Cech  9 Great saves when it mattered. They always say a great keeper is worth (choose any number you like 6 – 20?!!) points a season and Cech certainly saved us some points last night.

 

Ivan 8 Some will blame him for the Villa goal but IMO it was good attacking play from Villa. Other than that he showed he was our best defender. Always fearless in the challenge and yet another important winning goal.

 

Cahill 6

 

JT 6

 

Cole 6

 

Ramires 7

 

Lamps 5 Maybe 5 is a little harsh and he did put in a great delivery for Ivan’s goal. But other than that I thought he looked off the pace last night and was surprised he was kept on for another 90 mins. Hope Jose’s heart isn’t ruling his head. Far too many wasted long balls.

 

Oscar 8 Always looked lively and kept the ball well and unlucky to be subbed.

 

Mata 5 Looked rusty and out of sorts and rightly subbed. Hope rumours of him not getting on with Mourinho are just rumours. Sure he’ll be back to his best soon.

 

Hazard 8 Always looked threatening and a joy to watch at times. Took too many touches a few times but he’s a great outlet for us and that showed when Villa were starting to put on the pressure.

 

Ba 5 Tried his best and wasn’t terrible but never looked THAT threatening and rightly subbed.

 

Lukaku 7 Looked a much bigger threat and he’s going to cause teams a lot of problems coming off the bench but deserves a start. Should have come on earlier.

 

Schurrle 7 Was a good sub. Bags of energy and just what we needed at that stage in the game – tracked back well too.

 

Van Ginkel 5 Not really long enough to do much and it was a strange move my Mourinho at that stage of the game which could have backfired.

Edited August 22, 201312 yr by Nibs

Cech  9 Great saves when it mattered. They always say a great keeper is worth (choose any number you like 6 – 20?!!) points a season and Cech certainly saved us some points last night.

 

Ivan 8 Some will blame him for the Villa goal but IMO it was good attacking play from Villa. Other than that he showed he was our best defender. Always fearless in the challenge and yet another important winning goal.

 

Cahill 6

 

JT 6

 

Cole 6

 

Ramires 7

 

Lamps 5 Maybe 5 is a little harsh and he did put in a great delivery for Ivan’s goal. But other than that I thought he looked off the pace last night and was surprised he was kept on for another 90 mins. Hope Jose’s heart isn’t ruling his head. Far too many wasted long balls.

 

Oscar 8 Always looked lively and kept the ball well and unlucky to be subbed.

 

Mata 5 Looked rusty and out of sorts and rightly subbed. Hope rumours of him not getting on with Mourinho are just rumours. Sure he’ll be back to his best soon.

 

Hazard 8 Always looked threatening and a joy to watch at times. Took too many touches a few times but he’s a great outlet for us when we were Villa were starting to put on the pressure.

 

Ba 5 Tried his best and wasn’t terrible but never looked THAT threatening and rightly subbed.

 

Lukaku 7 Looked a much bigger threat and he’s going to cause teams a lot of problems coming off the bench but deserves a start. Should have come on earlier.

 

Schurrle 7 Was a good sub. Bags of energy and just what we needed at that stage in the game – tracked back well too.

 

Van Ginkel 5 Not really long enough to do much and it was a strange move my Mourinho at that stage of the game which could have backfired.

 

Agree with most of those, though a bit harsh on Lampard as you say. Good point on Hazard though, he is such a brilliant outlet, every ball up to him sticks and he is much stronger than his size and rarely gets pushed of the ball.

I pretty much agree with all of those ratings. 

 

Pretty damning that it can be argued that 3 of the starting XI put in 5/10 performances.

 

Still, play poorly and still get 3 points is the way titles are won. 

On an individual basis I agree with Nibs, however, I thought Ba constantly running offside said an awful lot about his quality what's more I still can't see the point of always shooting from free kicks. Why not work on some routines on the training pitch the skill we have in the squad plus JM's team of coaches must be able to come up with some better solutions. Can't believe I'm already saying this but I missed KvB last night, thought he gave the team so much energy on Saturday against Hull whereas Mata is obviously not match fit. Lukaku must start.

Cech 9 won the game for us

Ivan 8 his type of game, well taken goal

JT 6 ok, not brilliant

Cahill 6 as above

Cole 5 anonymous

Lampard 6 a bit wasteful, faded

Rambo 8 bossed the midfield

Mata 5 worst I've seen him

Oscar 8 outstanding, shouldn't have been subbed

Hazard 7 flashes of brilliance

Ba 3 stunk the place out

Lukaku 7 great impact

Schurrle 7 a white Ramieres

Van Ginkel N/A

We are winning without playing anywhere near our full potential.We have a manager who will identify our weaknesses and rectify them.Ba will go and Rooney or A N Other will come in.I have total trust in Jose,happy days.Come on you Blues!ps Cech MOM,he just gets better with age.

Harsh on Lampard and I wouldn't give Iva an 8 when his mistake led to us conceding, but mostly agree.

Harsh on Lampard and I wouldn't give Iva an 8 when his mistake led to us conceding, but mostly agree.

the goal was hardly his mistake only. Yeah, he couldve done better, but so could terry and cech.

 

you cant possibly expect a fullback to block every single cross

Edited August 22, 201312 yr by Lane

the goal was hardly his mistake only. Yeah, he couldve done better, but so could terry and cech.

 

you can possible expect a fullback to block every single cross

 

Exactly.

 

Every defender will get beat at some time and all will make at least one error during a game. It's like when Hazard, Mata, Oscar or whoever skin an opposition defender, we all say great play by our man - we don't say mistake by the defender. Thought Ivan was our best outfield player last night.

Cech 9 - As said, man of the match

 

Ivanovic 8 - Tasked with one of Villa's two biggest outlets all game in Agbonlahor and Benteke; handled both well. Very solid, positioning for goal aside, and obviously made amends for any mistakes with winner. Haven't seen any replays of the elbow though and only saw once from The Shed so maybe lucky there?

 

Cahill 6 - Didn't do a lot wrong

 

Terry 7 - Same as Cahill, but pushed on a bit more and tried to get things going with some more urgent passing when we were looking laborious in the second half

 

Cole 6 - Villa didn't get much down the right, but Ash was limited massively by the threat of the counter

 

Ramires 7 - Won us a lot of balls and saw more of the ball than anyone else. Tried to orchestrate things despite not being the best passer. Decent performance but imo spelled the need for us to buy a proper regista

 

Lampard 5 - No penetration, game passed him by a lot and touches looked a bit heavy. Think this is what people mean when they warn us about playing a 35 year old for 180 minutes in 4 days

 

Mata 5 - Silent, but yeah not match fit etc etc so we'll move on

 

Oscar 7 - Started brightly, beautiful pass for the own goal, looked a bit out of ideas to me at times though

 

Hazard 7 - What a player, actually think ruined a few opportunities for himself by taking too many touches and not seeing a pass sometimes but the talent is just unreal and was the only real injection of pace in our front 4

 

Ba 5 - Was offside far too much but I'd put that more down to a combination of a pre-meditated tactic and Villa's compact back four, didn't get enough time on the ball to really earn more than a 5 though

 

Subs:

 

Schurrle 7 - Great defensively, great width, very clever player who offered a much-needed outlet. Perfect sub with the game as it was

 

Lukaku 7 - Has to start against United basically, is 100% our best option up front, can see him being such a crowd favourite and he's 20, so that could be for a good while

 

Van Ginkel 5 - Looked a boy amongst men, not a criticism of the player necessarily, just wrong sub at the wrong time

Cech 9 - As said, man of the match

 

Ivanovic 8 - Tasked with one of Villa's two biggest outlets all game in Agbonlahor and Benteke; handled both well. Very solid, positioning for goal aside, and obviously made amends for any mistakes with winner. Haven't seen any replays of the elbow though and only saw once from The Shed so maybe lucky there?

 

Cahill 6 - Didn't do a lot wrong

 

Terry 7 - Same as Cahill, but pushed on a bit more and tried to get things going with some more urgent passing when we were looking laborious in the second half

 

Cole 6 - Villa didn't get much down the right, but Ash was limited massively by the threat of the counter

 

Ramires 7 - Won us a lot of balls and saw more of the ball than anyone else. Tried to orchestrate things despite not being the best passer. Decent performance but imo spelled the need for us to buy a proper regista

 

Lampard 5 - No penetration, game passed him by a lot and touches looked a bit heavy. Think this is what people mean when they warn us about playing a 35 year old for 180 minutes in 4 days

 

Mata 5 - Silent, but yeah not match fit etc etc so we'll move on

 

Oscar 7 - Started brightly, beautiful pass for the own goal, looked a bit out of ideas to me at times though

 

Hazard 7 - What a player, actually think ruined a few opportunities for himself by taking too many touches and not seeing a pass sometimes but the talent is just unreal and was the only real injection of pace in our front 4

 

Ba 5 - Was offside far too much but I'd put that more down to a combination of a pre-meditated tactic and Villa's compact back four, didn't get enough time on the ball to really earn more than a 5 though

 

Subs:

 

Schurrle 7 - Great defensively, great width, very clever player who offered a much-needed outlet. Perfect sub with the game as it was

 

Lukaku 7 - Has to start against United basically, is 100% our best option up front, can see him being such a crowd favourite and he's 20, so that could be for a good while

 

Van Ginkel 5 - Looked a boy amongst men, not a criticism of the player necessarily, just wrong sub at the wrong time

 

heres the elbow

 

 

 

its really not that big of deal. more often than not i see players get just a yellow for this

 

benteke vs azpi was much worse

 

http://www.101greatgoals.com/blog/should-christian-benteke-been-shown-a-red-card-for-this-elbow-on-azpilicueta/

Cech - 8 - Claimed a few crosses well, made one top drawer save, stayed switched on. Could do nothing about the goal.

 

Ivanovic - 5 - Great goal, and good battling, but almost cost us. Weimann should've scored when he dragged himself out of position to challenge Benteke, and he probably should've seen red for the elbow.

Terry - 6 - Aerially solid, but uncomfortable being ran at. Not faulting him for the goal, Benteke's turn was top class.

 

Cahill - 7 - Looked the most solid of our defenders, although probably dealt with Benteke the least. Commanded most of the high balls well.

Cole - 6 - Quiet game offensively, but he put in a more composed defensive performance than against Hull. Villa's wingers got little joy on his side.

Ramires - 8 - Another top midfield display from Rambo. Broke down play well, closed down and hassled all over, and his passing was quick and accurate. Proving to be a very solid holding midfielder for us.

Lampard - 6 - Looked tired, and struggled to find a pass through Villa's midfield. Opted for the long ball to Ba too many times and it gave away possession.

Oscar - 7 - If I'm being very critical, his final pass/shot needs to improve, but for the most part he's looked great in that number 10 role. Very tight space to work in last night, but he did well, particularly when he dropped deep in the second half, showed a real hunger to get on the ball and start our attack.

Mata - 5 - Didn't look his usual sharp self, passing was off. Can run the show in the middle of the park, but hugging the touchline isn't his strong point.

Hazard - 7 - Very bright in sparks, and tracked back very well, but didn't get on the ball often enough. Let down by a few poorly timed runs from Ba

Ba - 4 - Timed his runs badly, and didn't link up well with the 3 in behind. In fairness, some of the balls played through to him were poor, but he just doesn't look on the same wavelength as our midfield. Only really offered the long ball option, and Villa contained him easily.

 

Subs:

Schurrle - 6 - Made some great runs, but the final touch let him down on two occasions. Looks sharp and eager to impress.

Lukaku - 7 - Dropped deeper than Ba did and linked up with the midfield well. Made one great turn and shot that almost worked out. We'd stopped playing the long ball when he came on, as Villa had dropped deeper, which is unfortunate as that would've played to his strengths. Probably should've started.

Van Ginkel - wasn't really on long enough to give a rating. Made a couple of decent interceptions.

Edited August 22, 201312 yr by spadefx

Agreed, but would give Cahill a 7/7.5 and would drop Ba down to a 4.

the goal was hardly his mistake only. Yeah, he couldve done better, but so could terry and cech.

 

you cant possibly expect a fullback to block every single cross

 

Agreed and Agbonlahor is so quick there isnt much he could of done, he would do that to most defenders.