Cand H ratings man Niall McDonald gives his marks
Fabianski: Beaten by their first shot on target, relatively little to do before a crucial block in the 93rd minute 6
Coufal: Great assist. Started to look stretched as City stepped it up, and was struggling near the end 5
Ogbonna: Very busy, excellent defending and organising 7
Balbuena: Lost count of the towering headers. Booked in stoppage time when finding himself, somehow, flying down the right-wing 7
Cresswell: Delivery from wide areas has really improved in recent weeks 7
Masuaku: Very comfortable again. Ability to carry the ball, and hit a crossfield pass that stood out 6
Rice: Put in an international-standard display against one of the top midfields in the PL 8
Soucek: Must have unbelievable stamina 7
Fornals: All over the pitch, finally ran out of puff a bit when through on goal late on 7
Bowen: Nobody epitomizes Moyes’ work-ethic better than Bowen. Showed good quality in the final third 7
Antonio: An amazing strike and played really well again before departing with injury 7
Subs
Yarmolenko: On for Antonio, can’t fault his effort and persistence. Nothing really came off for him though 4
Haller: Given 25 mins today; didn’t show enough to warrant a starting place (injuries aside) – just needs to have a bit more ‘spite’ about him I think 4
Can’t agree with your Coufal and Fabianski ratings at all. Coufal was my MoM personally
I agree with all the scores with he exception of FAB who I thought was at least a 7 and Coufal at least a 7. Last week he was up against Reg and Song, this week Sterling and he was incredible – how he gets a 5 is ridiculous. What a difference it is to have a RB who can defend and also who can get forward and has good technical ability. I would not have Fredericks in the squad, I would have young Johnson in the squad who can cover both RB and LB and is a far better footballer than Fredericks.
Yep, spot on mate.
Fine team performance.
Where was Bowan on the ManC goal? Fournals was back, Coufal defending the right side alone. Two games is a row.
I thought Coufal played well overall given City’s attack was mostly on his flank. He failed to stop Foden’s goal but it’s fair to say the entire defence had struggled to cope once Foden came on.
Masuaku made a match-saving intervention when he cleared from Mahrez just when he was lining up to shoot. I still can’t believe I’m saying this about Masuaku!
Yarmolenko and Haller are more difficult to rate. By the time they came on, City was well in control and we were pinned down in our own half. It became an altogether different game and it’s fair to say they didn’t have nearly the supply and support that Antonio enjoyed in the first half. This begs the question: what do we do if Antonio is side-lined or not playing at 100%? The problem with Haller is that (leaving aside his attitude for the moment) he doesn’t seem to be able to adapt to the team’s playing style. Yamo, on the other hand, is not as effective as a traditional winger as Bowen. So, why not play Yamo as the centre-forward as he is normally employed in the Ukraine national team? This guy has plenty of goals in him and a wand of a left foot.
Who on earth gave coufal 5, what game were they watching
Not trying to be a clever dick, Hugh; but your marks here are totally different from earlier. Genuinely confused as to why.
Ah hold on did domething wromng
Thanks mate – sorted
Coufal a 5 you must have been watching a different game….listen when all’s said and done they have over half a billion of talent and we defended well and worked hard 2 seasons ago this could have been a 4 or 5- so I’ll settle for small steps and with moyes and the Boys coaching we look hard to beat COYI ⚒️ ⚒️ ⚒️
I agree with Stephen Burnett Coufal was the MoM, Fab did brillantly. Cresswell ??? DID HE PLAY ??
Once Citeh equalized they could have easily over-run us as Man Utd did to Newcastle last week – but we stuck to it right to the end – I think that the key is that under Moyes we are playing like a team – I watched the game and was very happy with a point – I feared the worst when De Bruyne came on – however I haven’t filled in the survey because I woudl find it difficult to rate the players – I thought the whole team was great – so e.g. down scoring Fornals because his chip at the end didn’t come off seems a bit petty to me
The great thing is since the Newcastle game we dont need to look for anyone to blame because we can be proud of the team (even vs Arsenal)
Best players in this game were Fabianski, and Coufal.
Not fair for me to have a say on the game as it was AFL grand final day today in Australia. So a few beers were drunk and the mighty Tigers got up and won.
So yep too drunk to stay up and watch!
But reading all the reports this morning watching highlights David Moyes seems to be building something a bit special here.
A team that plays for each other, never gives up and importantly – seems to be really enjoying their football.
The fact the manager can motivate a team to the point that Masuaku is putting in some great defensive work tells its own story!
Part of me still wants to see Haller force his way into contention, though not at the expense of Antonio.
COYI!!!