PHEW ! After a tepid 90 minutes in south east London, City snatched 3 points from Crystal Palace as Kelechi Iheanacho prodded home with only minutes remaining. Although we managed the win, it was a fairly dull affair which saw some fairly forgettable performances from our men.
Once again, I’m back with my player ratings after our nervy but rewarding display at Selhurst Park:
Joe Hart: Wasn’t particularly busy but when called upon he was more than adequate- making a fantastic save from a glancing Jason Puncheon header. ANOTHER clean sheet: 7.
Bacary Sagna: Worked well and was steady- not as good as previous showings but he didn’t really put a foot wrong. Recovered nicely from his knock he picked up playing France too. Clean sheet: 7.
Vincent Kompany: Looks so much better all-round. Winning battles excellently and kept Bolasie etc quiet. Him and Mangala were again imperious and are yet to be breached: 7.
Eliaquim Mangala: Far more composed with and without the ball. Tactical foul on Puncheon was clever. He also seems happy to play for his place and clearly isn’t fazed by Otamendi’s arrival. Continues to impress and now has 5 clean sheets to his name this season: 7.
Aleksandar Kolarov: Wasn’t as offensive as usual but linked well with Nasri in the first half. Neither was he hurt by Zaha, who had a quiet afternoon. Had a few wild efforts go emphatically wide but that’s customary with our Serb, I suppose: 7.
Yaya Toure: Wasn’t inspirational and did little but kept play ticking and protected the back four well. Crunching tackle on McArthur caused a scuffle between the two managers as Pardew ventured into Pellegrini’s technical area to protest: 6.
Fernandinho: Him and Toure worked well to make our backline’s job easier, but weren’t involved in much going forward. Seems odd not seeing Fernandinho involved in a goal after the start to the season he’s had: 6.
Jesus Navas: It’s like groundhog day- another badly mediocre Navas performance. With my eyes closed: Got into good positions but did NOTHING with them. (An open net even escaped him this time) Simply not good enough and will probably be ousted for the man who slipped him in, KDB: 5.
Samir Nasri: Not as good as Silva in that #10 position but still retained the ball well and it was his shot that caused our winning goal to go in. Was our main attacking source throughout: 7.
Wilfried Bony: Along with Victor Anichebe, probably some of the best hold-up play you’ll ever see and with it he created chances for him and his peers- doesn’t seem 100% fit as yet and you can tell there’s still far more to come from the Ivorian: 7.
Sergio Aguero: Not going to give the little man a rating but was ridiculously hacked down and ultimately injured by Scott Dann as City broke away on the counter-attack. Not looking too good with Juventus round the corner – everyone hoping for a speedy recovery: N/A
SUBS:
Kevin de Bruyne: A baptism of fire for the 24-year-old Belgian, who probably wasn’t envisaging such a start to his City career, but boy did he impress. His passing was stellar and the ball he played to enable Navas a 1-on-1 chance was effortless. He also created 5 chances, according to Squawka – more than any other player on the pitch. Dribbled well, showed excellent balance and agility and showed strong glimpses of why City paid the money they did: 8.
Kelechi Iheanacho: YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS. In under a minute of coming on the young striker instinctively followed up Nasri’s drive and poked home before goalkeeper McCarthy could get to it- for the poaching instinct alone he deserves plaudits: 7.
Martin Demichelis: Wasn’t on long enough for a rating: N/A
