Derby v United - Player Ratings

Ben Foster: His return is wonderful news, his form is as surprising as it is encouraging. Two great saves in the first half and displayed confidence throughout. 7

John O'Shea: Played a crucial role in the goal and did quite well during the whole game. 7

Wes Brown: Looked a bit lost sometimes but apart from that ten-minute spell in the first half he did his job satisfactorily. 6

Nemanja Vidic: A bad sliding challenge allowed Kenny Miller to go one-on-one with Foster but otherwise equal to everything they threw at him. 6

Patrice Evra: Strangely subdued, looks a little bit jaded. Hopefully he'll regain his imperious form that wooed so many of us. 6

Anderson: Had a very difficult time as Scholes did very little so he had to run two players' miles. A prolonged run in the team, along with Hargreaves, would serve him well I think. 6

Paul Scholes: Another poor game from the ginger-headed genius. After 20 minutes of solid work, he disappeared, did nothing defensively and his longest pass was about two yards. I fear that knee injury destroyed his chances of being an important member of the team this season. 5

Cristiano Ronaldo: His frustration was evident as he missed chance after chance but at least he had chances. And his goal was wonderfully taken. 8

Ryan Giggs: Played well in the first half, faded in the second. He's just not up to 90 minutes of Premier League football any more. But could be used as an impact substitute with devastating effect I think. 6

Ji-sung Park: Active in the first half and tried in the second but with so little service he had few chances to burst on the flanks. 6

Wayne Rooney: I could copy and paste it from countless ratings column. Hard work, ran defenders into the ground, passed the ball really well - claimed an assist, too - but his finishing let him down yet again. A scoring run from Rooney would go down well with United fans: it would ease our worries. 7

Michael Carrick: His introduction, as always, brought shape and focus to the midfield and laid the foundations for the victory. 7

Louis Saha: His movement and technique gave the opposition problems but should have caused more trouble in the box. 6