MAN CITY 0 – 2 Middlesborough – PLAYER RATINGS
24 Jan
Caballero - Will attract his fair share of blame for Middlesborough’s first goal, but that moment aside he was an excellent last line of protection. Made a string of important saves to keep us in the game - 7
Zabaleta - Full of energy and fizz down the right, and looked to break forward as much as possible, but too many of his touches were lacking in threat and in safe positions - 6
Boyata - Some of what he did was fine, as it should have been, but lurking beneath the calm surface was a very panicky wreck. As soon as we conceded the opening goal, he was a disaster waiting to happen - 5
Kompany - Rusty, as he so often is when returning from injury. Always looked to be on the front foot, but didn’t quite have the sharpness that enables him to nick in time and time again - 5
Kolarov - Offered a decent outlet out wide on the left and we looked to find him in space to deliver his powerful crosses. Minimal end product, however, and nowhere to be seen as the away team countered repeatedly after the break - 6
Fernando - Failed to convince once again. Hesitant on the ball, but more importantly for a holding midfielder, he doesn’t seem to have a good anticipation of danger. Woefully underhit his backpass to Caballero in the build up to the visitors’ opener - 5
Milner - His passing in the first half from a central role was good, incisive and always positive. As the game drifted on, though, he was shifted wide and didn’t have the quality on the ball to influence play - 6
Navas - I feel like I write the same for him each week. Saw lots of the ball in dangerous positions, but stutters, stops and then fails to start again. Incredibly wasteful - 5
Silva - When even he couldn’t slip through those delicate passes or conjure up a chance, you knew it was never going to be our day. One of his most frustrating performances in a long while - 5
Jovetic - His brightest showing for a good few weeks, he looked creative and determined to make something happen. Had a couple of shots from outside the box and showed a flicker of an understanding with Aguero - 6
Aguero - Sharper and quicker off the mark than he was last week, and that can only bode well for next week’s encounter with Chelsea. It didn’t work out for him in front of goal, but there were some promising signs - 6
Subs
Lampard – Didn’t get a sight of goal - 6
Fernandinho - Customary booking for a late challenge - 6
Dzeko - No impact - 6
A bit like the Arsenal game in some ways, except this time they underestimated the opposition (again!) and made more chances, especially in the first half.
I think one of the corners broke the mould and resulted in a chance on goal. That’s amazing!
At least Chelsea will be feeling stupid/ashamed/embarrassed too next week!
Silva 5 and fernando 5? Reallly?. Fernando 3.
Kompany zero. Zaba 4. Kolarov 4. Boyata 7. Pellegrini zero.
Very very lucky to loose only by two. A pathetic & deeply embarrassing display, they ruined my beer for the night’ congrats to boro & there fans, Manuel & co hang your head in shame. A black day/night for the blue moon, I need to find a brush quick….oh there it is – Chelsea, f++k me. Amazing!!
Repeating myself again that it is totally unacceptable to concede 1,2, 3 goals per game. Our defense is horrible and that is because we fail to defend as a team and leave the job to defenders! If it is not Kompany, then it is Mangala, MD or Boyata or Clichy… individual errors are going to be there all the time as there is not perfect player However if City does not start to defend as a team to minimize the impact of those errors, we get punished for it as we have been.
As it has become customary, we can take this one as another bad day in the office and wait for the next one at Stamford bridge next week!
That performance was an absolute embarrassment. I’ve been patient so far this season and given Pellegrini the benefit of the doubt but enough is enough. Boro didn’t just park the bus and get a couple of lucky goals. They cut us up regularly and could easily have scored more than 2. We made a championship side look like world beaters, and all on our home track. I was excited about the match up with Barca and the chance to improve on last season’s effort but now I’m shuddering thinking what they could do to us.
home to forest.home to Aston villa.away to Sheffield utd.home to Newcastle.home to Wigan.home to Middlesbrough.wigan at Wembley.thats just a few recent cup shocks of the top of my head these past few seasons.honestly it is shameful.chances are being missed year after year to put more trophies on the board.smaller teams just do not fear city and that is just wrong.
This was a disgrace but not totally surprising. There are now too many overpaid,very average, foreign players in the squad mostly brought in by Pelli. Fernando – no insight,not good enough!, Mangala – can’t tackle, not good enough, Navas – can’t cross a ball, not good enough, Sagna – just not good enough, Demich – can’t run – not good enough.
All you Blues fans who gave stick to Lescott should hang their heads in shame. This team is not as good as the 2012 winning team. It’s got worse under Pelli and its time for him to go!! The sooner the better.
It’s time to get rid of a lot of the foreign rubbish bought for ridiculous sums of money in the last 2 years and bring in the 19 year olds. This squad is going nowhere!
Can I suggest we bring back Micah and play him as a centre back!!?