Lucky lucky Chelsea. Not just because we got a last minute winner but also because our goal was a country mile offside and because Wigan outplayed us for the majority of the match.

To be honest I couldn't have complained if we lost, let alone drew so to win was a theft worthy of a home in Toxteth.

Mata head and shoulders MOTM for me. He must be wondering who the jokers are playing in front of him because each and every one of them were different shades of poor today. Drogba and Torres had a few decent moments but were predominantly bad whilst Malouda, Sturridge and Kalou were appalling.

Meanwhile Essien and Meireles had no understanding at all which again begs the question why is Meireles still being played in a defensive midfielder role. Square pegs in round holes!

Have to vote Ivan for our off-sides goal and his fantastic goal-line clearance of Di Santo's shot.

Did you forget Ivan, Loz?

Edited April 7, 201214 yr by Phillip

Voting for Bertrand. Solid and kept Moses as quiet as possible. A breath of fresh air.

That's weird. I see 0 votes for Bertrand. Did you really vote for Ryan, Spiller?

I thought Moses was all over the place, creating all kinds of havoc, but I do agree that Ryan played well for the most part.

Torres for me... Slips and all. Changed the entire match when he came on...

Ivan. While the team again had a crap game, he atleast scored a goal and saved one after that. He's our saviour!

Ivan for me...'nuff said, Nando a close 2nd though.

Can't see any other candidates than Mata, good shift from young Ryan which was great to see, Torres being there changed the game but mainly because Maluda was so off it while he was on the field,

Looked a bit of a shambles in midfield which doesn't help.

Ivan has hit some goal scoring form but his clearance was more impressive than the goal today.

well glad of the points though and the 15/2 I got with William Hills on 2-1.

Edited April 7, 201214 yr by Chippy

Bertrand for me, only caught the last 30 mins but the radio were singing his praises in the first half and he defended so well, top performance from him, should be a top replacement for Ashley next season.

1 goal, 1 off the line, reliable as always...

do do do-do-do Ivanovic!!

Bertrand impressed me alot but torres get's it for me simply because of the energy desire and commitment he showed in that final 25 minutes which ultimately turned a draw into a win for us!

Ivan for me too. I didn't think we played that badly tbh, we created plenty of chances & their keeper had a great game. I thought Wigan played well

Ivanovic of course! Got the goal, cleared one of the line.

Brilliant to have him with us.

I have to agree with Chippy on this. Torres coming on didn't change the game. Malouda was so poor it was almost like playing 12 against 10 (with Sturridge and Kalou not much better). Replacing Malouda with a player who was average swung it in our favour a bit more. What did Torres actually do? One great volley for to set up the winner which really deserved a goal. Other than that he ran around a bit, lost possession a fair bit and fell over a lot. There was certainly a lot worse than him but a million miles behind Mata's performance and also Ivan's.

Went for Ivan, but could easily have gone for either Mata or Bertrand too.

I have to agree with Chippy on this. Torres coming on didn't change the game. Malouda was so poor it was almost like playing 12 against 10 (with Sturridge and Kalou not much better). Replacing Malouda with a player who was average swung it in our favour a bit more. What did Torres actually do? One great volley for to set up the winner which really deserved a goal. Other than that he ran around a bit, lost possession a fair bit and fell over a lot. There was certainly a lot worse than him but a million miles behind Mata's performance and also Ivan's.

Your right! Apart from winning us the game he did nothing!

Your right! Apart from winning us the game he did nothing!

Surely that would be Mata who actually scored the goal.

I never buy into that argument anyway. Strikers often get it easy. They can play poorly for 89 minutes then pop up with a winner and they get MOTM votes. Conversely a defender or keeper can play poorly for 89 minutes then make a stunning goal line clearance or save but their performance is still described as poor.

Your right! Apart from winning us the game he did nothing!

I'm not taking anything away from him, I distinctly remember 3 decent runs that ended with him on his arse...if thats Man of the match skills then I'd best be changing my vote.

I saw him play a couple of short passes, lose the ball and hit a half decent Volley, not knocking him, just putting into perspective his contribution and comparing it to Matas, Ivans Bertrands or Luiz would put him behind all of them for me and its only that the rest of the team was so poor that I would contemplate putting his name up after them.

i think torres contribution to that goal was far more significent than mata's don't you think? Anyhow we won and torres contributed well to it isn't that what we have been asking of him?

Surely that would be Mata who actually scored the goal.

I never buy into that argument anyway. Strikers often get it easy. They can play poorly for 89 minutes then pop up with a winner and they get MOTM votes. Conversely a defender or keeper can play poorly for 89 minutes then make a stunning goal line clearance or save but their performance is still described as poor.

Ironically, this is what all the critics around Torres has been about. He works his socks off, tackle and fights for the team, but doesn't score.

Surely that would be Mata who actually scored the goal.

I never buy into that argument anyway. Strikers often get it easy. They can play poorly for 89 minutes then pop up with a winner and they get MOTM votes. Conversely a defender or keeper can play poorly for 89 minutes then make a stunning goal line clearance or save but their performance is still described as poor.

Such is life I`m afraid, strikers have always been the glamour position, same as wingers in rugby. They can do nothing all game but score the winner. But, that is their ultimate job, used to always make me laugh when people talked about Inzaghi and said "all he does is score goals".

Such is life I`m afraid, strikers have always been the glamour position, same as wingers in rugby. They can do nothing all game but score the winner. But, that is their ultimate job, used to always make me laugh when people talked about Inzaghi and said "all he does is score goals".

I think if Torres scored about a goal every 2.5 games for us (which must be approximately Inzaghi's record and nowhere near Torres's record for Liverpool) then we would all be happy enough!

However I don't want to turn this into a Torres thread. Like I said before I thought he was pretty poor today other than the volley but he was far from the worse player on the park for us. I just find it odd that scoring a goal is often enough for people to ignore the overall performance and give someone a MOTM nomination when other players can work hard for 90 minutes with a far superior all round performance but that counts for little because someone else pops up with a goal.

Mata for me, he was the only one playing anywhere near the standards we will need to reach in order to beat Barcelona. Bertrand was solid, Drogba had moments (at both ends), and Ivanovic deserves credit for that couple of minutes where he scored and then saved our arses at the other end.

Mikel and Torres did well off the bench, Cahill, Luiz and Cech were competent and the rest were woeful. Really poor performance and we were extremely lucky to win. On the other hand, these two late snatch-and-grabs are welcome evidence of the bottle which was missing under AVB and which will come in very handy in those tough cup ties...

Have to give the edge to Bertrand over Ivan and Cahill. He made a few saving last ditch tackles, at least we know we have a good LB if Cole gets injured or rested.

Mata head and shoulders above the rest, though his corners were really frustrating.

Special mention to Bertrand, who played well. Really well. Bodes well for the future. His next door neighbours were sitting right in front of me at the game, they live in Windsor. They were beside themselves with excitement. Put in decent crosses and defended exquisitely.

Cech is in splendid form lately, looks really solid.

Ivan popped up when it mattered at both ends. Not his best game but what a season he's having. Absolutely love him.

Malouda was awful, as was Sturridge. Sturridge looks really unhappy, as if he's nursing a grievance. I think he's sick of playing out wide, when he sees the amount of chances Drogba and Torres get up front. Either way he has to be professional. Sad to see the crowd boo him, he doesn't deserve that. He's been a real asset this season, far more than most. It was pretty vicious and you don't often see that at the Bridge.