Manchester City’s three goals in the opening 21 minutes of the game set them up for their biggest Premier League season, as Newcastle sunk to yet another low point. Here are the player ratings from the embarrassing 5-0 loss at the Etihad Stadium:
Tim Krul – 5
Hard to blame the Dutchman for the defeat. Krul couldn’t do too much about the four goals that followed Aguero cooly slotting his penalty past him in the opening minute.
Daryl Janmaat – 5
The Dutchman made several attempts to get forward, and cause problems, but Man City were just too good defensively for Daryl to bother them. He was caught out a number of times defensively, by virtue of Yoan Gouffran and Moussa Sissoko’s lackadaisical tracking back, but avoided any major errors. Daryl picked up an injury in the second half, before being replaced by Ryan Taylor.
Mike Williamson – 3
Another bad day at the office for Mike. Although Vurnon Anita’s first-touch and tackle were questionable, Mike Williamson’s decision to pass it to the Dutchman was poor in the first place. The 31-year-old didn’t learn from his mistakes and continued to gift Man City chance after chance. Williamson went on to finish the game without making a single clearance.
Fabricio Coloccini – 3
Man City’s forwards caused the captain problems from the word go. A lack of leadership from the captain was also disappointing to see, with the defence often looking misshapen.
Massadio Haidara – 4
In general, it was poor from Massadio, who failed to make any significant impact at either end of the pitch.
Vurnon Anita – 4
Gifted the home side a penalty in the opening minute – immediately putting his side on the back foot of an already difficult game. Toure and Silva out-dueled the Dutchman in midfield all game, before being replaced by Abeid at half-time.
Jack Colback – 5
Like his teammate Haidara, Jack made very little impact on the game, other than picking up a stupid booking, in the first half, which will see him miss Newcastle’s next two games.
Moussa Sissoko – 6
A few opportunities for the Frenchman to break forward into City’s half but Kompany and Mangala were dominant in defence and coped relatively well with his threats.
Yoan Gouffran – 4
Yet another who failed to get involved in the game. The Frenchman looked lazy and slow when tracking back, in the second half especially, as City looked to add to their lead.
Ayoze Perez – 5
A few nice touches here and there but Kompany and Mangala muted the Spaniard’s threat.
Papiss Cisse – 5
In the opening minutes of the second half, Cisse forced Hart into making a great save. Other than that, Cisse was kept quiet and acted as a bystander for the most part.
Mehdi Abeid – SUB
After replacing Anita at half-time, it looked as if Newcastle were rejuvenated with Sissoko and Cisse linking up early in the second half. Sadly, this wasn’t the case and Abeid failed to make any real impact.
Ryan Taylor – SUB
Came on for the injured Daryl Janmaat and immediately gifted Edin Dzeko with a one-on-one with Tim Krul, who spared his blushes with an excellent save. Other than that, Ryan did not make any difference.
Gabriel Obertan – SUB
With five minutes to go, the Frenchman entered the fray and completed one pass – that was it from Gabriel.
