Man City Player Ratings vs. West Ham: Another Stumble Spells Disaster for Title Chances

Pep Guardiola’s men are now nine points behind Arsenal in the Premier League race.

Erling Haaland was kept off the scoresheet for a fourth consecutive game. | Ian Kington/AFP/Getty Images

Manchester City only managed a 1-1 draw with West Ham United on Saturday, a failed attempt revive spirits after Wednesday’s beatdown by Real Madrid in the first leg of the Champions League round of 16.

The visiting Citizens got off to a lazy start at London Stadium. Although they dominated possession, Man City were largely content to just pass around the middle of the pitch, uninterested in stretching the attack or being dynamic.

Bernardo Silva finally awoke the visitors from their ill-deserved slumber, opening the game’s scoring in the 31st minute. The midfielder made an overlapping run around striker Omar Marmoush, who fed him a diagonal ball towards the corner of West Ham’s box. Silva chipped the ball past the fingertips of Mads Hermansen to break the deadlock.

The Citizens’ invigorated lead lasted all of four minutes, when goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma completely misread the flight of a Hammers’ corner kick. The floating ball found the head of Konstantinos Mavropanos to knot the score.

Man City’s frantic resurgence in the final 10 minutes, resulting in nine shots and four corner kicks, was still not enough to pull ahead. The Citizens are now nine points behind league-leaders Arsenal and are in an even deeper in a hole after they dropped points to Nottingham Forest.

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One Thing We Can’t Ignore

Erling Haaland finds himself in a scoring drought. | Ian Kington/AFP/Getty Images

Erling Haaland’s scoreless ways continue. The Norwegian striker hasn’t found the back of the net since Feb. 11 across all competitions.

Haaland found himself in a sea of maroon all evening, unable—or seemingly unwilling—to break away and be in good positions. For the first 70 minutes, he appeared to be a spectator, watching the game unfold in front of him, as opposed to trying to get involved. Man City took 15 corner kicks in the game, the majority directed at the 6’5 forward on the goal line, yet Haaland came up empty time and time again.

The forward’s desperation only set in during the final 20 minutes, but he still only managed to create one real chance and had a single shot on frame.

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Man City Player Ratings vs. West Ham (4-1-3-2)

Man City took the lead through Bernardo Silva (center). | Ian Kington/AFP/Getty Images

*Ratings Provided by FotMob*

GK: Gianluigi Donnarumma—6.3: Completely misread the flight of the ball on West Ham’s only corner kick, resulting in Mavropano’s equalizer.

RB: Matheus Nunes—7.0: Absolutely torched by Malick Diouf down the right flank throughout the first half. Recovered in the second half and even had a quality shot on target.

CB: Abdukodir Khusanov—7.7: Did a quality job sweeping in big moments and improved efforts to push up the field in the second half.

CB: Marc Guéhi—7.8: Also swept well and matched pace with West Ham’s strikers.

LB: Rayan Aït-Nouri—8.0: Solid performance. Dynamic up the wing and high accuracy for his passes.

DM: Rodri—7.8: Helped stretch the field in the second half by switching the field often.

RW: Antoine Semenyo—6.2: Likewise got burned on the wing by Diouf, but recovered in the second half by generating a few scoring opportunities.

AM: Bernardo Silva—7.7: Got the team’s only goal of the night. Understandably livid when West Ham equalized just four minutes after his perfect overlapping run.

LW: Nico O’Reilly—7.2: Brickwall on defense with three blocked shots, but didn’t generate much offensively.

ST: Erling Haaland—6.6: Preferred to spectate for the first 70 minutes. Only became enlivened in the waning minutes, but by then, it was too late.

ST: Omar Marmoush—7.4: The only one actively trying to break lines from the kickoff. Outstanding performance.

SUB: Jérémy Doku (60’ for Aït-Nouri)—6.6: Put in a lively cameo and created two quality chances.

SUB: Rayan Cherki (60’ for Marmoush)—6.8: His high intensity changed the game. Brilliant in defense as well.

SUB: Phil Foden (75’ for Semenyo)—6.1: Impressed in flashes but to no avail.

SUB: Tijjani Reijnders (75’ for Silva)—6.9: Held down the middle with near-perfect accuracy in his passing.

Subs not used: James Trafford (GK), Nathan Aké, Rúben Dias, Rúben Dias, Mateo Kovačić, Nico González.

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What the Ratings Tell Us

Savinho (left) opened the scoring for Man City. | Paul Currie/AFP/Getty Images

• Omar Marmoush was once again Man City’s spark plug. The Egypt international was the only one moving faster than a jog in the first half and the reason Silva was able to perform the goal-scoring overlapping run.
• This is one too many times that Matheus Nunes has gotten torched on his side. Although he seemed to recover nicely by the second half, he must command the flank from the opening whistle.
• Erling Haaland needs to better manage the target that has been inevitably placed on his back, and it can’t be done by simply watching the game.

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The Numbers That Explain Man City’s Shock Stumble

Rodri’s efforts were not enough to claim all three points for Man City. | Izzy Poles/AMA/Getty Images

• It looks like Haaland isn’t the only one plagued by a lack of finishing up top. It affected the entire team, needing 24 shots to achieve what West Ham did with just one.
• Pretty soccer—71% possession and 91% passing accuracy—means nothing if it’s not accompanied by dynamic movements up the field or a sense of urgency to break lines.
• Man City may have a thing to learn from West Ham’s execution on set pieces. The Hammers capitalized on the single corner kick they had. Man City had 15 that were wasted.

Statistic	West Ham	Man City
Possession	29%	71%
Expected Goals (xG)	0.54	2.06
Total Shots	1	24
Shots on Target	1	6
Big Chances	1	1
Passing Accuracy	75%	91%
Fouls Committed	14	5
Corners	1	15

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