Gents, I jest, I don't think Paul's account of the game is too different to mine. But, we have improved beyond recognition in defence under McCarthy and if you compare N'Daw to Leadbitter or Norris then his performance warranted a 9. He was the best player on the pitch closely run by Smith. Nouble wasn't on for long but had a hell of an impact. Our passing is infinitely better than over the last few years. The problem was the widemen and forwards, aside from Murphy who covered the entire final third on his own and Edwards, who I felt suffered from a lack of support from Stearman.
The other thing, of course is that if you're giving marks out of ten that's relative too. The only players that would ever get a 10 would be Iniesta. Messi, Ronaldo, Kompany et al. The defence and central midfield did more than enough to win on Saturday by a healthy margin so I do think a few 7s, 8s and 9s are warranted.
