MAN CITY 0 – 2 Arsenal – PLAYER RATINGS
19 Jan
Hart - Couldn’t have done anything to prevent either of the goals and apart from picking the ball out of his net twice he had very little to do. There was one comfortable stop from Sanchez, but that was about it - 6
Zabaleta - To a large degree, thanks to his dogged defending and persistent tackling, he prevented Sanchez from having a major influence on the game. At the same time, however, because he was so preoccupied with stopping Arsenal’s dangerman, he couldn’t provide any thrust to our own attacks down the right - 6
Kompany - Our captain is always a little rusty when he returns after injury and this was no different. Arsenal’s movement and the speed with which they passed the ball caused him problems, as did Giroud’s physicality. Unfortunate to concede the penalty, but this wasn’t his finest afternoon - 5
Demichelis – Started the game shakily with a series of poor touches and passes gifting possession away, but did recover and when the visitors threatened to break he was strong in the tackle. Barely won a header against Giroud, though - 5
Clichy - Some good challenges and interceptions, and tried his hardest to offer some energy and width on the left, but it wasn’t quite his day - 6
Fernando - Struggled badly in the first half to inject any sort of urgency and liveliness into our passing. Took too many touches and allowed Arsenal time to get back into position. Won’t want to see a replay of their second goal - 5
Fernandinho - Conceded possession cheaply throughout the game. He is blessed with such dynamism and energy, yet he found it near impossible to play the one touch pass and move football that we needed to break down a stubborn Arsenal backline - 5
Navas - Wingers, by nature, are frustrating players, but Navas really irritated the crowd yesterday. Cross after cross after cross failed to beat the first man and from the positions he found himself in, his final delivery was fairly woeful. The fact we played without a tall striker, thus meaning all his crosses had to be delivered along the ground, offers him somewhat mitigating circumstances, but he was predictable and all too one-dimensional - 5
Milner - Made his customary intelligent runs to create space for himself and others, but couldn’t work his way into the game and was replaced at the interval - 6
Silva - People will point to the absences of Yaya and Nasri as key factors to explain our below par performances, but yesterday proved just how heavily we rely on Silva’s creativity. If he doesn’t have much impact on proceedings, as he didn’t due to the work of Arsenal’s battling midfield, then we look toothless and insipid - 6
Aguero - Clearly nowhere near full sharpness, he lacked that devastating burst of pace to escape defenders. Never had a chance on goal - 6
Subs
Jovetic - Tried to make things happen and he posed a different, more direct, threat to Arsenal - 6
Lampard - Galloped forward eagerly, but didn’t have any opportunity to test Ospina - 6
Dzeko - Minimal impact - 6
Milner and navas were both truly awful, I think when jovetic came on it actually looked a positive move. i certaintly think jovetic should be starting on the left wing, with navas and milner battling for the right wing spot.
if we were to do this I’d be hopeful that by the time nasri was back we would be looking at putting him in for navas/milner, not jovetic.
Jovetic always seems on the cusp of linking up well with the team, especially silva, who I thought looked relieved when jovetic came on, as it seemeed to give him another option, other than giving it to navas who wins corner after corner, just for us to make a mess of them, or giving it to milner, who seems to think he has the quality of sanchez, desperately trying to beat men only for him to fail time after time.
Whilst some of the side were under par I’m afraid to say that even though we have a huge squad, two of the side are nowhere near good enough for a top four side. Demichelis started more attacks than any Arsenal player with his careless distribution, and whilst he can’t take all the blame, was nowhere to be seen for the second goal (Kompany was marking Mertesaker). Trying to ease himself calmly through a game is not good enough when we need battlers. Navas never has been good enough, badly one footed, can only go past a defender if on the run and can win with pace, he makes David White look like Figo. Finally, you can’t play the two Ferns together, they are simply not creative enough. I’d suggest Milner and Dinho as two box to box players whilst Mr. Toure is on holiday. So poor team selection, strange substitutions and a determination to stick by those that he signed gives MP a 3 out of 10. Very poor Manuel
I was really disappointed that we failed to test a woeful mertersaker and koscielney booked in the first minute was never once run at…. Credit to arsenal defensively they were superb and I can’t remember ever seeing a wenger side put in that level of performance defensively.
Agree with the post that to two fernan’s should start together Milner would be a much better option
I have said it before and I say it again. Our problem roots in our defensive fragility to concede goals like a sieve.We can’t keep giving up 1, 2, 3 goals every game. It has to stop. We are incapable of holding the lead even when we are up by two goals let alone catching up when we are behind. If Arsenal was great, it was due to the fact that Wenger finally got it right (timing was bad for us) to pick unattractive collectively defensive football over their attractive trade-mark against a City who went into game as favorites and Arsenal defended brilliantly as a team. Once you defend like that, with the quality you have chances would come knocking and they certainly came for them.
Folks once again may call it another bad day in the office but far from it, I would call Chelsea Vs Spurs as an example of bad day in the office for Chelsea not our case. Unless Pellers sorts out our defense we are going to struggle even in our wins.
Only Zabaleta and Clichy came out with any credit from the starting XI yesterday. We looked more threatening with Jovetic coming on but never looked like breaking them down.
What’s hard to take is that arsenal were the hungier & more determined side, they kept winning the first second & third ball we were well below par & the better team won. We looked lazy & on automatic pilot for some reason’ the passing & movement was too slow & predectible, while arsenal played very well I thought we made it easy for them, you know you’ll get nothing from a game when your “best” player is a six. Its unfair to load Silva with all the responsibility of being creater in chief. We badly missed nasri who is brilliant at pulling the opposition out of position which in turn creates the space for Silva, Sergio & co. While navas was poor with his delivery into the box the oncoming players must take up different positions in the box & not all run into the same area. Having said that milner & navas were particularly poor. Was Sergio even playing? V.k had an absolute mare – hopefully we can regroup now before the next game. There’s a lot of work to be done by the boss & his team, there certainly needs to be clear communication with Joe & the defenders… The second goal was very very poor. All in all a shocking 90 minutes & a major kick in the nuts for us, we seem to be thinking & dwelling on the next pass to much which leaves us looking ordinary. Fingers x we can rise again & take the fight to Chelsea & co.
For a year now I’ve been yelling at Navas to do something and affect a game every time he gets the ball. I’ve now given up hope.
I dont give a damn about milner’s hard work he’s a terrible player. Jovetic should always start on the left wing. As for navas sell him now. Get a decent winger who can cross and finish and dribble like reus or hazard or sterling.
Jovetic is improving every time he turns out for us and thank goodness he is. With most of our first choice players either having reached age 30 plus or about to, we have to bear in mind that the likes of Nasri, Jovetic, Aguero, Bony and Mangala are the future mainstays along with the skipper.
Hopefully the best of the 19 year olds will step up; Rekik, Lopes and maybe Denayer, because if not, we will have some very significant expenditure to try and slot into FFP over the next 4 years as Yaya, Navas, Milner, Demichelis, Zaba, AK, Sagna, require replacing.
This squad is unlikely to provide a better team than we have at the present and that means it must deliver a trophy this season to justify the quality within it and the cost committed to it. If it doesn’t it is likely to be dismantled and rebuilt.
Just an opinion folks, just an opinion!
Alph