Hilario awarded Man of the Match award vs WBA

[termninja 5,290]

Anelka and Hilario for me, but I'll say Anelka.

[Naked Mole Rat 437]

No one was particularly impressive but I voted for Anelka as I thought he was quite lively though he missed a couple chances.

[Peace. 4,352]

Hilario, head and shoulders above everyone else.

This.

He made some important stops. In a normal game, it shouldn't have been noticed, but as the other players on the pitch were quite bad, that made him the better player.

Malouda also deserves to be mentioned... For having benched Kalou.

[Blue Armour 4,287]

Hilario, head and shoulders above everyone else.

I'll admit he pulled off one or two good saves to keep it at one-nil,but it wasn't like he was bombarded by shots throughout the game...He was fairly standard and good enough for a stand-in goalkeeper..

Anelka was brilliant in my opinion...In the second half he was the best part of our front three, showing flashes of his (now mostly forgotten) incredible pace...

[Wilson 358]

Hilario, he really stepped up for once!

[manpe 10,861]

Voted Ramires... did plenty of dirty work which I noticed. Was between him and Hilario.

Is there a similar topic on Stoke game or did I miss it?

[Kieran. 6,317]

Voted Bosingwa.

[Madmax 9,219]

I'll admit he pulled off one or two good saves to keep it at one-nil,but it wasn't like he was bombarded by shots throughout the game...He was fairly standard and good enough for a stand-in goalkeeper..

It isn't just the saves though. He exuded confidence and calmness all throughout the game. He dealt with awkward crosses and loose balls with aplomb, which definitely gives a sense of security to the defence, especially when the centre-halves are having a torrid time like they did yesterday. The goalkeeper is only really spoken of when he makes mistakes and it is usual for his performances to be overshadowed by the adventure that attackers bring but I think Hilario was nigh on excellent yesterday.

Maybe if it was Cech who'd made that diving one-armed save vs Tchoyi or the cool composed stop against Odemwingie late on, we'd all be lauding him.

[Rkk 17]

I vote Hilario, he play well when our defender are in a mess, and make some real great save that i cant even believe in him ,Ramires also deserve a name for creating tat goal for anelka.

[Gianfranco_Z 202]

Voted for Kalou because I'm a fucking top bloke

Actually voted Kalou though

[manpe 10,861]

It isn't just the saves though. He exuded confidence and calmness all throughout the game. He dealt with awkward crosses and loose balls with aplomb, which definitely gives a sense of security to the defence, especially when the centre-halves are having a torrid time like they did yesterday. The goalkeeper is only really spoken of when he makes mistakes and it is usual for his performances to be overshadowed by the adventure that attackers bring but I think Hilario was nigh on excellent yesterday.

Maybe if it was Cech who'd made that diving one-armed save vs Tchoyi or the cool composed stop against Odemwingie late on, we'd all be lauding him.

Agreed, Hilario made no mistakes, and that is rare for a stand-in goalkeeper who rarely gets game time. His ball distribution was good as well. And the moment I saw the cross to that open dude (Odemwingie?), I was shaking my head "goal FFFUUUU-" but then I saw it being stopped on the line by Hilario and I was confident of 3 points from there on... He also caught the ball which meant we had the possession and time to calm down, a shittier goalie might have awkwardly scrambled it into goal or made a panic in the box.

[Ollie 4,400]

Ramires for me.

[Blue Armour 4,287]

It isn't just the saves though. He exuded confidence and calmness all throughout the game. He dealt with awkward crosses and loose balls with aplomb, which definitely gives a sense of security to the defence, especially when the centre-halves are having a torrid time like they did yesterday. The goalkeeper is only really spoken of when he makes mistakes and it is usual for his performances to be overshadowed by the adventure that attackers bring but I think Hilario was nigh on excellent yesterday.

Maybe if it was Cech who'd made that diving one-armed save vs Tchoyi or the cool composed stop against Odemwingie late on, we'd all be lauding him.

Look, we've seen Hilario in a lot of games and if its one thing he does have it IS confidence. Sometimes too much of it. Last match we nearly had a hilarious moment when he came charging off his box all the way to the half-line to pick up a ball that Ramires was going after. If that had gone wrong I'm sure he wouldn't be getting so many votes today.

I don't mean to undermine him, but yesterday's performance was what you would expect from him. Nothing spectacular..

But I guess that's more than what a lot of people here were hoping for anyway in Cech's absence,

[James 5,199]

Hilario for me, made some good saves.

Thank god we have him to be honest, if Turnbull had to play i'd be a nervous wreck.

[incometax 116]

I voted alex

ROLOLOLOL

[BlueLion. 21,491]

I voted alex

ROLOLOLOL

[LDN Blue 7,903]

Deffo Torres.

In that first half, he wanted the ball so badly and was so passionate, he made crunching tackles to win the ball back himself. Close second for Hilario.

[BlueLion. 21,491]

Very tight between Hilario and Nico, I'll keep this open a little longer!