…on 21 Premier League games just OVER half way.
Ratings
0 - Why bother even putting a shirt on?
1 - Was it worth leaving the dressing
room?
2 - Was it worth leaving the tunnel?
3 - …barley worth crossing the while line
(you get the idea).
4 - Below average
5 - Average
6 - Above average
7 - Good
8 - Very good
9 - Brilliant!
10 - Simply world class!
…and all the 0.5s in-between.
I’ve been ‘upping & downing’ the ratings according to my
opinion after us-facing Premier League opposition (including league & cup games) and in all Champions League games and here, after 21 league games and a fair number of
those same-said cup games, are my player, manager and overall team ratings.
9/10 and well on his way to my choice for
player of the season. Time and time and time again this season has he pulled
off some amazing saves and pulled a largely dodgy defence out of the mire;
saving us many points on the way.
5.5/10. Very up & down
performances and the decision to use him for sure in all League & F.A. Cup
games leave me feeling a little edgy. Let’s hope, then, for more of the 7/10-like performance we saw at Goodison Park recently and less of the 3/10 White Hart Lane ones…
6/10. Almost seems unfair to
judge him on his few appearances so far between longer & short injury
lay-offs. I think 6/10 is a credit to him then and I hope he can find some
stability and form.
5/10. I like Martin when he
comes on a calms things down as & when necessary for the last 15 to 20
minutes of games; I think he does that very well indeed. On for a near-90
minutes or more and he barely manages a 6/10. Having been, therefore, forced to
play longer in games through injuries to his fellow central defender teammates;
he’s chucked in a few 4s I have to say. Result? An average 5.
5/10: Started the season in
the first 5 games where he left off in the last 6 of last season, which was a
solid and unprecedented, for him,
7/10. Even as a non-Kolarov fan I was heaping some praise on him in this very
Blog. However, his form appeared to dip along with City’s after those
blistering 5 wins from 5 in terms of assured performances and consistency; soon
afterwards we were seeing far more 3.5s to 5.5s and hence the average 5 marking
following that good start. Decent – not GREAT – at going forwards as
ever and, as ever, mostly
poor-to-average at defending.
8.5/10 when fit…and
that’s all we can mark him on. Has been immense and ‘the glue’ to our defence
for the few games he’s played – I’d like
to see more Super Glue and less Evo-Stik for the rest of the season…
4.5/10 and scares the ****
out of me most of the time! Is prone to chucking in a couple of 7/10s but,
sadly, is prone to messing up big time with wild, wayward passes and rash,
ill-timed, attempted tackles. £31.8M? Really?! I hope-to-hell
that scout is no longer associated with Manchester City…
6.5/10. Almost made a 7 and
if it wasn’t for a few wobbly displays in the middle of his short City career
so far, he may have even got a 7.5 from me. I’m sure by the end of the season
he’ll be a solid 7.5’er and, Kompany
beside him for a good stretch God willing, perhaps even an end-of-season 8!
I also believe he suffers a little performance / rating-wise with-having to
play for good spells alongside Mangala and the slow-placed Demichelis.
7.5/10…and a solid one too / almost 8/10. Talk Sport in general and other punters were
sniggering when we plucked Bacary from Arsenal
for nothing and last season he had an end-of-season rating of 6.5 from me. That
was decent, this season is even better for a player HAVING to play so many
games for both club [through injury to Pablo Zabaleta] & country. Again I say…free transfer. Who’s
sniggering now?
Pablo Zabaleta:
6.5/10. Like Gael Clichy it
seem very unfair to mark him, having been out almost all season…following good
spells out last season! If he stays fit he’ll give Bacary some
well-deserved rests and, in the process,
we’ll get our hero Zaba-man back I’m sure!
6.5/10. Now that both hurts
and somewhat puzzles me to have to put such an above average-to-good rating
down because when the fair-haired Belgium joined us he breezed back into the
Premier League; oozing class all the way with 8s & 9/10 performances. I
actually didn’t think he had 4s, 5s & 6s in him…and so what’s happened?
Looks lost most of the time away from home and some of his home form hasn’t
been great. 6.5/10 is testament, then,
to his fantastic early displays and I, for one, want them back ASAP!
7/10. Another player plagued by injury early on in his City career – at one
stage I thought we’d bought another Jack Rodwell! I was eager,
therefore, to see what we’d signed and I wasn’t disappointed. Almost a like-for-like
replacement for similarly all-action James Milner…just a good few years younger. Not played too many games and in that
time he has had a couple of 6/10s; where he’s looked like he didn’t know what
his role was. But this largely defensive, central midfielder who also appears
to pop up from nowhere left & right has had mainly 7+ performances and is
an absolute SNIP
at “just” yer £8M!
7.5/10 and, like Bacary, a solid one too. Has
produced some marvellous performances this season including a few MotM awards!
Have seen very little of his often hot-headed
lunges and has performed ‘up & down’ in attack-support and defence very
well indeed. Carry on fella!
6.5/10. Nearly made a 7 and,
I’m confident, that he’ll finish the season on at least a “Good” rating. Like
his teammates he had an APPALLING rating away at Stoke City that “helped” drag
his overall score down and has had a couple of other below-par performances
too. But he’s had more decent than not-so and he is a player who CAN be a real asset when he’s ‘on
blob’.
6.5/10 (it’s becoming a favourite rating is this
one). Trust me when I say that Jesus was showing a considerably lower
score on my personal chart a few weeks ago. But a sizable improvement in the
last few games has hoisted the Spanish flyer up to a reasonable marking. Long may that continue…
7/10. My personal player of the season for the
last 3 seasons (certinaly the last 2), from memory – a player who usually makes us ‘tick’ and one who
I think we miss more than Vincent Kompany and Sergio Aguero. And injuries have plagued him this season, leaving the
now-just-turned 30-year old taking longer to find his top gears. He’s getting
there slowly and if we can keep him injury free for the remainder then I’m sure
he’ll finish on a solid 8.
7/10…just.
More good performances than average ones from the young England man is pleasing
in his first season and after HUGE,
unnecessary controversial noises from Liverpool
fans, some Blues; fan-numpties of OTHER teams and many of the press alike. If
he could only not run down so many blind alleys and finish a bit better he, like David, would easily finish on an 8
this season.
6.5/10…and I’m guessing a
lot of the ‘Yaya bashers’ out there would think me very kind with that rating.
He’s been okay as our big man in the
middle…but no better than okay. He, like Joe, has saved and even won us some
crucial points when he finds that magical gear of his and doesn’t always
get the credit he deserves for some “shadowy running”, I’m calling it. But I
can’t disagree with those who do tear their hair out at some of his more
languid displays. 6.5/10 isn’t a terrible rating but from someone who most
certainly CAN; it comes with a “must do better”.
Sergio Aguero:
6.5/10 (there’s that rating again). Like
many of his frustrated colleagues our ‘Serg’ has had a terrible season so far
with injures. And, like David, appears to be struggling to gain traction. There
have been small signs in recent games but then again recently, against Everton
at home in the league, there was ‘bluster’ but the ‘sharp edge’ has been dulled
a little. I’m sure it’ll come back and that 6.5 will be a solid 8 come the end
of the season…IF he doesn’t
break down again!
5/10. A player I have been
defending all season…and another one interrupted terribly by many injury spells
both short & medium-length. To look at his mobility around the pitch, his
interplay and passing between colleagues he looks head & shoulders better
than Edin Dzeko; a player some Bony
detractors often refer back to. But there’s no doubting that at least Edin did
score a few more in the same amount of games and that Wilfried is suffering a
massive striker confidence crisis – he
just tries to rip the net sometimes where a more finesse finish would do.
Sometimes certain players just don’t fit in to certain teams and as time passes
by I’m getting that feeling with the Ivorian striker.
6.5/10. A player who HASN’T
been injured this season very much at all (if ever) but who, frustratingly for him and many fans, not only rarely gets on the pitch but is someone,
who, doesn’t always make the flippin’
bench! Had a couple of naïve moments in his first couple of substitute
appearances but for a young lad he simply oozes self-belief. More game-time
from someone who knows how to run the opposition line so very well and who
certainly knows how to finish and I’m convinced Kelechi would be getting a
solid 7.5/10. C’mon Mr Pellegrini…
Whole team:
7/10. People who look at
the fact that we’re 3rd in the Premier League (at time of
publication), just 3-points off the top; still in the League Cup, F.A. Cup and Champions League (having finished top of our group)
could easily be forgiven for being very confused indeed that I haven’t given
better than a ‘Good’ rating. I get that.
But if you’d seen the displays over the last 3 months you’d
realise just how we’ve been eking out results; often crawling and creaking our
way to the final whistle in order to salvage a point and scrape a narrow
victory. Take away the amazing 5-game opening explosion to the season and
October and we’re left also with few top performances to applaud / remember.
Want some evidence? Then look at the form from the beginning
of November to the last game (Everton at home on 13th January 2016)
in all competitions…
W D L L W W L W W L W D W L W D
I say “form”…but that is all OVER
the flippin’ place! Just twice in 16 games have we managed back-to-back wins
since the beginning of November. Even the most die-hard, blue-tinted-glasses-wearing
City fan must admit that isn’t what we’d expect from a squad full of expensive
talent; despite the many, many injures.
And so that finally brings me onto…
Manuel Pellegrini:
7/10…and I’m gonna break
it down into bad & good points here for this one.
Bad:
-
His decision not to buy another left-back
in the summer; a position most City fans have been screaming for-for some time now.
-
His decision not to get an additional
striker in the summer; rolling out the same line that Raheem Sterling is ‘in
there’ as a striking option – HE
ISN’T! We could very well suffer for this decision…
-
His decision to send Jason Denayer out on loan…and then not getting him back when we needed
extra cover.
-
His reluctance to use Kelechi Iheanacho more. Again, we could suffer for not-giving the
young striker the opportunity to find us more goals…
-
Some of his team selections are, at times,
baffling and when they are head-scratching, it all-too-often blows up in our
face. All too often this is in either the Champions League or in Premier League
games just PRIOR to-us facing European competition.
-
Not always changing things in games until it’s
too late.
Good:
-
The way he’s adapting-in / understanding our
domestic cup competitions. First season, at
times, AWFUL team
selection and apparent preparation / attitude to both the League & F.A. Cup
rounds…and that’s despite him-eventually winning us the League Cup in his first
season! Now appears to give both competitions more respect.
-
His cool-headedness. Despite his post-match red
eyes (what IS that?) and the
fact that Jose Mourinho (remember him?) did appear to get
under his skin; I love the man for his calmness, which must spread through the
dressing room when needed. Especially in pre-match press conferences where he
doesn’t give reporters and INCH! Cool in front of the camera just-pre &
post game too – always positive, polite, respectful and non-confrontational.
-
The way he sticks to his style even if it’s not
quite working at times, which, more often
than not, does then eventually ‘do the trick’. In Pellegrini I, more often than not, trust. And following on from that…
-
…his style itself, which is largely entertaining
and attacking.
-
What he’s achieved so far. Blasted onto the English scene with
a Premier League title and a League Cup final win and although we had a
puzzling, lacklustre defence of that title - and little else to cheer about
otherwise - we still managed a good second-place finish and, as I say, this
season we’re still in for all four competitions! Not bad in 2-½ seasons…
He’s on a very creditable, “Good” 7/10 from me at this moment
in time this season and if he wants to make it an 8+, then I hope he can
address some of the defensive issues soon and use his noggin’ a little in the
striking department too; because all being well we have the middle part of the
team pretty-much sorted for now.
As for the team, we’re doing…okay.
But will “okay” see us to the final of the League Cup and
then give us a chance of winning that trophy again? Will “okay” see us continue
through the next few rounds - and to the
same ending - in the F.A. Cup? Will “okay” be good enough against the very
best Europe can offer? And will “okay” be enough to see us regain our Premier
League title; in a season where there would appear to be a chasing pack
as opposed to just one or two challengers?
Answer? No it won’t.
We need to start to find our higher gears now and start to
move through some 8 & 9/10 performances; get some consistency and a much-needed period of very few
injuries and, like Manuel’s first season, I think we can see two more
trophies in the cabinet come May 2016.
You may not necessarily
agree with some or all of my ratings but I hope you can see that I have been as
fair and as objective as I feel I can be – heaping praise where deserved and
being honest otherwise.
Thanks, as always, for taking the time to read.
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