Best performance of the season. And it's been coming. All we needed to do was iron out the silly defensive mistakes and we'd be onto something like this.
Lloris - 7 - No chance with the goal, but good at claiming the crosses and a few decent stops.
Chiriches - 6 - A few needless fouls, but generally did well against Mirallas and Baines and was a decent outlet going forward
Fazio - 8 - And THAT, is why replaced Dawson. Won everything in the air, lots of good blocks and interceptions, Everton hardly had a sniff. Loses a mark for the handball at the end that to be fair, would have cost us the game if the ref had seen it.
Vertonghen - 8 - Best performance from him in at least 18 months. Very solid and carried the ball out of defence well. Acted like the Ledley to Fazio's Dawson.
Davies - 8 - Really pleasing performance from him. Got forward well, kept Coleman and Eto'o quiet, great all round game.
Bentaleb - 7 - Impressive. Moved the ball around well, very composed in possession and put in a good defensive shift too. Like a young Carrick today.
Mason - 8 - If Bentaleb was like a young Carrick, Mason was like a young Modric. Some really good passing, good on the ball in tight spaces and transitioned the play from defensive areas to attacking ones quickly and effectively.
Eriksen - 8 - And to complete the midfield trio, Eriksen was like Van Der Vaart today. Really nice touches on the ball, some decent through balls and an important equaliser to cap it all off. We'll never get inside his head to know if he definitely meant to hit the ball like that for the goal, but if he did then that should go down as one of the goals of the season as that's an absolutely exquisite finish. But he may have just mis-hit it, we'll never know.
Lennon - 8 - Back to his best. Did well to help out Chiriches who was up against a very difficult left hand side in Mirallas and Baines, but his speed on the counter attack was devastating, especially when setting up the winner.
Soldado - 7 - Looked like same old Soldado at first, but then a well taken goal and suddenly he's the man again and his confidence appeared to be coming back. Absolutely has to follow it up with another goal in the next game or two otherwise the momentum is gone.
Kane - 8 - I have never really rated Kane as anything more than a guy who seems to get in the right place at he right time, but he was outstanding today and didn't even score. You can tell he's full of confidence, was driving forward at the Everton defence, drawing defenders towards him, freeing up space for team mates, working spaces for shots....excellent performance.
Subs:
Lamela - 5 - Good defensive shift, but gives the ball away so often it does my ****ing head in.
Dier - 7 - Reasonably solid when he came on.
Paulinho - N/A - Nearly played a good pass. Still think he's a completely pointless player.
Poch - 9 - A fantastic day at the office where it all just seemed to work. Crisp, one touch passing. Transitioning from defence to attack quickly. Pressing high up the pitch and turning it into goals. Much better in defence. This was a big result against a team that finished above us last season that play good football, yet for all their possession they created approximately **** all apart from the odd long ranger. The players look hungry for success, the balance was there in the side, the rotation of the squad and timing of the substitutions all worked well (though I'd have brought on Dembele instead of Paulinho personally). Big result, big performance. Now Poch will have some very difficult decisions to make for Wednesday...
