Andre, Ashley, and Azpi average awesomeness aplenty

I think it's very nice that Schürrle gets the nod for Man of the Match in the season's final game, his fifth overall, which ties him for second place on the team with Čech, Torres, Oscar, and Terry.  And not just because he scored the tying and set up the winning goal.

While André's first season at the club has not been an unqualified success - inconsistencies in form, effort, and physicality have plagued him at times - he is so obviously loving his time at Chelsea, that it's hard not to catch the contagious joyous spirit.  I imagine if I ever got a chance to play for Chelsea, I'd behave very similarly to the exuberant, game-changing 23-year-old German.

Love.

These player ratings most often serve more as a barometer of community sentiment rather than an objective evaluation of any specific player's performance.  Individual performances in wins tend to get overrated.  In losses, they tend to get underrated.  Favoritism (and whatever the opposite of favoritism is) reigns supreme.  This is not necessarily a problem - I tend to find it useful to see where the WAGNH readership (and not just the commenters) stand on various players - but it is something to keep in mind.

That being said, sometimes sentiment overlaps and correlates positively with performance.  And in what could very well be his final ever game for Chelsea, Captain for the day Ashley Cole put in a very good performance on both sides of the ball, clearly motivated to make his final appearance in a Chelsea shirt a memorable one.

It is second-choice Cole's second straight second place on the community player ratings podium.  (And probably last.)

We talk a lot about Old Guards and New Cores around these parts, but while we have ready-made replacements at goalkeeper, midfielder, and attacker, the defensive situation is a bit more cloudy.  Yes, Cahill has been very good this year but he is 28, older than any midfielder not named Lampard.  He's not going to be around for another 10 years.

Fortunately, we have Azpilicueta, the bravest of the New Guard.