Season over - how did I rate our players & manager?
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
Almost exactly the same ‘school report’ as I gave him this time last year – so much so, in fact, that I’m going to copy & paste some of it. Some excellent saves; a few errors - some a little silly / avoidable - and some truly exceptional passes! The only difference this season, is that he made a few more errors than last season and some of his shot stopping wasn’t quite as good as in the last campaign either. Still, I personally like him a lot and believe that he all-too-often gets overly criticised by some Blues and non-Blues alike. Compared with last season and the season before, those extra errors have cost him a little in my end-of-season ratings. 7/10.
(Last season’s rating: 7.5/10)
Scott Carson
Is it fair to rate a player who only saw 21 minutes of action? Well…that ‘21 minutes’ came in the second leg v Sporting Lisbon; where he kept a clean sheet; was tested by the Portuguese side and made one good save, so, yeah…7/10.
(Last season’s rating: 7/10)
Zack Steffen
Some good performances whenever he was asked to step up for cup games (and I have only rated him against Premier League teams, don’t forget). He was actually sitting on a 7.5 at one stage. However, then came Wembley in the semi-final of the F.A. Cup and all I’ll say with regards to that, is that it dragged his score down considerably. Ended on 6/10 and I would say, assuming he’s staying of course, that he needs a good pre-season followed by an early cup outing to raise his confidence again.
(Last season’s rating: 7/10)
Aymeric Laporte
Mr Consistency – Mr Consistently-Good, more like – gets the same rating from me as he has achieved in the previous two seasons. Some errors / off games, as is to be expected over the course of such a long season that's cram-packed with so many fixtures, but he’s been largely very solid indeed with touches of class too. And…WOW did we need him when the defence was decimated towards the end of the campaign! Played through some pain too at the very back end of the season. 8/10
(Last season’s rating: 8/10)
Benjamin Mendy
I can’t even remember what games nor how many the French defender played, it was that long ago, but looking at my ratings chart; I had him down as 5/10 before being suspended by the club following his arrest, which is simply a continuation of his previous seasons’ poor performances. I’d love to know who scouted him because as we continued to be linked, I looked him up more & more and similar to Mario Balotelli; I had proper ‘attitude alarm bells’ sounding in my head…
(Last season’s rating: 4.5/10)
I’m not sure what game(s) he played in earlier on in the season before he came on as a late sub against Newcastle in our penultimate home game of the season (too late / not enough minutes to mark that one) but I gave him a rating of 7/10 for his efforts / contribution.
(Last season’s rating: N/A)
Joao Cancelo
Continues to be a good, sometimes excellent wing-back…but not without occasionally forgetting about his defensive duties whilst trying to assist his attacking colleagues. It’s a difficult role, of course; probably the most complicated one to balance and I’m sure, also, that he’s being constantly urged by his manager to ‘push on’. His form can be a little up & down too – at one point in the season the Portuguese international was our most in-form player but in this fluid rating system; lesser displays finally saw him ‘averaging out’ on a solid 7/10 which, when you consider he played more games than any other City player this season, is a very good score indeed (the more games you play, the more chances you have of an increased number of errors / off games).
(Last season’s rating: 6.5/10)
John Stones
Another very, very good season from the England international; some good games too whenever asked to cover at right-wing back, apart from one which I’ll mention very soon. His score was pegged back a little around the time of his injuries – he was clearly struggling and just couldn’t perform to his standards of the last couple of seasons whilst ‘carrying something’. That wasn’t helped by being thrown into the right-wing back slot after being injured for a good number of weeks in our crucial, last game of the season; where he was closer to the opponent’s box than he was to ours; leaving a gaping hole that Villa kept, understandably, targeting. He was finally switched to centre half after the break (my remonstrations at that time might have been heard…). 7.5/10.
(Last season’s rating: 8/10)
Kyle Walker
Some excellent displays, especially early on in the season, were tempered slightly by…good but not AS good later on in the season. Then he got injured; brought back too soon and got injured again. 7.5/10.
(Last season’s rating: 7/10)
Nathan Ake
Often referred to as…’the 4th defender’; how much did we NEED that so-called 4th man towards the back-end of the season; both at left-back and in central defence?! Solid…really solid performances from the Dutch international. He too then caught the defender’s ‘injury bug’ - at first it looked like it was his hip and then we were told it was his ankle. He continued to be a presence on the bench after that but even when our manager felt the situation desperate enough to stick a 37-year-old midfielder at centre half; Nathan remained on the bench and only saw 29-minutes of play as an oncoming sub in one game out of the final four. 7/10.
(Last season’s rating: 7.5/10)
Oleksandr Zinchenko
There’s a Blue who goes in my local who just can’t seem to bring himself to praise the Ukraine international whatsoever. I correct myself – he does, sometimes, reluctantly acknowledge the 25-year-old’s attacking qualities. Where we do agree – and I think it’s a view many, many City fans share – is that we STILL need to sign a flippin’ good, specialist left-wing back; one who knows how to defend and when to bomb forward to perform the other aspect of his duties. Yes, Oleksandr does make a few too many defensive errors…but he’s not a left-wing back! He’s an attacking, left-sided midfielder / winger who has been asked to retrain his brain & muscle memory from all that he’s known, footballing-wise, for the first 23 years of his life! I’m sure as time passes some fans forget that fact. I don’t think anyone would argue about the desire & determination this lad has always shown – even more so this season in my opinion – but we’ve also had some truly terrific displays from him in the season just gone. Yes, we get those West Ham away errors that costs us goals but he never lets an attacking winger settle on the ball for too long…and then on the other hand we get superb, attacking moments like we saw in our last home game of the season. He featured in 15 Premier League games this season; 7 of which came in our last 7, crucial outings; where he was, largely, in very good form indeed. Ends on an 8/10, in fact, and well deserved too in my opinion.
(Last season’s rating: 7.5/10)
Ruben Dias
A bit of a lost season for the 25-year-old, in some ways. Injury blighted the last 3rd of his 2021/22 campaign, whereby he only saw 2-full and 2-half games in the final 11-league matches of the season; missing Champions League fixtures too in that time. When he came back for those 4 fixtures following a full 6-weeks out with a hamstring injury, he just didn’t look the same; before-then breaking down once again with a muscular problem in the same area of his initial injury. However – and this is key – having started off the season really, really well; my players rating chart started to show a dip in form prior to his ‘hammy’. He was at least on a 7.5, possibly an 8, before he slipped to a 7; then a 6.5 before actually ending on a 6/10. In that brief return that I’ve just spoken about, he just didn’t have it in him to pull that score back up a notch or two before getting injured once more.
(Last season’s rating: 8/10)
Barnardo Silva
Wow! Mr Apparent Want-Away, last summer, I say again…wow. In the first round of voting for ‘Player of the Season’ e-mailed by the club in recent weeks, I had no hesitation whatsoever clicking the button under his name; despite Kevin De Bruyne’s amazing displays. Boundless energy – making tackles, assisting in ‘turnovers’ and making lung-busting runs anywhere from left back to right wing – backed up with many moments of high quality. In fact, I think he does SO much hard work & running that it-can-then-sometimes leave very little left for the quality to surface in some of his performances…but I’m certainly not complaining. 8.5/10 (he was on a 9 with just a few games to go).
(Last season’s rating: 7/10)
Just 121 minutes of league football played but to say that this lad doesn’t look out of place in this City side would be an understatement. He got an assist in one of those games too. If I could add ratings for performances against lower league opposition too then his score would jump up considerably, especially after THAT display against Swindon Town. Towards the very end of that match, in fact, he sustained a foot injury which kept him out for months; with the club even considering surgery at one stage. That didn’t happen (or hasn’t happened as yet) and we started to see Cole appear on the bench more & more as the season finishing post came into view. I wanted to see him being given 20 or 30 minutes ‘hear & there’ in some of our final-few games. I’m excited about his future with us. 7.5/10.
(Last season’s rating: 7/10)
Fernandinho
Apart from a few games earlier on in the season where he managed a ‘full 90’, the Brazilian international was used more as a late sub anywhere from 3 to 34 minutes, records show. Every time he did so, he oozed class and helped us not concede as minutes ticked away. I think, following those games plus a few where he played more minutes in some fixtures; he was on an 8 from me at one stage. However, as he was asked to play more at the ‘business end’ of the season and often out of position too; those ratings dipped ever so slightly and he slipped to a still-very-creditable 7/10. For a player I had doubts about both before we’d signed him and in the first few seasons of his long, Manchester City career; he turned out to be a vital cog in our machine season after season. Farewell skip and thank you.
(Last season’s rating: 8/10)
Ilkay Gundogan
Started off the season really well but then, for some reason, found himself in & out of the side quite a lot, which I think then-affected his performances somewhat. But as the season entered it final 3rd, the German international found more minutes on the pitch; gained some momentum and produced some very fine performances indeed. Oh yeah…and he came on to ‘do his part’ in a certain 3-2 home win on the last day of the season…8/10.
(Last season’s rating: 8/10)
Jack Grealish
I think, firstly, it’s fair for me to state where I stood on the ‘should we or should we not sign him’ debate last summer. I was dead 50/50 – part of me looked towards Pep and knowing how he can transform / improve players and knowing also that Jack ‘had the skills’; that excited me to some degree. But then I looked at Jack ‘the man’ and I saw elements of Mario Balotelli & Benjamin Mendy attitude / application-wise…and the same ‘alarm bells’ that I had before we signed both the Italian & French internationals were ringing once more. And…yes, I looked at the price tag aspect too; felt frustrated for the likes of Cole Palmer, James McAtee & Samuel Edozie and also wondered if we’d be better off spending the money on a ruddy-good left-wing back or a forward instead. I still believe that to be honest. I’ve heard so many Blues – those who are ‘longer in the tooth’ then even I - who refer to the signing the of Jack to the signing of Rodney Marsh in the 1970s and I have to agree; he just slows our play right down! I’ve seen so many games where the likes of Phil Foden has had to pull up, track back and help Jack out after anticipating, what should have been, a forward pass by Grealish; who then gets himself cornered; that I’m left, all-too-often, tearing my hair out. Whenever I look at him when he’s not playing, it’s like he’s come to our club and is now…‘living the dream’. But if he doesn’t wake up soon, then that dream really will turn into a nightmare. It’s his first season, of course - Joao Cancelo didn’t have a very good first season at all and he’s improved a lot since. I’ll remain hopeful for a second season. But as for the season just gone; when asked, following our final game, how he thought his first season had gone, he told the reporter that it was, “Harder than I thought”. Sadly fella, it's a 5.5/10 from me this time round; a campaign where I can remember just four or five 7/10 performances at best; surrounded by far too many, truly awful displays, as well as games where he did a brilliant impression of The Invisible Man.
(Last season’s rating: N/A)
James McAtee
For James, read Conrad. 7/10
(Last season’s rating: N/A)
Kevin De Bruyne
After clicking the button under Bernardo Silva in the first round of voting for ‘Player of the Season’, it didn’t take me long, when it was narrowed down to just 3, to click the one under Kevin’s name. Since the last round, Kevin just ‘turned on the afterburners’ and nudged ahead of the Portuguese attacking midfielder. Then there was THAT display against Wolves! He had a couple of quiet half-games following that 1-5 away drubbing of our hosts but he’s more often than not there for us with moments of absolute class just when we need it. Imagine what his score would be – and where we might have ended up otherwise – if it hadn’t have taken him so long to recover from pre-season injuries?! 9/10 and my ‘Player of the Season’ for the second time running.
(Last season’s rating: 8.5/10 and ‘player of the 2020/21 season’ from me)
Phil Foden
Some quiet, less effective games…but not many. This young guy is an absolute beast when he’s running at defenders with the ball and his all-round gameplay is a joy to watch. The future is just mouth-watering. I actually wanted Pep to use him a little more than he did; certainly in some games where he started on the bench; where it was obvious to most watching that he was desperately needed and would have-likely changed the outcome of certain games. But that’s not his fault and, from me, he gets another 8/10.
(Last season’s rating: 8/10)
Raheem Sterling
Our 3rd highest goal scorer & assister this season…and that’s why he remains such an enigma! He’s got the skills to multiply that output by a factor of 3 but his indecisions frustrate so many Blues that some of them cry out, each & every season, for him to leave; despite his HUGE contribution to our successes over the last few seasons. He gets a…‘could have been even higher’ 7.5/10 from me, which is still a big improvement on last season.
(Last season’s rating: 5.5/10)
Riyad Mahrez
How can someone finish the season top scorer as well as getting so many assists and yet STILL leave me feeling irritated a lot of the time? You just don’t know which Riyad is gonna turn up most of the time…I’m not sure he does himself! When he’s good, he’s VERY good but when he bad…it’s like he’s either not even on the pitch or forgets what he has to do when he’s got the ball at his feet. Still…like Raheem, he gets a deserved but could have been better, 7.5/10.
(Last season’s rating: 7.5/10)
Rodri
Best season in a City shirt? I was utterly convinced in my head that, just like Joao Cancelo, Rodders had a fairly underwhelming start to his Manchester City career…until I looked up my end of season ratings for that campaign (2019-20). I was full of praise and gave him 8/10. I will give myself some slack though – I think a lot of us are getting dates and even YEARS mixed up due to Covid-19 smashing us all in the face. It was, in fact, LAST season (2020-21) where I - along with quite a number of other City fans, I do recall quite clearly - were putting question marks against the Spaniard. So…I’ll reset and say that the 6’ 3”, deep-lying midfielder has matched his first season in terms of my final rating this time round and that’s huge credit to him [for bouncing back from a somewhat average one]. There have been games this season where he’s been absolutely terrific in his role as “protector”; whether that’s been a match where he’s been visibly buzzing around cutting out opposition passes and then starting the turnover of play, or one of those ‘invisible performances’, meant in a nice way on this occasion, where he’s doing all the necessary ‘dirty work’; while his more-advanced colleagues are getting the attention and receiving all the plaudits. Then there’s the fact that he waded in with a few goals too and when they come; they’re more often than not absolute screamers! Not wishing to pour cold water on all that positivity; there are moments in games - and sometimes a cluster of games - where I’ve seen last season’s Rodri – a player who can be sometimes slow to react and sluggish ‘on the turn’. I do have a few – just a few – lingering doubts at times and I think what he needs, especially as Fernandinho has now departed, is a flippin’ good colleague to compete with for that position, in order to keep the good performances and end of season ratings coming in. 8/10.
(Last season’s rating: 6.5/10)
Samuel Edozie
Again…for Samuel, read Conrad. 7/10
(Last season’s rating: N/A)
Gabriel Jesus
What never fails to impress me about this 25-year-old, Brazilian international who’s been at our club for 5 years now is his attitude, work rate and versatility. In his ‘early years’, he came under some criticism for the number of times he got caught offside and I think that was fair. That’s now gone out of his game under the stewardship of his superb manager, in my opinion and for the most part. Additionally, he often gets slated for not getting enough goals and, to some extent, I can sort of understand that. However, I think some consideration has to be noted about how ‘in & out’ of the side he finds himself a lot of the time in a squad full of attacking talent; a collection of players we’re very fortunate to have. The season just gone has, once again, seen the 5’ 9” forward used sporadically; although, without looking it up, I think he played more minutes in the season just gone than he did in the previous season. 8 league goals & 8 assists might not sound overly impressive to some on the face of it, especially with 5 of those goals coming in just two, back-to-back games, but if there was a stat available (perhaps there is?) for secondary assists; then I bet that would be decent. I get the feeling that with Erling Haaland & Julian Alvarez coming in, then we might see one of Riyad Mahrez, Raheem Sterling or Gabriel Jesus himself departing in the summer. Personally, I hope it’s not the latter…but there are some Vultures circulating for his services, apparently. 7.5/10
(Last season’s rating: 6.5/10)
Pep Guardiola
How could I possibly say anything negative about a fella who has delivered 4 Premier League trophies in 5 seasons, as well as other silverware, of course? I take a deep breath here and tell myself, no…you shouldn’t. He’s brilliant – not just with results & trophies but the way he improves so many players. There’s just a little, slightly irritating trait that he has, which is with-occasional team selections and lack of substitution decisions in games – ‘head wobble moments’, I tend to call ‘em. I’m certainly not gonna trawl through the season but I will, instead, point out our last two games. West Ham away was crying OUT for a Phil Foden introduction, in my humble opinion. I don’t think I was alone either. We crawled it back from 0-2 to 2-2 but I’m convinced that if we’d have introduced some attacking threat from the bench; we’d have taken that game and wouldn’t have had to, therefore, put ourselves in such a precarious position on the last day of the season. Which brings me to that one. Going into the last game, I only had about a 3% nagging doubt that we might ‘mess it up’. However, when I saw the starting 11 an hour before KO; when I saw that we had John Stones available but that our manager had chosen to stick a player who had been out with a previously-forecasted, season-ending injury at right-wing back - whilst at the same time putting a 37-year-old midfielder up against Ollie Watkins and leaving largely-in-form Oleksandr Zinchenko & Ilkay Gundogan on the bench (that’s in no way hindsight, by the way) - then my heart sank a little. My 3% doubt rose to around the 15% mark before a ball had been kicked that Sunday afternoon. Then we went 0-2 down. HOWEVER…please try to forget that little moan – most of the time the guy is absolutely ‘the bee’s knees’. Thank you for all that you continue to do for us, Pep. 9.5/10.
(Last season’s rating: 9/10)
Sorry…I didn’t include Ferran Torres ‘in there’. Once he’d secured his transfer to Barcelona, I’d forgotten about this annual, end-of-season piece and deleted him from my score-records. From memory, I had the versatile winger / forward down as a 7.
Additionally, that’s now set me back with-compiling some other, annual, end-of-season ‘bits ‘n’ pieces’, such as my pre-season predictions results; my “Empty Seats” stats as well as my opinions on various new kit releases; of which we’ve had one so far.
For consistency throughout the season my choice for best player was rodri
ReplyDeleteHi Steve. Spot on / agree for this season - I think Rodders gets the 'consistency award'; closely followed by Laporte, perhaps. Maybe I should include that in my next / future 'end of season ratings' because 'player of the season' doesn't always reflect those who have performed very well over the 10 months or so...
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