Still buzzing from last night - not much of a fan of dishing out scores out of ten, but wanted to comment on everyone that contributed to a historical night: Steele: It'd be harsh to criticise him much for the goal, though a bit disappointing he was beaten at the far post. Otherwise a number of smart saves, including parrying a low shot through a crowd of defenders from Lukaku which I would rank as the best of the night. There’s not much between him and Fielding. Magnusson: Sometimes worried me by holding onto the ball a touch long and a couple of wayward clearances, but he ultimately didn’t make any significant mistake and was heavily involved in the first half. He delivered a fantastic cross-field pass to Brownhill in the build up to Smith’s chance just before halftime and also forced a save from Romero with a decent volley. Flint: Another solid performance. There were two occasions where Utd almost broke away with 2 on 1 deep into the 2nd half, but City’s willingness to push up rather than sit deep made this a risk and the performance fully justified this. Towards the end you could see his grit in his aerial dominance and a run out of defence whilst battling Lukaku, which he ended up winning a free-kick from. Baker: Great praise in that I didn’t really notice him much. City largely did excellently in knowing when to give Utd players space and when to close them down, though Rashford was given too much space when he hit the post in the first half. There’s no denying that Baker is a classy defender. Wright: I was a touch concerned by how Wright, a bit of a make-shift right-back, would handle someone as pacey and tricky as Martial, and he did lose him once in the first half, which resulted in the cross met by Ibrahimovic that hit the woodwork via a deflection off Baker. Other than that, he was as organised as anyone and never had me panicking. Bryan: Utterly fantastic and a worthy winner of Man of the Match. Starting with the goal, not only was it a stunning finish, he was involved in the build-up; controlling a bouncing ball, looping it over a Utd player, laying it off and pushing forward. A goal that would be heralded as genius if scored by Messi or Ronaldo. Also, in the second half where Marcus Rashford broke away with Lukaku alone in the centre, Bryan made an excellent sliding tackle to snuff out the danger – this occurring on the opposite (right) side from his starting position. It’s becoming more believable that he could get capped for England one day. Pack: Another great performance from a man who is becoming more and more important to us. Combined well with Smith especially and weighted his pass to Bryan perfectly for the first goal. He seemed to tire towards the end, but that was understandable given the mileage he must’ve clocked up and adrenaline was enough for him to keep on going. Smith: Will obviously hit the headlines for scoring the winner, which was well taken after a good run into the box. He was heavily involved whenever we had a good spell of possession and didn’t give the ball away much at all. I thought he had spurned an excellent chance at the end of the first half and a harsher critic would say he still should have got a shot away, but replays show it was actually a great tackle from Daley Blind. Paterson: His technical ability meant he didn’t give the ball away and his trickery meant that he could cause panic and uncertainty in the Utd defence. Almost scored a stunner of his own midway through the 2nd half. Brownhill: Looks a wonderful technical player and was assured whenever he was on the ball and also pushed forward when given the opportunity. I was surprised when he came off and presume it was due to a niggle. Reid: A tough night for Reid, but his contribution was still invaluable, almost as much for his work off the ball as on it. When we were under pressure and needed to clear the ball long, he was chasing it down and forcing Utd’s defenders and keeper into playing the ball, and he passed the ball well when he was able to make an interception. Just the one decent chance in the first half where he lashed a shot into the side netting. Taylor: Similar to Reid, he needed to be patient and run the ball down, but he was also careful to keep possession when he had it and was similar to Paterson in his unpredictability. His composure and foresight to deliver the lofted pass for the winner was excellent. Eliasson: Looked nervous and unsure what decisions to make at what times – for instance, during a free-kick we had near the half way line, it took Marlon Pack gesturing to get him where he needed to be. I have faith that he has a future, but his appearance here was as much down to lack of alternatives as anything.
I think Ellie needs more game time, he is trying to fit everything in his repertoire in the short space of time he gets / has had he is not a centre forward, but a very good forward joe always had time for him and flinty one has to say the whole team gave their all lowest mark out of 10 8.1 top mark 9.9 no one is ever perfect....
