Man City 3-0 Brighton: Future Ballon d’Or winner Caicedo tops ratings
There are two words to take away from our Man City 3-0 Brighton player ratings – Moises Caicedo.
Lewis Dunk might be another two words actually as the Albion captain was excellent at the Etihad Stadium, but over the past five seasons of top flight football we have become accustomed to seeing Dunk thrive against the best players in the world. It is almost taken for granted.
Not so much a 20-year-old midfielder with only 180 minutes of Premier League action under his belt. Caicedo looked like he had been playing at this level for his entire life, such was the ease with which he read the game to constantly pop up in the right place at the right time to thwart City.
As a general rule of thumb, it is sensible not to get too carried away when a player from foreign lands looks good in their first few appearances. One swallow does not a summer make and all that.
Caicedo though looks the exception to the rule. A future Brighton Player of the Season? Definitely. Guaranteed to move to one of the biggest clubs in the world at some point in his career? Yes. A Ballon d’Or winner one day? Put your house on it.
His performance was almost enough to make you forget the Albion shipped three goals in 29 minutes against Pep Guardiola’s Abu Dhabi Sportswashers. Which is what we are meant to be here to discuss rather than just Caicedo’s awesomeness.
Better give your these Man City 3-0 Brighton player ratings, then…
Robert Sanchez – 5.00
Sanchez must really hate Liverpool. What else could explain his determination to help City score? Passed the ball straight to Riyad Mahrez in the first half, only for an incredible recovery tackle from Caicedo to prevent a certain goal. Then did exactly the same in the second half, gifting Oleksandr Zinchenko possesion which resulted in the third goal of the night.
Joel Veltman – 6.33
Unlucky to deflect Mahrez’s opening goal beyond Sanchez. There were a couple of other hairy moments as City piled on the pressure in the second half but he was generally solid in that dogged first half performance which frustrated the hosts.
Lewis Dunk – 7.33
Whilst Caicedo has taken the headlines, Dunk was not far behind in the Man City 3-0 Brighton ratings. Made two world class blocks, one in either half to keep the hosts at bay. Turns out all those writing his Albion obituary after a couple of ropey performances off the back of two months out injured were premature in announcing his demise.
Marc Cucurella – 6.83
A difficult encounter for a player still learning the trade of playing as a third centre back to be involved in. It says a lot about Cucurella’s natural ability that he still made a decent fist of it. He perhaps should have taken one for the team and risked a booking by taking out Kevin De Bruyne in the build up to the City opener.
Tariq Lamptey – 6.17
The dominance of the home side meant he was never really seen in an attacking sense, instead having to focus on defensive duties. His pace came in useful with a couple of decent covering tackles.
Pascal Gross – 6.00
A cool presence on the rare occasions that Brighton had the ball. He also teed up the Albion’s only effort on target with a pinpoint delivery which Danny Welbeck headed straight at Ederson. It was a shock akin to Will Smith slapping Chris Rock in the face to see a Gross Turn not come off.
MOISES CAICEDO – 7.67
Hard to believe that Caicedo was making only his third Premier League start. He was everywhere in the first half, reading the game expertly to constantly snuff out City attacks. The tackle on Mahrez to save Sanchez’s bacon was followed shortly after by an equally impressive challenge on De Bruyne.
Enock Mwepu – 5.50
His best showings for Brighton so far have come in an advanced midfield role. Graham Potter used him deeper against City and it never really worked, summed up when he provided the home side with their second deflected goal as a Phil Foden drive caught his boot to defy Sanchez. You could not fault his work rate though.
Solly March – 5.33
Like Lamptey on the other flank, his role was confined to defending. Covered plenty of ground up and down the left side, even as he saw little of the ball.
Alexis Mac Allister – 5.50
Brighton did not have enough possession to get Mac Allister on the ball and let him scheme, as he did so effectively in the wins over Arsenal and Spurs. Played a part in frustrating City in the first half as Potter lined the Albion up with three banks of three to restrict space through the middle.
Danny Welbeck – 5.00
Going to the Etihad as a lone striker is thankless task. Responsible for the only Albion shot on target with his header from a Gross delivery but it was too easy for Ederson.
Adam Webster – 5.67
Webster always takes time to shake the rust after a spell on the sidelines. Potter seems to have realised this now, and it was sensible to get him on for more game time to improve his match fitness in a game what was effectively a free hit.
Jeremy Sarmiento – 5.83
An interesting cameo. Several nice touches and looked like he might give the home defence something to think about. It would be nice to see him get some starting opportunities before the end of the season now that Premier League survival is assured.
Neal Maupay – 5.00
Token minutes for the striker who Potter publicly defended following his penalty miss against Norwich, only to drop him to the bench as an unused substitute for the past two matches.
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.
