Ratings v Stoke..

[paulmclaren]

Hart-6- nothing really to do, no chance with goal.
Zabs-6- one of the better players i thought.
Kolo-6-played well again.
Richards-6-solid enough at cb, we definatly miss his serging runs tho.
Clitchy-6-Up and down defended well and attacked when he could.
Nasri-7-at the heart of citys moves, poor final balls though but played well.
Silva-5-very poor last 4 games silva, looks jadded and out of sorts.
Yaya-7- heart of everything as useual but his slowness at times in infuriating, played well though has grown on me, still played every single game.
Barry-7-he was our main tackler in the middle and was unlucky not to stay on but we now Mancini will never sub yaya.
Ballatelli-5- possibly a 4 should of been hauled off with Dzetko, done absolutly naff all very poor.
Dzetko-3-what can i say shocking, very poor, has scored 18 goal in all comps to be fair but very, very poor.

Subs.

Johnson-5-hardly touched it.
Tevez-5- not enough time brought on too late, how on earth he kept Dzetko on I'll never know maybe to try n say he still has confidence in him (SOMEHOW).
Milner-5-first we have seen of him in ages, no time, surplus to requirements.

[paddyblue]

agree but ballotelli 3 along with dzeko

[Nick]

Those ratings make us sound like we played half decent..

[trout man]

I am not in to slagging players generally but I thought the delivery from clichy was terrible, in fact the delivery from clichy in general is terrible all the time yet it is a job he is given to do. How can you keep kolorov on the bench with dzeko in the front line. Mancini dropped a bollock on that one, clichy neither has the skI'll or confidence to deliver a world class ball in the run of play. I would give him a 5 at best. Defended ok, just can't do what is expected of him in the final third.

[Spurge]

Lots of comments about how poor we were up front but you may be surprised that we had 16 shots of which 11 were on target.

I don't think we defended that well to be honest. Too many times balls into our box saw us being outnumbered time an time again esepcially at the far post.

[mr_nool]

No need to single Dzeko out tonight. The whole team was average. He had plenty of poor touches, but at least he put some effort in for once. We were just below par over all. Sloppy passing, lack of creativity, not closing the opposition down, shaky defending, Hart having a bit of an off game...

[Beefymcfc]

Lots of comments about how poor we were up front but you may be surprised that we had 16 shots of which 11 were on target.

I don't think we defended that well to be honest. Too many times balls into our box saw us being outnumbered time an time again esepcially at the far post.

Understandable with the make-shift defence.

As for the scores, bewildering.

If the average is 5 in a game away to Stoke then I'm not quite sure what peoples expectations are anymore.

I think I might stick to my own for a while.

[Douglas Higginbottom]

I am not in to slagging players generally but I thought the delivery from clichy was terrible, in fact the delivery from clichy in general is terrible all the time yet it is a job he is given to do. How can you keep kolorov on the bench with dzeko in the front line. Mancini dropped a bollock on that one, clichy neither has the skI'll or confidence to deliver a world class ball in the run of play. I would give him a 5 at best. Defended ok, just can't do what is expected of him in the final third.

Here's a contraversial thought but is it possible, if we had a striker who bust a gut to get across the near post every time there is a chance that Clichy (or Kolarov)looks like he might send over a "bad" cross that goes straight to the keeper,we might actually score the odd goal. Someone like Hernandez who is pretty crap in general play but comes really alive in the box.

[Pretty Boy Lee]

Here's a contraversial thought but is it possible, if we had a striker who bust a gut to get across the near post every time there is a chance that Clichy (or Kolarov)looks like he might send over a "bad" cross that goes straight to the keeper,we might actually score the odd goal. Someone like Hernandez who is pretty crap in general play but comes really alive in the box.

Well said that man.

As a coach I can't stand strikers who simply make straight runs waiting for the perfect delivery. Especially when there's two of them of a decent size. Attack the bloody thing.

[Douglas Higginbottom]

Here's a contraversial thought but is it possible, if we had a striker who bust a gut to get across the near post every time there is a chance that Clichy (or Kolarov)looks like he might send over a "bad" cross that goes straight to the keeper,we might actually score the odd goal. Someone like Hernandez who is pretty crap in general play but comes really alive in the box.

Well said that man.

As a coach I can't stand strikers who simply make straight runs waiting for the perfect delivery. Especially when there's two of them of a decent size. Attack the bloody thing.

I am not even sure they make runs at all half the time.Just stand there,marked and hope it lands on their head or something .

[Pretty Boy Lee]

I am not even sure they make runs at all half the time.Just stand there,marked and hope it lands on their head or something .

Which begs the question why is bobby playing them?

[Spurge]

Lots of comments about how poor we were up front but you may be surprised that we had 16 shots of which 11 were on target.

I don't think we defended that well to be honest. Too many times balls into our box saw us being outnumbered time an time again esepcially at the far post.

Understandable with the make-shift defence.

Kolo Toure - is a centre half
Zabaletta - is a utility player but the vast majority of his appearances for City have been at right back
Clichy - left back
Richards - was a centre half before he became a right back (in fact his early career was centre half/centre mid)

So this was our back 4 yesterday - I don't call that make shift. True not first choice back 4 but plenty of experience and not really playing out of position. It may well have been becuase we were sloppy positionally as a team defending set pieces or tracking back in open play but whoever was at fault we found ourselves exposed at the back too often.

Don't get me wrong I think a point at Stoke is a good result especially as we had to come from behind. I think points made in this thread about movement up front are valid. The difference might just be basic things like organisation and variation.

Remember the win at Spurs, MOTD were couldn't praise us enough for the movement and fluidity in our play. When we lost the ball we regained our shape quickly to win it back. Going forwards the runs and movement of Nasri and Silva exploiting space in advanced and essentially wide postions opened them up and created chances for Dzeko and Aguero. We did everything collectively as a team we knew when to break when to track back and when to slot in.

We just seem to have lost this ethic at the moment - it's a bit of tweaking and probably a bit more belief thats required thats all.

[Douglas Higginbottom]

I am not even sure they make runs at all half the time.Just stand there,marked and hope it lands on their head or something .

Which begs the question why is bobby playing them?

Watching it again the movement really is average and that's not just two front men it's pretty well everybody.Mario seemed to start the 2nd half as if he had been given a talking to but it didnt last.AJ came on and looked positive for a while but again that didnt last and the whole thing just faded into the slow tempo again.

It's the intensity that's really missing most of the time and maybe part of it is that players are not making runs from deeper which is what makes things happen.A little too defensive minded maybe? We know the opposition sit back and camp on the edge of or just in front of the box.It's not just about throwing players up there but doing it at pace and getting players wider.The winner against Chelsea came from Nasri attacking the box and getting a cute short pass but it was rare for anyone to receive a ball on the floor in the box which is what we have been so good at during the season.

A big miss at the moment we all know is David Silva.I don't think it's an injury that's causing him problems as whatever he's got he has had for ages so something else is causing him problems.I hope that might go away this week and he can fire again for the run in.

[ashton287]

Hart -5- not much to do but when called on made a few dodgy decisions.
Zaba -5- nothing to say.
Kolo -5- nothing to say
Micah -6- won a lot in the air.
Clichy -4- was lost all game and couldn't make his mind up what his job was.
Barry -7- our best player, quickly realised by Webb hence the booking.
Yaya -6- played well as usual. Couldn't do his job as no one wanted the ball from him in the final third. They just hid behind stoke players rather than coming to the ball.
Nasri -6- made more effort than any other attacking player.
Silva -3- shouldn't of started. Doesn't want to be here anymore and just wants the season to be over. He isn't 5% of what he should be lately.
Balo -5- had no protection from Webb. Could of been effective if refs didn't hate him so much.
Dzeko -3- had about the same game as tevez and balo but his first touch fucked up our best chance and he ballooned a free header.

AJ -5- tried to give us some width but when he is the only one it is pointless.
Tevez -3- nothing.
Milner -5- was at right back FFS.

MANCINI -1- got it wrong from the outset and then refused to do anything about it. Should of had the balls to drop silva after his last few performances and knowing what stoke would do. Balo shouldn't of started for the same reason as silva.

[paulmclaren]

^^^^^omg united fan in disguise?

Silva -3- shouldn't of started. Doesn't want to be here anymore and just wants the season to be over. He isn't 5% of what he should be lately.

He was shit and is very much out of sorts latly but to say all that is wrong.

[Beefymcfc]

These are Sky's ratings, clearly different to the above. I understand that we are fans and that some ratings are borne out of frustration or how much the player concerned hurt your fragile feelings, but at least try giving it a proper rating, not a rant rating.

Manchester City Rating
Joe Hart 7
Kolo Toure 5
Gael Clichy 7
Pablo Zabaleta 7
Micah Richards 7
Gareth Barry 6
Yaya Toure 8
David Silva 6
Edin Dzeko 7
Mario Balotelli 6
Samir Nasri 8
Substitutes
Costel Pantilimon
Aleksandar Kolarov
Stefan Savic
James Milner * 6
Nigel de Jong
Adam Johnson ** 7
Carlos Tevez *** 6

And this is what they think of us on our own page. Obviously couldn't be arsed updating it!

Barclays Premier League Table
Barclays Premier League Table - March 21 2012 Pos Team P Pts
1 Manchester United 29 70
2 Manchester City 29 69
3 Arsenal 29 55
4 Tottenham Hotspur 29 54
5 Chelsea 29 49
6 Newcastle United 29 47
7 Liverpool 29 42
8 Swansea City 29 39
9 Sunderland 29 37
10 Everton 29 37
11 Stoke City 29 37
12 Fulham 29 36
13 West Bromwich Albion 29 36
14 Norwich City 29 36
15 Aston Villa 28 33
16 Blackburn Rovers 29 28
17 Queens Park Rangers 29 25
18 Bolton Wanderers 28 23
19 Wigan Athletic 29 22
20 Wolverhampton Wanderers 29 22

[ashton287]

The team was average and silva was the worst player on show, this is a level assessment of his performance based on what he can actually do compared to what he did.

Other players might score higher for me because they have played as well as you expect from them. Silva was very very poor by his own standards not mine. Dzeko lost points for fucking up our best chances. Mancini did get it wrong. I don't see how you can argue with any of these.

[dick dastardley]

Lots of comments about how poor we were up front but you may be surprised that we had 16 shots of which 11 were on target.

I don't think we defended that well to be honest. Too many times balls into our box saw us being outnumbered time an time again esepcially at the far post.

knowing how stoke play wouldnt you have thought dejong would have been best to deal with the thugs of stoke?