remember that we scored from a set-piece was against tottenham which was another mata free-kick. the quality of his set-pieces itself makes him a "can not miss" player. 8/10 oscar - another "tired performance". dint look threatening at all and his injury might have been a gift in disguise. could not provide the link-up between the am's , strikers and deep-mids. got bullied by wanyama too easily. 6/10 torres - another good performance. won some aerial duels, took defenders on, tried to close down defenders with no apparent help from the mid-fielders. probably even deserved a goal but i just hope he continues to play this way. 8/10 subs : lampard - i dreaded the moment when lamps took the field but was quite influential today. changed the tempo of the game with his passing and change of plays. good performance. 7.5/10 BA - MOTM for me. CHANGED THE GAME. was the catalyst. ran his heart out, chased everything down, a constant threat to the defenders as he was always running behind him. time and again he has shown that he is not here just to make up the numbers.well taken goal and brilliant general play. 9/10 mikel - not much to do. JOSE - poor tactics, pathetic team selection to start with. i dont know if jose has a "problem" with schurrle but i cant for the life of me understand how schurrle is not starting games for us. today was the game tailor-made for him. as soon as we took the attack to southampton, they crumbled and that is exactly what schurrle would have done. starting essien against a team that presses the ball better than any team in the PL right now was a BLUNDER. even if u take out the goal, essien actually conceded the possession 90% of times he got it. this makes us thing about his situation with mikel. he did get the subs right and eventually, we won and are 2nd and all the jazz, but it is not the first time he has got the starting 11 wrong and somehow has had to make up with the subs and change in tactics and falling to plan B. 5/10
