Newcastle 1 – 3 MAN CITY – PLAYER RATINGS
16 Dec
Hart - Made a string of vital saves throughout the match, showing great agility to get down low on a couple of occasions and commanded his area well at set-pieces - 8
Zabaleta – An absolute warrior who, once again, typified the spirit and heart that fans love to see. Imperious down the right, winning his tackles and preventing Gutierrez from having any impact, and managed to get forward with regularity, even popping up on the left wing to provide the assist for Yaya’s goal. My man of the match - 9
K. Touré – Struggled with the physicality and touch of Cisse and Ba but grew into the game after an unsteady opening. Won a few more headers as the match wore on but didn’t have an air of authority - 6
Nastasic – Very much like his central defensive partner, he found life tough against Newcastle’s front pairing but managed to win a few headers and looked as composed as ever in possession – 6
Clichy – An effervescent presence down the left, his energy and closing down a valuable weapon in the first half as we pressed the home side high up. Dallied once in the second half when he should have cleared the ball but it was another strong performance from him - 7
Garcia – Absolutely dominant in the air and a handful at set-pieces, but still struggled to really impose himself on the game or offer protection for our defence. Some promising signs with his passing but didn’t provide the shield which Barry does so well - 6.5
Y. Touré - One of the passes of the season in the build-up to Aguero’s goal and looked menacing towards the end of the game as the match opened up and he was afforded more space, but not at his sharpest throughout. Some lovely, delicate touches but still gives the impression he could work harder - 7
Nasri - After his embarrassing cowardice against United last week, he had a point to prove and he did just that in the opening exchanges. Sadly picked up a groin strain just before half-time but he had produced a sublime showing, full of energy, movement and fluid touches. Assisted one, hit the post and needs to maintain this level of display - 7.5
Silva – When he performs anywhere near his best, as he did on Saturday, he is poetry in motion. Oozes utter control and elegance in possession, some of his touches are just outstanding and the only pity is that he couldn’t cap his display with a goal - 9
Tévez - Looked lively throughout, closing down Newcastle’s defenders and forcing them into mistakes. Dovetailed nicely with Aguero, dropping deep at times or looking to break the offside trap - 7.5
Aguero - Sharp, pacy and a constant menace. Scored a simple opener after great work from Yaya and Nasri, and was a real threat throughout. Worked the channels well, creating space for others and could have scored again late on had he been more clinical - 8
Subs
Kolarov – Operated in his slightly more advanced role on the left hand side but as usual when he plays there, he was completely ineffective. Slow, lacks the technical ability of those around him and taken off in the second half with an injury - 5
Džeko – Fortunately, we didn’t require any heroics from his this time as he looked lazy and lethargic. Wasted a couple of opportunities on the counter-attack - 5
Lescott – Won a few important headers at the back and gave us that added height and physical presence - No time to mark
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Zabaleta is the full package. I strongly believe he is one of the best full backs in the world. In the absence of Kompany he deserves the captain arm band. I choose him a my MOM only by a thread of hair over Silva
Completely agree. Zaba has been great.
Im gonna get boring repeating myself about Zaba and Silva but they are 2 of my favourite players ever. A little better from Garcia but I agree he needs to be having more influence in the middle of the park. You can see his quality in the air, but like VFAB says his shielding and ability on the ball needs to improve.Other than that, since last week i’ve been feeling that we just might start being a little special again. Only if Nasri plays like this more often and Silva stays fit though IMO.
Spot on with the marking, Zabaleta is without a shadow of doubt, THE best full back in the country, bar none, and one of the best in the world, I hope he never leaves us. Was at the game and the one thing that made me laugh the most was the quassies singing “where were you when you were shit?!”, funny, I remember when we were shit taking more away fans than they had at home, idiots! A small section of us broke out with “We’ve always been here, we’ve always been here, full-houses in the 3rd tier, we’ve always been here!”
good to see you a bit more positive than when you served up that dross in the preview
eh? What preview?
the preview from this blog, from Friday, i commented ar rhe time
What?! I didn’t comment on here on Friday, I haven’t posted on here for ages!
If thats not your comment on the 1st post in the preview then there is someone else called ‘Andy’ who also went to the game, and also commented on here days apart.
Haha, ok, because “Andy” is such an obscure name isn’t it! I comment on here once in a while because I have VFAB on my Facebook and only really left a post because I agreed with his markings! I didn’t realise I needed to justify who I was each time I commented for fear of being accused of being someone else!
its not a rare name but it was clearly you, be more sensible with your comment next time and you wont have to pretend otherwise. Plus you should know justification of who you are is a large part of coming on here
Hahahahaha, ok pal, ok! As fascinating as this weird little convo has been, I’m gonna go do something a bit more productive, like change my name by deed poll so not to confuse anyone who can’t get their head around more than one person having the same name as someone else, I’m thinking something regal maybe, toodles!
theres a little bit more than just the name that was the same, make sure you think of something more original for next time