City 2 Bolton 0: Player ratings

Stuart Mathieson

February 09, 2010

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JOB DONE: Emmanuel Adebayor after his stunning goal

GIVEN: Couple of casual moments, but a great reflex stop from defelcted Muamba shot 7

ZABALETA: Dogged defending as he faced up to brash young Arsenal whipper-snapper Wilshere 7

TOURE: Given a rough time of it by the physical Kevin Davies before limping off with knee injury 6

KOMPANY: Not his usual composed self after being rushed back into action early 6

BRIDGE: Felt the pace after his long lay-off, and two games in three days, but bore up well 7

VIEIRA: Shaking off the ring-rust, but an important presence as Bolton went for the equaliser 6

DE JONG: Says he doesn’t need a rest, and underlined it with an all-action, destructive display 7

BARRY: Put in his usual shift as a midfielder, and reverted to his original left back position well 6

A. JOHNSON: Lit up an otherwise unremarkable local squabble with some great wing play 8

TEVEZ: Kept his nerve to make it 13 goals from the last 13 home games for the Blues 7

ADEBAYOR: Operating way below his best form – but still has three goals in three games! 6

Substitutes

LESCOTT (for Toure 55) Good physical test, which he passed 6

WRIGHT-PHILLIPS (for Bridge 68) Roughed up, but provided pace on break 6

SYLVINHO (for Johnson 84) too late to mark

Attendance: 42,016

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Alfie15, Bedfordshire (09/02/2010 at 22:09)

I agree with Barry a six really needs to up his game. Johnson looks to be a good buy and agree man of the match. Manchini loves to play left footed players on the right for some reason. Hopefully it pays off and doesn't affect the players form. Got a bit ragged second half of the first half but to finish on a high a good result with three points.

chester bells (09/02/2010 at 22:11)

It has to be said, Ade looked average tonight (apart from a fabulous goal, that is).

Nice to see Lescott on there too. I wonder if Nedum will get a start on Saturday - I hope so, he deserves it. I'd save Bellamy for the league match, and get Petrov involved on Saturday too.

herrock (09/02/2010 at 22:13)

Given 6, looked in a dream to me at times tonight, zab 8, toure 6 kompany 7 bridge 6 viera 6 de jong 8 barry 6 johnson 8 tevez 6 adebayor 6

Sam Haggar Lowestoft -MCFC-Bluemoon (09/02/2010 at 22:13)

Adam Johnson man of the match I see why we brought him.

padscity, south yorks (09/02/2010 at 22:13)

Andy johnson more like 9!!! bit worried at first playing him on the right????but he was excellent.Barry 6 ?was he on the pitch,and apart from that pass viera 5 at best?

Portsmouth Blue (09/02/2010 at 22:14)

Zaba and Johnson were both man of the match Given far to casual,Ade has tp pick his work rate up but his goal was class,Bolton are and always will be a poor side kick and run if that fails hack your opponents down.
There is no place for such teams in this league reduce the league by two teams making Bolton one of them.

kinkys left peg (09/02/2010 at 22:38)

great to see a young English old fashioned winger taking credit for a very impressive debut. He has a decent touch and plenty of skill and pace. He wanted the ball all night and when he got it he made good use of it and won the penalty. Viera looked pretty slugish but hopfully that was a player getting back into his premiership stride after so many years in the italian league and of course injury. Great ball through to Ade though. Not a great all round display, cant understand the three holding midfield players at home, baffles me! 3 points is 3 points thats all that counts.

Mike Summerbee's socks (09/02/2010 at 22:48)

Andy johnson more like 9!!! bit worried at first playing him on the right????but he was excellent.Barry 6 ?was he on the pitch,and apart from that pass viera 5 at best?
padscity, south yorks
9/02/2010 at 22:13

Er...doesn't Andy Johnson play for Fulham?

Ste , Cheshire (09/02/2010 at 22:51)

Given was absolute dross...He made one good save but it was a save any keeper in the prem would have saved. His kicking was sloppy and almost cost us a goal, His throwing was slow, His command of his area was non existant and punching when no one is near him is just poor keeping. He was a 5 at best.

Zab - Good performance tonight from him. Stuck to his task and a threat going forward 8

Toure - Sloppy, turned too easily, Didn't win any headers, almost gave a penalty away 5

Kompany - Best of the two but still not great 6

Bridge - Excellent first ten minutes but didnt keep it up 6

De Jong - Never going to set the world on fire is he. For me he is good at what he does if not one of the best. Why then does Mancini feel the need to play two other defensive midfielders alongside him? 6

Barry - Average performance from a very average player 6

Viera - Off the pace and poor in the tackle. Good ball to Adebayor for the goal and calm in last ten minutes 5

Johnson - Excellent performance, skill, trickery and a sweet left foot 9 MOM

Tevez - Just doesnt play as well with Adebayor in the team. Tevez was at his best on his own up front. Not sure where he is playing now. Lucky with pen 6

Adebayor - Good goal but other than that very little again. Stay in the middle!!! 5

Subs

Lescott - Couple of sloppy passes 5
SWP - Clattered everytime he got it 6 (Should be starting)
Sylvinho - No time.

Mancini 6 - The jury is still out for me. I cant stand this style of football and hope it gets better. I could have maybe accepted the three defensive midfielders if SWP had played instead of Adebayor to give us pace on the break.

Mike Summerbee's socks (09/02/2010 at 22:51)

Only Johnson and Tevez ever appeared to get out of first gear. I suppose you'd have to say it was a scoreline we'd have taken if offered, but it wasn't riveting stuff was it?

They do say the mark of a good side is when you can have a bad game and still win.

Bert is my hero, Cheshire! (09/02/2010 at 22:51)

I think we have to remember that Viera hasn't played much for quite a while and so has to adapt to the pace of the PL. Ade can't have recovered completely fro events in Angola, which are still only five weeks ago. So there is hope for considerable improvement from both. I share everyone else's enthusiasm about Johnson. The worst aspect of the performance was that we took so many good players and managed to get a team that was so much less than the sum of its aprts!

TOE, NEW MILLS (09/02/2010 at 22:52)

football is great is it not, so many veiws and i wonder did i go to the same game as others.
Proffessional result and great win BUT!!!!!!!
why are we starting a game with 3 defensive midfielders??? Still not as flowing going forward as we should be and at times we sat back as if we were taking a hiding from chelsea or the rags for big parts of the game.had we conceded we would have collapsed.
but What do you expect without any creativity in midfield?
Having said that vieras ball for adys sensational strike was mustard!
zabletta did have a good game going forward but takes far too many risks ,thats ok if we are playing 3-5-2 but we aint.
Jonson was superb both right and left and reminds me of neil young but faster you could not dream for a better home debut.
Dont agree with the comments about ady yes he looks lazy but he works harder than people think and if rooney had scored that goal they would be going daft.
We still look at sixes and sevens in the defensive 3rd, too many defensive minded players getting in each others way for me.
We have to play with width, 2 wingers spread the play avoid the digestion and have that attacking outlay swp and johnson will give any defender nightmares.
Mancini does not like ireland but he should start at the expense of a defensive midfielder.In his rightfull pivitol central role.
Anyway roll on stoke.

CTID

tonybookoverlapping, on the wing (09/02/2010 at 23:10)

johnson was fine on the right because he basically looks to be two-footed. i suspect this is bye-bye SWP, as johnson offers more or less everything that SWP does but is more robust and can't so easily be kicked off the ball. when or if we want width, in the big games from now on, i suspect it's likely to be bellamy on the left and johnson on the right

those of you whoi maked vieira should note that one thing he did provide, was a 'boss' presence in the middle of the field, between the boxes. which is something that all the great teams have, and we have been lacking. he may only be a stop-gap until a big summer signing, but he'll do for me, for now. (and eventually, i bet he will prove to be brian kidd's replacement...)

FLEA, MANCHESTER (09/02/2010 at 23:23)

TOE NEW MILLS

Mancini is known to play with 3 DEF MIDS mate, thats the way of it; so, best we get used to it.

MrHj , Cheshire (09/02/2010 at 23:32)

AJ was excellent and I thought the finish from Ade was top class. I also thought Barry had a decent game without shining, he does take a lot of stick. My main worry is that Shay has started to look uncomfortable being asked to throw the ball out rather than boot it upfield. Maybe he second guesses his first thought and thus slows our whole play down. He needs to work on this as it is key to Mancinis system. Finally Mancini has shown that he will not take sulking so take note of this Ireland you are good but need to adjust to be able to play in more than just one position. Look at Rooney & to a lesser degree Gerrard they still look world class when asked to play wide!

MBLUED, UK (10/02/2010 at 01:06)

VIEIRA: Shaking off the ring-rust, but an important presence as Bolton went for the equaliser 6

errr what about the pass to ade to score the important 2nd, could easily have gone edgy at 1-0 and finished 1-1

Viera 8

MBLUED, UK (10/02/2010 at 01:07)

ADEBAYOR: Operating way below his best form – but still has three goals in three games! 6

its quality not quantity with ade, 6 after a fantastic 2nd goal like that , beggers belief

Adebayor 8

MBLUED, UK (10/02/2010 at 01:07)

BARRY: Put in his usual shift as a midfielder, and reverted to his original left back position well

original left back - wtf

Baggy in Oz, Australia (10/02/2010 at 01:28)

Defensively we're all over the place again...and with 3 defensive midfielders in the team I am at a loss to explain. With Toure seemingly out for the next game we must start with Kompany & Lescott at the back, and then give them 5/6 games. My worst fears about Vieria are coming true; yes it was a great pass for the second goal but other than that what did he do ? Adam Johnson is a breathe of fresh air...and will probably spell the end for Petrov & maybe SWP too. Best game this season so far for Zabaleta.

Bobby Johnstone's left kneecap, Hong Kong (10/02/2010 at 03:45)

Too often we hand the initiative to the opposition - we do this when we field three defensive mid-fielders. As Ted Knott has pointed out many times, we did this in both games against Stretford.
I am delighted that we signed Adam Johnson. He is a player that I watched against us two seasons ago and thought we should get him asap. (Just as I wanted James Milner when Newcastle seemed prepared to release him.) There must be other good prospects in the Championship and even below, that are well worth signing as good players for the future. Johnson 7M; Robingcityho 32.4M - just think had we not signed the Brazilian failure and got another four good youngsters in from lower leagues, a la Arsenal.

fac51, WHITIW0RTH ST (10/02/2010 at 06:45)

Ste from Cheshire - Are you reading mind as you've put down exactly what I wanted to put for every single player. Good to know some of us agree. It did make me think during the game where did Hughes get some of his valuations from for these players. He got rid of the best right back in the Prem and replaced him with Ben Haim. Says it all really.

GJ (10/02/2010 at 07:02)

Johnson was good,but play him in his right position RM for god's sake. hen he brings on SWP - and plays him in the middle!

PJS, Oz (10/02/2010 at 07:56)

I thought the idea in a world cup year was to get game time to help your chances. Well Mr Capello and Mr Domenech please take note, keep up recent form and you have prosecution Exhibit A as to why SWP, Barry, Bridge & Vieira all should not be on planes to the World Cup. Playing is actually harming their chances not helping them.

Add Lescott to that list, not much better when he came on, a few diabolical passes and i wonder why some give Ned so much stick. Maybe some rust there but with Mancini thinking Toure & Kompany are his 1st choice pairing, he may not get the games to be on his way to the World Cup either.

Toure is very inconsistent and not someone to "lead the team by example".

Tosh - Reddish, Reddish (10/02/2010 at 08:07)

Why do people keep going on about 3 defensive midfielders. Yes, they are all capable of being defensive midfielders but it was onlt De Jong who was an out and out defensive midfielder. Vieira and Barry can both be ball players as well and thats how they were used with the insurance that they could also get behind the ball when required.

Fred Eyre's Stationer, Leeds (10/02/2010 at 08:09)

A dull game on the whole but a win is a win....Bolton are one of our "bogey" teams and we'd have lost that (and the Portsmouth match) in previous seasons.

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