Hughie hands out his marks
Fabianski: Almost had an afternoon off but was a tad fortunate with a shot that went wide near the end . And please get the attacks set up quicker Fab – you take far too long clearing the ball. 6
Coufal: A quieter afternoon and possibly a slow start when caught out of position a couple of times, After that it was business as usual – another excellent day for the Czech 7
Dawson: He looks as though he’s been in the team for months – steady as a rock 7
Ogbonna: Running out of words to describe the guys excellence. Never troubled – always the boss 8+
Cresswell: Interesting that when Burnley attacked it was down his side. Gave away a very dangerous free kick and there were some sloppy passes at time but did ok getting forward 6+
Soucek: Usual top level midfield performance. 7
Rice: Ditto above and nearly found the net with a great free kick. Enjoying watching him getting forward a lot more 7+
Fornals: Really impressed. Probably his best game in the claret and blue. Great ball in for Mikey’s goal and plenty of attacking impact. Enjoyed this performance 8
Benrahma: Another who produced what I considered his best game. Always menacing on the ball but he needs a little more vision when taking on one defender too many 7+
Bowen: Outstanding. Created chances, always looking to relieve pressure, forever playing perceptive balls and once again ridiculously subbed 8+
Antonio: As good as new. Always causing trouble and we became a different team with Haller gone and Mikey back to near his best. 8
Subs
Yarmolenko: Why, why, why, the same thing every week. Him on, Bowen off. Shocking decision when trying a shot with Mikey in acres of space. Is there a buyer out there? 3
Lanzini: Plenty of stuff showing when he was on the ball but Benrahma was having a very good game and had a right to feel disappointed. 6
Spot on with the ratings, Hugh, but maybe a tad generous to Lanzini – I didn’t see much from him again compared to Benrahma. Great to see Antonio back but he looked tired in last 20 mins. Bowen puts 90 mins work into 70 mins but the substitutions of Bowen and Benrahma invited Burnley on to us, I feel. Looking forward to Tuesday now. COYI.
Benrahma – His best game in claret and blue without a doubt. Looks as if he’s got the hang of the pace of the game in the Premier League. What a relief I didn’t have to curse every time he had the ball.
Yarmolenko – Give the guy a break. He’s entitled to take the shot given the minimal playing time he’s had. He did lay off the ball for Lanzini who blasted it over. Had it been the other way round, I would fancy Yarmo to score with his left.
Lanzini ain’t Antonio. It was a terrible decision
Yarmolenko not passing to Antonio was poor. Bowen had a easy chance to pass to benrahma but dithered and passed too late. Benrahmas face said it all. I like Bowen but some of his decision making could improve and then could be a top top player
I’m reading reports about Bowen losing the ball so many times and benrahma why he started brightly then had a poor game and shows why Moyes didn’t start him more regularly! I’m wondering is it allardyce doing these reports as he doesn’t like technically gifted players and ones that create only workhorses and defenders. Certainly didn’t watch the game today and your marks spot on my son. Well done to the boys as Burnley I’m hoping goes down with wba . COYI
Rice was the best player on the pitch. By far. A spirited performance indeed. MotM as far as I am concerned.
Bowen plays well until the final 3rd he was poor again in that aspect, he takes 3 times as many touches as he needs and looks desperate to score rather than making the pass that will play someone else in. I like him a lot but Moyes has to get it into him to get his head up and play the ball earlier.
Good ratings sir.
However, must question your rating and comments on Bowen. Another article states he lost the ball 23. He is personally frustrating me with his laziness and selfishness. See some reasons Hull let him go. Gimme back the original Bowen, asap please … that’s the great player.
And yes you might as well copy and paste your correct comments on Yarmo and Lanzini.
Dont know when the 2 of them will regain their sharpness.
Thanks again for your good articles sir.
Lazy and selfish? I’ve never thought of Bowen as anything other than very hard-working and a team player through and through. His defensive cover is well and truly missed when he’s not there. I’ll accept he sometimes doesn’t play others in, but most attack-minded players can be guilty of that and want to score themselves. I’d expect David Moyes has asked Bowen, Benramha, Fornals etc. to get on the scoresheet and not rely on Antonio so much for the goals and they’re trying their best to help out.
I like Benrahma-so unpredictable looked like he’d make something happen every time he got the ball in the final 3rd. He didn’t look happy at being subbed but DM has to keep everybody happy I suppose.
Sorry Hugh I usually agree with you Benrahma played well but started to fade and gave the ball away at times I think Moyes replaced him with Lanzini as he can keep the ball and with Burnley looking to get forward we needed to keep possession more. It was a great 3pts against a team who were never going to be a easy team to beat
Antonio gave Tarkowski a tough time.
Considering Dawson’s quality, how we might have paid 30 000 000 for Tarkowski leaves me speechless.
Could not agree more 32.