KDB leads the way for City match ratings
BUT WHO ARE THE POORER PERFORMERS IN BLUE?
WHO remembers that Kevin de Bruyne started the season slowly, even if he has been phenomenal since?
And is it evident that Raheem Sterling, but for some world-class performances in the middle of City’s current, suspended campaign, has been below the high standards he has set in recent years?
The enforced break from the season has been a time to take stock, and many people have published player ratings as a summary of how squads have performed so far.
But we at M.E.N. Sport decided to be a little more scientific than that, and base our ratings for the season so far on the match-by-match player ratings which our reporters dish out within moments of the final whistle.
And when you do that, there are some intriguing results, although the outstanding performer remains entirely predictable.
But here is the City squad, ranked from lowest to highest, based on the average of those matchday ratings (only players who have played 10 rateable games or more).
■ 21. EDERSON
A surprising under-performer, but goalkeepers in modern City teams tend to get six out of ten most weeks, because they have so little to do. But the Brazil international has had a couple of stinkers, notably Wolves away, which dragged down his average. 6.00
■ 20. JOHN STONES
The England man has had a poor
campaign, struggling to get into a team which lost its two best centre backs in the summer. 6.17
■ 19. ALEKS ZINCHENKO
Hasn’t let anyone down but has not played as many games as normal due to injury and Mendy’s resurgence. 6.18
■ 18. NICOLAS OTAMENDI
Would probably be many people’s choice for bottom spot. But while a couple of nightmares dragged him down, he has also had a couple of 9/10 displays to haul his score up again. 6.19
■ 17. BENJAMIN MENDY
Recent performances have reminded us of the powerhouse Mendy from his early days, but after two years of incessant struggles, he
took quite a while to get going. 6.24 ■ 16. RAHEEM STERLING
A surprise loiterer in the lower regions. Bagged a 10/10 performance against Atalanta, but has a lot of below-par scores at the beginning and latter part of the season. 6.31
■ 15. CLAUDIO BRAVO
Started the season as man of the match against Liverpool at Wembley, and has performed reasonably well when called upon. 6.37
■ 14. ILKAY GUNDOGAN
His Steady Eddie reputation is reflected in his ratings, hardly ever poor and rarely outstanding. You need players like that. 6.42
■ 13. KYLE WALKER
Has been strong and consistent
for the last couple of months but had some bad moments in the middle of the season. 6.43
■ 12. ANGELINO
Performed pretty well in the opening months, but shockers against Liverpool and United dragged his mark down and led to a January loan move. 6.45
■ 11. JOAO CANCELO
Has been forced to bide his time, but has been fairly consistent when called upon - lots of 7/10 scores. 6.50
■ 10. GABRIEL JESUS
His scores bares all the hallmarks of a confidence player, veering wildly from fours to nines, more than any other player, but one of his nines was at the Bernabeu! 6.56
■ 9. DAVID SILVA
Used to be a regular seven-plus man, but after a strong start to the season his influence has waned. 6.58
■ 8. SERGIO AGUERO
One of only two players to score two ten-out-of-tens - against Watford and Aston Villa - but when he is bad, he is anonymous. 6.62
■ 7. BERNARDO SILVA
Outstanding last season, but affected by Mahrez’s advance and off-field issues. Still one of the more consistent performers, always buoyed by immense work rate. 6.69
■ 6. PHIL FODEN
Big performances in Zagreb and at Wembley have boosted an average that tends to be good anyway. 6.78
■ 5. RIYAD MAHREZ
Breakthrough season for him, including a 10/10 in the 8-0 demolition of Watford. Still has odd big dips, though. 6.79
■ 4. ERIC GARCIA
His score benefits from the fact he has only played 10 rateable games, but he has never scored less than six and has some big scores. 7.00
■ 3. FERNANDINHO
For a player making the transition to centre back, he has been phenomenally consistent, even scoring well in disastrous team displays. 7.06
■ 2. RODRI
Difficult to remember any poor games, and when City play well, he is often at the heart of it. 7.19
■ 1. KEVIN DE BRUYNE
No surprises here, even though there were a few ordinary scores early on. Ten out of 10) against Watford and Arsenal, and a bagful of ‘nines.’ 7.34