poitier

Great save from Cresswell, the flap in the first half didn't inspire much confidence though.

I thought he did ok considering his lack of match practise, didn't get much chance to attack but competed quite well and used his strength to hold up the ball and pass it on. I don't think it is fair to judge him based on this game.

I'm surprised Garde didn't take him off for Clark. I know defending isn't Gil's main asset so I'm not holding it against him, but a goal coming from that side of the pitch had been brewing all second half.

I quite like the look of that team, bench is weak as piss though.

I'm not sure I really get the love-in for Garde. Ultimately Lerner is to blame for what has happened to the club, but Garde has contributed to the situation. People are saying that Garde hasn't been backed and has been hung out to dry, and while there may indeed be an element of that, I doubt that earlier discussions with Garde about what would be available for transfers in January would have been in the context of the club being 10 points adrift. He just hasn't had the desired impact in terms of points on the board, and that may have left the board wondering if they have got a dud, and wouldn't be too unhappy if he was to walk having not been backed. I wasn't happy with the Sherwood appointment, but having achieved both safety and a cup final, you can understand why he received backing. Garde doesn't have any such record with us, and from the look of this window, perhaps it is also the case that he doesn't have the reputation, track record or personality to attract players to the club - although of course our position and finances don't help. I don't want us to change the manager yet again, but at the moment I'm not too concerned if he wants to walk in the summer.

He is another player that would benefit from more forward options to pass to. I think he often gets muscled off the ball because he is looking for a pass and can't find one, so he tries to hold onto the ball until he can. It's a bit unfortunate that both he and Veretout seem best suited to the tip of the diamond and not so effective on the right.

I still think Gabby has something to offer us. His form seemed to pick up when Sherwood came in and played him as a striker rather than a wide player. Even this season, yes his finishing was poor, but he was still causing problems for the opposition and getting into the positions to score. I am still hopeful that we will get a striker late in the window, but I think it would be foolish of Garde to completely disregard Gabby given our lack of forward options.

He linked up well with Ayew in the first half, and was very good in the second half even after Ayew had drifted out of the game. He gave the ball away a few times, but he and Gil have the same problem in that there are so few options for them when they are looking for a pass.

Good performance today, we were the only team playing football and, perhaps more impressively, we outfought them too. The defence were all strong, Gana, Westwood and Gil all played well, Bacuna's delivery was awful but his physical strength was necessary, Kozak never got into it, although he had no service and no support, Ayew was good first half but largely disappeared in the second.

That wasn't as good as the one Gabby did against Liverpool last season, he lifted his leg so high it was like he was doing the can-can.

Disappointed that Gabby hasn't been given a chance.

I don't think we can play with the two big men up front for the full match, it is ok for the last 15 minutes maybe but not as a blueprint for the entire game.

Apart from the goal, the highlight of the game was Westwood's back heel to Cissokho that left two Leicester players looking stupid. I'm not saying that makes him a good player, but if Veretout had done it there would be animated gifs of it on every page.

Given that we have just got a point against the team that were second at the start of the day, we shouldn't dismiss the idea of getting valuable points or even wins in the home games against Liverpool, Everton, Spurs and Chelsea. I'm sure we will get some sort of striker reinforcements in by the end of this window.

I can't see any point in selling him and losing that little bit of stability that we currently have defensively. I thought he was shocking in his first few games, but now he doesn't look like the main weakness we have.

He did well today - seems to play better the less time he has on the pitch.

His positioning for the goal was awful, made a decent effort to keep it out, but shouldn't have needed to.

Very poor, playing on the right side doesn't seem to suit him.

I thought he did ok, could have done with one of the chances going in but can't have everything.

A lot more aggression, pressing and movement from him tonight, well done.

Very solid game from him tonight, not spectacular but very effective.

I thought the first half rather passed him by, better in the second. Kept the ball well once we were in the lead.

He showed obvious signs of being rusty, but put in a lot of effort and kept going long after you would have expected him to run out of steam. Some nice touches early on, went downhill a bit but raised his game again in the second half. He is a player who comes alive in the box, and although he didn't have much chance to do that, his overall contribution was good, and showed more signs of being able to form an understanding with Ayew than Gestede has.

All we need now is a photo on twitter of the team getting pissed with the message 'job done'.

Well played. Veretout needs to get into the game, shame we haven't got much attack wise on the bench.