MAN CITY 1 – 1 Arsenal – PLAYER RATINGS
24 Sep
Hart - Despite Arsenal’s midfield dominance, they were unable to test Hart with any regularity. He produced one excellent stop to thwart Cazorla but fortunately for the Blues, Gervinho’s finishing was about as accurate as Matias Vuoso’s. I imagine. - 6.5
Zabaleta - Isolated on occasions against Arsenal’s double threat down the left and he struggled to cope with the pace of their counter-attacks. Tended to rashly leap into challenges and didn’t really provide anything going forward - 6
Kompany - Whilst he was terrible in possession, constantly giving the ball away, I thought his defending showed signs of improvement. He seemed sharper, more decisive and hopefully can continue in the right direction - 6.5
Lescott – Scored the opening goal with a strong header but looked shaky at the back. Beaten for pace on a number of occasions and although he was unfortunate with his clearing header for Arsenal’s goal, he never oozed authority - 6
Clichy – Beaten far too easily in the first half by a simple ball played inside him, but was bailed due to Gervinho’s profligacy. Was constantly faced with two Arsenal bodies on their right which meant he was often overloaded but he coped manfully - 6
Garcia – Never has the phrase ‘needs more time to adapt to the pace of the English game’ seemed more apt. Early days, of course, but he offered no protection to the defence, was bypassed by Arsenal’s counter-attacks, looked sluggish, couldn’t read a game and should have done better with his near post header for Koscielny’s equaliser - 4
Y. Touré - Struggled to exert his authority on the game as City were outnumbered in midfield and his passing was sloppy by his standards. Produced the occasional surge forward but his decision making was poor, opting to keep hold of the ball instead of passing early to Aguero when the striker was in a great position - 6
Sinclair - The only bright spark in the first half in my opinion. Showed a willingness to run at pace at the Arsenal defence, a tactic which differed from his lethargic teammates. End product wasn’t there but at least he looked vibrant and suggested signs of intent - 7
Silva - Worked as hard as he has ever done in a City shirt but there were more frustrating signs in possession. Received the ball in a number of dangerous positions but his final pass was alarmingly absent - 6
Aguero - Very pleasing to see him return from injury but he looked understandable lacking in match sharpness. Wasted a fantastic opportunity to win the game near the end - 6
Džeko - Started the game poorly, unable to hold on to the ball and bring others into play but he improved markedly and was impressive in the second half. Bafflingly substituted - 7
Subs
Rodwell – Brought on to shore up matters in midfield and on the right but didn’t have the desired impact. Neat enough in possession but couldn’t provide either solidity or drive - 6
Tévez – Worked tirelessly, as you’d expect, but didn’t have too many chances to make an impression - 6
Balotelli - One lovey piece of control on his chest but didn’t have time to get into the game - No time to mark
I do agree with all your ratings except the Sinclair one. He was horrendous. Until he got substituted in the second half, City was basically playing with 10 men. Not sure why City bought him, we have a very promising left back/winger, Jermey Hellan, that is both physically strong and awe-strikingly fast. Though he is a bit raw but I have not doubt he would do by far better than the likes of Sinclair.
No doubt do by far better?
You’ve either seen a hell of a lot more of Hellan than most, or you’re being extremely impatient on Sinclair.
Sorry mate but Helan is not very good, a few friendlies/EDS games don’t make up for the fact he has no footballing brain of note and couldn’t make an impression on loan at Carlisle last season. We shouldn’t overhype our kids, only one winger in the entire youth setup at the moment (Henshall) has any potential to break through and he is quite inconsistent. Sinclair might not be perfect but he’s levels ahead of Helan.
A bit generous to Yaya and Silva….both had poor games…passing was poor and apart from his surging runs forward where he generally either passed too late or poorly Yaya rarely got back to support the defence. This together with garcia’s lack of pace meant that they were horribly exposed.
You should be giving a mark to the manager as well since his constant team changing has caused many of our defensive problems. “If it ain’t broke….” We have been missing Barry and yet he spent the whole game on the bench.The cover in front of the back four is weak compared to last year and needs sorting urgently.
I tend to agree with siamack about Sinclair. The lad can run but doesn’t seem to have any close ball control – basically the exact opposite of Adam Johnson!
The person I am most concerned about though is Javi Garcia. This lad is just not cutting it at the moment. I blame him for 2 of the 3 goals against Madrid as he wasn’t covering properly and yesterday he was abysmal. I think he is probably better than NDJ going forward but isn’t a patch on him defensively!
Oh dear……I hope Mancini hasn’t made a big mistake with him
oh dear oh dear, you cherry pick whichever players you want and you still cant beat us, see fellas, the thing you lot just dont understand, you can buy as many trophies as you want, but YOU CANT BUY CLASS!
I’m not sure I want the kind of class that compels one to go to an opposing team’s fansite blog and leave taunting emails after a draw.
Stay classy, gooners.
Exactly mate, but this guy is a drop of piss in a lake of champagne. We generally are a classy bunch.
But I do think that mancini’s constant system changes are holding you back. Cannot believe he played the 1st half with silva as a winger! Made his assets completely useless. And 442 left u lot very short in the middle.
Improved in the second but still didn’t look like defending champs.
Despite the quality of your chances, felt we probably deserved the win on the balance of general play.
Still, won’t grumble with a point at middle eastlands
Try 1-0 last year in the league and the same in the league cup, at your ground. Hardly defeats eh fella!!
Its got nothing to do with that boll@cks…. We build our teams, u have bought urs…. U r the PL champs, we are a club who have won nowt for 7 years….. But we out played. At ur place and we will finish higher than u this season …. Playing proper football, not the stuff u produce…..PROPER FOOTBALL……. Champions, but u have NEVER played like champions should play….. Even manure do that !
They say you can never teach an old dog a new trick and they are right. It does not matter how nice you play or how well you outplay your opponents, if you can not get results, you are good for nothing. Liverpool outplayed both City and United but look where they are.
And this year, Arsenal would end up with no trophy much like previous years while playing pretty football. The difference between Arsenal VS City on Sunday was that Arsenal is playing at is best now but city is playing at its worst. Do not be overly optimistic!
Yes, Asenal is playing at our best. Our Goalie is third string. Our right back is backup. Our center forward Giroud has yet to find his shooring boots. Our best player Wilshire is out. Our second most creative player is out. If you think Arsenal is playing at its best, wait for another month or so. You will see us in full flow then.
So lets see numbnuts. You bought Walcott, the OX, Podolski, Cazorla, Gervinho, Arteta,Koscelny, Mertesecker,Giroud, you even bought Jenkinson.
You cannot beat bringing on a load of youngsters. Numpty!!
Both teams gave the ball away cheaply on too many occasions. Arsenal had the better chances but failed to hit the target. None deserved the win
I agree with you ratings to some extent and with one comment that you were too kind the Yaya and Silva, the latters passing was abysmal and Yaya still never dominates the way a man of his ability and physique should. However I also agree that you should mark the manager, and so far this season he’d be on less points than the team, maybe a 2 in Madrid and a 3 yesterday. When cover is needed on our right flank, as it often is, there is no one better than Milner to provide it.
For a team that cost a Billion quid, Man City are a bit of a Joke.
the fans trying to defend the only tactic they have – Buy buy buy, is even more laughable.
The fact is with City’s tactics of only trying to buy success and the ridiculous amounts of money used in the process, If you don’t win you are a laughing stock. If you do win it’s only to be expected.
Any Manager in the league could win the title with the money Mancini has spent. The fact that after all the money he has spent, City can be out played at their own ground by a team that have had their 4 best players tapped up and sold over the past couple of years shows the quality of Manager he is, just compare his time at Milan with Mouriho.
But you can’t buy success, remember? Or was that only cool to say before City won trophies?
Arsenal were the pioneers of buying success/progress before most of our grandfathers were born…
I think its manager who is responsible. So many changes. Milner is much more better than the new players. Look at the last season…
If Garcia was a 4, Silva was a 3. I agree with you though about Sinclair, he looked good and I wish he would have stayed on when we had the lead, I think he would have made them pay for some space.
But look at all these arsenal fans on here acting like they were Barcelona playing Swindon Town. So what you played a little better than City. Fact of the matter is while the whole world is going crazy about how incredible arsenal look and how City are about to relegated, the funny thing is both clubs have the same points haha
I agree with Siamack about Sinclair. Why did Mancini buy such an average player and sell a fantastic player in Adam Johnson. Sinclair can run but so can a kangaroo. It looks like he has the skill of a kangeroo! Not one decent cross the whole game!! Buy Adam Johnson back in january, please!!!! And get Micah Richards fit asap – the defence is really missing him.
Kangaroo’s don’t run they hop. Very bad analogy!!!
Mancini, you need to look at the videos from the beginning of last season. The team was fantastic and so much stronger then with Johnson and Milner etc. You have brought in three very average players who you didn’t need. Get rid of them in January and buy back Johnson.
Johnson didn’t want his role at city anymore. It’s not like Mancini was throwing him out. I wish people would give sinclair some time jeez, what has he played 90 min ?
I can only apologise and squirm with embarrassment at some of the comments on here from our ‘supporters’. It was a great game of football and despite dominating possesion City had a similar number of good chances.
All in all i was pleased with a draw as not many teams will come away from there with anything this season but also felt that you were there for the taking and looked a little demoralised after your exploits in europe.
Best wishes for the future.
The changing of Sinclair was much needed, but with him, in the second half both Garcia for BArry and Silva for Tevez or Kolarov, were also required. Why was DZEKO substituted? Has the manager got grudge on our best performing player this year? And yes had the manager been given a mark for both the REAL match and the Arsenal match, he wouldn’t deserve more than a 3 since he got both games wrong before and during the match itself.
Wow some Aresenal fans have a massive chip on their shoulders or what…?
Yes some teams have more money than you. Yes some of your best players have left (and so will Walcott). Everybody knows this. Yet you play great football. There, done. Now stop going on and on about it please. You played very well and got a point against the champions, now please stop acting all arrogant and self-righteous all the time because you are starting to make me lose my admiration in Arsenal.
Yep we do have a bit of a chip on our shoulder, its not that you have bought our want away players who have has there heads turned by the money. It’s the classless way you did it, often as way of weakening us as much as strengthening yourselves.
To fair you are not the only club to do it. I can think of a few others that do it and I and they are pretty classless too.
The fact that there is nothing between City who have spent all this money and Arsenal with Wenger, in spite of him losing his best players year after year. Shows how much of a better manager Wenger is.
It was always going to be tight. Last 3 competitive meetings have only had a goal seperating the 2 teams.
Generally in agreement with the ratings. 7 for Sinclair is rather generous, Garcia was poor also but they need time to bed in. Far too early to be calling for their heads yet.
Also glad you gave Dzeko a 7. He’s not as technically gifted as our Argies up front but he works hard and changes games for us. Can’t believe he was taken off before the end.
The game was absolutely screaming out for GazBaz. He does the un-glamourous, un-attractive midfield work that protects our back line, keeps us in posession and starts out our attacks.
Oh, and not to nit pick J, but there is something between Arsenal and City. Look at our sleeve patches next time you watch MOTD. This is a football blog for talking about football. If you want to talk about money, write a letter to the Financial Times.
Stay Blue citizens.
Sam and Steve you turncoat arab sucking mugs, call yourselves gooners my arse, Sam your your just a piece of shite on my flipflop! as for Riosh, we dont want your admiration so stick it, well said j, every team that plays city is playing on an uneven playing field, you used to say it about the chavs before your pimp came along, dont deny it.
Clockender you bellender…. Glaad you boys are punching above your weight as after all you are one of our key feeder clubs so need to be sure the next one is up for jpoining the champions… We have not moved out of second gear yet and you boys are about as good as you will get this year… 38 games in a season and you will be lucky to scrape CL again come May 2013… If Im honest your manager is your weakness as much as he is your strength because he is a tight Arse who could put his hand in the coffers but chooses not to! what is it now SEVEN years without winning anything? Sounds like a change of plan is in order for you gooners
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Sorry mate didn’t mean to hurt your feelings! Hahaha
My god, your lot have become worryingly bitter in the last few years. Why not turn your anger back towards our neighbours who took away a player more important to you than any of those we took, the man being referred to as “Robbing van Pursestrings”. By the way City helped those “net profits” you bleat on and on about every year, maybe you can stick “net profit” on a trophy and hold it up on next week’s open-top bus parade to celebrate your draw with City.
I don’t why our (Arsenal) fans are on here rubbishing City, we didn’t win. Yeah it’s a slight mental win for us because we came away with a point in the dying minutes, but overall it was just a great game between what I think are the 2 teams who will fight it out for the title this season. As for the Man City fans, Mancini is holding you back because of his style of play. He signs very big and physical defenders to suit his defensive/counter-attacking game and relies on individual players to break with speed and win it on their own. It worked first season because teams didn’t give them the respect and were willing to play them head on. This season you’re seeing teams not willing to come out and play and force Man City to open up trying to break em down which has really exposed how slow some of their players are. This is why they’ve been conceeding many goals this season. I can see City doing well in the Champions League because they can afford to play ugly and get a result. But in the league, with a Mancini, they’re at a stand-still and waiting for teams to come and take over… And believe me, teams are coming.