Player ratings - Man City (h)

Dale Jasper said:

Singing the great escape before the game, wtf was that all about?

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You do realise its been played during fanzone for the last four years

Finchley Seagull said:

I don't see what relevance Burnley and Huddersfield have. Huddersfield were away to Palace (a completely different proposition to Manchester City) and Burnley were playing against ten men for most of the match (and even then sat back in the second half and could easily have failed to win against nine men in the end).

I am not sure what your point is about conceding the points before the game began. We held them for 70 minutes and, in that time, had chances to score. If one of them had gone in, the result could have been different. Or if Stephens had not made the mistake.

We got the tactics completely right. If we had pressurised City higher up the pitch or attacked more, we would probably have lost by a lot more goals. You only have to look at their first goal to see what happened when we got caught with too many players upfield.

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people keep mentioning Dale's mistake but we went from attacking down the left , back to Ryan in a matter of seconds , Ryan then pumps the ball into a midfield throng of players.....Stephens was wrong footed when the ball cannoned to him , he never actually gained control before being blind sided by De Bruyne......if there had been a couple of heads in the area when Murphy was attacking then this situation doesn't arise......the defensive attitude of the team is well known from last season ....as we keep saying it was Man City but we need to learn to have a go , we are capable .

goldstone said:

Stephens 5. So he finally gets his Premier League chance and bottles it. No better than average all game and then stupidly loses the ball to almost gift City their first goal. Maybe, just maybe he would have had a better game playing alongside Kayal or Sidwell.
Propper 6. Probably not the wisest decision to stick him straight into the starting line-up against the top team in the league, but no doubt Kayal's injury forced Hughton's hand. Personally I would have played Sidwell. Started off poorly but did improve as the game developed. Clearly has potential ... at least I bloody well hope so!

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Blimey, you have rated Propper above Stephens in the game we played on Saturday? Either that is a common agenda against Stephens resurfacing from last season (which it appears to be considering your comments) or you gave Propper a +2 for his transfer fee.

Stephens was caught in possession once, against a side that gave us less than a second at times on the ball, and it was punished. He will learn from it quickly as will the others who made mistakes. Other than that he screened the back four well, if you hadn't noticed yet he isn't the kind of midfielder that is going to get us moving up the pitch at pace unless he plays it long (which he did once and Murphy should have scored from it). That job is for Propper, which he only showed mere glimpses of doing in 90 mins.

I have no reason to bash Propper, he has had zero settling in time and the glimpses themselves give me confidence he will be a fantastic player for us but he had a very poor game and to rate him higher than Stephens in absolutely baffling. Any of the 3-4 occasions he passed it to city feet with our players up the pitch could have easily resulted in us conceding. I see you gave Duffy a 7 too despite laying it off to Aguero for a sitter and losing his man more than once.

I also find your rating of Brown a little strange for only c20mins on the pitch playing out of position in which he showed some promise going forward. He's not an experienced wide player and this showed at times defensively but he will get there. Let's be less critical of our players after playing the title favourites shall we?

Ryan 5. Distribution wasn't great and could have saved the 2nd. Whether or not he is an upgrade on Stockdale only time will tell but not a given on Saturdays evidence (yes, yes it's a very small sample size). Looked small to me.
Suttner 6. Solid against tough opponents. Will like to see how is going forwards against lesser teams
Duffy 7. Played really well, backpass excepted.
Dunk 6.5. Same as Duffy. Played well, real shame about the OG and letting Jesus in for the handball. Convinced he will learn and get better for it.
Bruno 7.5 Linked well with Knockeart when he came on, pick of the defence just about.
Brown 6. Thought he was sticking to instruction well before he got injured. Will surely be better when he can get forward more.
Stephens 5.5 Great tackle in first minute then went missing. Will learn from being robbed.
Propper. 4.5 Some woeful passing in the 1st half. Hopefully down to nerves.
March 8. We will need more of his attitude. Fearless.
Gross. 7 Saw enough. Potentially delightful ball over the top to March in 1st half. When he is on same wavelength as the rest of the team, he could be some player.
Hemed 4. We know he is slow but the way Walker caught him up with a 3 yard head start was men against boys stuff. Not physical enough and not mobile enough. I don't see where he fits in at this level.

Murphy 5.5 Looked up against it but who wouldn't. Probable bit part player this season given the signings made.

Guardiola : I've always been unconvinced but seeing the pressing tactics 1st hand and how we has got multi millionaires with massive egos chasing down balls like Craig Mackail Smith on speed perhaps there's in something in his management.

Special mention for Kyle Walker. Best full back performance against Albion since Kenny Samsom bullied Johnny Crumplin who never went past the halfway line after the first 10 minutes.

They will finish top 2 and we will get better.

Gazwag said:

You do realise its been played during fanzone for the last four years

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Ok. Feeling pretty stupid right now. Never really noticed as I pitch up just before ko. My bad!

It's always hard to start the season off with half a team of new players. I watched Spurs yesterday, and couldn't help thinking that they had an enormous advantage, as all of their team, with the possible exception of Walker-Peters, were so used to playing together. Contrast that with WHU, who, with a good number of quality signings, looked dreadful against MUFC.

I have watched the Man City game twice, and Propper did make a few howlers, but I think once he knows the players around him, he'll come good. Ryan too looked a little shell-shocked, but once he settles in, I think we'll find we have a decent keeper.