MOTM vs Juventus (Home)

[loz]

Take your pick

[abramovich]

Picked Drogba. His best performance since God knows when. Hopefully a sign of things to come.

[loz]

Lampard for me. First half he was one of a few good performers, second half when we were very average Lampard was head and shoulders above the rest of the team. ==

[coco]

Cech, a commanding clean sheet and no mistakes.

[bjd]

Lampard, again.

Player of the season by a trillion miles.

[Chippy]

Lampard for me by some way,

Drogba was better and a nuisance and a sharper Drogba would have had at least another goal, I thought he should have won a penalty as well.

I don't know why everyone slagged Ballack off tonight, I thought he looked to be improving, a couple of rash challenges but thats usual.

a word for Bosingwa..not going forward so much has actually shown that he can defend, better game from him.

[Plavi26]

Kalou for me. Crossed the ball very well tonight, and really worked well on that right wing.

[TomP]

Difficult to pick a MOM.

We played pretty well as a team in the first half, without any single player really firing on all cylinders. In the second half, they came at us a bit more, and we didn't control the match as well. The back 5 held up pretty well though, and didn't really give Juve any clear cut chances.

If I had to pick out someone, my vote goes to Kalou. He still doesn't have the end product, but he looked by far our most dangerous player whenever he was on the ball. Notched up a very good assist for Drogba's goal as well - beautifully weighted pass.

[loz]

I don't know why everyone slagged Ballack off tonight, I thought he looked to be improving, a couple of rash challenges but thats usual.

Agreed. I didn't think he was great but certainly not awful. He put in a fairly average performance as did quite a few players. I think some people are now at the stage where they will only give Ballack any credit if he plays a blinder.

[Virosh]

Lampard. He was fantastic. Bosingwa did amazingly well, but Lamps was more important to our game.

[ethicalstrategy]

I thought that Cech, Kalou, Lampard and Drogba all had good games but our best player was Ashley Cole. The difference between his performance and Ferriera on Saturday was huge.

[rolo_88]

Kalou IMO.. Has been consistantly good over a rough couple of months and tonight was no different, gave their left back loads of problems and a SICK pass for the goal.. THATS WHY WE LOVE SOLOMAN KALOU!!!!

[Orangutan]

I'm really surprised to see Lampard leading the way. He was excellent, as always, but I didn't see him stand out much in particular. To me, it's between Kalou, Drgoba, and Bosingwa.

Bosingwa and Kalou were terrific together down the right wing. Most of our best attacks were from the right. Bosingwa was active the whole game up and down the flank. Kalou had the assist for the goal and was tireless running at defenders down the right. Hiddink seems to have encouraged him to play with more width.

Drogba had the goal and was constantly putting himself in positions for more. For me, it's close, but I gave Kalou the nod.

I think Kalou is our most underrated player. He can't finish to save his life but he works very hard and his pace causes problems. Too often he and Malouda are lumped together as disappointments but Kalou is LIGHT YEARS better than Malouda (not that that says a whole lot!). Until we can see Stoch regularly, Kalou is our only true wing player of any quality. People need to appreciate that more.

[blueday3]

Lamps just does not make mistakes, he is like a super footballing android.

Agree with those saying Ballack wasn't as bad as others seem to think. I thought he was pretty decent, I thought the play was over before the goal but Ballack took the ball from the Juve player gave it to Kalou and shedaisy, its in the net. Plus his yellow card was probably a good foul as Juve were on the break.

Bosingwa was great too, as was the skipper, but Lamps for me

[The Brit]

drogba clearly won the game for us and deserves acclaim for first half performance alone...

[mad_mac]

Just got to watch it, thanks to a friend who recorded the game, so managed to stay away from the forums until now. Lampard was all over the place, tackling, passing, shootin. A great performance alround. Honourable mention to Bossie who actually put in a few good crosses for a while too!

Kalou was decent, mancienne, out of position, was good too.

Malouda...I've officially given up hope

[motorhead]

lalou for me.i thought h was great down the right.i was gutted when he came off for that plank malouda

[loz]

drogba clearly won the game for us and deserves acclaim for first half performance alone...

We definitely signs of the old Drogba including the fact that one minute his first touch is sublime, and the next it is more like a pass than a first touch.

[Nibs]

Lampard for me. First half he was one of a few good performers, second half when we were very average Lampard was head and shoulders above the rest of the team. ==

Spot On Loz.

Lamps was good for the whole game and always involved whereas the rest seemed to disappear in the second half.

Thought Kalou was excellent for the first half hour and Drogba started well too but both were poor second half. Mikel & Bosingwa had decent games as did Ash and I thought Mancienne did really well for the time he was on.

Ballack was frustrating IMO. He did okay (but certainly no more than that). Gave the ball away more than any other midfielder and lost count of the free kicks he gave away, many when already on a yellow card.

Malouda? What was the point in bringing him on. Complete waste of space.

[Gem]

Lamps, for the reasons stated by Loz.

Malouda was useless, he couldn't even hold the ball up, the most simplest of tasks. We really should be selling him in the Summer (what was wrong with January?!) and taking what we can.

Mentions to Cech, JT, Alex and Kalou. Also Mancienne looked confident when he was played out of position on his Champion's League debut. The freekick he gave away at the end... not a freekick.

Ashley Cole was terrible too, got turned too many times.

[evissy]

I chose Drogba not just for the goal but him being a constant threat to Juve's defence. Lampard was good, Bosingwa was good, Kalou was good as usual. Only players that looked a bit off their best were Ballack and Alex.

Ballack's pace isn't enough for this level or style of play. Seeing Ballack play made me want to see Essien back ASAP. Ballack wasn't bad but he was a bit slow and he missed most of passes from our midfielders. Imagine Essien being in Ballack place thundering towards opposing defenders. Bring back the Bison.

[Mike O]

I voted for Kalou for all the reasons listed above and was slightly gobsmacked when he was replaced. I fully expected a rousing chorus from the MHL of 'you don't know what you're doing' aimed at Hiddink (which may have done even more to make Claudio feel at home) but perhaps it's a little too early for that.

Maybe next week?

I just wish SK could stay stronger on the ball - he is the most 'lightweight' of players and perhaps only Robben has been consistently dispossessed more easily.

[BlueBeard]

Kalou for me, he had a very good game, particularly in the first half. He seems to have been improving over the last few weeks, long may it continue.

Close call with Lampard, and special mentions must go to Ashley, Alex, and even Drogba - best he's been for ages.

[clubhappy]

On the 1st half evidence i saw i'd go for Drogba or Kalou.

[aliboy66]

The dog looks like his on the way back not quiet 100 percent but a lot better.The first half was good looked tired in the second why?