[Fillipo Simone]

So, a two-sided match. We showed some brighter things, but the mistakes we made were just plainly terrible. I'm gonna rate the players this time:

Abbiati - 6.5 - looked a bit shaky (as usual) when absorbing the ball, but was fine all in all and not at fault the goals.

MDS - 6 - tried much, did something good going forward, but still lacks concentration in defense.
Bonera - 4 - terrible performance. No pace, no positioning, poor marking and overall movement. Painful to watch.
Zapata - 4.5. - only slightly better then his partner. Never covered Bonera's obvious lack of speed and looked vulnerable in aerial challenges.
Abate - 7.5 - very good performance. Keeps on piling up assists and doing an overall fine job. Just some minor defensive mistakes made me not give him an 8. Today's MOM for me.

Nigel de Jong - 5.5 - he wasn't master of his space, didn't have control over the backline (not his fault at most) and lacked precision and more presence.
Marco van Ginkel - / - no real chance to prove himself, but started rather "Poliesque".
Sulley Muntari - 4 - nervous, tactically unorganized and completely off when it comes to marking and spatial movement (positioning), one of the worst today.

Jeremy Menez - 6.5 - worked hardly, succeeded sometimes; we need a player like him, he has grit and determination. Only problem is his diving habit (today not so evident but still present).
Keisuke Honda - 6 - showed more determination in the second half, but lacked what Menez has - grit and especially more precision. He's not fast, not the best dribbler, but he's simply got to be more precise for a #10
Fernando Torres - 7 - slowly grew on me; showed some really nice skill, scored the goal and looked finally as a true striker with presence. We need that to be consistently done.

[han2503]

I don't really have anything to add to what you guys said, Abate very obviously MoM for me and that's 2 games in a row now that I've given it to him, he's really setting the bar high this season.

Menez was great as usual, Honda as well, very good second half but the frustration he shows when he's stuck wide on that right side cannot be ignored, he either needs to play through the center in a 4-2-3-1 or in midfield in the 4-3-3 Pippo wants to use. Torres was awesome imo, great movement, great dribbling, great technique especially with that goal. I see good things for him in the future if he continues in this manner. Bonaventura and Poli also deserve a mention as they put in some great work in that second half

The flops were obvious for me. Bonera at his absolute peek of hilarity, even worse the fact that he tried to blame his team mates for his awful positioning and marking on both goals. Muntari was close second but it was great to see Pippo recognizing his glaring mistake to start him and yanking him off at HT. Zapata and DS were also bad. Zapata was really awful in fact and didn't help matters much, him and Bonera were like the footballing equivalence to Beavis and Butthead