Good start. I'd vote Pippo as MoM, but it's better we get serious from the start.

Menez, SES, Lopez and Abate were especially good. I voted Abate because his decisive impact, although the stupid penalty should have been avoided.

Not many flops today, but Zapata is my pick. Made some comic errors and looked aerially very insecure with a couple of mistakes that could have coasted us dearly.

I voted Bonera as top, since I know enough people will vote for Stephan. Poli as flop, because I expected a lot more tempo control from him and not just aimless side passing.

Bonera was a good captain. Helped keep the back calm. Did a good job with the offside line, and except for a few miscommunications between Zapata and Alex (I doubt they can speak the same language), I think the defence did well for the first game of the season.

I miss the "Keep Allegri" poll.

SES top. Flop no one imo(though, voted for Essien anyway)

El Shaa
Poli
Stay?

Either we watched different games or I must have gone mad, cos I thought he was a rock.

MOM for me goes to SES, with Menez and Zapata close candidates.

Flop goes to Bonera. Out of place and prone to mistakes on that left side. Poli was poor too, but he made a couple of decisive tackles.

Yeah I thought he was great. I particularly liked that moment when he faced off with that Lazio player all cool and cowboy like...

SES - MoM
Muntari - Flop ( I don't think there was a flop tbh, I voted Muntari just because , Filippo, you should add the "none" options again to the poll)

MoM contenders, Abate, thought he was inch perfect both attack and defence but that penalty give away ruined what was otherwise a great display, I get that everyone was just sticking his legs out at that point but he should have been more careful. Alex, was very unlucky with that own goal but I thought he was a total beast out there, won every tackle, every header and bullied anyone who tried to challenge him. And Menez, endless work rate and quality

I'm really having a major conundrum about our defence atm. Alex I think is the most physical and aerially present of the bunch, I think he's a must considering all of our issues we've had on set-pieces and crosses these past few years. The only issue is who to play next to him, I still think Mexes is our most skilled and experienced CB, but both him and Alex are relatively slow, which is where we can get punished, while Zapata has the pace to complement Alex, Rami is sort of a mix of all 3. Before this game I was sure Rami and Mexes were the best way to go, now I'm not so sure anymore

Oops. I meant to vote Bonera as flop and El Sharaawy as top. Made a mistake.

A mod please fix!

Edit: Who else voted Bonera as MoM?

Jack! Jeez, don't you read other people's posts.

Somehow it got skipped when I went to the newest post.

Jack Bonera as mom just makes me think you didn't watch the game.

Done

Sorry for not adding the "none" option. It slipped my mind.

As for me picking Zapata. He had several miscommunications and also made mistakes with crosses. It was Alex who covered for him most of the time, but still, Zapata wasn't at his best. I think his mistakes were more dire then Bonera's, who was solid.

Danke!

I got a lot of stick on here and Twitter for being so critical of Menez, but I stand by my assertion that he was awful.

MOTM goes to Alex - thought he was a titan at the back.