Despite a late rally, Manchester City fell 3-2 to Arsenal in a friendly held in Gothenburg, Sweden.
The Blues squandered a 1-0 halftime lead to the Gunners in a middling performance. There undoubtedly was some good, but it’s somewhat outweighed by the ugly. Here are City player ratings for the final tuneup before the start of the competitive season.
With
proliferating that Pep Guardiola was unhappy with Joe Hart, the Argentine had a chance to make a claim as a successor. Caballero failed to make a convincing case for himself. His distribution out of the back was suspect throughout his entire first half tenure between the sticks, nearly resulting in a couple of goals for Arsenal. He did have a good save midway through the half on Aaron Ramsey, but otherwise there’s not much to praise here. [C-]
Zabaleta was probably the best defender on the pitch for City. Not great but none of Arsenal’s goals were his fault. His long ball to Raheem Sterling set up City’s first score of the match. His first half volley that he could not put on frame pretty much covers his performance — good effort but should have done better. [C+]
Fernando was mediocre. He was aggressive, picking up an early booking. Otherwise, there wasn’t much to say. That should speak volumes about his presence during the friendly. [C]
Simply, Kolarov was horrid. He played lazy balls all match, like the one that nearly resulted in an Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain chip shot goal. He failed to track back for Alex Iwobi’s equalizer. He offered no resistance as Theo Walcott ran behind for the second. Granted, Guardiola played him out of position, but that’s little excuse for what the Serbian showed. [D]
Clichy fared little better than Kolarov. His passing out of the back was probably only matched in ineptitude by Caballero and Tosin Adarabioyo. Alexis pilfered him early on to play a dangerous ball to Aaron Ramsey in the middle of the penalty area that luckily the Welshman misdirected with his head. [D+]
It was a solid outing from Fernandinho. He passed well and helped establish City’s hold on the first half. His best contribution was his tracking back after unforced errors, especially his goal-averting block on Francis Coquelin. Gritty, workman stuff from the Brazilian. [B]
Delph was spritely throughout his shift. He hustled and paired well with Fernandinho. He had a decent long-range effort against Cech. His fierce tackle on the annoying Alexis was a plus and showed he was engaged while some of his other teammates weren’t. [B+]
The creative Spaniard was more lively earlier than later, disappearing as the game went on. Yet Silva worked well with Sterling. He looked for and found pockets of space either to occupy or pass into. Silva perhaps wasn’t quite as dangerous as usual, but he helped establish City’s advantage in possession in the first half, which led to the opening goal. [B]
Concerns about Sterling’s lack of confidence due to his lackluster European Championships showing can be pushed aside for now. Sterling looked like he has a short memory. He caused a few problems on the right hand side. Plus, his cross to Aguero was a thing of beauty as an assist. [A-]
Like Sterling, Nolito had a positive showing for City after a disappointing stint for country in the Euros. The Spaniard was constantly probing the right side of Arsenal’s defense. Nolito’s best moment was drifting toward the middle, picking his head up and flicking that ball across the box to a streaking Zabaleta, who, unfortunately failed to put the shot on goal. [B+]
Sergio Aguero was pretty quiet. He had two instances of note. Of course, there was the finish on Sterling’s transcendent cross. The Argentine just tapped it in across Cech’s grain. He’s one of the few players in the world that make such a touch look easy. He had another run into the box that ended with a blocked left-footed shot that popped into Cech’s arms. [A-]
In the second half, Joe Hart did nothing to assuage concerns about his job security. Alex Iwobi’s goal looked notoriously familiar to his mishandle in the Euros against Iceland: Low shot, dives to his left, makes contact, balls goes in the net. On the third goal, he was put in a terrible position by his defense, but he failed to smother the ball, which squirted to Chuba Akpom, who didn’t even say “thank you” as he slotted in the easy goal. Hart’s distribution won’t inspire confidence in Guardiola either. [D]
He came on for Fernando and worked hard to be outplayed by Kolarov, an inauspicious honor, to be sure. That square ball in back that turned into Arsenal’s third goal was inexplicable at this level. Adarabioyo must have been watching the Olympics on the second because he was pretty much nonexistent while Walcott dashed in behind and gashed City for the lead. [F]
De Bruyne replaced Silva, and although he didn’t have a lot of time, he made a difference. He won the ball back in the midfield, his hustle leading to Iheanacho’s goal. He also had an incisive ball across to Yaya Toure, who failed to make a good connection on it.[B+]
Toure came on for Fernandinho and played like Yaya Toure. He could have and should have equalized when De Bruyne’s ball came to him late. Yet, minutes later, he performed a beautiful pirouette at the edge of Arsenal box before forcing a lead-preserving save from Cech. Alas, the riddle of Yaya Toure is no closer to being answered than before the match. [B]
Navas had a very similar shift to Toure’s in quality. After coming on for Nolito, he shanked another pass that was put in an ideal scoring area. Then again, his cheeky little ball later to Iheanacho for the goal was perfect and made up for it. [B]
The Ukrainian youngster did well as a substitute for Sterling. There was noticeable improvement in City when he came on, though he didn’t directly create any chances. [B-]
Iheanacho did a lot to calm a lot of nerves as a backup to Aguero in his showing. He was aggressive and brought energy to a squad that was devoid of it. His header was just good enough to score, and with De Bruyne, led the charge that came up a little bit lacking for a late equalizer. [A-]
* Late subs Angeliño, Bacary Sagna, Manu García were on for too short of a time to assign a rating.