Ranking and Grading Manchester City's Players vs. Bayern Munich in UCL Victory
Sergio Aguero's performance in Manchester City's 3-2 Champions League Group E win against Bayern Munich may not have saved City's season. It may not even lead to qualification to the knockout stage.
But today is not a day to dwell on what might still go wrong for City. Today is a day to revel in the wonder of Kun Aguero.
That is the last you will hear about Aguero in this piece until the final slide. Not to spoil the surprise, but Aguero gets the best ranking and the highest grade for this match.
Aguero did not beat Bayern alone. Given some of the grades and rankings that follow for his teammates, though, you could say that Aguero came pretty close to doing so.
N.B. Martin Demichelis, who came on in the 90th minute for Aguero, played too few minutes to receive a rank or a grade.
13. Eliaquim Mangala
1 of 13
With every match that Mangala plays, it seems that City bought a very expensive central defender kit.
That is, a player with all of the physical qualities you want in a central defender (size, speed, strength) but no real understanding of how to use them all at once.
For what City spent on Mangala, they must have thought Mangala was further along in his development or that he could put his game together quickly with a solid partner like Vincent Kompany.
It is not happening. The foul that Mangala committed on Robert Lewandowski led to Bayern's first goal, but that is not the entire reason for this grade. Mangala just does not inspire confidence on the ball, and he does not put a physical imprint on the game, either. It is sort of a mess.
Grade: D
12. Joe Hart
2 of 13
Put it this way: It would have been an unexpected move had Manuel Pellegrini removed Joe Hart for Willy Caballero at the interval, but it would not have been the wrong move.
Hart either set his wall wrong or flat misplayed Xabi Alonso's free kick (or both) in the 40th minute, and he was both wrong-footed and flat-footed on Lewandowski's header in the 45th minute.
He made a great save early against Sebastian Rode, but otherwise he was a shaky presence on a night when his team needed him to play technically perfect football.
Grade: D+
11. Bacary Sagna
3 of 13
For the first half an hour or so, Sagna's athleticism and stylish play made Pellegrini's decision to start him over Pablo Zabaleta look brilliant.
Then Bacary Sagna was manhandled by Lewandowski for Bayern's second goal, and it became apparent that there is only so far you can go with flair when you are playing against bigger, stronger players.
Hart did Sagna no favors on the play, but it was sort of mutual since Sagna never should have let Lewandowski get that shot away in the first place.
Grade: C-
10. James Milner
4 of 13
Arguably, it was only the negligent red card Fernandinho took against CSKA Moscow at the Etihad that put James Milner out there at all against Bayern. Or maybe it was the reckless red card Yaya Toure received. Whichever.
Then City grabbed a 1-0 lead and a man advantage once Medhi Benatia was sent off in the 20th minute, and it seemed that this was the perfect match for a tactically sound defensive-minded midfielder like Milner to put his mark on.
But City were down 2-1 at the half, and to a large degree it was because neither Milner nor Fernando (more on him momentarily) did much to stem the tide of Bayern players pouring forward with the ball even though Bayern were only playing with 10 men.
Milner was brought off in the 66th minute for Stevan Jovetic. That substitution was both 21 minutes too late and right on time, if that makes any sense.
Grade: C
9. Fernando
5 of 13
Everything written in this piece about Mangala earlier goes for Fernando, too. Fernando is enormous and looks the part of the enforcing midfield monster.
Unfortunately, all the menace in the world is no help to Fernando against a club like Bayern. They pinged the ball around and through Fernando largely at will. And watching Fernando chase the ball against Bayern feels almost like watching cruelty.
Again, once City went up a goal and a man, City should not have needed any further heroics to secure this win. Fernando and Milner should have bottled up the midfield. They didn't.
Grade: C
8. Samir Nasri
6 of 13
The main knock against Samir Nasri is that you never know if he is going to try his hardest. That was not a problem against Bayern.
Nasri had essentially announced that he was going to try his best against Bayern with his pre-match comments. Even Nasri could not be so callow as to call out his club and then not show up for this match.
So this performance from Nasri was the ultimate rarity. He ran his hind quarters off but made very little happen. And to be honest, his decision-making and his handling around the penalty area were not up to his normal skill level.
The trouble for City is that they bought Nasri from Arsenal, but they have too much talent around Nasri to ever allow him to be the solo wrecking force Nasri was at Arsenal. So he just blends in, and it's not what City need.
One more small thing: The short corner Nasri took to end the first half was just insipid. Launch that thing.
Grade: C+
7. Pablo Zabaleta
7 of 13
Pablo Zabaleta came on in the 68th minute for Sagna. In far less than half the time Sagna was on the pitch, Zabaleta had a greater positive impact on the play.
Even the yellow card Zabaleta was shown in the 89th minute was a) exactly the right tackle to make and b) not even a foul per the video replay.
There is no way to know whether City's straits would have been so desperate had Zabaleta played the entire match. Thankfully, there is little reason to stew over that question, either.
Grade: B
6. Vincent Kompany
8 of 13
It is both a credit and an indictment of Vincent Kompany that his most memorable and best moment of the match was his tangle with Robert Lewandowski near Pep Guardiola's touch line.
Other than that moment of aggression, Kompany's night was pretty reserved. Then again, you cannot exactly expect Kompany to run too far forward with the likes of Mangala and Sagna often lost in space behind him.
Kompany was also at least partly to blame for Lewandowski's goal. Had Kompany made a play on the lofted pass in to Lewandowski, Sagna would not have been left alone to deal with the bigger man.
Grade: B
5. Frank Lampard
9 of 13
The only marginally negative observation that can fairly be made about Frank Lampard's performance against Bayern is that he really did not do much to help City win the possession battle.
That's it.
Beyond that nit pick, Lampard's shift against Bayern vacillated between "professional" and "heroic." This is a 36-year-old midfielder with thousands of miles on his odometer who ran for the whole night against one of the best clubs in the world.
And it was Lampard's lob to Aguero that set the Argentinian free to draw the red card against Benatia and the spot kick.
Grade: B+
4. Jesus Navas
10 of 13
So many times, Jesus Navas' blazing speed seems to go for naught. He either overruns plays or gets where he needs to be and then makes nothing of the effort he took to get there.
Navas did not score or assist on a goal against Bayern, but his performance was of the standout variety nonetheless.
Few City players have the pace that could trouble Bayern. Navas has loads of it, and he burst forward and troubled Bayern on a number of occasions. A bounce here or a Bayern misplay there and Navas could have generated multiple City goals the way he played.
Navas and Aguero were the only players who seemed to give Bayern any cause for concern all night.
Grade: B+
3. Gael Clichy
11 of 13
Gael Clichy's statistical line against Bayern was not indicative of his contribution to City's win. It was Clichy's contribution to Arjen Robben's statistical line that told the full story.
Robben was unusually ineffective against City, and Clichy was the primary reason. It is pretty hard for Robben to dive in the area with the ball at his feet if he never gets into the area and rarely sees the ball.
Clichy was City's best defender against Bayern. That is a hard distinction to earn on a side with Kompany on it, but Clichy earned it on this night.
Grade: A-
2. Stevan Jovetic
12 of 13
Pellegrini's decision to bring Stevan Jovetic on for Milner in the 66th minute was a no-brainer. City were down a goal and seemed to be out of ideas of how to get the ball to the white-hot Aguero.
It took Jovetic awhile to get into the game, but once he did his craft and inspiration were telling.
Jovetic expertly stepped into the idiotic backward pass authored by Alonso and sent Aguero in for the City equalizer. Jovetic was credited with an assist for that play.
He would have had a second assist from his clever header into Aguero's path in the 90th minute, but it took a Jerome Boateng touch to really spring Aguero for the winner. Still, none of that happens if Jovetic does not again get the ball into Aguero's space.
Feed the Kun, and he will score.
Grade: A
1. Sergio Aguero
13 of 13
You hardly need me to tell you why Aguero was the man of the match. He scored a hat-trick against Bayern Munich to win a match for City that, truthfully, they desperately needed to win
Even saying that Bayern were down to 10 men when Aguero did this would be a hollow jibe, since it was Aguero's move that got Benatia sent off.
So instead, let's focus on the very best part of what Aguero did: Aguero made Manuel Neuer his own personal plaything.
Neuer loves to stroll around the pitch like he owns it. He is an enormous man with an enormous amount of goalkeeping talent and the ego to match.
But watch the film of this match and you will see three things happen to Neuer that you may never see again.
Neuer guessed right on Aguero's spot kick and still did not come close to getting a hand on it. That is one.
After Aguero slipped the second goal past Neuer, the two men collided in the back of the net as they both went after the ball and it was Neuer, not Aguero, who ended up in a heap on his rump in the mesh.
Then after Aguero's third, Neuer was flat on his back watching the ball hopping around in his goal while one of his own defenders tripped and fell over Neuer's prone form.
So it's not just that Aguero scored three goals and quite possibly saved City's season. It was the way he did it, and the opposition he did it against.
Grade: A+++ (one + for each goal)
.jpg?w=600 "Colts Release Kenny Moore")
