Marks out of 10..... Van der Sar Rafael Ferdinand Evans Evra Nani Fletcher Scholes Carrick Giggs Rooney Brown Valencia
Van der Sar-8 Rafael-5 Ferdinand-7.5 Evans-8 Evra-7 Nani-7.5 Fletcher-8.5 Scholes-8.5 Carrick-8.5 Giggs-7 Rooney-8 Brown-N/A Valencia-N/A Forgot Evans, I think.
Van der Sar - 8 key save from Tevez in first half Rafael - 7 kept Bellamy in his pocket most of the game Ferdinand - 8 solid + influential as usual Evans - 7 solid Evra - 7.5 Nani - 8 dangerous Fletcher - 10 that good Scholes - 8 great first half Carrick - 8 great second half Giggs - 8 great second half Rooney - 7 good workrate and great header Brown - 6 Valencia - 6 RoM you missed Evans
Van der Sar - 8 - Made a couple of wonderful saves Rafael - 7 - Was pretty good Ferdinand - 8.5 - Great at the back... Evans - 7.5 - Solid Evra - 7.5 - Couple of good forward runs...Pretty solid Nani - 8 - Taking his chances...Great control of the ball....Was good Fletcher - 8 - Was at his best after a while Scholes - 8.5 - Wow....just wow.....Immaculate...Great at speading the ball...Can we ever have another young Scholes at the club who has as much vision as he has?.... Carrick - 7.5 - Midfield Trio were good Giggs - 7.5 - Was good Rooney - 9 - The man's awesome....Worked tirelessly throughout the game..+0.5 for the late goal Brown - 7.5 - Made Bellamy look like a fool on one occasion doing a trick of his own.....ha ha... Valencia - N/A
Van der Sar - 7 - some good saves Rafael - 6 Ferdinand - 7.5 Evans - 8 Evra - 6 Nani - 7 - looks like he really wants to stay, I'm happy for him Fletcher - 8 - he wanted it tonight, he really did, great performance Scholes - 8 Carrick - 7 Giggs - 7.5 Rooney - 8 Brown - N/A Valencia - N/A
Van der Sar-7 Rafael-5 - weakest link Ferdinand-7.5 Evans-6 - struggled against Tevez Evra-7 Nani-7.5 Fletcher-8.5 Scholes-8.5 Carrick-8 Giggs-7.5 Rooney-7.5
Van der Sar 8 - Let's face it, this guy is essential. Rafael 6 - Going through that learning period. Ferdinand 8 - Vital Evans - 8 Impressive Evra 7.5 - Steady but really needs to improve his end product. Good ball to Rooney though. Nani 7 - The rehabilitation continues. Fletcher 7.5 - Was everywhere. Scholes 8 - We probably would've been overrun in midfield if he wasn't there. Carrick 7 - Picked up his play a lot in the second half, finished really well for his goal. Giggs 6 - So so game but fantastic ball to Rooney for the killer goal. Rooney 7.5 - Alone but still a big threat. Great ghosting run to score the header. Brown N/A Valencia N/A - His introduction really put City under pressure.
Marks out of 10..... Van der Sar - 8 Rafael - 5 Ferdinand -7 Evans - 6 Evra -7 Nani -6.5 Fletcher -8 Scholes - 7 Carrick - 8 Giggs - 6 Rooney - 8 Brown - XX Valencia- XX
Van der Sar: 8 -Kept us in the game from the beginning when we had a fairly slow start Rafael: 6 -Shaky at times, but stayed with Bellamy for the most part Ferdinand: 7.5 -Some great defensive plays/tackles Evans: 7 -Made a good save with a header over the bar Evra: 7 -Good runs up to join the rush, but needs to work on his crosses Nani: 6.5 - Some inspired play at times, but I felt in general he was too easily knocked off the ball and tended to make too many turns resulting in turnovers. Fletcher: 8 -Great determined play in the MF Scholes: 8.5-Brilliant passes, and scored the opening goal that got us back into the game Carrick: 7.5-Played well with Fletcher and benefited from a goal, -0.5 only because of the great chance missed with Given beat Giggs: 7.5 -I thought he looked a bit tired at times during his runs, but kept at it and played a good game overall Rooney: 8.5 -Wasn't very prominent in first half due to little possession, but once the ball got rolling, was a force. Made amends to what looked like a tap-in by nailing the last one on Citeh's silverware coffin in the last seconds. Brown: 6 -Didn't have to do much, but played alright. Valencia: n/a
Van der Sar- 7 Rafael - 6.5 Ferdinand - 7.5 Evans - 6.5 Evra - 7 Nani - 7 Fletcher - 7.5 Scholes - 7.5 Carrick - 8 Giggs - 6.5 Rooney - 7.5 Brown - n/a Valencia - n/a
Van der Sar 8.5 - top class saves, calm as usual and kept Citeh deep w/ great balls to Wayne Rafael 4 - even next to Rio he has made some glaring errors, must improve positioning Ferdinand 8 - fantastic defending and better passing/distribution Evans 7 - dealt w/ Tevez to an extent Evra 7 - he was Giggsy's legs all match long. I don't know how he does it week in week out Nani 7 - involved in a goal, played dangerous crosses Fletcher 7.5 - worked hard, popped up at important times Scholes 8.5 - it was his midfield Carrick 9 - a goal, an assist and countless tackles and some hold up play??? Giggs 7 - no running in him today but intelligent dangerous play Rooney 8 - should have had 2 but he worked so hard, made so many runs Brown 5 - wasn't a measured improvement over Rafa when he came in Valencia N/A
Van der Sar - 7 - decent, the goal came out of nowhere. Rafael - 5 - Shaky and looked uncomfortable with Bellamy. Tends to lunge into his tackles. Ferdinand - 7.5 - Did what was required, although he didn't bring the ball out quiten as well as I'd like him to. Evans - 7 - Ok in my book. Sometimes troubkled but dealt with any danger fairly well. Evra - 7 - Good going forward, generally untroubled defensively. Nani - 7.5 - Another decent game from him. Has he ever produced 2 good games on the trot? Fletcher - 7.5 - Tirelss worker. Closed down excellently in the first half and got forward well in the second. Scholes - 7.5 - Very good. Passing was fantastic, and he took his goal well. Typical booking. Carrick - 8 - Still not assertive enough for me, but will he ever be? His passing was good and he showed great composure when taking his goal. Fired wide minutes after. Giggs - 6.5 - Average, but his experience told. He used the ball well and was always a potential threat. Set up the winner. Rooney - 9 - Everything he did last night was gold, apart from his ludicrous miss on 78 minutes. His ball for our first was sublime and he took his goal very well. Brown - 5 - Didn't really have a great game when he came on, but wasn't given much time. Still seems short of full match fitness to me. Valencia - 5 - Again, not really too much time. His direct running causes fullbacks all sorts of problems though. He's looking like a shrewd buy, even at £17m.
Van der Sar 8 Rafael 6 - much better than he was in the first leg. Ferdinand 8 Evans 7 Evra 7 Nani 7 - another good game. Fletcher 7 - wasn't good in the first half, but suddenly show up all over the place after Richards pissed him off. Scholes 8 - Carrick 8.5 - apart from 2 bad pass, he had a somewhat quiet great game. Giggs 7.5 Rooney 8 - should have had 2 but he worked so hard, made so many runs Brown 5 Valencia N/A
Van der Sar 7 Rafael 6 Ferdinand 7 Evans - 7 Evra 7 Nani 7 - whatever SAF is doing seems to be working. Fletcher 8 - how do we make him play like that in all matches, not just super important ones? Scholes 8 - Brilliant Carrick 8 - one of the better games Giggs 8 - quiet evening, but directly involved in our second and third goals Rooney 8 - on a roll.
Van der Sar 8 Nice saves and quick throws . Rafael 5.5 Didnt offer any attacking threat which was probably expected as he was supposed to be marking Bellamy (who IMO has been City's best attacking threat this season). But he allowed Bellamy to put in some dangerous crosses. Ferdinand 8 Was very good. Evans - 6 Was out of position couple of times. Evra 7 - Nice interplay with Giggs. Nani 7 - Did ok considering he hardly got any support from Rafael. He needs to be stronger on the ball though. Is easily knocked off the ball. Fletcher 8 - His energy and drive was important in breaking City Scholes 8.5 - Brilliant passing game. He still has something to offer in a 3 man mid. Controlled the midfield and his diagonal crosses very spot on. Carrick 7.5 - After a long time our midfield ticked. Every 1 of the 3 was doing their respective jobs w/o getting in each other's way. Giggs 7.5 - Most of his ambitious long balls and through balls found their target. Also a very good cross for the final goal. Rooney 8
Van der Sar - 7 Rafael - 5 - he's nowhere near ready for the likes of Bellamy. To be fair, Bellamy has shredded a lot of FB's this season, so Rafael's performance wasn't just of his own making. Ferdinand - 8 Evans - 7 Evra - 6.5 Nani - 6.5 Fletcher - 8 Scholes - 8.5 Carrick - 8.5 MoM Giggs - 6.5 Rooney - 8.5 Brown - 5 Valencia - 6
Rafael won more challenges with Bellamy than he lost. Rio covered the rest. I think out of all the times Bellamy has played us, he was relatively quiet.
What you should have been noting was how often he left Bellamy in space when he didn't have cover. Rafa only went in for challenges that favored him and he still lost some of those. There were countless times when due to his fear of being beat, he stayed inside and allowed his man miles of space to cross the ball.
I dont think this is so bad. Allow craig Bellamy to run outside and use his weaker foot, as opposed to getting beat on the inside and allowing a chance on his right? I'll watch the game again, but Rafael showed an improvement on his first game vs. Bellamy.
That's not really relevant though, is it? Defenders and rear-guard players aren't judged by such criteria, they're judged by how critical their errors are, what they lead to and whether they are a weak and attackable link in the defensive chain, first and foremost. There's many other tangibles, but what you've said is of very little worth for a defender.. or at least defender on the defensive end.
benni is right. Rafael was better this time around against Bellamy. This is reflected in his rating going up from 4 to 5. I do think DS (amongst others) gave a slightly generous mark to Evans.