Lloris - 5.0. Again, poor guy's going through his personal low year. Opponents have figured him out, closing him down quickly and trying to round him and draw the foul instead of shooting, and to top it off he's in a rut of bad form. At fault for the penalty.
Walker - 7.5. Great little opportunistic free kick for the goal, and a great, solid game throughout. Put in some decent crosses as well. Loss of concentration cost him, though, as Rooney capitalized with an easy finish.
Dawson - 6.5. Solid in the air, and improved performance on the ground. When opponents are passing and crossing around him rather than running straight at him, he looks extremely competent. Something to remember, Andre.
Chiriches - 6.0. You're not in the Romanian league anymore, son. Very daring play from the lad, but he will get caught out in a league like this. I like his tricks and flicks, but he needs to learn when to pull them out. Still, he'll learn.
Verts - 5.5. Didn't get forward much and was comfortably beaten by Valencia. If he gets an 'ingrown toenail' too and misses several months like Rose, though, we're in trouble.
Sandro - 8.5. Was everwhere, absolutely massive defensively and drove us forward with some great daring runs. Fantastic thunderbolt to put us 2-1 up as well.
Dembele - 7.0. Solid, confident, assured. Made the right decision when in possession more often than not, and was almost impossible to dispossess at times. Play him and Sandro together more often please, Andre. You won't regret it.
Paulinho - 6.0. Sprung a great through ball to Soldado in the first half, and looked at his best when playing one-twos on the edge of the box. Agree with Mulletperm, though: he looks absolutely exhausted, and we have to remember that he played in the Confederations Cup before coming here, so he hasn't had much rest over the last year.
Lennon - 7.5. As usual, roasted Evra. Was constantly dangerous in possession, made the right decisions when on the ball (crossed low and passed well) and provided solid defensive cover for Walker. Good game from Azza, on his natural side.
Chadli - 6.0. Retained possession on the left, provided an aerial outlet and used his strength to muscle Smalling off the ball time and again. Didn't offer much offensively, though.
Soldado - 6.5. Great pass to set Lennon up with a chance, and finally looked a little more connected with the rest of the team, moving well and offering a decent outlet, as well as being surprisingly strong when holding off Vidic and Evans.
Subs:
Townsend- 5.5. Heavy touches, much-delayed crosses and quite a few turnovers of possession from the lad. A bad show, especially when compared with the man he replaced. Still, not the worst performance in the world, despite all that.
Defoe - N/A. No time to make an impact, although a few heavy touches let him down a bit.
Siggy - N/A. No time to make an impact.
AVB - 6.0. Loses 0.5 for the weird Lennon substitution, but his team selection was otherwise solid and the lads seemed to be suffering no long-lasting effects from last week's mauling, which has to be credited at least partly to him. Decent outing for the man.
