Arsenal 0 – 0 MAN CITY – PLAYER RATINGS
6 Jan
Hart - One of those days when he confirms his status as one of the best young goalkeepers in the world. Grateful to the frame of the goal on a couple of occasions but made a string of fantastic saves. His stop to deny Van Persie’s rip-roaring shot was stunning whilst he commanded his area better than in recent matches - 8
Richards - Handed a start in place of Boateng and did a decent job. Put under immense pressure at the start of the game as Arsenal’s movement and tempo caused problems to the City backline. Recovered well and won a fair few challenges, even managing to get forward a couple of times – 7
K. Touré – Returned in place of Lescott and produced an outstanding performance. Was superb in defence, winning numerous tackles and aerial contests, showing a great ability to read the game. If he continues in this vein, we will have a top class centre-half – 9
Kompany - Another impressive performance from the Belgian maestro. A rock alongside Touré, apart from the opening few moments, he was solid in repelling the Arsenal attacks – 8.5
Zabaleta - Faced with the difficult task of trying to counter the Usain Bolt-esque pace of Theo Walcott, and by and large, competed very well. Positionally sound which was key, he unfortunately received his marching orders after Mike Jones mistook Zabaleta standing his ground for creating trouble – 8
De Jong – His lack of pace was exploited early on by the likes of Wilshere and Fabregas but he grew more and more important as we looked to deny Arsenal space - 7
Barry – Very similar to de Jong in that he struggled early on but managed to impose himself to a greater extent as the match wore on. Will get a deserved rest against Leicester in the FA Cup - 7
Y. Touré - I took a certain amount of criticism for my wholly negative review of Yaya’s performance against Blackpool and although he wasn’t as bad yesterday, he was nowhere near the level we expect. One barnstorming run in the first half followed by a five minute breather as he slowly clambered to his feet is not enough. Occupied a deeper role in the second half but I feel it’s time he was dropped - 5
Milner - Worked his socks off as he usually does but the vast majority of his work was done defensively as opposed to in the attacking third. In my opinion, he’s worth a try in the Yaya role - 7
Tévez - Isolated from the midfield supporters, Tévez was left to feed on scraps and was unable to conjure up anything special. You have to feel sorry for him in games like these, but he will get more support in future, especially from new signing Edin Džeko - 7
Jo - Mancini likes to have a second striker on the pitch in away games to support Tévez but it was still surprising to see Jo given the nod ahead of Adam Johnson. As per usual, the Brazilian put in a shift for the team although he failed to provide an attacking outlet. Must work on his first touch and distribution - 5
Subs
A. Johnson - Livened up proceedings when he replaced Jo in the second although we didn’t find him often enough to trouble Arsenal on a regular basis - 7
Boateng - Injury time introduction after Zabaleta received his red card - No time to mark
How can someone getting paid £1 million pounds a month justify collapsing after sprinting? Can’t afford a personal trainer @ £25/ Hour? Maybe him and Anderson should join WeightWatchers!
Can’t agree with you re midfielders. I thought Yaya had a very average game but atleast was involved in our better moments and didn’t needlessly waste posession so would have got a 6. Barry was dreadful the whole match, massively off the pace, wretched passing and as ever incredibly slow, our worst player with Jo – 4.5. Millner pretty ineffective game bar one decent run in the second half, poor distribution again – 5.5
Fully agree with you on yaya. He gets noticed for his barnstorming runs, but he seems literally to spend most of the game deliberately trying to conserve or recover energy.
I have never seen a young player of such calibre so obviously and shamelessly unfit.
I do feel you have marked up a couple of players by a point perhaps but I thought apart from the shaky start the back four and Joe Hart should all be given 9 each. As you repeatedly let us know about you feeling towards Yaya’s play, (by the way I disagree with you on that one) we all have our preference on the playing style of footballers, and with that in mind Vincent Kompany was definitely the man of the match in my opinion. The guy is without doubt the best defender in the premier league at the minute and just oozes class, (even down to brushing Sagna off his pal Zabaletta like he was an errant child near the end) and the way he and the other members of the team held off an in-form Arsenal was first class. We have the best defence in the country and if we had the kudos of the sacred sky 4 all the media would be talking about their excellent performance, instead of how negative Mancini is or we’ve spent £5billion and we cannot manage a shot on goal. Hypocrites, the lot of them. P.S. Apart from David Seaman, who saw it like it was.
Great result played for and got. However both Jo and Milner’s possession play was extremely poor, and a reason why the defence had to work so hard. Milner’s willingness to effectively track back perhaps meriting him a 6 at best. Yaya at least looked more composed and although is taking longer than anyone thought to build up required stamina for his new position in a far more hectic league, it will be well worth the investment.
Agree with most except Barrys. I think in recent games he has really stepped it up and shown he can hold down a place in our excellent midfield department. However last night, the amount of times he gave the ball away was criminal. We rarely got a touch and when we did, it was vital that our midfielders kept a cool head and he in particular with his range of passing was someone Mancini was relying on. He just seemed to panic every time he got the ball and handed it straight back to Arsenal.
Baffled by the selected of Jo. I can understand when Mancini selects someone for their defensive capabilities as well as attacking. But Jo has minimal attacking skill and zero defensive. When I saw his name on the team sheet I thought we would get nothing from him and how right I was proved!!