Player ratings - Man City (h)

[dazzer6666]

Ryan - 6.5 - some decent saves. Confident with the ball at his feet, distribution mostly OK. Might have stopped Dunk's header - worryingly similar to his risk against Atletico
Bruno - 8 - thought he was excellent. Some fantastic tackles and so calm
Dunk - 7.5 - really put himself about and looked assured. Magnificent crossfield ball for Knocky. Unlucky with the OG
Duffy - 7 - superb in the air as ever
Suttner - 7 - looks a decent find, good on the ball
Stephens - 4.5 - had a bit of a stinker
Propper - 5 - started very shakily but thought he was better second half. Couple of encouraging runs - looks like he's prepared to have a go
Brown - 3 - barely enough to comment
March - 8 - he's PL quality, and appears back to his best. Had City's 100 million+ defence worried
Gross - 6.5 - bit disappointing yesterday for me
Hemed - 6 - huufed and puffed but was too isolated as the CMs were too fra way from him most of the time

Murphy - 6.5 - did OK, and tracked back well
Murray - 6.5 - looked more assured than Hemed, but they are both too slow
Knockaert - 6.5 - couple of decent runs but not long enough to make much of an impact. Think CHs plans were scuppered by Brown going off early

Think it was mainly CM where we were lacking yesterday, along with any pace upfront. Can let Stephens and Gross off a bad game, along with Propper given they haven't played together before. Would hope to see a rapid improvement in their partnership.

 

[Marshy]

Ryan 7

Bruno 8
Suttner 6
Duffy 6
Dunk 7

Stephens 6
Propper 5 he's going to be very good
March 7
Murphy 5
Gross 6

Hemed 5

We need pace up front badly and the new wide man will help

Get Shane Long in, I keep saying it because I know I am right ;-)

 

[Pondicherry]

Ryan - distribution ordinary and let in a goal he should have saved. How is that more than a 5 at best?

Bruno - great relief. Sound defensively and one of only two players with any poise on the ball. 7

Suttner - 6 Did fine

Dunk 6 - caught out of position for both goals but gets bonus points for those long range passes

Duffy 5 Lucky he didn't give away a goal

Stephens 5 ordinary and did give away a goal

Propper 4 oh dear. Ince would have showed more speed of thought and passing ability

Murphy 6 Did better than Brown at keeping Walker quiet and got forward too

March 8 Real class on the ball and solid defensively. Will attract a £25m bid in Jan if he keeps playing like that.

Gross 5 - at least one beautiful pass and kept the shape defensively well

Hemed 3 Too slow for the Championship. Why was he out there?


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Pretty much spot on. Thought Sutner could have made himself more available to receive the ball from the keeper a few times especially in the second half but maybe he was concerned about getting caught deep on the ball as City push on so far up the pitch.

 

[kevo]

According to Sky Sport app, Bruno and March were terrible, and Proper was our MoM?

Hahahahaha. Morons.

 

[NooBHA]

That is not true because at 1-0 down we could have got an equalizer and the 2nd goal killed us off, Unlikely on our attacking options but possible. It is a worry that Ryan has made a number of good saves but gifted 2 goals in the 2 appearances at The Amex but I am sure that Ben Roberts will work on it. Stockdale didn't start without criticism so lets not write him off.

He had Knocky set to come on at 1-0. The 2nd was scored while he was waiting for a break in play to come on.

Jamie Murphy does seem to be an enigma to us all. Some see the defensive stuff he does and some don't. One thing was slightly different this year and that was with corners. Last year he was deployed at the edge of the box to cover breakaways. Yesterday he was in and around the 6 yard box and corners almost paid a dividend. Suttner took his place in covering the breakaways.

Not a star studded performance by Jamie but he was the only up front outlet and he did that even when doing a defensive job. I thought he did OK but it was Man City. People are correct but to say he is not PL quality, I don't think we know yet whether he is or not. Yesterday is not what he will be judged on

 

[kevo]

Propper -4 couldn't pass at all

We spent THAT much on a player who can't pass....! So disappointing. Surely he can't play that badly again? There was a sequence in the first half when he regularly passed the ball to their players. To say you can't do that against a side like Citeh is a massive understatement. We need players that can keep possession!

 

[One Love]

What contrived reasoning to justify your criticism. If he'd saved it, the rest of the game from that moment on would have been completely different to what actually happened, and City might have gone on to score three more!

I'm not sure it was an error anyway.

Have you seen the replay, especially from behind him?

 

[DJ NOBO]

Re high ratings of Ryan. Am I missing something ? I'm sure he will have some strong games but Dunks header slipped through his fingers. It was a clanger.

 

[Gazz15]

Ryan - 6

Bruno - 7

Duffy - 6

Dunk - 8

Suttner - 7

Propper - 5

Stephens - 4

Brown - n/a

March - 8

Gross - 6

Hemed - 5

Murphy - 7

Murray - 5

Knockaert - 6

 

[Trigger]

Ryan - 6
Bruno - 6
Duffy - 7
Dunk 7
Suttner -5
Propper - 5
Stephens - 5
Brown - 5
March - 7
Hemed - 4
Gross - 5

Murphy - 6
Murray - 6
AK - 5

 

[Knotty]

Have you seen the replay, especially from behind him?

No - that's why I said "I'm not sure .."

My main point was that, if it were an error, you can criticise it, but you can't criticise it on the basis of a guess of what might have followed.

 

[Stat Brother]

If we had a forward with pace there might have been someone in the box when Murphy made a breakaway down the wing only to end up with Albion players only just coming over the halfway line when he was in a position to cross.

That's when..could have given us three points too

Would that be the move started by Hemed, in front of Pep, 5 yards inside our own half?

The move where Hemed was bustled off the ball then fought for it back.
Tomer then played a pass to Gross (?) who instantly laid the ball off to an already running Murphy.

Your mythical forward with pace, needs to be able to battle robustly for the ball in his own half, by the touchline, AND then out sprint Jamie Murphy who is already 10 yards in front and running at pace.


He shouldn't be too hard to find, after all Sylvester Stallone is a world class 'keeper, anything's possible.

 

[BensGrandad]

It was a mistake by Ryan without doubt as the ball went between his arms and body but whenever that happens it will be a goal which is something we and him have to live with and hope they can improve on it on the training field so it happens less often. As with all keeper world class saves are undone by 1 error. In this case it was a defining moment as we MAY have scored an equaliser against the run of play when 1-0 down.

 

[Hampster Gull]

Ryan - 6
Bruno - 7
Duffy - 7
Dunk - 6
Suttner -7
Propper - 4
Stephens - 6
Brown - 5
March - 7
Hemed - 6
Gross - 5

Murphy - 6

 

[One Love]

It was a mistake by Ryan without doubt as the ball went between his arms and body but whenever that happens it will be a goal which is something we and him have to live with and hope they can improve on it on the training field so it happens less often. As with all keeper world class saves are undone by 1 error. In this case it was a defining moment as we MAY have scored an equaliser against the run of play when 1-0 down.

I don't think there's anyone else on here who thinks it was a defining moment.

 

[Brighton Mod]

Ryan 7 - some decent saves, and claimed the ball under pressure on a number of occasions. His kicking strategy didn't make a lot of sense mind.
Bruno 7 - improved as the game went on. Has the touch to play at this level.
Duffy 6 - did well, but the make up of our side suited him. Struggled at times with the movement of their forwards though.
Dunk 6 - solid but not as commanding as usual.
Suttner 7 - a decent performance defensively
Propper 5 - gave the ball away carelessly at times, but had absolutely no out ball due to the lack of movement and pace, and Hemed's inability to hold the ball.
Stephens 5 - an awful mistake, but acquitted himself fairly well considering who he was up against and considering he suffered from a lack of options in possession.
March 8 - our best player. Thoroughly disappointing that Hughton's negativity meant that his best work was done in such deep areas, but showed this is potentially his level.
Brown - N/A
Gross 4 - disappointing. Didn't offer the two in midfield protection, nor did he support the forward enough, nor did he offer an outlet in possession.
Hemed 2 - up against 3 centre backs, so it seems unfair to give him a 1. But his performance lacked quality, his movement was awful, he didn't hold the ball up, he didn't run the channels... the quicker Murray and Baldock come back into the team, the better.

Murphy 7 - acquitted himself well defensively and tried to drive forward, but lacked options on the ball.
Murray 6 - offered a focal point almost immediately. Needs to start.
Knocky 6 - came on and offered a spark, although quite why Hughton took the risk after they got their second goal is beyond me.

Hughton 3 - I appreciate it's Man City and the expectation was absolute zero, but if we set up in that manner throughout the season, we will be relegated. Starting five new players in a system that the team hasn't played before against potentially the best side in the country is negligent, but the bigger issue is that being so defensive sends out a worrying message to our squad of players that says "we can't compete at this level, so we're just going to sit back and hope" - this is a serious concern going forward and I do hope to see a much more proactive approach in future games.

CH does have a history of setting up defensively, the next month will give us a clue, but he is realistic.it was also his first chance to see his team tested and he my well have drawn some of the conclusions highlighted on here.

 

[BensGrandad]

I don't think there's anyone else on here who thinks it was a defining moment.

There is no denying that it was, as I have explained at 1-0 down an equalizer is always possible at 2-0 down game over and very unlikely to get anything from the game if the 2nd is scored so late on..

 

[Machiavelli]

Ryan 6
Bruno 7.5
Dunk 7
Duffy 6.5
Suttner 7
March 7.5
Propper 5
Stephens 5
Brown n/a
Gross 5
Hemed 4

Murphy 5.5
Murray 5
Knockaert 6

I take the point at there being 'no out balls', although I'd re-phrase that as there being insufficient out balls, but we're going to have to pass the ball much better to stay in this league. It'll improve, but there was a bit of stage fright yesterday, and too many passing players weren't on the same wavelength as their recipients.

 

[HP Seagull]

Some are being very harsh on Propper. Yes, he gave the ball away three times in terrible areas in the first half, but I put that down to the fact he looked VERY nervous. He did improve and the way he moved the ball on the two runs he went on showed quality. Not a great performance but I saw enough to suggest he'll be a good player for us.

In terms of the tactics - in hindsight it's easy to say we were too defensive, but if we had held on for a point it would have been an incredible result, and we weren't that far away. If we had played more expansively City would have been out of sight by half time.

I'm sure we'll approach games against lesser teams differently.

 

[Icy Gull]

Some are being very harsh on Propper. Yes, he gave the ball away three times in terrible areas in the first half, but I put that down to the fact he looked VERY nervous. He did improve and the way he moved the ball on the two runs he went on showed quality. Not a great performance but I saw enough to suggest he'll be a good player for us.

In terms of the tactics - in hindsight it's easy to say we were too defensive, but if we had held on for a point it would have been an incredible result, and we weren't that far away. If we had played more expansively City would have been out of sight by half time.

I'm sure we'll approach games against lesser teams differently.

If Kayal had been fit I doubt Propper would have started. Ridiculous to question his signing after one game against the favourites but he did show some attacking intent, even if it was wasted by our players being nowhere near where he passed the ball. I am sure we'll see the proper Propper very soon.