Everton 2 – 0 MAN CITY – PLAYER RATINGS
17 Mar
Hart - Perhaps a touch flat-footed for the opening goal but helpless for the second. His command of his box was uncertain throughout and he oddly lacked his usual assurance, flapping at crosses - 5
Zabaleta – Just about the best of a pretty uninspiring bunch. Worked hard as one of the centre-backs and then out on the right to combat Everton’s lively attackers and still managed to get forward later in the game - 7
K. Touré – Anichebe is a physical beast and he made life incredibly tough for Kolo. The Ivorian read the game well and made a few vital interceptions but he lacked the authority to dominate Everton’s forward line - 6
Nastasic – Perhaps a surprise starter ahead of Lescott and he struggled at times against Anichebe’s strength and hold-up play. Comfortable in possession but couldn’t nip in ahead of the front man as he often likes to do – 6
Kolarov - Abysmal. Defensively, he was a liability as usual, not getting tight enough to his man and therefore allowing cross after cross to raid into our area. Going forward, he lacks any semblance of trickery and pace to beat a man - 3.5
Garcia – A few last-ditch interceptions but unable to stop Everton’s midfield runners bombing past him. Painfully slow on the turn and lacked an iota of urgency in his passing - 5
Barry – The game largely passed him by and he was unable to stamp any real foothold on proceedings. Clumsy and uncertain on the ball and didn’t provide the defence with his usual excellent cover - 4.5
Milner - Worked hard, as he always does, and enjoyed his tussle with Baines but the Everton man largely had the upper hand. Tried valiantly down the right but couldn’t provide any testing deliveries into the box - 6
Silva – The only midfielder who could retain possession but even he was nowhere near his best. Hindered by a lack of support or movement from others - 6
Tévez - Started out wide on the left where he was completely wasted, but made an impact when he was moved to a more central location. Fired a couple of shots at goal but when we needed him as the focal point in the second half, he drifted deeper and deeper - 6
Džeko - Another completely limp and abject performance. Doesn’t make any use of his stature, refusing to jump for headers and he was bullied fairly (most of the time) by Everton’s centre-backs. Complained and gave the ball away in equal measure - 4
Subs
Nasri – Ought to have been a creative key in the push for the equaliser but whilst he played a couple of decent balls up to the striker, he made no tangible difference - 6
Clichy – Barely touched the ball, save for the deflection that enabled Jelavic’s late effort to beat Joe Hart - No time to mark
Sinclair – We were crying out for pace throughout but as per usual, Mancini refused to introduce him until very late on - No time to mark
View From A Blue is delighted to offer an exclusive promotion for readers! Banc De Binary, the global leader in binary options trading, is offering a 100% sign-up bonus for us Blues. No fees, no commissions, and up to 500% profit in 1 trade. Start trading today or try a free $50,000 demo account. Claim your 100% sign-up bonus here!
City’s issue at this moment is its illness [midfield] not the symptoms [defense/attack]. Unless some fighting spirit, pace and desire are added, it does not matter who plays in attack [Dzeko, Cavani,Tevez, etc]. When midfield link is broken, attack and defense are exposed. I do not blame our defense or attack as we should look for the cause not the symptoms.
Fair comment but in truth there is no like for like replacement for a missing Yaya in the squad. Garcia is a decent alternative to Barry (OK I’m probably alone in thinking this on this site) but together they simply point up each others weaknesses. We’d have been better with just one of them and four at the back. 3 at the back works, but only for sides who use this regularly with players equipped to do it.
Nightmare!!
Alph
Interesting point, but we do have Silva, and what about Nasri?, the mid field shouldn’t be that bad. I know it’s early days with Garcia but why did Mancini let De Jong walk out of the club, it was hardly for the need of money was it. I also have read somewhere that Mancini gave an apology to Sinclair for buying him in the first place, i do’t know if this is true but if it is he might as well just call it a day because he must not have a clue what he is up too. So now with Bollotelli moved on, and Marwood moved from his previous post who is going to be the fall guy now eh? Exactly no excuses United and the rest of the league are laughing at us, and there right to o. Were in second, great, but we could and should be doing a lot better not trailing a lesser united side
Silva is our creative player and is far from a demolition man. He does not have the attributes to fight for balls in a league where physicality and pace are of utmost importance. He needs to be protected by at least a couple of [bullying] players in the midfield that do the dirty work of wearing and tearing the opposition midfield and let him do what he does best. Our midfield players are either physically strong but slow [Garcia, Barry] or physically weak with normal pace [Silva, Nasri]. You have a point that no one is there to mop the area behind our box since De Jong left [Rodwell seems an upgrade based on his last two performances but injury prone]. Both Liverpool’s Gerrard goal and Everton’s first goal highlight the vacuum that is around our box where neither of Barry/Garcia/Yaya are up to patrolling and commanding it.
Seeing as Nigel DJ has been out with a snapped achilles since early December and won’t kick a ball again this year it wouldn’t have made a great deal of difference. Oh and I assume your name is a pisstake
Dear old Bedlamy could disrupt a party in an empty house when his knees were up to it!
Are you serious?? I would prefer Bellers to Dzecko, Nasri, Kolorov, Sinclair anyday. Selling De Jong was ridiculous in the first place it doesn’t matter what has went on in the first place. You say Bellamy was disruptive, i would argue that he was less trouble than Bollotelli and Tevez. Mancini has also involved imself in public spats withe players. Now i do believe the players need o be taken to task at times but it just shows the holes in your argument against Bellamy.
Take a reality check boyo!
Bedlamy never learned how to keep his fat argumentative gob shut!
1. When at Liverpool he took a golf club to an argument with John Arne Riise.
At Newcastle he was legendary for his foul mouthed, angry argumenative spats with anyone who wasn’t prepared to take his crappy, evil temper.
I submit the following evidence readily available on’t int’net!
2. Graeme Souness v Craig Bellamy (quote)
Souness’ troubled reign at Newcastle involved a number of bust-ups but the one that most comes to mind is his argument with serial offender Craig Bellamy.
Despite Souness probably eating smaller scraps for breakfast, Bellamy confronted the manager complaining at being played out of position.
Unfortunately, it only evolved into a war of words with Souness claiming the winger was feigning injury and Bellamy calling him a “liar”.
One £80,000 fine and loan spell later, Bellamy was sold to Blackburn Rovers.
3. Craig Bellamy v John Carver (quote)
Bellamy is someone whose mouth just can’t seem to close. In 2004, Bellamy’s argument with Newcastle assistant manager, John Carver, in the waiting room of an airport escalated to the point where the Welshman threw a chair at him.
Carver played down the incident by claiming to have caught the chair – unlikely to be thrown from a great height after all – but was probably thankful that Bellamy hadn’t packed his golf clubs for the trip.
4. Craig Bellamy v Alan Shearer (quote)
Perhaps the Gillespie incident convinced everyone’s least favourite sufferer of Napoleon Syndrome, Craig Bellamy, not to actually get physical in his argument with Big Al.
Instead, he waited until he had safely crossed the border on loan with Celtic before plucking up the courage to send Shearer some abusive text messages following Newcastle’s loss in the 2005 FA Cup Final. Shearer probably speaks for most people when he says, “It’s quite simple. He dislikes me and I despise him”.
5. Bellamy v Barton (quote)
Sportsmail can reveal that the combative pair were embroiled in a foul-mouthed row moments after the final whistle as bad blood between the two spilled into the tunnel area.
Bellamy and Barton traded explicit F-word rants as the rift threatened to erupt into something more violent.
But the pair were separated and ushered into their respective dressing rooms before the row escalated any further.
I am a Welshman, I would love a player of his skill to be someone I could respect, maybe love even, but whilst I salute him as a skillful player and appreciate his performances for City, I have no respect for him as a human being. His career was dependable for two things, he started like a king, made himself important and second season became an absolute bloody nightmare for staff and colleagues one and all.
At City he reached the stage where his fitness and argumenative temprement made him simply not worth the high maintenance. That was why he had to go but Balotelli had to stay. Balotelli is a world beater in the making, Bedlamy a has been with a bad attitude.
You choose your role models and name yourself after them boyo, and I’ll choose mine. I come from a different era so I’m happy to stick with John Charles, Colin Bell and Joe Mercer, three gentlemen.
Alph
How many times do I have to say this?
Garcia – get rid
Dzeko – get rid
Nasri – get rid
Kolarov – get rid
Sinclair – get rid (although not his fault)
Maicon – get rid
None but I doubt that will stop you!!
The tactics and personnel were shocking yesterday and for that Mancini must take the blame. The attitude of the players was just totally missing. Is Mancini unable to motivate them or is this solely down to our overpaid superstars being only interested in their pay packets ?
Similarities with the performance were worringly apparent yesterday.
It is sad to see the demise of Barry. He has been excellent for us but recently it is clear the legs have finaly gone. Pairing him with Garcia is a recipie for disaster. The fact that Garcia looked the better of the two is worrying for Barry’s future.
Dezeko and Kolarov were embarrassing and it is clear Tevez and Dzeko have any empathy or enjoy playing with each other. Heaven knows why Clichy was benched in favour of Kolarov ? In fact of the starting 11 yesterday I’d only be concerned if Zab and nasty were not here next season.
Pitiful performance unfortunately. I genuinely feel it’s the link from midfield to attack that’s the issue. Not silva as he’s working his socks off for the team. It’s just Barry is nothing like he was last year. Garcia just looks for the simple pass, not that it’s a bad thing it just slows everything down. He needs to find the pass that means silva, nasri ,tevez, aguero etc can run at defenders rather than track back to near half way so they can try to make things happen. That’s why I like yaya as dm because his surging runs terrorize defenders and he’s happy to try for those incisive passes.
Really hope we can win the fa cup, cos its been a tough season with injuries etc and if we can win a trophy and secure second place I’ll be happy.
Also I know it’s a long shot but I’m heading to England on may 17th does anyone know of how I’d go about getting tickets for the Norwich game? It’s my first time over from New Zealand and I’d love the chance to see em live!
email customer services at the club, they are very helpful in my experience. If you are really struggling drop me a message via VfaB nearer the game and I’ll probably be able to help you out.
Thanks alph. tell me, were you the city fan I met on the junkboat cruise in halong bay in 2010? As your names seems very familiar!
No but I wish I had been
No wonder Kolo Toure stormed of down the tunnel after being pulled off by Mancini. Was our best defender by FAR!
QUOTE KIWI BLUE Thanks alph. tell me, were you the city fan I met on the junkboat cruise in halong bay in 2010? As your names seems very familiar!
No, that was me. There’s a pic of the two of us on http://www.izzett.com/?page_id=72
Alph i understand you point. And i would never be derogatory to the legends of the club you admire so much, saying that Bellamy was a cult figure at City, it’s great to see a player with his fiery intent and passion play in blue.All that you have said cannot be denied, but we saw the best of him at city for one season when him and Tevez were red hot, we also had Johnson on the wing as well, i would love to have that combo again with a fit Bellamy instead of Dzecko, Nasri et all. And i would be surprised if other blues don’t feel the same……P.S I’m Irish, and Alan Shearer wrecks my head so i don’t mind Bellamy giving stick, and if your telling me that you were not loving it when he also stood up to the poisonous John Terry at Stanford bridge i simply will not believe you are human.