GK/Defence
Simon Mignolet – The goalkeeper continued his form from last season of being solid, without necessarily being spectacular. The big positive at the moment is that Mignolet is looking confident and that seems to be rubbing off on a slowly improving defence. Rating – 6.5
Dejan Lovren – If Stoke was Lovren beginning the steady journey back to redemption, last night’s game represented a point somewhere between that game and his form of last season. He looked edgy early on and late in the second half but, thankfully, none of the usual implosion occurred. The signs are promising. Rating – 6
Martin Skrtel – The experienced Slovak was given the runaround early on but gradually wrestled himself into the game (almost literally!) and seemed to be enjoying his battle with King. Things may have been different had Bournemouth scored but, as he said, a win is a win. Rating – 6
Nathaniel Clyne – Easily the best performer in the home side’s back four, Clyne paired superb defensive work with intelligent runs at the other end. His runs overlapping often went unnoticed, something his team mates need to work on. Rating – 7
Joe Gomez – Gomez was once again (mostly) unflappable in the face of a tricky older head in Bournemouth’s Ritchie. He didn’t often find himself retreating and got in support well. Needs more protection next week though, something Moreno provided late on. Rating – 6.5
We won 2 games that we should expect to without playing well. A better test next Monday , was very disappointed with firminho , looked off the pace . Lallana running around commiting himself to early allowing the opposition to waltz past him . He also looked like he was laughing the whole time and that it wasn’t an important game . What could have been if we had clyne instead of Jonson 2 years ago ! Moreno was superb when introduced . Hope Can will perform well with Hendersons being injured