October 2021 – Man City Unplugged

Steffen - 6 Punched a few balls which he should be catching and we were lucky that they did not fall to a west ham player. Felt that he could have saved the penalty from bowen, specially after going the right way. Passed out from the back very well and has improved tremendously in that aspect Zinchenko - 7.5 I was initially worried for him due to the physicality of west ham, but he was tremendous aerially and was the most ambitious of all our center backs. His build up play was good and he linked play well. His tracking back and tackles in the box were spot on Nathan Ake - 7 Had a great game defensively and looked solid in almost all the one on one situations. Maybe he could have offered a bit more creativity in passing out from the back. I have always felt with ake that his build up play is slow and that is the only thing preventing him from getting to that world class level John Stones - 7 Had a very solid game and snuffed out all the attacks that came his way. Again like Ake he looked rusty in the build up phase and could not play those defense splitting passes. Had a great header saved by areola Kyle Walker - 6.5 He was very solid defensively and made a few effective attacking runs forward. Made a couple of very important blocks and more often than not stayed back to guard against the counter Fernandinho - 7.5 The problem was that fernandinho was man marked by west ham's striker. This meant that City were finding it difficult to build through Dinho and had to use zinchenko in the build up. Overall he was very solid and dominated the midfield. Made some very good challenges when west ham were away on the break and also dealt very well with west ham's aerial threat Gundogan - 7.5 Gundo was the only attacking player making runs into the box. He had the 2 best chances of the game and could easily have had a brace. He was neat on the ball and was at the heart of City's best attacking moves. Apart from his wastefulness in front of goal, it was an almosty perfect midfield display Kevin De Bruyne - 6.5 Kevin is still not back to his best for sure. Had a couple of shooting opportunities that he would have buried, had he been at his absolute best. His passing was very good but still his weight of pass was a bit heavy at times. Mahrez - 6 Not involved in the game as much as he would have liked. His link up play was very good and he was not taking much time on holding onto the ball. His shooting boots were absent and he strangely chose to pass on a few occasions when he generally takes on the shot Sterling - 5 (Poorest performance of the match) Was City's most wasteful player. He had the most glorious opportunities to open the scoring and did not take them. All of his play until the final third was very good. To go to the next level sterling needs to work on his finishing Cole Palmer- 8 (City's man of the match) Played the false 9 position with extreme ease. It seemed as if he had been playing there all the while. Linked up play brilliantly when he dropped into the midfield. Had a great shot saved by aerola's legs in the first half. Played in the attacking midfield role in the second half and some of his touches were exceptional. He carried the ball through 3-4 west ham players alone on 2 occasions. We surely have a star in the making