Man City 3-1 Brighton: Caicedo tops ratings again at Etihad
Moises Caicedo likes visiting the Etihad Stadium. He topped the player ratings when Brighton lost 3-0 to Man City back in April and repeated the trick again as the Albion went down 3-1 against the reigning Premier League champions.
Graham Potter’s Seagulls were well beaten on that last visit. They gave a far better account of themselves this time around under Roberto De Zerbi, outplaying City for a 30 minute period in the second half during which Brighton pulled the score back to 2-1.
City fans and players became panicked at that point in a way you rarely see. It took a piece of brilliance from Kevin De Bruyne to end the Albion’s dominant period, his strike from 30 yards wrapping up the three points for the Citizens.
A good team effort from Brighton, who a lot of City fans hailed afterwards as the best side to visit the Etihad Stadium in the Premier League for some time.
But how did the Albion rank on individual level? Here are your Man City 3-1 Brighton player ratings.
Robert Sanchez – 5.25
What you might call a classic Sanchez afternoon, mixing mistakes with some excellent saves. Should not have come haring off his line in a foot race with Erling Haaland for the first City goal and had been lucky not to conceded a penalty before that. Contrasted by making a strong stop from Riyad Mahrez and a couple of other good interventions.
Joel Veltman – 6.25
Made up for the disappointment of not being named in the provisional Dutch squad for the World Cup by doing his normal number on Jack Grealish, who has never really impacted a game against the Albion because he can find no way around Veltman.
Lewis Dunk – 6.25
A superb first half block on the stretch was the highlight of his afternoon. Conceded the penalty which gave City their second but it should never have been awarded; Bernardo Silva dangled out his leg and initiated contact with the Albion captain before going down like he had been shot by a sniper.
Adam Webster – 5.25
Barged over by Haaland when the City top scorer opened the scoring. If the incident was reversed and it was Danny Welbeck on Aymeric Laporte up the other end then the foul is given. Still, there were question marks over where Webster should have been stronger and that probably explains why he scores the joint lowest alongside Sanchez in the Man City 3-1 Brighton player ratings.
Solly March – 6.63
Teed up Leandro Trossard for the Brighton goal just eight minutes after being switched to the left flank, where he caused City real problems during the Albion’s best spell. Did a decent job on the right during the first half too. Thankfully, De Zerbi did not inflict him playing as a centre forward on us again after the Nottingham Forest experience.
MOISES CAICEDO – 7.25
Shone against City last time Brighton went to the Etihad. Shone against City here. The best Albion player on the pitch against Forest last time out. De Zerbi believes Caicedo has the potential to be one of the best midfielders in Europe. When you see him going toe-to-toe with De Bruyne, it is hard to disagree.
Leandro Trossard – 7.00
Remains the only Brighton player to have scored under De Zerbi, catching Ederson out with a powerful first half strike from outside the area which beat the City goalkeeper at the near best. Almost had a second after a weaving run carried him 40 yards up the pitch, only to be denied by a fine save. Much more influential after a couple of quieter games.
Adam Lallana – 6.00
Played some nice passes but in reality he struggled to get involved. Brighton looked a lot better following his half time withdrawal for Tariq Lamptey and De Zerbi changing the Albion’s shape.
Pascal Gross – 6.00
His raking switch of play from right to left started the move which led to Trossard’s goal. Some nice one touch stuff in the second half. Unlucky to be booked by the City crowd, who howled loud enough after Craig Pawson had waved away initial claims for a foul to convince the referee to reverse his decision 10 seconds later and show Gross a yellow. On an afternoon of incredibly stupid refereeing decisions, it was arguably the worst of the lot.
Danny Welbeck – 5.63
Worked hard, tried to stretch the City defence and created space for March and Tariq Lamptey in the second half with some intelligent runs. He desperately needs a goal though. If he doesn’t net against Chelsea, then Brighton will have made it to Halloween without a centre forward scoring all season. Forget being obsessed with a 20-goal striker, right now the Albion do not even have a one-goal striker.
Tariq Lamptey – 6.50
De Zerbi has stuck with the same starting XI by-and-large since his arrival. The second half at City gave more reason to change than anything else so far and that could mean Lamptey coming into the side. He had a good 45 minutes, testing the champions with his pace and willingness to run at their defence in a more advanced role high up near Welbeck.
Pervis Estupinan
Replaced the injured Veltman. Solid enough on the left and picked up a customary booking.
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.
