Chelsea V Man City Player Ratings

Chelsea v Man City 12.12.11

An even game that ended up being decided by two silly City mistakes in the 2^nd half. Clichy’s sending off helped set up Chelsea’s late dominance which lead to Lescott’s hand ball in the box. Man City scored early through Balotelli’s opener and were certainly on top as they looked to run all over Chelsea’s slow marking defense. However, as the game wore on Chelsea wrestled control of the match through the skill and brilliance of their star wingers, Mata and and Sturridge. Man City have now certainly lost their invincibility in the Premier League and Chelsea are back in title contention.

Chelsea

Czech 5.5 – He is an extremely talented shot stopper, but as he showed again today, he is very average when coping with breakaways. He didn’t have much else to deal with as City looked a little off the pace.

Cole 6.5 – He started the game slowly but got better as the game went on. Like the rest of his back four, he surprisingly had little do deal but performed admirably in his task at hand. However, he has never learned how to cross which still puts him a step below other star left backs in the world.

Terry 7.5 – A complete rock today and seems to be back to his very best. He was slightly at fault for Balotelli’s opener but dominated from the 2^nd minute on.

Ivanovic 5.5 - Horrible positioning and recovering for Balotelli’s goal. However, after that mishap, he performed well with the remarkably little he had to deal with.

Bosingwa 6 – Some decent defending and tantalizing crossing. On most occasions, he dealt with Balotelli well and overall had a solid game.

Romeu 7 - Did what he had to do and never offered City’s attacking players any room. After another solid performance, it looks like Mikel will never get his starting spot back.

Miereles 7 - For the player who seems to have replaced Lampard in the starting lineup, he scored a very Lampard-esque goal when he came into the box to score his volley. Had a very strong first half but was extremely unlucky to have not be given two yellow cards in two leg breaking challenges in the first half. Faded in the second half and came off to a resounding ovation.

Ramires 7 – He does everything well and has to be an automatic starter for Chelsea and Brazil. I love everything he does and he only seems to be getting better. Got the better of City’s center midfielders today and was the main cause of Clichy’s sending off.

Mata 8 - Once again, he was the best player on the pitch today. He got the better of his mirror twin (Silva of course) and seems to be loving life in the Premier League. His passing, movement, intelligence, and skill on the ball were impeccable yet again.

Sturridge 8 – With Mata, he was the difference today. Beautiful twist, turn, and cross to set-up Miereles on his goal. He seemed to be able to beat Clichy 1 on 1 every time he had the ball, and he pretty much did. It was his shot that forced Lescott’s hand ball in the box and surely looks like an automatic starter for England.

Drogba 6.5 – Led the line well but didn’t offer anything special today until City went down a man. Had one beautiful back heel to setup Ramires and showed nice flashes of skill at the very end of the game.

Subs-

Lampard- 6 – Even though he missed his last penalty, he had the guts to come up trumps today in his thunder bolting strike. He will be angry he didn’t get the start, but after scoring the game-winning goal against the best team in the league, how angry can he really be?

Malouda N/A

Mikel N/A

Man City

Joe Hart 5 – Most announcers would say he could do nothing with Miereles goal. But I would disagree because his positioning was weak and the volley was down the middle. However, it would have still been an extremely difficult shot to stop and you definitely couldn’t blame him for it. Conversely, I due put blame on Hart for not knowing Lampard’s penalty was going to be right down the middle. Because Lampard had his placed penalty saved by Newcastle recently, Hart should have known Lampard was going to go with power, not placement. Reina would have known.

Zabaleta 5 – Defensively, he is pretty solid and close to on par w/ Richards. Offensively, he offers less than half then what Richards offers. Put those two together and City are a much worse side w/ Zabaleta at right back and it showed today.

Joleon Lescott 5 – Another solid game today until his foolish handball in the box which lead to Lampard’s game winning penalty. As his body was turned, it was a slightly unlucky penalty to give, but because he kept his hands up, the call was correct. Foolish penalty to give as Sturridge’s shot was clearly going wide.

Vincent Kompany 7.5 – True captains performance today when his team badly needed it in such a hostile environment. Similar to that of Terry, he was a complete rock at the back. Unlucky to be on the losing end.

Gael Clichy 3- Couldn’t cope with Sturridge all game and was deservedly given 2 yellow cards to be sent off early. City has bought a new star left back every year since they became the richest team in the world (Bridge, Zabaleta, Kolarav, and Clichy) and it seems like next year they may have to do it all over again. Why City chose him over Enrique last summer I will never know.

James Milner 6 – The usual Milner game where he did everything pretty well but nothing exceptional. Is that good enough to cement a starting place for City and England over Adam Johnson? I’m not so sure and, to be honest, neither do most.

Garreth Barry 6 - A fantastic start to the game where his touch looked Silva-esque but faded as the game went on. Bruising hip challenge on Ramires in the 55^th that I can feel from a thousand miles away. Couldn’t muster much else as his central partner had such a horrific game.

Yaya Toure 3.5 – Seemed a step slow today and couldn’t get the better of his battle w/ Ramires. Gave the ball away way too easily at times and never offered his usual menacing runs. One of the worst games, if not the worst game, I have ever seen Yaya play.

David Silva 6.5 - His touch, vision, and passing were fantastic as always but he didn’t offer that extra skill and dimension today. Disappointing game by his lofty standards and had to be taken off early as City got more defensive after the red.

Mario Balotelli 6 – Cool as the other side of the pillow to glide by Cech on the first goal. Some fantastic turns and skill, but as usual, his decision making was very poor. He shoots from everywhere when sometimes he should just do the easy pass.

Sergio Aguero 6 – Beautiful strength, turn, and pass to set up Balotelli on his 2^nd minute goal. Looked like a meance throughout the first half and will be angry with himself that he couldn’t put his first half effort inside the box on target. Faded badly in the second half and was taken off early after Clichy’s silly red card.

Subs

Toure 5- Decent job when he came in at right back.

De Jong 5- Couldn’t do much in the latter stages of the match.

Dkeko N/A

Ref- 8 Fantastic game and got the two big calls correct.