Manchester City played hosts to Newcastle United at the Etihad Stadium on Saturday evening hoping to return to winning ways. The Citizens began the match very attack-minded and completely bossed the possession stats from the get-go. They got an early lead through Raheem Sterling’s fantastic finish but conceded a cheap goal on the counter in the 30th minute when DeAndre Yedlin scored a breakaway goal for the Magpies.
However, City came out strong in the second half and found the winner through Kyle Walker’s powerful shot just seven minutes after the half-time break. Rafael Benitez’s men defended well but could not see a way back into the game as Pep Guardiola’s players ran out 2-1 winners on the day.
Let’s take a look at how each Manchester City player fared during the match against the Magpies.
GK: Ederson – 7/10
He was excellent with his feet once again and distributed the ball well. The Brazilian couldn’t do much about the Newcastle equaliser but did well when called into action, which was pretty rare.
RB: Kyle Walker – 9/10
The English full-back was always willing to join in on the attack and scored the winning goal of the game with his ferocious drive from outside the box.
CB: John Stones – 6/10
He looked comfortable in possession and played some excellent passes going forward. However, the English centre-back gave Salomon Rondon way too much space to pick out Yedlin in the lead-up to the Magpies equaliser.
CB: Aymeric Laporte – 6/10
He is slowly establishing himself in Guardiola’s first-team and looked comfortable on the ball once again, spraying passes to the City forwards all match long.
LB: Benjamin Mendy – 7/10
Not as effective as in other matches but Mendy still set up Sterling for City’s opener and put a few dangerous balls from the left flank.
CM: Fernandinho – 7/10
He could have scored when Aguero put him through on goal, but luck was not on his side. Overall, the Brazilian had a good game at the centre of the park.
RM: Riyad Mahrez – 6/10
The Algerian had a lot of the ball but couldn’t cause any damage in the final third.
CAM: David Silva – 7/10
Another good game from the Spaniard, he orchestrated play and was at the heart of every City attack in the opposition half.
LM: Raheem Sterling – 8.5/10
The English speedster scored with his wonderful curling effort early in the game. He was a constant outlet for the Citizens and ran the channels well behind the Magpies defence.
ST: Gabriel Fernando de Jesus – 6/10
He worked hard but was not convincing in front of goal.
ST: Sergio Agüero – 7.5/10
The Argentine forward brought his teammates into the game and set up Walker for the winning goal.
Substitutes:
CAM: Bernardo Silva – 7/10
He made some good runs with the ball after coming off the bench.
CM: Ilkay Gundogan – 6/10
He came on for the final quarter of the game and saw out a narrow victory for City.
CB: Vincent Kompany – N/A
The Citizens captain did not have much time to make an impact.
