Sunday 15 March 2009

City v Chelsea player ratings

Given Could not really have anticipated the goal, and did not have too many saves to make despite Chelsea's domination. One from Drogba at close range stood out though. 6

Richards A decent performance in difficult circumstances, and got forward quite a lot. Final ball woeful - though he wasn't the only one. 5

Dunne Even after the goal it was the sort of backs to the wall performance he relished. Lost Drogba a few times, but did make some good blocks and tackles. 6

Onuoha Should have had a penalty awarded against him in the first half; otherwise very impressive. Threw himself in front of everything, has very good recovery pace when beaten. 7

Bridge Pretty solid against Anelka and Bosingwa. Never really had the chance to go forward. 6

Zabaleta Asked to do an impossible job - and could not live with Essien and Lampard. Also lost the former for the goal, which was a shame. Gave it his all though, as ever. 5

Ireland Never really got to grips with Chelsea's colossal midfield. Ran hard, but was as blunt as anyone in the final third. 5

Elano Most notable moment was a needless booking for kicking Ballack. The game passed him by. We could really have done with Kompany or de Jong in for him. 4

SWP Superbly marshalled by old team mate Ashley Cole - never really got any space to run into. 5

Caicedo Very little service, and two fantastic defenders in Terry and Carvalho on him. But still didn't really threaten or use the ball that well. 4

Robinho Another anonymous Premier League away day from de Souza. Big games this week - Aalborg away and Sunderland at home, for him to break his 2009 goal duck. 4

Subs

Evans Ran around a lot, without offering much real quality.

Etuhu Ran around a lot, without offering much real quality.

4 comments:

Gary said...

Some of these ratings are ludicrous.
Richards was a lot better than a 5, he defended well today and tried to get forward, without any support.

Onuoha should have had penalty awarded against him, what on earth are you talking about, when he was in the box with Anelka it was 6 of 1 and half a dozen of the other, if you think thats a pen I am guessing you have never played football.

Elano, he was probably our best player today up until he got took off (apart from the work our centre halves were doing). He was the only one trying to get us forward, he was always on the move trying to pick up the ball so he could make something happen, which was much much more than most of the team.

SWP wasn't poor because he was being marshalled either, he was rubbish all by himself. Went back to the way he used to play for them, got the ball and moved it on rather than attacking their defence.

jackblue said...

Elano is a disgrace. Move this slacker on all did was a petulent kick at Ballack and their midfield were strolling past him. Disagree about Zab by the way. He didn't lose Essien he was going to him when Dunne called him over to that side for some reason?

BluePeter said...

Mr Nolan - Elano probably our best player? Do me a favour! Mr Half-hearted more like. I was prepared to give him another go but when played he consistently fails to produce the goods he is adequately equipped to produce. Lazy, bottleless, can't-be-arsed approach means we are a man down every time he starts. I honestly think he was trying to get himself sent off with his petulant clogging. Along with Robinho we expect players of this calibre to stand up and be counted, especially on such a world stage, but neither of them have the bottle or professionalism to stand up and be counted. Bin the pair of them.

Gary said...

I think I was watching a different game to you, I watched the game again today incase I was wrong. Elano was doing his best to pick up the ball in the midfield, his balls over the top were found wanting but he was trying to create something, which nobody else in a City shirt was doing.