Up until the second goal we absolutely bossed them. Then we dropped deeper and the energy levels dipped. In the second half our midfield were too close to the back four, we weren't closing down and Brum could run the ball to the edge of our box at will.
Jags is still quite rusty and Distin, on the whole, doesn't look safe. Far too often he dithers on the ball and gets caught out. That being said, he did do a lot of covering on the right hand side today. Neville had another quiet game. Baines did pretty well.
Heitinga looked good in the first half, but seemed to lose his discipline in the second half and vacated the space infront of the defence.
Cahill did have a very quiet game. The only time I remember his name mentioned prior to the incident in which he ended up going off was when he had a fairly tame header on goal.
Personally, I would have moved Neville into the midfield alongside Heitinga to try and close down the space that Ferguson, Gardner and Bowyer were finding, and brought on Hibbert for Cahill. That would have freed up Arteta and Pienaar to be a little more adventurous.
I would have liked to have seen Bily come of rather than Gosling too, as he'd be guaranteed to test Hart with a few long range efforts. It was a curious move bringing Gosling on and then switching Pienaar to the right, so that Dan was on the left.
I knew we wouldn't keep a clean sheet today. They're like hen's teeth for us this season. If Yobo is fit, I'd like to see him rekindle is partnership with Jags, as it much be our most watertight pairing.