Monday Moyes: Ratings Dave's decisions v Crystal Palace!

Team Selection: Oviedo & Januzaj Inclusions Paid Off

Javier Manquillo actually had a really decent game against Spurs midweek filling in at left back, so it was a big call from the manager to drop him from the side for our visit to Selhurst Park. Thankfully it was a decision that paid off as Bryan Oviedo gave a fantastic showing in his debut performance in a Sunderland shirt.

Elsewhere Moyes made the call to drop Fabio Borini - who has been thoroughly underwhelming for what seems an absolute age now - in place of Adnan Januzaj, and again, it worked. Januzaj created both of Jermain Defoe's goals and was far more productive in that five minutes before half time than Borini has been all season.

Gav's rating: 10/10 - Two huge calls that delivered us results!

Tactics: New-Found 'System' Suits What We've Got

We are finally seeing something resembling a system and a shape which gets the best out of what players we have got - hooray!

Playing with a creative outlet in Adnan Januzaj just off Jermain Defoe worked a treat and is far more productive than playing two up top and lumping it long. Behind them two were the midfield trio of Jack Rodwell, Didier Ndong and Sebastian Larsson, whilst our back five included newcomer Bryan Oviedo and Lamine Kone, who was superb once again.

Whilst injuries to Jack Rodwell and John O'Shea might dictate what changes the manager has to make when we play Southampton, this was by far Sunderland's best performance of the season and for once it felt as though the players knew exactly what their roles in the side were.

Hats off to the manager - he had his players well-prepared on this occasion.

Gav's rating: 10/10 - Faultless.

Substitutions: Can't Complain Too Much

Two of the changes that David Moyes had to make were forced due to injuries once again, when Jack Rodwell and John O'Shea were both replaced by debutants in Darron Gibson and Joleon Lescott. Completing the trio of ex-Everton substitutes was Steven Pienaar, who played the last fifteen minutes or so in place of Adnan Januzaj.

With the game won by half time I was actually surprised to see Sebastian Larsson come back out for the second period - whilst he had played well, he probably should have seen red for a second bookable offence and the danger coming back out after the break was that Larsson's next foul would very likely see him dismissed by the referee. Luckily, he was able to keep his head and played very well in the latter half of the game.

Gav's rating: 8/10 - Probably would have brought off Larsson at the break with the game won!

Post-Match Comments: Positive Moyes Is The Best Moyes

David Moyes was understandably upbeat after Saturday's win.

Speaking in his post-match email, the manager said:

It was a massive win for us; really important.

It was good, especially the support we had. With the way the game was set up – with us coming down, Sam and Patrick – it was good to win it.

We did a good job on Tuesday [against Spurs] and that gave us a little bit of confidence. We didn't play awfully well then but we were better today and passed the ball better.

There were some really good goals and I'm pleased for the supporters to be able to come down here and see us get a good victory away from home.

We took our chances. I thought we looked a much bigger threat all over the pitch.

Overall I'm really pleased. Jermain is a predator and scores us goals, and it was good for Didier to get his first goal and Lamine to get one too.

I asked the fans to show their colours and they certainly did that! They gave us great support as always and the team were great for them as well.

Moyes was very keen to talk about the support of the fans this week, and it was great for the supporters that had traveled all the way down to the capital to see their team win a game in such a spectacular fashion.

Gav's Rating: 10/10 - A thoroughly decent day at the office for Moyesy!