Niall McDonald offers his Irons ratings
Fabianski: Fine save from Werner at an important time in the first-half. Well beaten by the 3 goals 6
Coufal: Excellent defending again against some real pace 7
Ogbonna: Untroubled in the air, exposed when Chelsea attacked at speed 6
Balbuena: Back in the side and pretty typical display 6
Cresswell: Decent enough before one costly lapse, playing Abraham onside 5
Rice: Hopefully takes the captain’s armband back on Boxing Day 7
Soucek: A few more near-misses from crosses 6
Noble: Contributed next to nothing in the first-half, more involved after the break. Not sure if that was a positive 4
Fornals: Found it very difficult to get any time or space against Azpilicueta, although I was surprised he was subbed not Noble 5
Bowen: Our main attacking threat again, no shooting opportunities unfortunately 7
Haller: Some more signs of improvement, still a way to go though 6
Subs
Benrahma: Wasted out wide-left I thought, may have caused more problems centrally 4
Fredericks: On for stoppage time, not really sure Moyes bothered No rating
“Haller: Some more signs of improvement”. You’ve totally lost me there.
sure, fair enough to say Benrhama should have been on instead of Noble but it is clear that Fornals should be played through the middle and Benrhama – who is much quicker, with silkier feet – out wide. Fornals’ short passing game is good and he is not a wide midfielder. hopefully this helps Hugh know what “he is” 😁😉
Noble started slowly but was a force once we started dominating, about 25 minutes in. Benrhama is not a replacement for Masuaku, even though he played on the left for Brentford. He made one tackle after coming on and, whether casually related, his appearance preceded two goals. He should have been in the #10 positions (as you said).
Bowen missed his mark on the first goal. Stands there alone after the goal. He almost repeated the error later. He is learning but to be blind to his mistakes helps no-one.