With 5 games to go in the league, for us at least, before we reach ‘game 19’ / the half-way-mark, we’re more like 1/3 into the season rather than half way through our 2022/23 campaign. In fact, with just one round of the League Cup played, we haven’t even begun our venture into this season’s F.A. Cup, as yet.
Is it fair, then, to assess and rate our players already? Well, if you chuck in 6 Champions League matches on top of all those that is 21 games played in all competitions, so I’d say…“Yes”.
I don’t normally do a ‘half time report’ and, actually, this will be my first ever, if memory serves right.
But with the World Cup break splitting our season into two, it’s been on my mind for a number of weeks now to do one and, in fact, the Manchester Evening News beat me to it by releasing one the day before I’d even ‘put pen to paper’ on this one.
You might want to grab a brew for this…
Formula
How I do this, is to keep a full record-list of players and adjust their score accordingly as the season progresses. I only rate our players against either Premier League opposition, no matter what competition that may be in, or against Champions League sides.
Ederson
Generally speaking, okay. He did have a small period of games where his ‘actual goalkeeping’ [as opposed to his footwork] was brought into question and not for the first time either, which had those City supporters with doubts asking questions about whether new signing, Stefan Ortega, should be given a first team start-opportunity in the league. I think, since those flaky episodes, our Brazilian stopper then ‘upped his game’ a little; sharpened up generally and dropped his sometimes-casual persona, which allows in moments of sloppiness. He was on a 6.5/10 at one point but has dragged himself up a little to a reasonable 7/10. The new German arrival should keep Ed on his toes…
Stefan Ortega
Good. Whenever he’s been asked to take over in net he’s never had less than a 7 and when you consider that it must be so hard to keep focused when training week in, week out knowing that it’s highly likely that you’ll be keeping part of the bench warm; it’s even more credit to the just-turned 30-year-old. In fact, his last performance definitely warranted an 8/10 and, so, he currently stands on 7.5/10 from me.
Aymeric Laporte
Injury prevented us seeing the French born, Spanish international for a good chunk of the start of the season and even after his return, his manager informed us that they would be closely monitoring & managing the 28-year-old accordingly. But whenever he’s been deemed fit enough to play a part, he’s been nothing but solid as far as I’m concerned and, therefore, gets a solid-also 7/10.
Joao Cancelo
I hear so many pundits and ex-professional heaping praise on our Portuguese wing-back and I get it – he can be very good indeed and I’ve seen him not only have exceptional games but also tremendous, in-form periods within a season too. Why, then, do we all-too-often see another side to the 28-year-old – a side that sees him looking vulnerable as a defender and ineffective as an attacking supplement? I do have some sympathy for him, however, and I have said this before; he must be dizzy not knowing whether he’ll be playing on his natural right side or covering on the left and, furthermore, during games; he must wonder where on earth he’s meant to be half the time – defence, high up on the wing or tucked into midfield in that “inverted” role. All that said and regardless of whether he has genuine excuses, his form has dipped of late and he currently sits on 6/10.
John Stones
Not only an almost identical report as Aymeric Laporte but an identical 7/10 too.
I think Josh might have expected to see a little more football than he has done so far, especially after an indiscretion by one of our new signings, which I’ll come to soon enough. However, whenever he ‘got the minutes’ he did just fine and currently sits on a 7/10.
Kyle Walker
Missing for most of the season with a groin / lower abdominal issue for which he had surgery for. However, I was able to rate him up to that point and I have him down as 6/10 for now. Fingers crossed for him while on international duty and I hope we see more of him in a City shirt after the World Cup. Another player who, like Joao Cancelo, can so-often be a vital cog in our team but who is also prone to moments of lapses and periods of-being out of form…
Manuel Akanji
A slightly surprising, late-summer signing but one, I believe, Pep practically insisted that the club go for; literally due to the injury-prone nature of our other four central defenders. Simply put, this guy ‘hit the ground running’ and, for the most part, has kept on running ever since. There’s been a couple of dodgy moments since his good start and I, for one, believe that’s partly due to those games which sees our back 4 meld into a back 3; as our right-wing back joins in the attack; leaving the 3-remaining defenders to all ‘shuffle over’ and forcing the Swiss international into a position of-being half way between a central defender and a right back. He was actually on an 8 at one stage but has slipped to a still-very-good and most-certainly solid, 7/10.
Nathan Ake
A very good and very solid (there’s that word again) start to the season. As with most of our defenders, he hasn’t been without an injury niggle already, this campaign, but regardless of-whether he’s been asked to play in his natural position of central defence or over on the left; he’s been mostly very dependable. It has been noted of late that he hasn’t been quite as effective in recent matches and was looking a little more vulnerable and, so, “Mr 7/10” has slipped slightly to 6/10 for the time being. I have little doubt that he’ll drag that score up again in the remaining 2/3s of the season.
I think this lad looks like ‘the real deal’ and could find himself progressing into being a first team regular in a few season’s time. As for this season, I think we might see him play a part in domestic cup games and perhaps even the od cameo in a league fixture or two. Not all of his appearances have been as good as the one against Sevilla at home in the Champions League but he definitely gets a firm 7/10 from me.
Ruben Dias
I’m going to sound like a stuck record here but another central defender; another player who found himself returning from a long injury lay-off and finding his gametime being managed by his boss, coaching staff and physios. I think he’s lost some of his powers from a couple of seasons ago and I just wonder whether there’s a more-serious, underlying medical issue we’re not privy to. However – and like so many of his central defender teammates – he has been fairly-consistently solid and gets a likewise 7/10.
Sergio Gomez
Brought in to provide extra cover on the left-side of our defence…and possibly under the advisement of ex-City skipper & legend, Vincent Kompany. A player who started life as an attacking winger / midfielder / forward but who, whilst at Anderlecht under Vinny, was converted to a left-wing back. He looked to have some useful attributes that could fit into our style / system. But he’s been used very sparingly so far – accumulating just 106 minutes of league action; as our manager appeared to insist on playing central defenders on the left-hand-flank of our back line. Then came that rash challenge in the Champions League that lead to him-being sent off and I think that got under the skin of his manager. He has made a least one appearance since, which was a ‘full-90’ in the League Cup at home to Chelsea, in which he had an okay game. If the circumstances were right, I’d like to see him being given a run-out on the left wing. At the moment, he’s on 6/10 from me.
Barnardo Silva
This guy has been utterly brilliant at times this season so far and even when he’s NOT found the time to burst open a can of spinach just before kick-off, he still manages to pull out a decent-enough 7/10’er. It will be a sad day if he leaves in the summer. 8/10.
I was hoping to see a little more of the Wythenshawe-born, 20-year-old this season but it hasn’t quite happened as yet for the England Under-21 international. I think his favoured position is out on the right wing and not as an attacking-central midfielder and I seem to recall in one match, that’s where he was asked to play; ‘tucked inside’, which didn’t work out too well for the youngster. He’s done alright though and gets a decent 6.5/10 from me.
Ilkay Gundogan
Similar to Nathan Ake; Ilkay is quite often “Mr 7/10”. Once again, he’s had really good games and a few slightly less impressive ones and, yes you’ve guessed it, he’s currently sitting on a 7/10.
Jack Grealish
Okay, I’m going to start with two compliments, which might actually sound like backhanded ones but…whatever. 1. He’s having a slightly better season than last / his first with us. 2. He’s not as bad a Riyad Mahrez at the moment. He had an awful start to the campaign, which left me even more exacerbated than I was with him last season. Then – and I think for the first ever time in a City shirt – he actually had three, back-to-back, 7/10 games. However, soon enough ‘old Jack’ was back with largely anonymous & frustrating performances, which were then followed by a slightly improved, half-decent one. I have to be honest, every time I see Jack’s name in the starting line-up my heart sinks a little. Furthermore, nearly every time he starts and Riyad Mahrez starts-also on the opposite flank; I believe we look way, WAY less of an-affective, attacking threat. At one point early on in the season, I think I had him down as a 4.5 or 5/10 but those few, slightly better displays did then boost his score up to a 7, so all credit to him for that. One thing I will say in positive terms (a 3rd compliment?) is that he rarely lacks effort when he’s on the pitch - the problem seems to be just-not-being-able to use his skills to good effect. He currently sits on 6.5/10, which is a 1.0 improvement on last season’s, end-of-season rating, at least.
Kalvin Phillips
Has hardly kicked a ball in anger this season, so I cannot possibly give him a score rating.
Kevin De Bruyne
Similar to what I’ve said about Ruben Dias, I sometimes get the feeling that ‘our Kev’ is playing through some kind of physical pain at times. He’s an absolutely brilliant player and no-one can perform at their very best every time they pull on the shirt and tie their boot laces, of course. His manager appears to see these occasional ‘drop offs’ in performances and even went as far as saying so in a recent press conference; that the Belgium international is capable of much more. As far as I’m concerned, the Spanish manager surely can’t be questioning the 31-year-old’s effort – the fair haired, attacking midfielder runs himself into the ground most of the time and his sheer effort is often reflected in his rosy cheeks as he leaves the pitch. But I sort of know what Pep means, especially when his passing radar appears to go skew-whiff for a couple of games or more. Crucially though, if Kevin – and Bernardo Silva – aren’t on the pitch and having good games then, at lot of the time, neither do we as a side, I’ve noticed all too often. These are two vital players that we will have to consider replacing, for one reason or another, in the not-too-distant future and after 21 games in all competitions this season, Kevin is on an 8/10 from me.
Phil Foden
Phil had the quietest start to a season I think I’ve ever seen him have and it appeared to take an age from him to shake off the close season cobwebs and start showing what gets most City fans excited. Since then, he’s had much, much better games…but also a couple of quieter appearances where, just like Bernardo & Kevin, the effort was all there but nothing seemed to come off for the Stockport-born, England international. As I say, a lack of work rate is NOT the issue here but perhaps being rotated so often is? That goes for a lot of our players too and is just a thought. Assuming he comes back from the World Cup in good condition, I expect he’ll have a better last 2/3s of the season. Still gets good 7/10 from me.
Riyad Mahrez
…or the luckiest man on the planet, as I called him when he was offered a 2-year extension to his contract last summer. Riyad fans are likely to point me to the fact that, in all competitions last season, he was not only our top goal scorer but also got the most assists. That’s great of course and, genuinely, well done him! However, those goals & assists tended - and do tend generally - to come in clusters – it’s consistency that the Algerian international desperately lacks. And I’m going to go one stage further to really get up the noses of the Riyad fan club members - I strongly believe that the problem is attitude / a lack of application from the 31-year-old winger. I look at him and I see elements of the likes of Eyal Berkovic, Elano & Edin Dzeko – players who had the ability but who all-too-often appeared to decide when they could be bothered ‘turning it on’. I’m sure there must be a lot of City fans out there who know exactly what I mean / where I’m coming from. I hate that – at least Jack tries a lot of the time but when you see a player with ‘the tools’ to perform but they don’t seem to want to a lot of the time, then….AAAARRRGH! Edin Dzeko is a cult hero in a lot of City fans’ eyes and I get that…I really do. But for me, what appeared to blind a lot of Blues was the fact that he scored vital goals, at vital times and in crucial games, which is great of course, but appeared to cover up the fact that he just ‘switched off’ / didn’t turn up in so many other matches. This is what I see with Riyad Mahrez. He’s the best trapper of a ball I’ve ever seen and I’m not just talking about City players both past & present. When a long, diagonal ball heads his way it just sticks to his foot like glue and with-seemingly little effort. And when he’s ‘in the mood’ and in form, he’s practically unplayable at times! Even if, a lot of the time, defenders know that he’s likely to ‘jib inside’ and shoot with his left foot, it’s almost impossible to stop him getting a shot off…when he can be bothered, that is. But there’s just too many of those moments and games where he’s just not doing it and, as I’ve said, whenever I see both his and Jack’s name in the starting line-up together, I half-resign myself to the likelihood that we’re going to struggle until we bring ‘A Team’ players off the bench. I’ve seen some City fans citing a lack of confidence as the issue this season so far and that would sit with the fact that he’s also missed a couple of penalties. That could well be the case, of course, but I think it goes deeper than that and it’s something I’ve been aware of for the majority of the time that he’s been with us. This is the worst start to a season I’ve ever seen him have and, thinking back to the time where he went on strike at Leicester to get his move to us; I just can’t shake the feeling that he got his contract extension in the summer and thought, “Huh…job done”. Even his manager publicly criticised him recently for not looking after himself physically and he’s currently on a 5/10 from me. He was on an alarmingly-low 3.5/10 at one point…
Rodri
When we first signed Fernandinho I really did question the acquisition. Signing a Brazilian who’s played most of his football in the Ukraine and only had a small handful of international caps (at that time) just didn’t feel right to me and I recall, way back then, that ex-City midfielder, Gary Owen, had the same misgivings in a report that he wrote for the Manchester Evening News. He didn’t start too great either and often appeared to be a red card waiting to happen and, sure enough, with yellow cards being flashed around also; the suspensions started to roll in. He was a fairly-average player and a liability at times - my fears were being played out in front of me. But what an absolutely vital player he went on to become and, like a fine wine, he most-certainly got better with time. Then, as Fernandinho’s powers began to wane with age, in came Rodri. In fairness, the Spanish international had a very good first season with us. However, quite a number of flaky performances in his second season (last season) had a number of City fans questioning his ability; with one describing the defensive midfielder as being like a Chocolate Fireman with regards to his effectiveness. As for this season so far, look back to that first season with us. With Fernandinho departing in the summer, in came Kalvin Phillips and I think a lot of Blues thought this would keep Rodders on his toes; similar to the Ederson / Ortega situation. Then, unfortunately, Kalvin’s season stopped as soon as it started. Did we then see a drop-off in performances from Rodri? Absolutely not and, in fact, the 6’ 3” Spanish international has been described many times this season already as being a vital element in Pep’s preferred set up…and I agree. Effective whilst being ‘stealth like’, is probably a good description of him and he currently gets a 7.5/10 from me.
Erling Haaland
“A beast”. “A freak”. “Not human”. “A cyborg” or, as I like to call him, “The Terminator”. These names – and perhaps a few others – have all been labelled at the Norwegian international “destroyer” (there ya go…there’s another name). He’s hard working and has already adapted to the top-flight English league. He’s powerful, times his runs perfectly / is sometimes frustrated when the ball isn’t delivered when & where HE wants it and, of course, he's an amazing finisher. He already has goals & assists aplenty and is a ‘must have’ in most Fantasy Football player’s minds. An amazing player and I’m still pinching myself at the fact that we have him at our club. Oh yeah…and he’s a City fan too! Surely, then, I’m going to give him ‘top marks’, aren’t I? Well, I do have to look at every performance and while so many were 8s & 9s with at least one ‘perfect 10’; in fairness there have been a few frustrating 6s and, so, he gets a very solid 8/10 from me (borderline 8.5). Imagine what we’re gonna get from him after he’s had a World Cup break!
Julian Alvarez
Did I say that I was still pinching myself about the fact that Erling Haaland wears the Blue of Manchester? Well, when I heard that we were going to make a bid for Julian Alvarez I, of course, did my research and watched the videos etc. I was left praying that we’d get this striker / versatile forward. What a signing! He has patiently waited on the side for a lot of the season; waiting to be given a go and…has he had just 1 game, possibly 2 where he’s not got either a goal or an assist? I think that might be the case without looking it up. Tremendous work rate, terrific teamwork ethic and a fab finisher. Should he ever get a good run in the side then I think he’d get many 8/10s or higher performance ratings and, for now, he gets a very creditable and much deserved 7.5/10 from me.
The team as a whole
2nd in the league with the most goals scored and with the best goal difference; undefeated in our Champions League group, in which we finished top by 5 points, and we’re through to the 4th round of the League Cup after beating Premier League opposition. I’d say that’s pretty-damn good, don’t you?
But there’s a certain vulnerability about us at times AND,
as I’ve touched on, I get the feeling this season that when we don’t have our
A-grade players on the pitch; then some of our other players that we often fall
back on aren’t quite the quality we’ve had in the past. Don’t forget, we
all knew that we were going into this season with the smallest squad we’ve had in a long, long time; certainly under Pep at least, and following several departures in the
summer - Fernandinho, Gabriel Jesus, Raheem Sterling & Oleksandr Zinchenko, most of whom were ‘bench men’ a lot of the time in the
previous season and came on later in games when needed in order to give first-team-choice
players a rest. It's notable just how many youngsters are in & around the squad / on the bench this season...
We’ve only not won 4 games and they were all in the league, which has seen a 5-point gap appear between us and leaders, Arsenal. A quick look at those…
· Newcastle United (away). 3-3. Naivety, in my opinion, from Pep in-keeping with our high-pressing wing-back system for that match; rather than acting on what most City fans knew well before the game, which was that our hosts were a side that had fast, counter-attacking wingers / forwards. After going 0-1 up, we then got absolutely roasted for a good period of time to find ourselves 3-1 down at one stage early on in the second half.
· Aston Villa (away). 1-1. Awful performance from a lot of our players that day. Villa looked ‘up for the fight’ from the very off but after we’d soaked up early pressure; our terrible passing and poor play generally literally gave a then-struggling home side confidence. We were lucky to come away with a point, if memory serves.
· Liverpool (away). 1-0. A game where we looked too cautious; perhaps a little frightened to have a ‘proper go’ at the home side and certainly one where we missed several chances to score. Too many big players under-performed too. They had plenty of chances too…it’s just that they stuck one of theirs away.
· Brentford (home). 1-2. We looked well out of sorts right from the off; some players looked like they were saving themselves for the World Cup and, quite simply put, Brentford had a plan against us that worked. They were better than us – they deserved the win.
I do think that the quality in depth isn’t quite as good as it has been and I think with Pep rotating, as he has to at times, I understand that, then it does expose us a little and we then often have to make player upgrade changes and scrap to resolve a situation or two, in order to get the result. I think both Crystal Palace & Fulham at home are cases in point.
But, overall, very good I’d say and I’m giving the side 8.5/10 as a 1/3-term reporting mark.
Thank you for taking the time to read, especially as it was a very long one, and I hope you enjoy the World Cup.
I can’t imagine me-doing another blog-posting until just before our League Cup fixture on Thursday 22nd December; not unless there’s something worth commenting on regarding Manchester City contract or January transfer window-wise.
So, it’s goodbye from me and it’s goodbye from, well…me.
