Man City 2-1 Brighton: Dunk dominates player ratings
Four days after he was replaced by Harry Maguire in the England starting XI for the Euro 2024 qualifier, Lewis Dunk gave the best possible response by topping the Man City 2-1 Brighton player ratings.
This was a captain’s performance from Dunk, highlighting why he should be the man partnering John Stones in Germany this summer.
Dunk kept Erling Haaland relatively quiet, he faced down a barrage of crosses into the box from Jeremy Doku running riot against James Milner and he even started the move which led to the Albion goal.
What made Dunk’s performance even more impressive was that it took place whilst a disappointing first half showing was taking place from most of his teammates.
As each of the other 10 Albion players threw in plenty of questionable moments collectively, Dunk was head and shoulders above the rest.
That is reflected in him finishing a whole point ahead of Ansu Fati, who produced a lively cameo from the bench to be the only other Brighton man scoring above a seven in the Man City 2-1 Brighton ratings.
Jason Steele – 5.50
One of his better games so far this season. Nothing he could do about either City goal and made a couple of big saves to ensure the hosts were never able to take a comfortable lead.
James Milner – 3.83
Watching him try to deal with the electric pace of Jeremy Doku was akin to putting Usain Bolt in a 200m race against Ann Widdecombe. Replaced at half time by Joel Veltman.
LEWIS DUNK – 8.17
Top of the player ratings and rightly so; it is only a slight exaggeration to say Man City 2-1 Brighton could have been Man City 8-1 Brighton had the Albion captain not been in such inspired form. Dealt well with Haaland and turned defence into attack brilliantly for the consolation goal, blocking a Julian Alvarez shot on the line before sweeping the ball forward to Fati.
Igor Julio – 6.67
Very much finding his feet in the Premier League now following his £15 million summer move from Fiorentina. Solid defending, good on the ball and allows Dunk to play on his better right side.
Solly March – 6.33
His departure on a stretcher with what looked like an ACL proved a devastating way for the game to finish. In a season during which Brighton have suffered their fare share of injury problems, loosing March for months would be the biggest blow of the lot.
Pascal Gross – 6.33
Done by the pace of Doku in the build up to the opening City goal. He was then unusually wasteful when going one-on-one with Stefan Ortega in the second half. Those two moments aside, did some decent things in midfield.
Carlos Baleba – 5.50
The hype machine had gone into overdrive following Baleba’s performance against Liverpool. A terrible mistake gifting the ball to Haaland for City’s second goal served as a reminder that he is only 19-years old and still has much to learn.
Simon Adingra – 6.00
As bad as Milner was during the opening 45 minutes, he received little to no help defensively from Adingra. The Ivorian winger did at least contribute something going forward, most notably when sliding a lovely through ball into Gross for the squandered one-on-one.
Joao Pedro – 5.50
Little opportunity to impact on the game with City so dominant in the first half. Made way for Fati just after the hour mark.
Kaoru Mitoma – 7.00
What makes Mitoma such a dangerous player is that he can go 60 minutes without doing anything but then suddenly spark to life. City discovered that when out of nowhere, he drew a good save from Ortega, put a towering header from a Gross corner into the side netting and then played a big role in setting up Fati for the Albion goal.
Danny Welbeck – 5.33
Having written at length over the summer that Welbeck no longer deserved his injury prone tag, he limped off here after just 16 minutes with a muscular problem. Sorry to have jinxed it.
Evan Ferguson – 4.83
Entered proceedings much earlier than he would have expected thanks to Welbeck departing early. Struggled to get into the game, even when Brighton got on top during the second half.
Joel Veltman – 6.67
Starting to lose count of the amount of games Veltman has come off the bench in to make a ropey Albion defence suddenly look much more secure. Why De Zerbi continually overlooks the Dutchman for the starting XI is baffling.
Billy Gilmour – 6.33
Is in really good form at the moment and made a noticeable difference when replacing Baleba. Clever in possession and helped to keep the Albion moving forward.
Ansu Fati – 7.17
A really good cameo from the bench. Involved in the build up and then finished off the consolation goal. Had Mitoma buried an earlier one-on-one with Ortega then Fati would have claimed an assist too. Also caused Manuel Akanji to be red carded for a cynical foul resulting in a second yellow late on.
The WAB Player Ratings are formulated using marks out of 10 given by Brighton fans via Twitter. To have your scores included, follow We Are Brighton on Twitter and look out for the player rating thread after each game.
