MAN CITY 1 – 0 Everton – PLAYER RATINGS
7 Dec
Hart - One superb flying stop to deny Lukaku in the closing stages was a save that brought us two points. After having had nothing to do until that moment, it was testament to Hart’s concentration and reactions that he was able to spring into life - 7
Zabaleta - Another good display after his impressive performance away to Sunderland. Constantly bombed forward and the timing of his runs, as is invariably the case, was spot on, but was all too often ignored by his teammates - 7
Demichelis - In Kompany’s absence and with Mangala looking shaky, much of our defensive organisation rests on his shoulders and he accepted that responsibility again at the weekend. Vocal, decisive and a leader at the back, he was not going to be beaten - 7
Mangala - Much of the post-match attention has focused on his challenge with Samuel Eto’o, but aside from that he was far from convincing. There’s a certain recklessness to his play that better sides will exploit and whilst he is often bailed out by his pace and power, he is yet to settle at all in a City shirt - 5
Clichy – A sustained run in the side has led to a string of eye-catching performances and this was no different. Provided so much energy and bite down the left against the dangerous Coleman and was both solid at the back and also cute in attack - 8
Fernando - A couple of typically crunching challenges and vital blocks showcased his love of the under-appreciated side of the game and he proved a good foil in midfield for Yaya - 7
Y. Touré - When your best three players are absent (Kompany, Silva, Aguero), you need any other stars to stand up and shoulder more responsibility, and Yaya did precisely that in a superb, man-of-the-match display. He was dominant in midfield, eager to burst forward and determined to impose himself on proceedings - 9
Navas - As ever with Navas, there were some good moments and some slightly disappointing ones. He’ll always be a threat due to his pace and ability to spring over the top, but his end product, whether in shooting or providing for others, is often lacking - 6
Milner - You know what you get with Milner… and it’s far more than just a willing runner. He offers so much protection to his fullback, yet always provides a dynamic forward-thinking option with his intelligent movement. The award of the penalty was debatable, but it wasn’t surprising that it came as a result of Milner creating an angle for the pass - 8
Nasri - The justified criticism of Nasri in the past is that he has been pretty but fairly harmless. He has so much natural ability, yet rarely seems to control a game in the way Silva or Yaya can. Yesterday, thankfully, he demonstrated just what a precious talent he is with a monstrous performance. He worked tirelessly, showed a purpose and drive in possession and was at the heart of all our attacking endeavours - 9
Aguero - As soon as he went down, there was a collective groan from the crowd. His importance cannot be understated and we just have to hope his injury is nothing too serious, as you don’t want to be relying on Jovetic and Dzeko to maintain a title challenge - No time to mark
Subs
Pozo - Plenty of willing running and saw one shot saved, but, perhaps understandably, he had a negligible impact on the game. There are plenty at the club who have high hopes for him - 6
Džeko - When we needed energy and fight as the game became tense, he looked utterly disinterested - 5
Lampard - Brought a calm head to midfield - 6
I see you’re jumping on the media led slaughtering of Mangala. Apart from his bizarre king fu impression, what did the lad actually do wrong. He’s the potential to be a colossus. He’s 21/22 in a new league. Remember demi last season. He’s nowhere near as shaky as he was. I expect more from an intelligent city reviewer. How many chances did lukaku, Etto etc have? ONE!!!! Very harsh mark and comments. Shame on you sir.
Clichy was man of the match
I almost fell off the settee……..Yaya MOTM………you cannot be serious!
…..and in line with Wattle above……I thought Mangala did ok
Yaya ran the game, which match were you watching?
Inline with above, mangala was good apart from the kung fu moment. He will get better. Milner man of the match, clichy and nasri very good
A good battling performance led by Milner who was superb, especially considering we played the last half hour with ten men! If Dzecko was not fit he should not have been on the bench, but if he was fit then he should never wear a City shirt again. So for that and chucking an 18 year old, who isn’t a striker, yet alone a sole striker, for effectively his full debut against two of the most experienced centre backs in the league 4 out of 10 for Pellegrini.
Pellegrini stated dzeko was only fit to play for 30 mins, roughly the amount of time he played.
Pozo nearly scored and worked hard… What did pellegrini do wrong ? Or what would you liked him to have done? We won and he gets a 4/10.
Credit when credit is due. 15 points for last 5 games(Swanse, Bayern, Saints, Sunderland,Eventon). I can say for sure not a single person thought it was realistically possible to win all those 5 games. That is a fantastic return and we are 3 points behind Chelsea. I give him 10 out of 10!
Mangala improves each game he plays. They will eradicate the errors & he will be the perfect partner for Vinny
Dzeko was due to play 30 mins.OK he did not do much but he set up a chance for Milner that was shot over. Lamps reverse pass, Dzeko header into space – Milner shot over. I would give Dzeko 6.
My men of the match were Yaya , Nasri , Milner and Clichy. all 8
Totally agree awful parroting of tired old media cliches.
Your inability to view Dzeko’s performances objectively is astounding.