Almost too late to be publishable, Keir Bradwell comes up with his man-by-man SAFC assessment of the New Year’s Day defeat at the Etihad. His intention was to combine that game and the Leeds FA Cup tie in a double header. But he was not at the cup match and there were no streams or TV coverage, hence what he terms ‘some phenomenally late ratings for Manchester City 3 – 2 Sunderland’ …
Pantilimon – 7
The only member of our ex-City trio not to score on the day, Pants made up for this disappointment by the means of a stellar goalkeeping performance in which three goals were conceded but none that you could blame our in-form Romanian for.
Vergini – 6
Decent.
O’Shea – 7
One of the 11 or so men behind the ball in the first half, as part of Poyet’s innovative “park the Caterpillar 797” tactic, which worked resoundingly well until City scored three times.
Brown – 6
See Vergini. Customarily almost as good as John O’Shea.
Jones – 7
See O’Shea.
Rodwell – 8
YES. Scored a goal, and played very well. Hopefully helps to silence some of his critics. All we need now is for Jozy to do the same.
Larsson – 7
Another typical, hard working, set piece delivering Larsson performance. Looks a bit tired though.
Gomez – 3
As I have explained in previous weeks, I’m not a huge Gomez fan.
Buckley – 3
HE’S DONE IT! Finally, someone has mastered the art of invisibility. Since this whole football thing isn’t working out, he should become a magician.
Wickham – 6
Okay.
Johnson – 6
Got a lot more involved than Buckley, which was nice. Starting to perform consistently, which is encouraging to see.
Subs:
Giaccherini – 7
Runs at the opposition pace with actual threat. Never seen anything like it.
Alvarez – 7
Uses skill to weave his way into the opposition box. Never seen anything like it.
Coates – 4
Didn’t really notice him.
So Pantilimon is only worth a point more than Wickham?