Given Very little to do aside from the goal. 6
Zabaleta Given a very rough time by Ashley Young, he made more minor errors than usual. Some smart forward movement, even if the delivery wasn't quite there. 5
Touré Another solid performance from the captain, although he must take some responsibility for poor organisation from set pieces. Carries the ball out of defence like no City centre half in my lifetime. 7
Lescott Steadily improving, I hope. Generally did well against the mountainous John Carew and made no obvious mistakes. 7
Bridge One of his better games this year, his forward movement was smart and sharp, and he dealt well with James Milner. 7
de Jong Relished the physical battle in the first half, putting in some big tackles - including one which almost broke Ashley Young into little pieces. Limped off early in the second half. 6
Barry Looked like he took a while to get over the abuse but impressed in the second half - moving the ball around intelligently. Interesting hypothetical over whether he would have done a Dunne/Tévez or an Adebayor had he scored. 7
Bellamy Another goal and another inspirational performance for the player of the season thus far. A relatively quiet first half was followed by him doing as he did at Old Trafford - single-handedly dragging the team back into the match. He was running through the Villa defence at will and took his goal well. 8
Tévez Great work rate, and admirable in his willing to put himself in harm's way. Quality lacking though, whether passing or shooting in the final third. Much more to come, certainly. 5
Adebayor Some moments of real class - few can take high balls out of the sky and move them on as quickly and cleverly as Adebayor can: Berbatov and Ibrahimovic are his only obvious rivals. His pass to Bellamy was good too. But that aside he looked to be re-finding his feet. 6
SWP Seems to be drifting into a bit of a dip. A very mixed performance, out of the game for long periods before popping up in a good position - but generally failing with his cross or shot. As usual, looked exhausted after seventy minutes. 5
Subs:
Ireland Last season he launched himself with a dynamic substitute appearance at Villa Park. This year could be the same - he turned the game in our favour, replicating the intelligent movement and passing of 2008/09 in a way that he has not yet managed since the arrival of Gareth Barry. A good sign. 8
RSC Still not fully fit - he failed to have any real impact on the game, other than giving the ball away at whenever presented with the opportunity. 5
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2 comments:
Good stuff mate. There certainly is way more to come from Tevez. It's become vogue amongst the 'Sunday Supplement' types to say he's not that good a footballer. People always refer to his price, which is entirely pointless. Is he 3/5th of the player Ronaldo is? yes. is he twice the player Torres is? clearly not, but the point is he's always always a menace to defences, even on days when his touch/finishing is poor, and he is, contrary to what some reporters say, bloody good at football. I'm sure people will start to realise this once he's settled and tuned in with his teammates.
Ireland still lacked the battle when in defensive mode, but looked so much better going forward, was glad to see him playing his tradermark balls through defenders, we need him as he is th eonly creative midfielder
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