By Niall McDonald
Fabianski: 2 brilliant saves near the end of the first half; a very quiet second half 7
Fredericks: Solid again, looking like the first choice right-back. Great athlete 7
Diop: Managed well against what little threat Villa posed down the middle 6
Ogbonna: Had one of his games where he looks a bit dodgy but gets away with everything 6
Masuaku: Now I thought he defended pretty well tonight before a 2nd yellow for an extremely innocuous challenge 7
Rice: As the game opened up Rice was able to show more of his passing and running with the ball 6
Noble: The sort of hectic midfield battle that suits the skipper 6
Lanzini: Found more space after the sending off and substitutions; always trying to create 6
Yarmolenko: Covered a lot of ground, if not posing a real attacking threat 6
Anderson: Unfortunate to be subbed as Pellegrinni re-balanced following the red card. Before then had been very sharp down the left 7
Haller: His first bad touch in a Hammers shirt in the 89th minute? Not bad going! Chances at a premium tonight 6
Fredericks: Solid again, looking like the first choice right-back. Great athlete 7
Diop: Managed well against what little threat Villa posed down the middle 6
Ogbonna: Had one of his games where he looks a bit dodgy but gets away with everything 6
Masuaku: Now I thought he defended pretty well tonight before a 2nd yellow for an extremely innocuous challenge 7
Rice: As the game opened up Rice was able to show more of his passing and running with the ball 6
Noble: The sort of hectic midfield battle that suits the skipper 6
Lanzini: Found more space after the sending off and substitutions; always trying to create 6
Yarmolenko: Covered a lot of ground, if not posing a real attacking threat 6
Anderson: Unfortunate to be subbed as Pellegrinni re-balanced following the red card. Before then had been very sharp down the left 7
Haller: His first bad touch in a Hammers shirt in the 89th minute? Not bad going! Chances at a premium tonight 6
Subs
Fornals: This last half hour in the ten-man effort will have been great experience for the youngster; really got stuck in 6
Zabaleta: Couldn’t ask for more experience off the bench 6
Balbuena: Arrived to bolster the defence for the last couple of mins
Blimey! You watched a different game than I did.
Anderson was all fur coat and no knickers – ran headlessly down the left and mostly turned back onto his right before passing sideways or backwards. He’s there to feed Haller and he failed at that tonight. Lanzini had a far better game.
Although I thought masuaku defended ok he has to learn to get that cross in early. The number of times he got down the left was great but just went too far with it instead of whipping it in the box,we had attackers in there to aim for.coyi
I thought Lanzini didn’t actually play that well. He didn’t produce anything of note. I don’t really think it was a great performance but take the point and move on.
If WE’D received a tenner for every time somebody tells us we were at a different game to them (zzzzzzz) on PLAYERS’ ratings we’d have been able to retire at age 32. THIS REALLY IS NOT AN ORIGINAL PIECE OF REPARTEE. I PROMISE
I respectfully disagree with these ratings. Yarmolenko produced nothing of worth. Fredericks was better than he has been but to award him more than Diop and Ogbona is dubious at best. Noble did many good things tonight but also gave away possession repeatedly. I thought Anderson was largely ineffectual. We need more from him. Haller was exceptional. Did everything you’d want to see from a lone striker role.
We can all come up with different scores, but I thought Declan Rice was very effective in breaking up attacks and nicking the ball repeatedly. He was excellent and, for me, put in a for better performance than Masuaku, for example. Masuaku doesn’t seem to react quickly enough when defending or to sense danger automatically. Also, for those advocating cynical fouls further up the pitch, it didn’t work too well for him I suggest, even though we played very well afterwards when down to 10 men. A good performance against a well-organised team – a draw was a fair result.