Match ratings vs Peterborough

Gomes 7 – one really excellent save from Mackail-Smith, one slight slip-up where he palmed one out needlessly, but good distribution.
Hutton 6 – defensively sloppy (as usual), but did OK going forward. Would clearly have profited more from going on the outside more often than that, but he didn’t seem to “get” this, and kept running inside into traffic.
Dawson 8 – the glue that held everything together. Five clean sheets in a row – he has to take a huge amount of the credit. Another solid game today with decent defensive work (first mistake was on 89 minutes IIRC) and good passing.
Bassong 6 – as ever, a couple of sloppy moments which ruined an otherwise good day for him.
Bale 7 – first half he looked a little nervous, but he still provided some useful wing-play. In the second, the Peterborough right-back (Griffiths, on loan from Dagenham & Redbridge) simply could not cope with his pace and direct running, and he made two goals. The link up with Keane for the first of his assists was sublime! Defensively he made a couple of slight misjudgements, but he wasn’t really tested.
Modric 7 – started fairly slowly, but as we got more time and space in the second half he was in his element. Lovely weight of pass as ever.
Huddlestone 6 – good without the ball, sloppy with it – I counted five misplaced passes out of six at one point in the second half.
Palacios 6 – largely the same as Huddlestone. Took a lot of risks when the last man, which didn’t win too many admiring words from me! Got around the pitch brilliantly, though. Appalling Zokora-esque shot in the first half!
Kranjcar 9 – a sublime all-round performance capped off with two goals, the first a real beauty. Look forward to seeing it again later.
Keane 7 – good link-up play (often with Modric), nice weight of pass generally, but a couple of frustrating moments. Good pen!
Defoe 6 – pretty quiet aside from the goal, although also missed an open goal from about 5 yards out…

Rose – some good, some bad. The good – a couple of decent runs (went on the outside of the defender) with a reasonable cross at the end. A good run which won us a penalty. The bad – a shanked cross high over the bar, and a reckless challenge which won him a yellow card, and Peterborough a free-kick in a dangerous area.
Pavlyuchenko – first touch a dreadful header. Second touch a poor piece of control. Third touch a poorly-executed slide-rule pass for Hutton. Not good.
Naughton – was looking so very assured until he (in my opinion) fouled Batt (hopefully I’ll be proved wrong by MOTD!) – it looked a penalty or at least a free-kick on the edge of the box.