Ratings v Man City

[Canary Wundaboy 1,358]

1 hour ago, Six Pack said:

Any pundit who gives Byram or Amadou MOM is naive - they should be looking at the entire football match to base an opinion. We didn't draw the game 0-0 we won it.

My ratings (from lowest to highest):

8- Krul: kept his eye on the ball, made the right decisions which gave me entire confidence of him. Could have stopped the 2nd Man City goal some say - why not give some credit to the shot of the 60mil player.

8- Tettey, Godfrey, Lewis, Amadou, Byram. All got their share of headers, blocks and crucial tackles in. Amadou playing out of position did carry the ball out of defence a couple of times surprising and beating players but spoiling things by giving the ball away with bad passes, still retains 8.  Byram playing his first game won many individual duels with Sterling. But our right-hand side of the defence - his side was where Man City had most joy. Without being too critical - Bryam failed to stop a few crosses and let Sterling beat him to a cross which hit the post. So good deeds very much highlighted but bad ones not so as they did not lead to goals. Lucky to retain 8.

8. Steipermann - Attacked and defended well. No loose passes. Real good vision to put Pukki away for the shot that Pukki missed.

8.5 - McLean - given the extra .5 due to scoring. Tackled well without errors.

8.5 - Cantwell - being part of the attacking quartet gave Man City problems with his trickery and movement. Stuck to his defensive duties well always harassing his man.

9 - Pukki - Scored one goal and setup another. His usual "complete" performance but not MOM this time due to missing one shot, almost blocking Rodri's shot for the 2nd Man City goal but not quite achieving that and, also the MOM was exceptional.

9.5 + - Buendia (MOM) - this player's performance won us the match. Setup the 1st and 3rd goals, initiated the 2nd by bamboozling the Man City midfield. Was the focal point in most of our attacks. Full of energy - challenged, pressed and tackled for the entire time he was on the pitch. Was missed defensively when Drmic replaced him for those last minutes which resulted in our right-hand side looking like "open country" for Man City.

Re: Byram, a 750k player took on a 100m+ player (if sold today) and limited him to a few long range shots and speculative crosses. Coming straight into the team on his debut against Man City, he is a worthy MoM. 

[Aggy 747]

2 hours ago, Six Pack said:

Any pundit who gives Byram or Amadou MOM is naive - they should be looking at the entire football match to base an opinion. We didn't draw the game 0-0 we won it.

So if you win, a defender or keeper (or presumably defensive midfielder?) can’t ever be man of the match? 

[Aggy 747]

On 15/09/2019 at 15:20, Wacky Waving Inflatable Arm Flailing Tube Man said:

After having digested the result, I'll give my proper ratings:

Krul 6.5: Strangely, he didn't really have much to do for most of the game. He was called into action more towards the end with a few shots and crosses, which he dealt with very well in the main, but he should've done better with Man City's second goal.

Byram 8.0: Dealt with probably the best player in the division right now so well Guardiola had to move him to the other flank. Gave very little away defensively and looked assured with the ball.

Amadou 8.0: Considering he wasn't in his natural position, he was fantastic. Generally looked after Aguero very well and that interception late in the second half was crucial. Comfortable in possession as you'd expect from a midfielder.

Godfrey 7.5: Did well again, although when Aguero got free it generally seemed to be from Godfrey- but there's no shame in losing a world class striker a couple of times over 90 minutes. Showed the passing ability of a playmaker.

Lewis 8.5: Neither winger got any change out of him all game. Didn't have the opportunity to get forward like usual but retained the ball well when he had it.

Tettey 8.0: For someone lacking in match practice he was brilliant in midfield. Held things together so well and didn't allow a group world class midfielders to have any real opportunities to create or find space.

McLean 8.0: Didnt do a huge amount with the ball, but defended extremely well and, like Tettey, didn't let Man City's midfielders pull any strings. A very good run and header for the first goal. 

Buendia 8.5: Finally showed that he belongs at this level. Close control and tight dribbling to retain possession under pressure, and passed the ball well as always. Impeccable work rate without the ball and most importantly, contributed two assists. 

Stiepermann 8.0: Also had his best game of the season by a distance. Didn't make an assist, but two excellent passes released Pukki for the second goal and the chance just before the third. Did the defensively side of his game very well too.

Cantwell 8.0: Scored a goal and showed some nice touches in possession. Worked incredibly hard tracking back and is growing as a player all the time.

Pukki 8.5: Excellent assist for the second goal and took the third very well- although he should've done better with the chance just before. Defended from the front, made intelligent runs and held the ball up when he needed to. 

Subs: N/A.

I think I’d boost Krul and Byram by 0.5 each (and possibly drop Stiepermann off by 0.5 as I didn’t think he was as good as Cantwell - who I didn’t think was quite as good as Buendia or Pukki) but then pretty much agree.

I think to get a good 9 or 10 it would need to be a real one man show - losing 2-0 and your captain central midfielder grabs the game by the scruff of the neck, scores two, box to box, last ditch tackles, then sets up a 90th minute winner or something. For us it was much more a team effort so I’m not sure anyone was quite 9-worthy.

I did think about your scores during the game and wondered if there’d be a tongue in cheek 10/10 post so top marks for that!

[Six Pack 91]

3 hours ago, Aggy said:

So if you win, a defender or keeper (or presumably defensive midfielder?) can’t ever be man of the match? 

I reiterate - look at the performances of all the players over the entire football match looking at every facets of the game.  Yes defenders, keepers & defensive midfielders can be MOM but not Saturdays game - it was not an ugly 1-0 win. We scored 3 goals and one player initiated all three. The press are commending us for our overall game - not just defensively.

The defence played as a pack, some who won individual battles, Man City would have seen a great long yellow wall with our players all doing their part. The question is without Buendia could we still have won ? He was at the heart of all our attacking play as well as our defensive play. This is not school boy social football team where the coach encourages the weakest player in the team by giving he/she MOM for a good effort.

If a pundit gives it to someone like Byram then that pundit should be hosting "Mother Hen".

[Six Pack 91]

Sorry - not talking about you Wundaboy

[It's Character Forming 1,160]

You should also take account of the opposition, Byram’s performance against one of the top players in the world in his first league start this season was phenomenal and IMO would justify MOTM but others also have compelling claims such as Amadou as well as Buendia. I can see arguments for them all, personally I can’t get too worked up who actually gets that award given teamwork is so fundamental to City right now.

[Well b back 3,175]

On 16/09/2019 at 18:58, Canary Wundaboy said:

Re: Byram, a 750k player took on a 100m+ player (if sold today) and limited him to a few long range shots and speculative crosses. Coming straight into the team on his debut against Man City, he is a worthy MoM. 

Spot on. As far as I could see the plan was to keep them out wide ( so they could not run straight at our defence ) and allow crosses rather than let them get shots in or pass their way round us. If I am not mistaken Agueros goal was a cross from that side but was the one time when Beundia could not get back and therefore Byram was left 2 on 1. That’s not a criticism of Beundia but shows one of the few times they had some space out wide class teams are devastating. That’s the lowest % of attempted dribbles that failed that Sterling has had for a year.

Also should add the thing we don’t see with our eyes from Krull is his organisation. I am guessing it’s immense.

[Mr Angry 1,542]

On 16/09/2019 at 14:01, king canary said:

Doesn't really make a difference that he saw it late, he saw it early enough to get down to it and get a good hand to it but didn't keep it out- he'll be disappointed in himself for that one. That being said his save from Otamendi was key and generally he looked in command when behind a makeshift defence. 

Krul was a doubt and I think it was an arm injury-could this be why he wasn’t able to keep out the shot although he got his hand to it?