Rob Hutchison is quick off the mark with his one-word verdicts and marks out of 10 after the 2-0 win over Stoke City. Duncan Watmore’s his playing star but Big Sam collects an extra point for his tactical nous (Monsieur Salut agreed with Gary Bennett’s verdict: PVA was the man of the match).
Hutch says (referring to the Shawcross dismissal): ‘Never a red, but he should have gone in the first half so there can be no complaints can there? The great escape may have come early this season, one never knows.’
Pantillimon 6 consistent
PVA 7 rejuvenated
O’Shea 7 regimented
Coates 7 solid
Kaboul 7 strong
Yedlin 6 organised
Cattermole 6 focused
Larsson 6 Seblike
M’Vila 6 composed
Fletcher 7 shift
Defoe 6 curtailed
Subs
Watmore 8 excellent
Lens 6 troublesome
Johnson 6 assisting
Bonus ratings
Mike Dean 4 plotfree
Big Sam 9 schemer
Pants save was outsanding.The subs made a big contrubtion today,Watmore was my MOM.Stoke looked solid and untroubled till he came on,when he started stretching their whole back 4.Very encouraging peformance,he got Shawcross sent off by making him make rash challenges.Scored a great goal too…one on ones that Defoe has missed earlier this season.Though I wouldnt be too harsh on Defoe overall.
We missed Seb a bit in midfield when he went off I thought but Johnson made a bit of an impact when he came on.
Happy day.
Thought Fletch deserved more than 7 for the shift he put in and the stick he gave their defence. However, does he tend to go down too theatrically?I’d prefer him to try to stay on his feet and have a go at scoring
Pants has done absolutely nothing wrong in both games this week. It could be argued he was worth 9 in both games but it always seems to be tough for a keeper to get good marks
Pants’ save in the 32nd minute arguably won this game for us. Of course we don’t know how the game would have panned out had he not got his big body in the way of Walters’ point blank shot but surely that alone rates him more than a 6. His distribution is still crap though!