Niall McDonald hands out the marks
Fabianski: Let’s hope he’s got all his errors out the way for the rest of the season 4
Ngakia: Two extremely impressive games against Liverpool now – surely ready for lesser opposition now?! 7
Diop: Excellent alongside Ogbonna 7
Ogbonna: Seems odd to say having conceded 3 times, but this was a brilliant display 8
Cresswell: Surprised me tonight; looked comfortable back at left back 6
Rice: Found himself well upfield and a delightful cross for the 2nd. Some fine tackles 6
Noble: Played very well tonight for 75 mins 7
Soucek: Obviously picked up an injury before the break that he was unable to shake off. Had his usual unobtrusive but competent game priorto that 6
Anderson: Understandably rusty but overall a decent 64 mins back from injury 6
Snodgrass: First-class set piece delivery. Fair play to him, put in a real shift 7
Antonio: Another full 90 mins and strong in attack and defence 7
Subs
Fornals: A great finish for the 2nd goal; covered a lot of ground in the middle 6
Haller: Dare I say a little more mobile and enthusiastic? Just a little 5
Bowen: On for Snodgrass late-on. One excellent run from deep and cute finish denied by Allison 5
Spot on with the rankings… except Snodgrass and Noble. Just because they work hard and are loyal to the club does not mean they should be on the pitch. Neither has the pace or technique to deserve a place in the starting 11. Snodgrass poor tracking and lack of pace cost us the first goal and contributed to the second. Also… when Noble dropped back into Soucek’s place alongside Rice we conceded two quick goals. Noble did not have the pace or discipline to track Salah for the second and continually fails to/lacks the pace to track runners in the box. Club Captain or not… he is not athletic enough or good enough to play in this league any more. We are playing with 10.5 men every game when he is on the pitch. Love his desire and club loyalty but even friends who are fans of other clubs can’t believe he continues to play.
Sorry mate I cannot understand nobles position tonight, too slow to get up and support centre forward, to slow to get back to help midfield shocking passing and yet gets a 7. Does he play like nolan used to just coz manager likes him, would rather Anderson or now Bowen in that position, it’s like us playing with 10 men yet again
Spot on boys with Noble comments…really is just a passenger now and needs to be benched.
Completely agree on Noble. It’s these games when you realise his legs are gone. He was so slow and off the pace throughout. Obviously he still put an absolute shift in, never any denying that, but he’s not good enough at this level now. Great to come in a give the team a lift against the lesser teams but not the big boys. If it wasn’t for Soucek’s injury, I really think he should have been hooked at half time.
I agree with the other comments, Mark Noble cannot get near the speed of midfielders in the Premiership and that was borne out again last night. He has been a great servant and still has a support role to play for the team but not as a front line midfielder he is getting burnt in every challenge.
Noble is a liability . He does not contribute a thing to the team . Make Ogbonna or Rice skipper and play Fornals . When Salah scored Noble stood rooted as he ran past him unchallenged and was constantly out of position as he is soooooo slow . He has been awful all season but Moyes has been smitten by the loyalty ticket cos Noble sure isn’t picked on contribution or ability .
We are in big trouble as Moyes appears to have placed his trust in players like Cresswell, Noble and Snodgrass. I can see the logic with Cresswell playing but Noble is terrible and Snodgrass plays because he has a great left peg. We got destroyed on his side in the second half because he is useless. He was too slow to react for the first goal too. Sorry just because you take a good free kick but do not effect the game otherwise does not mean you get a 7 or play. Moyes’s moment of truth now comes this sat against Southampton, play Noble and Snodgrass again, play only one up at home and we lose, he has to be sacked and quickly. He has had no impact on the team since his arrival, the result have got worse. I watched Anderson comin off last night and he was disgusted that both Noble and Snodgrass were left on. absolutely clueless management. Lose on sat and I just cannot see how we can trust Moyes to get us out of trouble. Has to be sacked.