He can hide behind excuses of poverty and referees favouring big clubs (ever bother you when you played for Manchester United, Barcelona and Bayern Munich?) but he can't change the result. A fascinating game ended with the right result and some confidence-boosting performances from certain players, particularly Eduardo.
Lukasz Fabianski - 7 - Summed up the performance - dodgy in parts but stood his ground and made some vital saves.
Justin Hoyte - 7 - Coped well with Pedersen on the most part, got forward well and was brave in making two vital blocks in quick succession late on.
Alex Song - 8 - A revelation - a huge battle for him and his inexperience showed in parts. Brought the ball out of defence superbly as shown in Eduardo's second goal.
Philippe Senderos - 6 - Again struggled with a big physical striker but as we camped deeper and deeper towards the end he made several vital clearances in the box. Clearly an inspirational captain, too.
Armand Traore - 7 - Cut out the silly tricks in his own half to give an accomplished performance. Stephen Reid must be having nightmares about him raiding forward as well.
Mark Randall - 6 - Bright start but faded.
Denilson - 7 - Would have got a higher mark but for that tackle. At times his passing was a joy to behold.
Lassana Diarra - 8 - A real driving force in midfield and you can see why he thinks he should have a first team place.
Abou Diaby - 8 - At times he was unplayable as if the ball was glued to his feet.
Nicklas Bendtner - 8 - Electric start but if one was to be critical you could say he disappeared in the second half when we needed someone to hold the ball up front - such high standards, you see.
Eduardo Da Silva - 8 - Clinical.
Substitutes:
Kieran Gibbs - 5 - Little impact.
Fran Merida - 7 - Showed some fine passing skills.
Nacer Barazite - 6 - Put himself about before his unfortunate injury.