Player ratings: Manchester City v Manchester United
Hart – United’s two shots of menace were straight at him. Elsewhere Joe’s handling was sound and he remained in control of his area throughout. 7
Boateng (Kolarov 81mins) – Looking increasingly at home in the Premier League. Nothing spectacular from Jerome, but this was his soundest defensive performance so far. Error free. 7
K Toure – Another solid game, positionally excellent and always tracking the movement of the United players. Great to see him back to his best. 8
Kompany – Led the unbreakable barrier on the edge of our penalty area. Berbatov and co were never able to get beyond big Vince. A key player in another clean sheet. 8
Zabaleta – Demonstrated once again that defensively Pablo is our best full-back. That’s why Mancini picks him, even on his wrong side. United’s most creative player, Nani, never got a look-in as Pablo kept tight and never gave an inch. 8
Milner (Johnson 72mins) – No doubt selected for his ability to help the side retain it’s defensive shape. He did this effectively, but lacked a spark creatively. With Tevez as a lone striker, crosses have to pick him out rather than simply be hit into a space. 6
De Jong – Patrolled the area in front of the back four superbly, particularly in the latter stages when United pushed players forward. United knocked the ball around in front of him, but never found a way through him. 7
Barry – Made to look one-paced by United’s midfield movement. Barry kept plugging away and put in a reasonable performance that was just about good enough to help us secure a point. 6
Y Toure – Several runs threatened danger before they hit Vidic and co. Otherwise the lumbering gait was frustrating to behold, particularly when United were on the break. Looked jaded at playing two games in such a short space of time. 6
Silva – Lacked the sharpness of his recent performances. A real pity as we needed it more than ever if we were to make a breakthrough. The absence of Balotelli and Adam Johnson placed too much emphasis on Silva to unlock the United defence. 6
Tevez (Adebayor 90+3mins) – A stirling attempt to take the fight to United. Needed more support if he was ever going to get the better of Vidic and Ferdinand. Probably not fully fit but Carlos didn’t let it show. 7
Subs:
Johnson – Brought on to give an extra edge to our attacking. Adam had a couple of threatening runs but didn’t see enough of the ball. 6
Kolarov – His eagerness to get forward brought a welcome extra dimension to our attacking. His lack of sharpness was a defensive concern that was, thankfully, rarely tested. 6
Adebayor – The briefest of brief appearances. Barely time to run on.
Man of the match: Vincent Kompany.
Goatman
11 November 2010 - 1:48 pm
Hart – nothing to do, 6.
Boateng had no interest whatsoever in doing anything other than pass back and sideways, no energy, little effort, Richards would have been much better, 4. K. Toure, good game, 7 Kompany also good game 7, Zabletta ok and got forward with determination from right back 7.
De Jong, usual sound game 6, Barry usual sound game 6, Y.Y. Toure, still can’t understand what he’s doing here, overweight, slow, can’t tackle (or head for a guy his size) no energy, little effort, didn’t look interested, 3.
Milner, poor game but tried 5, Silva not the usual impact 6, Tevez, tried but can’t do it alone 6.
Mancini!!!!! 2. Kidd, Platt, Lombardo etc etc…one wonders what they are doing as well.
pedmachine
11 November 2010 - 3:38 pm
Interesting an fair snippet from the Writer. Despite what that half-wit goalkeeper of theirs said, we shouldn’t be too negative about City’s performance. After all we improved on last year’s result, learned not to let on in 2 minutes after stoppage time and at the end of the day many newspapers and ragblogs are saying that Fredinand or Vidic were their best players, so they must have been doing something! For his sins Van der Sar made the only worthy save of the night. Joe Hart had nothing to do.
We can move on again from here. I think that if Balotelli had been playing we’d have won.
jimmy
11 November 2010 - 3:54 pm
let be honest we played ok but i hate to see a derby this way. we didnt even set out to attack
jimmy
11 November 2010 - 3:55 pm
even if balotelli was there with our tactics wed still draw
UtdFan
11 November 2010 - 4:16 pm
@pedmachine.You improved on last season?? 3 defensive midfielders is too much with just one creative player in Silva.You won’t be able to break down anyone.city sat deep for a lot of the second half and really showed their ambition by wasting time (at home!) in 93rd minute by making a sub.Fergie was clearly disappointed united didn’t win and rightly so, at Old trafford I would expect a victory with home fans.
And with Balotelli you would have won?the guy played 1 or 2 games and shouldn’t be judged just yet.As Mourinho would tell you the guy is an absolute A**hole!
With a fully fit and on-form Rooney,utd would have won,no question
pjdemers
12 November 2010 - 12:58 am
Am I the only City fan who thinks its completely unacceptable to play for a tie at home. There is no reason for City to fear anyone at eastlands, especially with the talent at our disposal. To say this was a point earned is bit of hyperbole to say the least, especially as this was a United team there for taking.
Let’s look at the worst case scenario, say City went for the the 3 points and came up empty. The fact would remain that we t would still be in touching distance of Chelsea and Man Utd, and still in position for a Champions league spot. While a loss would’ve hurt but the damage would been emotional at best, whereas a win could have given this squad a huge emotional and psychological lift, in other words momentum.
While I rate Mancini quite highly, I think he puts too emphasis on tactics and not enough on motivation. This City side still lacks attitude, an”over my dead body” mentality that could allow it to win on sheer force of will.
Look at Boateng. when he plays for Germany, he always makes his trademark barnstorming runs, yet for City we have yet to see it and I firmly believe it is in part due to Mancini’s instructing him to stay at home. The same can be said of Milner, a wonderfully direct player for Villa who always looks hesitant under Mancini. Again why he was crossing from deep to Tevez rather than trying to get to the byline and drive the ball across the face of goal baffles me and I think again it comes down to Mancini being too cautious tactically which bring me to the point that you can’t win games through tactics alone.
The Manchester derby was a perfect example of this, two teams employing cautious tactics which cancelled each other out. Three points were going to be determined by which ever team collectively wanted it more, in short a victory could’ve been determined through sheer force of will.
Quite frankly I think both teams deserved nothing and I am all in favor of the FA in implementing a new point system in which zero points are awarded for a nil-nil draw. If City want to achieve success we need demand that they play to win rather than to lose.