Tim Rich, The Observer
Maybe it is the sunshine on his back. Perhaps it is because he can now almost taste the end of the season. It could be, as the player has suggested, because the allegations of sexual assault against him have been dropped, but the Robinho who is ending the season finally resembles the player City thought they had bought. He scored the first, created the second for Stephen Ireland and forced a superb one-handed save from Tim Howard.
This slight, wonderfully talented but mentally fragile footballer from Brazil has performed when City most had need of him and had he not done so against Hamburg, West Brom and now Everton, Mark Hughes's position would be parlous this morning.
Paul Rowan, The Sunday Times
Robinho stayed on his feet all afternoon, was committed in the tackle and never stopped running — qualities we should expect from a professional footballer, but which have been lacking on many occasions when the £32.5m Brazilian has taken the field, particularly away from home.
Equally effective in the dismantling of Everton was Stephen Ireland, a product of City’s academy who scored his 13th goal of the season. It will be a serious injustice if he fails to win the PFA’s young player of the year award tonight.
Jim Foulerton, Independent on Sunday
This was not much of a homecoming for Everton after their Wembley heroics, and nor was it a great way for their manager, David Moyes, to celebrate his 46th birthday. Too good for Manchester United in the FA Cup semi-finals, not good enough for a slick City at Goodison. Inspired by flashes of brilliance from Robinho, who scored the first and set up the excellent Stephen Ireland for the second, City's first win on the road since August could have been by a wider margin.
Derek Allsop, Sunday Telegraph
Robinho had been justly derided for his unconvincing commitment outside Eastlands, yet he emerged as the inspirational leader of City's first away win in the Premier League since August.
His partnership with Stephen Ireland mesmerised Everton's heavy-legged defence and appropriately the pair shared City's goals.
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