Dwight McNeil poor with 4/10 showing as Jordan Pickford MOTM with 8/10 – Everton player ratings v Manchester City
Everton fell to a 3-1 defeat to world champions Manchester City despite a strong performance, with a controversial penalty the story of the game.
City started the game really well with Jordan Pickford making a brilliant double save to deny Julian Alvarez and Matheus Nunes, before stopping Jack Grealish’s effort later too to keep the scores level.
Everton then shocked everyone by pouncing on a City error when Dwight McNeil won possession in the penalty area and smashed the ball across the box for Jack Harrison to tap into the net past Ederson and give the Toffees the lead at the break.
City came out hard and fast in the second half and it took just seven minutes for them to draw level as Phil Foden hammered a strike in from the edge of the box. Amadou Onana was then penalised for a handball on the hour mark, allowing Julian Alvarez to score a penalty down the middle despite Pickford’s best efforts.
Bernardo Silva then sealed the win for City by pouncing on an error to curl the ball into an empty net from the edge of the box.
Here is how Goodison News rated the performance of each Everton player from the game..
Jordan Pickford – 8/10
A really brilliant performance from the Toffees number one. The performance was strong but he made sure that the result never got away from the team and we were always in the game. So unlucky not to save the penalty and made huge saves before that too. A great showing.
Nathan Patterson – 6/10
The Scot had a tough night against Jack Grealish and was constantly dragged out of position by their movement, but defensively he was really good. Just didn’t offer enough support going forward over the 90 minutes.
James Tarkowski – 5/10
The vice-captain started the game well and made some vital interceptions and clearances, but after the team fell 2-1 behind he lost his head a little bit and made some reckless tackles that left gaps in behind him. We needed a calm head and he didn’t provide it.
Jarrad Branthwaite – 7/10
On the other hand Branthwaite was imperious and showed why there is so much talk about his future potentially lying elsewhere. Dealt with World Cup winner Julian Alvarez brilliantly, showed fantastic passing range and composure and was always exactly where he needed to be. A top performance.
Vitalii Mykolenko – 6/10
Similar to Patterson, Mykolenko found himself outnumbered a lot by Bernardo Silva, Kyle Walker and Phil Foden and he struggled to be able to get forward. But defensively he was rarely caught out and had a good showing considering the quality he was up against.
Amadou Onana – 5/10
His energy was great and he worked hard all night long, but when we needed calm and quality on the ball he was lacking a little bit. Clearly still improving and has a tonne of potential, but it was a tough night for him in there against Rodri.
Andre Gomes – 5/10
Sean Dyche made it clear that he wouldn’t be picking Gomes just yet if he didn’t have to, and while the Portuguese midfielder had a few glimpses of quality overall it was clear that he’s not yet 100% fit so it was no surprise to see him struggle against City’s possession-based style.
James Garner – 7/10
A Manchester United graduate, Garner played as if this game meant a little bit extra to him. He was running constantly, made some huge tackles and defensive actions but also provided a box-to-box threat to support the forwards at times. A great showing and unlikely to be on the losing end.
Jack Harrison – 5/10
The goalscorer on the night, but you’d be forgiven for forgetting he even played. Barely caused Nathan Ake or Josko Gvardiol a problem while he was on the pitch, but worked fairly hard defensively.
Dwight McNeil – 4/10
McNeil pounced on a rare Rodri error to get the assist, but that was the only thing of note he did in the whole game. Plenty of running around but little to no quality on the ball, even less threat in attack and couldn’t help Mykolenko when it came to defending. A poor game.
Beto – 6/10
There aren’t many players who can say they emptied the tank for Everton while they were on the pitch, but Beto certainly did. He ran Manuel Akanji in particular ragged and held the ball up well before he ran out of energy and was replaced after the team fell behind.
SUBSTITUTES
Dominic Calvert-Lewin – 5/10
Michael Keane – 5/10
Arnaut Danjuma – N/A
In other Everton news, player to hold talks over January exit as loan stance emerges.