Mata for me, easy.

no button for Howard Webb, he was the most influential guy on the pitch

Mata, he seems to be playing on a different level to the rest of the team. Great finish.

Mata was magnificent. Such an unfair amount of pressure being placed on him to act as the creativity in our team and right now he is handling it brilliantly.

We are so lucky to have him - he must be rueing the day he chose to sign for us though!

cant decide between mata or ivan but im quite sure who was the worst. how shyte is malouda eh? his passing is just dreadful

Mata was excellent. He made a lie of this idea that you need to be English to have that really strong fighting spirit and mentality. While Malouda, Torres and Sturridge were running around like headless chooks he was solid.

When we were in desperate need of keeping the ball, he'd turn, put his foot on it and slow it down. Plus that finish, wow. As bjd says we are very lucky to have him. He is easily our best buy for about 5 years I'd say. No disrespect to Ivan or Sturridge or Ramires, but he is at another level.

Highly Commended's go to Essien who was back to his solid best, Ivan who was excellent aside from the penalty (which was of course debatable) Cech who saved well, and the new man Cahill whose blocks and clearances meant he made a decent impersonation of JT. I'd suggest he and the aforementioned captain will make an excellent pairing in the long run.

The Special Juan for sure, another level to the rest of the boys so far.

Mata for me, God help us if he gets injured!

Mata as well.

Yes, it was Mata undoubtedly. But special mentions to Luiz, (still needs to be given a try in central midfield IMO. He could be hugely influential from there), and Cahill made a very promising debut.

Mata for me, Essien was great to until he ran out of steam!

Mata all the way,

thought Luiz passing was good and Ivan superb in what really now Cahill is here must be his RB position. Cahill decent Debut...can't complain about Bos on the left to be fair.

Essien was good but looked tired late on,

Malouda was a weak link as was Torres although only when it came to attempting to score.

a lot of dodgy decisions but Torres yellow was another kick in the nuts for him as his knee never touched the boys back and the ref had no need at all to book him.

Highly Commended's go to Essien who was back to his solid best, Ivan who was excellent aside from the penalty (which was of course debatable) Cech who saved well, and the new man Cahill whose blocks and clearances meant he made a decent impersonation of JT. I'd suggest he and the aforementioned captain will make an excellent pairing in the long run.

Spiller I thought Ivan had a good game overall, but I felt he allowed Giggs too much time and space for the cross to Hernandez.

He initially moved towards him and if he had kept going he would have closed the space quicker and forced Giggs into an early move, but he held off and did that stupid arms behind the back pose.

I dont like to berate players as everyone has a bad game sometimes but for me Malouda was absolutely Sh*te. I have never seen a worse display. He struggled to kick a ball in the direction he intended and I would be surprised if more than 25% of his passes reached their intended target.

Just a few weeks ago he was demanding starts that he felt he deserved but tonights display was a disgrace. I'd pay Lyon or anyone else to take him back after that.

Felt sorry for sturridge being taken off but AVB was a bit concerned about him defensively, especially after the penalty, but he was definitely more of a threat than the theif malouda who after that display basically stole his wages from the club this week.

Torres grew throughout the game and its just his confidence. You can literally see him second guessing himself on the pitch and either take one touch too many or too few. Keep going though fella and judging you on tonight it WILL come. I will continue to believe this until the day he gives up, which all credit to him, he shows no sign of doing so

Edited February 5, 201213 yr by Martin_plumb

Mata all the way...Peter was good in goal and defense was good until the last quarter of the game. Just disappointed now that we let them in whrn they were no where near good enough to do it on their own.

Voted for Mata but thought Meireles had a very good game by his standards.

Ivanovic for me. Saved our butts more than once, very unlucky for the second penalty.

Mata, Cech and Essien were excellent as well.

Voted for Mata but thought Meireles had a very good game by his standards.

Yes I've been slating Meireles & accept from that awful miss I thought he did better. Didn't lose the ball as much as usual. Still not good enough for our 1st 11 when all are fit.

Mata.

Honorable mention for Cech and all the defenders. Bossy made a pretty darn good LB. Ivanovic was stout, and the PK call on him was BS. The CB's did okay right up until they left Chicharito completely unmarked for the tying goal.

Mata was magnificent. Such an unfair amount of pressure being placed on him to act as the creativity in our team and right now he is handling it brilliantly.

We are so lucky to have him - he must be rueing the day he chose to sign for us though!

Completely agree here.

It is sad that he is our only main creative outlet, and I fear he may look around and ask himself "what have I got myself into?!"

Luiz and Ivan both were good, and I am pleased to have Essien back, but he was gassed later on and should have been subbed.

Feel like I should go for Ivan he put in a top effort and that Torres assist was class but I am a sucker for Mata.

Spiller I thought Ivan had a good game overall, but I felt he allowed Giggs too much time and space for the cross to Hernandez.

He initially moved towards him and if he had kept going he would have closed the space quicker and forced Giggs into an early move, but he held off and did that stupid arms behind the back pose.

You're probably right, I was edgy about that the whole match. Especially with not closing down, Giggs, Scholes and Carrick after they started to get a little ball after that pen.

It wasn't as if they were going to shimmy around the player who came out to close down. Their whole thing is passing and they had Wellbeck, Hernandez and Rooney to aim at with space and time.

Given it was going on for the whole second half, it's possible it was a tactical thing more than a mistake by Ivan.

Still the blame lies with Luiz who lost Hernandez's run, but of course given he and Cahill had never played together that could have always happened.

As I say Ivan was a mountain today, really good. But of course as a defender it only takes one mistake. It is like batting vs bowling in cricket. One side gets all day to have a go at you and can get it wrong as often as they like, but as a defender if you make one mistake you're f**ked in the eyes of the post match raters.

Mata for me,pure quality.

Mata played very well

Mata for me. Ivanovic looked good and I wouldn't blame him for the penalty, but I feel he should've done better for the third goal, as should Cahill to be honest. Cech made some great saves too and couldn't be blamed for any of the goals.