Man City vs Bayern Munich (A) – Player Ratings

Joe Hart: 8 – One of his best performances for Man City in a long time. For the first time I remember in two seasons, I grew fully confident in Hart’s hands as the game progressed, as he came up with big saves against Gotze and Muller in the first half. He later pulled off a great stop against Muller once again to mend his handling error, and was unlucky with the deflected strike from Boateng, whom saw a bullet saved by the Englishman a minute or two earlier.

Bacary Sagna: 7 – Fared far better at the Allianz than he did a couple of games ago against Stoke which is an odd occurrence. Defending was far better than his attacking, which he seemed reluctant to do at any point. Still looks slightly out of place in the City side after so long with Zabba on the right flank, but could serve as a mightily useful back up right back. Although he put in a good few blocks and interceptions, I can’t see us using him too often, particularly as the centre back position is saturated with the likes of Vincent Kompany, Eliaquim Mangala, Demi and *shivers* Dedryck Boyata.

Vincent Kompany: 7 – Hasn’t had a bad game yet this season and commanding as ever in a defense that was made up of talented but often unsure defenders in the tackle and possession. City just feel safer with Vinnie at the back, despite Bayern’s constant attacking through the middle, which was mainly caused by Yaya’s half-hearted attempt at defending.

Martin Demichelis: 6 – Demi had one of his “oooh, eugh,  ahh, ooh!!” games; as in, he was great one minute, and pulled off early 2013 Demichelis moments the next. Keeps getting caught out from behind by runners, he just seems to lack the mobility to even turn and follow them. Happened with Sterling against Liverpool and happened tonight against Lewandowski and Gotze.

Gael Clichy: 6 – If I’m honest, I hardly even noticed Gael tonight. Not that that’s necessarily a bad thing. But what was a bad thing was the number of times Muller found himself free on that wing. Although it never came to much, it shows Clichy’s slight weakness to stronger, more technically sound players.

Vincent Kompany gets the joint highest rating of all of City’s defenders tonight.

Fernandinho: 8 – I’m pretty torn between the two Fernand-s. Fernando gives Man City a brute defensive strength that Fernandinho doesn’t, while he sits back and allows Yaya to attack, unlocking his full powers. Both give 100%, but Fernandinho’s knack of picking the ball up in City’s danger areas and dribbling his way out of the back and into the attack is pretty impressive. Fernandinho ran for the both of he and Yaya, adding another complicated variable to the central midfielder equation. However, after Yaya’s recent run of performances, I wouldn’t even mind having both of them on instead of the Ivorian right now.

Yaya Toure: 5 – For £250,000+ per week could YOU PLEASE JUST TRY AT LEAST A LITTLE BIT. It seems that after last year’s world-class season, Toure has given up, content to finish on that high and rake in his obscene salary for doing sweet f-all. Only once did he look like the Toure of old, steamrolling a few Bayern midfielders, but he ended up turning back and passing the ball as he was out of breath. Looks lethargic and disinterested every minute of every game. Sort it out Yaya.

David Silva: 7 – As always, looked like the only midfielder constantly looking for space to play the ball into. David’s composure is always welcomed in big – particularly Champions League – games like this.

Samir Nasri: 6 – Like Clichy, I hardly noticed Samir. He often does well just keeping the play going, linking up with Silva. Nothing much more to say, alright performance – replaced by James Milner in the second half of the second 45.

Edin Dzeko: 6 – If I believed in decimal ratings, I’d give him a 6.5…but I don’t, so 6 it is. Dzeko’s still growing as a lone striker, and is improving in the dribbling and hold up play departments, but putting him up by himself against two big centre backs wasn’t a great idea. I don’t know whether Pellegrini did this as a precaution to not risk Aguero (which, although we play Chelsea next, is silly considering we’re keeping Kun fit for big games against the likes of Bayern) or just as a genuine lack of judgement. Dzeko needs constant delivery as a single striker, and we weren’t going to be getting much against Bayern.

SUBS: Aguero: 5, Milner: 5, Kolarov: 5