Season’s player ratings

How I think our players and manager performed this season just gone.

Formula

How I do this, is to keep a full record-list of players and adjust their score accordingly game-by-game and 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.

I need to emphasise that this is a very fluid system. As with other seasons, some players start well and then ‘drop-off’ whist others begin slowly and improve as the season progresses; slowly dragging up a lowly score-rating.

Others, as you might expect, are very ‘up & down’ and their scores move up & down the scale accordingly; so any late season drop-off in form might make their final rating look lower than you might expect or clearly recall, following an-otherwise decent enough campaign.

Additionally, I think it’s important to ‘factor in’, when looking at these score-ratings, how many matches a player has participated in.

For example, a fringe player might only get 3-full and, say, 2-half games against Premier League or European opposition but, in those fewer minutes, produces 7s & 8/10 performances; leaving him on a very creditable score of 7.5/10. On the other hand, another player might play all but a dozen league & European matches and despite playing largely very, very well, he may have a drop-off in form at some point or struggle to get back to full flow after an injury; meaning he has more opportunity, through the sheer number of games played, to drag his score rating down over a long-period of time.

I hope that makes sense…

Gianluigi Donnarummar

When I first started to watch our second keeper signing of the summer in action, I must admit I was somewhat wowed. He looked strong, commanding and great in the air.

I had a conversation with a work colleague and fellow blue who loved Ederson to bits, as did I, but even she said that this new fella was another level again; even though he wasn’t quite as good with his feet as the Brazilian. As the season progressed, I thought Gigi improved a lot with this, such was the demand from Pep.

Then I began to see some cracks in the Italian’s armour and one in particular surprised me. On crosses, the very tall, long armed, strong-looking keeper appeared to struggled more than he should when up against tall and / or robust players attempting to get to the ball first. Some of his decision making occasional went awry too. Of course, nobody is perfect and everyone is allowed an error or two. Additionally, it’s well known that keeper errors tend to stand out or get highlighted more.

Regardless, his shot stopping continued to be excellent and the amount of times he earnt us a point or saved us all-3, I lost count. A good, generally solid season sees him get 7/10 from me.

(Last season’s rating: N/A)

James Trafford

When I saw James being signed I was dead chuffed…and dead chuffed for the lad himself. He must have thought he’d hit the jackpot after a few seasons of hard graft, showing the right attitude and gaining a good reputation. Then I watched his welcome home video on the club’s website and before I could do much more, I then watched Gianluigi Donnarummar get off the next 216 bus to the Etihad Stadium. 🫢

At one stage and, remember, I could only mark James against Premier League or Champions League opposition, he was on 8.5/10 after some terrific domestic cup performances. He slipped slightly and that was due to more than just one error that I think can be put down to a young keeper still learning his trade.

However, for HIS first season [back] he too gets a 7/10. I hope he stays and if he doesn’t, I hope he only goes out on loan.

(Last season’s rating: N/A)

Abdukodir Khusanov

Occasional errors were often quickly forgotten about because of his electric pace, which often helped him to repair the error. Finally! A centre half with some pace - the first in a long time.

It’s not just that though, he’s strong in the tackle and reads situations very well indeed for such a young man. He’s still learning, of course, and some of his performances show that but he absolutely gets a solid 7.5/10 from me. He was almost an 8…

(Last season’s rating: 5.5/10)

John Stones

Johnny, Johnny Stones – what an emotional farewell and what a guy. Do you want to know how long he was missing from his final season according to my season records? 4 months, which surprised me somewhat - I thought it was more. Two 2-month periods out with thigh issues, we were informed.

We didn’t see much of him for the other 5 months, from what I recall, and one radio pundit said of John after the England World Cup squad was announced that he’d only managed 90 minutes of football in total in the whole season! 🤔 I’m assuming that announcement was made before the last few games of the season because when I looked it up after the season had finished, John had actually completed 436 minutes.

Still, that’s no time at all to gather any sort of momentum and it reflected in his performances which weren’t terrible…but weren’t too good either. 6/10

(Last season’s rating: 7/10)

Josko Gvardiol

Having missed a whopping 5-½ months through injury, 1 month from the start of the season with a knock and a further 4-½ months out with a fractured tibia, there were few opportunities remaining to get many minutes or gather momentum; especially when behind a number of established players at either left or center of our defence.

It’s to his credit, then, that he got a very creditable 6.5/10 for the two spells in the team that he managed to get.

(Last season’s rating: 7.5/10)

Marc Guehi

I’m sure I wasn’t alone in sending prayers upstairs that we would sign the England international defender in January – he’s a class act and one who is only going to get better. A proper professional too with a great head on his shoulders.

Instantly settled in as though he’d been here for years and produced some fine displays. He did, however, fade somewhat after a while with other performances that weren’t so good and in that time a few errors crept into his game too.

I actually don’t think that 6.5/10 is a bad score for a player to receive but I do feel slightly bad giving it to him after his big contribution in settling our defence. Still, that’s what he ended with on my sheet. I think it tells a story that he was on 7.5 and even 8 for a time.

Still a crackin’ signing by our very astute and proactive football club.

(Last season’s rating: N/A)

Matheus Nunes

Mr Converted. He really has grown into this role, hasn’t he? There are still calls from City fans for us to get a solid and talented natural right back / right-wing back and I think rightly so.

I’ve seen some suggestions in the last couple of weeks that we may well be looking for a young specialist right-sided defender as back-up to the Portuguese international. With the soon-to-be 28-year-old doing better than just okay this season, I think that’s fair enough [to consider bringing in someone who would just be an understudy to Matheus for the time being].

Gets 7/10 from me which is improvement on last season.

(Last season’s rating: 6.5/10)

Max Alleyne

I feel sorry for Bristol born central defender. Pulled from his loan at Watford to help during a defensive crisis; at times it looked like the 20-year-old was taking it all in his stride.

Sadly, a wobble or two appeared to then crush his confidence and after a 90 and then 45-minute outing, that was the last we saw of the ex-Southampton Youth player.

He wasn’t sent out on loan again, despite more senior central defenders returning from injury, and so I can only assume that he got some game time with our EDS. 🤷‍♂️

I feel bad doing this but…5/10.

He is well respected at the club though – I’ve seen some fine reports from Watford too – and so he’ll get more good opportunities either with us or elsewhere at a good level.

(Last season’s rating: N/A)

Nathan Ake

Just as with Marc Guehi in the winter of 2026, in the summer of 2020 I was quietly saying, “Get him. Get him. Get him…” as the rumours were circling. I’ve always liked Nathan whenever I saw him play for Bournemouth.

His minutes were few and far between for most of last season and whenever called upon, that lack of match action made him look a little rusty at first. However, he’d clearly worked on his fitness because I thought he looked really strong when we needed him most and I’m dead chuffed that he landed on a solid 7/10 on my chart.

Whether that’ll be the last time I ever rate him remains to be seen in the next few months.

(Last season’s rating: 6.5/10)

Nico O’Reilly

I am reluctant to criticise Nico for any bad errors or off games but I would be guilty of wearing my sky blue tinted glasses if I didn’t and it wouldn’t be right to do so either writing a blog as I do.

He is a really talented footballer and another one who has fully stepped up when asked by his boss to convert to a position he had little or no experience of playing, left-wing back / inverted midfielder. It says a lot about that aforementioned talent that he is travelling to the World Cup with England and I am sure the just turned 21-year-old will see quite a lot of minutes in his number 3 shirt.

At one stage, the Manchester born midfielder turned defender sat on 8/10 for a good while. However, whether it was down to SO many minutes catching up on him or not - and I suspect that it was - a few errors, a few wrong decisions and a small number of games where he simply didn’t ‘show up’ or proved ineffective; slowly, slowly it all dragged his scored down to 6.5/10.

WHAT?! 😮

I know…it looks shocking, doesn’t it? And I know they’ll be loads of Blues who will disagree with me, which is fair enough. He’s been good…really, really good but I do think that having been, quite rightly, established in our first team from quite early on in the season; eventually it took its toll on his still-growing body.

(Last season’s rating: 7/10)

Rico Lewis

Fewest number of appearances in a season since being considered part of Pep’s first team? It wouldn’t surprise me. And when you consider that he was only injured for about a 2 to 3-week period with an ankle issue in March, that tell its own story I’m afraid.

I just can’t see a future for the Bury born full back / occasional midfielder and I think he’d be doing himself a favour by moving on. He’s only 21 but I just haven’t seen improvement in him, generally speaking. Of course, in order to improve he needs the minutes and he has never really got a run in the side, has he?

Being 21 and with the experience that he has gained for both Manchester City and England should mean that he’ll have plenty of clubs lining up for him, so he would have the pick of a lot.

Gets the lowest score I’ve ever given him with 4/10 but that simply reflects the poor performances that I unfortunately witness this season.

Who knows, the new manager might like what he sees and give him more opportunities. I can never fault his determination and attitude, I’m keen to add.

(Last season’s rating: 6.5/10)

Ruben Dias

Another season where he was missing with injury for about the same amount of time – on this occasion 3 months and 2 weeks; 2 months with a very bad knock and 6 weeks with his usual hamstring issue.

Apart from a few good displays I thought these periods out really effected him and when I looked at my chart just now, he ended on a 6/10.

Another fella with a great attitude and when he’s injury free and gets a run, his class often shines through.

(Last season’s rating: 7/10)

Antoine Semenyo

Exactly like Marc Guehi, the Chelsea born winger blended into our side with ease and hit the ground running to say the least.

Stunning at times and with pace and trickery aplenty; the 26-year-old brings on-the-ball strength with him too. He can finish and finish really well but I think even the player himself would admit that he could have doubled his tally of goals with some more controlled finishes.

At times he was less effective, I have to say, and just like a few that I’ve already mentioned, his score declined slightly as the weeks ticked by. 7/10 and a solid 7 at that from me might seem a little unfair but where I score 8s and even 9s in games, I will equally give 6s or less where I think necessary too. If there are a string of 6s in back-to-back games then high marks do then get pegged back a little.

(Last season’s rating: N/A)

Bernardo Silva

He’s gone and done it again – he’s only got my Player of the Season for the second time running AND I’ve given him the exact same 7.5*/10 rating as the previous season.

What I mean by that is, if more than one player finished on the top mark that I’ve dished out, in this case 7.5/10 with three other players, then I have to give a ‘plus-star’ rating to the player I thought was the best of that bunch over the whole season.

Once again, this never-stops-running player; the glue that often held the whole team together AND Mr Ever-Present, get’s my vote as best player once more.

He’s gonna be missed.

(Last season’s rating: 7.5*/10)

Jeremy Doku

We were all hoping to see the blue touch paper being lit and we hoping, similarly, that we’d see a lot more ‘end product’ from a player who has always excited the crowd. Well, we eventually got both of our wishes and at times he was simply unplayable. Wow.

There were still a few games where he couldn’t quite produce the goods but my word I don’t blame him one bit as teams became SO scared of him two players ‘on him’ just wasn’t enough. Jeremy often found himself surrounded by three with intent of suppressing the Belgium trickster. 7.5/10.

(Last season’s rating: 6.5/10)

Mateo Kovacic

Out from the start of the season whilst still recovering from, at first an Achilles tendon operation, and later an ankle calcification issue; we didn’t see the Croatian international for a full 7 months! It was Gameweek 32 before he got on the pitch and that was for the final 9 minutes, ironically against his previous club, Chelsea.

He buzzed around like he’d been playing most of the season, I seem to recall, but was generally fire fighting when brought on later in games.

He did okay considering he’d missed most of the season and gets 6/10 from me.

(Last season’s rating: 7/10)

Nico Gonzalez

Often left out by his manager in favour of a kind of a half-double pivot using Nico O’Reilly and Bernardo Silva in that role; Nico was also left out of the F.A. Cup final after scoring an absolute winning screamer in the 87^th minute of the Semi-Final. I can’t help feeling sorry for the lad.

All too often gets looked at through a magnifying glass with a Rodri lens; with many-a-pundit commenting on how less solid we looked when the 24-year-old is positioned just in front of the defence rather than the soon-to-be 30-year-old. That’s Rodri he’s being compared with - the world best defensive midfielder.

Up to Gameweek 18-19, the Spanish Under-21 international was a regular starter; collecting a massive 1,358 minutes of league football in that time. Then Rodders returned with the aim of strengthening and building up his match fitness and often when he was rested / protected, the other half-twin pivot was used instead of Nico, as I say.

In that good run for the first half of the season he was on a solid 7. However, when you’re then called on rarely here ‘n’ there there’s a big chance that you’re going to come out of matches with a reduced score and that’s what happened in his case, as he ended on 6/10 from me.

If I marked players against Championship opposition too, that score would have gone up a half-notch after the Southampton semi-final.

(Last season’s rating: 7/10)

Phil Foden

The conundrum continues and England have gone to the World Cup without the Stockport born player. 5/10. 🤷‍♂️

(Last season’s rating: 5.5/10)

Rayan Cherki

The Maverick, as I often refer to him as. He’s one of those player that if you were a fan of the opposition playing him, you’d hate him.

He’s got ‘that edge’ that I can see getting himself into trouble every so often and now that Pep has gone, I just hope the new guy can form a similar relationship that the Spaniard and French player had.

He also oozes talent. Sometimes those skills that he possesses didn’t pay off but he’s a dream to watch and must be a nightmare to play against.

7/10 is a solid start to his Manchester City career and Premier League debut and I can see that improving in the coming seasons, as long as he keeps that cheeky side suppressed as much as possible.

(Last season’s rating: N/A)

Rodri

Out for around 5 months with, at first, hamstring and general fitness issues and then a groin problem; Rodders took time to build himself back up. At times he looked a shadow of his former self but with glimpses of the old master here ‘n’ there. I think he’s lost some leg muscle tone but I’m no physio.

I believe all things considered regarding the vast amount of time he’s spent out over TWO seasons, 6.5/10 is a good score.

(Last season’s rating: 6/10)

Savinho

Just…Savinho. 🙄 Tries and tries and tries but very little comes off in the end. Effort? 10/10. Actual rating? A ‘not bad’ 6/10. I think that will be the last time I will have to rate the Brazilian…

(Last season’s rating: 5.5/10)

Tijjani Reijnders

What have we signed?

I am very much reminded about the time we signed central defender, Eliaquim Mangala. On his home debut against Chelsea, I thought we’d signed a monster of a defender! So powerful and mobile and he was snuffing out everything the visitors threatened us with.

Then, I’m convinced that he got a flight home and sent back his identical twin brother instead. He just faded and faded and then, if memory serves, bad errors and red cards started to appear.

Just where was the fella from that first game?! 👀

Cue Tijjani Reijnders away at Wolves on the opening game of last season. He looked graceful as he glided around the pitch; got stuck in, got a yellow card, scored a really nice goal and got an assist. In all fairness to him at that time – and whatever you think of watching YouTube videos of players before they’ve signed – he was every bit the player I was hoping we were signing.

Now? I really don’t know what he brings to the party. He totalled 5 league goals and 3 league assists in 19 league starts and 1,623 minutes of league football. His shots high and wide must total in the high 20s at least!

I don’t think I want to say much more. 5/10.

(Last season’s rating: N/A)

Erling Haaland

Such a similar season as others we’ve seen – boom and bust; sometimes unplayable, other times anonymous. Oh yeah…and another Golden Boot award winner. 🙂

As is often the case, it seems unfair giving the league’s top goalscorer “just” 7.5/10 but that what his overall performances have earned for me.

(Last season’s rating: 6.5/10)

Omar Marmoush

Behind one of the best strikers in the world and missing for a good chunk of the season whilst on international duty in the AFCON tournament; there was little time to make a mark or gather momentum. Just 8 league starts, 691 league minutes; 3 league goals and 3 assists. Filled in on the left, or as a 9 or 10.

I still like him but I am frustrated whenever he does get a rare opportunity of filling in directly for Erling as a ‘number 9’ and often misses his chance.

I hope he stays though. 6/10.

(Last season’s rating: 6.5/10)

Pep Guardiola

I’m not just saying this because he’s now gone 😢 but he gets 10/10 from me for last season. A last season that was a continued rebuild season; one where NOBODY expected us to challenge for the league title, yet we ran it down to the penultimate game and where, domestic trophy wise, it was only HOPED that we might grab one.

In the end, we came second, won the League Cup and won the F.A. Cup too. Wow.

I’m so proud and Pep deserves a hell of a lot of credit for that. God save the King. 🤴

(Last season’s rating: 8/10)

Overall team rating: 8/10.

Thank you, as always, for taking the time to read. It’s always an inevitably long piece and often takes time to write and then release. It’s taken a little longer to do so on this occasion due to illness and then a week’s holiday.

As usual during the close season, I will try to get some other postings out, such as new kit opinions, my predictions results from the season just gone (one I’m hoping to condense now as well as in the future as that too can be lengthy) and perhaps some summer transfer stuff.

Bye for now!