MAN CITY 6 – 3 Arsenal – PLAYER RATINGS
15 Dec
Pantilimon - Iffy handling throughout, flapping at some crosses, catching others on the second attempt and generally spreading an air on uncertainty. That might just be the catalyst for a Joe Hart recall. Still, his shot-stopping was solid in the second half - 6
Zabaleta - Robust in the challenge and a towering presence down the right. His first couple of crosses were poor but made his third attempt count by setting up Negredo. Bombed forward constantly although the suspicion remains that he’d be better off at times leaving Navas to it and not advancing into the winger’s space - 8
Kompany - Inspirational. In defence, he was impenetrable. His positioning was superb and he was an authoritative figure when crosses came into our box. Going forward, we saw a couple of mazy runs and tricky footwork - 8.5
Demichelis - Another solid performance, using his experience to anticipate danger and snuff out a series of visiting attacks - 7.5
Clichy – Has recovered well from his unsteady start to the campaign and he’s now producing some consistently good displays. This was another, defending well even though he was outnumbered at times and showing good energy to offer an option on the left - 8
Y. Touré - Sloppily gave the ball away for Arsenal’s first goal and there were times when his lack of movement frustrated, but for the most part he was a hugely imposing and prominent figure. Heavily involved in much of our play, he relished the open spaces as the game wore on and showed his pace and power when bursting through - 8
Fernandinho - I’ve been harsh to him by not awarding a 10. He was breathtakingly good. Even ignoring his brace of cultured finishes for the moment, he was the standout performer. His energy is remarkable, his dynamism to close down and nick the ball irrepressible. Comfortable on the ball, efficient in possession and improving in the tackle, he was sensational. Throw in his two gorgeous goals and it was near-perfect performance - 9.5
Nasri - It was clear he was desperate to score but crucially didn’t let selfishness take over. He showed courage on the ball to run at the heart of Arsenal’s defence with purpose and intent. Linked up eye-catchingly with our other attacking stars - 8
Silva - Supplied some sumptuous passes from which our strikers couldn’t take advantage and he was a controlling menace in midfield throughout. So comfortable in possession and he dictated the tempo of proceedings - 8
Aguero - Took his goal superbly with great technique and precision. Worked tirelessly to create space for himself and others, stretching Arsenal’s backline with his pace and strength on the ball - 7.5
Negredo - Another strike to continue his stunning goalscoring form but it wasn’t quite his day. Wasted a couple of chances and couldn’t quite impose himself as he would have liked. That’s not to say he was poor - in fact, the opposite is true – but it felt like he was a touch off the pace - 7
Subs
Navas - Operated out wide and his pace was a constant threat. Could be even more direct at times but he’s a very valuable option - 7
Milner – It was no surprise that Arsenal’s threat from their right stopped when Milner was introduced. He did a good containing job on Sagna and managed to provide a couple of penetrative crosses into the box. Won the penalty for Yaya’s goal - 7
Garcia – A very brief cameo - No time to mark
I have to say, it’s worth mentioning just how well Demichelis did offensively at set pieces too. He won everything he attacked and the flick for Aguero’s goal was superb!
Man City were a great club when I use to visit Manchester…a proper English club with the culture of English football. Now the brand and fashion of the oil industry. How is this going to help English football??
Are you sure you know what you’re talking about dude?
The likes of you, who clearly didn’t spend your hard earned cash and travel thousands of miles watching the likes of the Stuart Pearce era of fine upstanding ‘English Football’ like to throw out the jibes, but let’s understand something shall we pal; it is not the primary role of the club I love and have supported for more than half a century to ‘help English football!’
Got it?
I couldn’t agree with you more. Also watching 50 yrs with decades of watching rubbish.
Sometimes you read a comment and just have to shake your head
Utter unmitigated tosh.
Not exactly disagreeing with anything (!) but would question the 8.5 for Vinnie. Not sure he was much better than anyone else on the day and sadly lacking in concentration for Mertesacher’s goal!
I’d also like to publicly apologise to Nasri. Virtually every week last season he was in my ‘get rid’ list. This season he has been a revelation and I am singularly impressed! (Which takes a lot for me!)
Great overall performance yesterday. Need to keep it going now, esp away from home.
Looking forward to keeping Suarez quiet and goalless on Boxing Day!!
Kompany was outstanding in all aspects of defending yesterday, I had him 2nd in line for man of the match
Anyone know why the times are coming up an hour ahead?
It should now be changed – if not for previous comments, then definitely for future ones.
The man of the match should be ref Atkinson. With so many crucial decisions going all against Arsenal his input shall should never be underestimated.
Dream on. Arsenal as bitter as the World class ManU bitters. Full of excuses just like your awful pathetic non stop whingeing excuse for a manager. He should get back to balancing the books. Looking forward to 9 years without you winning a thing and thats more than you deserve.
I agree the lines men and Atkinson did do us a massive favour yesterday…but sometimes that’s just the luck you need….they had 2 crucial off side decisions when they were in on goal …it might have been a different game as they would not have had to chase the game..
You must have been watching another game. City could easily have doubled their score.
Fernandinho is an animal! Now who was it that had him on their get rid list? Lol
Until I moved to the West Highlands of Scotland I followed City home and away, and not just the first team. These days I manage around 80% of the home PL games only. TV only shows a part of the picture as it tends to follow the ball slavishly. That’s one of the reasons I find a well written and sensible blog like this useful which is not to say I always agree with the writer!
Over the many years of following City one thing I have learned is that initial decisions on the usefulness or otherwise of new players often has to be re-assessed at a later date. Some hit the ground running and then hit a brick wall, others have a poor or indifferent start and are slow burners, becoming important players over time. Some players settle easily into the national culture and the style of football, others have a culture shock and struggle. They need time to adjust and encouragement and snarling abuse from the terraces has rarely, if ever, improved a player!
After I had seen their first couple of games I had nagging doubts about Aleks Kolarov and later Javi Garcia, but I resisted the temptation to write them off, and on occasions defended them, counselling patience. To those of you who have been disparaging about AK just consider the importance of his contributions this season and re-assess. You’re right, he isn’t the best defensive LB you’ll find but he is a huge asset ‘on the spring’ with a wickedly timed overlap and a great early ball in, not to mention a pretty useful left peg. His leadership and coolness under pressure against BM was illuminating, evidenced best by his strength of character on stepping up to take the penalty.
Please also note that Javi Garcia hasn’t had a bad game or even an indifferent game since being moved back to play his more usual role in midfield. Sure he isn’t a speed merchant but his reading of the game is quick and his interventions are timely, his passing short, accurate and pressure relieving. It really isn’t his fault that Marwood paid £16m for him neither is it his fault that he isn’t Gareth Barry. Given time there is just a chance that he could approach to level of importance of Gareth though I doubt it. I’d also ask you this; do you trust Pellegrini’s judgement? If you do ask yourself why he trusts Javi Garcia, because he most certainly does, and he does so especially when the going gets tough. Step back, suspend disbelief, consider the level of performance and the contribution of these two players now in comparison to those of a few months ago and ask yourself if you still wish to get rid of them?
On the subject of Fernandinho, I was somewhat gobsmacked to see him on one commenter’s ‘get rid’ list, although to be fair it was a very long list
To me Fernie looked to have all the attributes to grow into a player as important for City as Claude Makelele was to the best of recent Chelsea sides.
After yesterday he looked even better than that!
Wonderful game, enjoyed every minute of it and as a creative attacking force we must now be the best in Europe. But how can the defensive marks be justified when we conceded three, panicked for long spells and could have conceded at least three more with goals disallowed and Giroud missing three good chances?
I think you have to take account of how City approached the game Goatman.
All things considered the defensive unit did a pretty good job in a set up that was all jacked up to take the game to the opponents. Two thirds of Zaba’s action are graph was in the Asenal half of the park, Demichelis was launching attacks from the halfway line in support of Fernie and Yaya who were an intrinsic part of the attack in the second half. I don’t think it possible to score six against a side of the quality of Arsenal and not leave opportunities for them to score. I would suggest that VfaB has scored the back four players for their all round contribution not just for the defending. Take Zaba for instance, could you in conscience mark him down? There’s a case for saying that Vince’s score and that of Clichy were a tad generous, after all, Clichy’s man scored twice but despite that he had a very decent game so I can live with the marks!
Alph, ‘Clichy’s Man’ was actually playing on Arsenal’s left when he got both his goals.
I think the marks are mostly fair, except Merlin deserved a 9 for me. Our best moments came when he was pulling the strings. Fernie was a 10, without doubt.
Maybe a bit hard on Pants, too. There’s no doubt that today’s footballs are very difficult to get hold of and you see very few clean catches from decently pinged shots. He made one superb save yesterday at a really crucial time.
Most of the comments from Arsenal fans were utterly delusional. I’ve rarely seen a game whereI felt so much that if the opposition scored we could go back down the other end and get another. City were superior in all aspects; we attacked tom the off and the only reason Arsenal were in the game at all was because we went for the jugular throughout.
Quote:
“Alph, ‘Clichy’s Man’ was actually playing on Arsenal’s left when he got both his goals.”
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Absolutely Val, Clichy’s man marking was awful
Clichy has not been that great this season but overall he has not been worse than Kolarov. Even if you try to average performance of Clichy and Kolarov since Clichy joined. You would find that he has provided us far more in terms of value paid for and team contribution [he only cost 1/3 of Kolarov, which obviously folks fail to see as the money comes out of Mansour's pocket not theirs]. Berating Clichy does not make Kolarov a world class [despite his few good performances which hopefully would continue]. As rightfully mentioned, Clichy’s man was playing on Arsenal’s left for both goals.