Skysports.com's ratings review casts an eagle eye over last weekend's heroes and villains.
Skysports.com's ratings review casts an eagle eye over last weekend's heroes and villains
Skysports.com's ratings review feature, in its format of heroes and villains, takes a look at the stars and the flops from the last set of fixtures in the Premier League.
The player ratings awarded by readers and journalists after every match of the season are used to assess the performances of the individuals on show.
It is possible to give your rating on all the players in the Premier League via the player rating tab of each fixture and we will continue to round up the best and the worst on show.
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Heroes
Luis Suarez
It is perhaps no surprise that Liverpool produced our biggest hero of the weekend after dismantling fierce rivals Manchester United 3-1, but Dirk Kuyt may feel slightly aggrieved that, despite netting a hat-trick, the plaudits have instead gone to strike partner Suarez. Reporter Rob Parrish decided the Uruguayan deserved the Man of the Match prize and awarded a score of 9/10, while readers were just as effusive with an average rating of 9.3. The high marks were fully deserved, though, following a blistering display by recent recruit Suarez, who set up the first goal with a slalom run through the United defence and later grabbed another assist when Edwin van der Sar fumbled his free-kick at the feet of Kuyt.
Simon Mignolet
When a visiting team keeps a clean sheet at Emirates Stadium it is a safe bet that the goalkeeper has had a decent game, and this was certainly the case on Saturday as young Belgian Mignolet enhanced his growing reputation to help Sunderland frustrate Arsenal in a goalless draw. While it may be true that Mignolet was rounded by Andrey Arshavin for a goal that was wrongly disallowed and also should have faced a penalty, he still deserves great credit for pulling off a series of excellent saves.
Skysports.com scribe Peter Fraser dished out a 9/10 and supporters shared his view that Mignolet was the star of the show, providing an average of 8.3.
Scott Parker
Reporter Richard Simpson felt Parker and team-mate Demba Ba were both worthy of 9/10 following West Ham's 3-0 win over Stoke, while readers also found it difficult to split the pair. Parker just edged it with 8.7 against 8.6, to get his name in our weekend hall of fame. Nobody typifies the determination shown by the Hammers in recent weeks more than their talismanic midfielder, who was again in top form at Upton Park on Saturday with an all-action display as goals from Ba, Manuel da Costa and Thomas Hitzlsperger secured victory.
Villains
Michael Carrick
It is fair to say that Carrick is not the most popular Manchester United player with many supporters just at the moment, following a disappointing performance at Anfield on Sunday. The midfielder, selected in the starting line-up ahead of Darren Fletcher, struggled to get to grips with a vibrant Liverpool side and was given just 4/10. Readers were even more scathing in their assessment of Carrick as an overall score of 3.2 was generated, while it is worth noting that several other United players including Wes Brown, Rafael, Wayne Rooney and Nani also finished with averages below 4.
John Carew
Stoke looked out of sorts in the defeat to West Ham and a number of players felt the wrath of fans for the way they performed. Asmir Begovic's blunder for the opening goal may have been the worst moment for the Potters but it was striker Carew's lacklustre outing that was worst received. A score of 4/10 from our man Simpson, accompanied by a comment of 'Didn't look interested' was echoed by the readers with an average of 3.1, the lowest of the weekend. Carew failed to last the 90 minutes as he was replaced by Ricardo Fuller for the closing stages.
Ali Al Habsi
While the Begovic mistake may not have proved decisive as West Ham scored two further goals, the error made by Wigan goalkeeper Al Habsi against Manchester City yielded the only goal of an uninspiring match at Eastlands. Al Habsi has acquitted himself well this season but he had a shocker on Saturday as he somehow let a tame David Silva effort slip through his grasp and between his legs to hand City a 1-0 success. Reporter Steve Pass could only award Al Habsi 4/10 and the average rating from the readers was 3.6.
