Player Ratings: Manchester City 3-0 Fulham

The scores are in from a damp, depressed away end.

It was a British football record-extending night at the Etihad, as City made it 20 wins in a row over the Whites, whose first half performance was as lifeless as the chicken Balti pies on offer in the away end at the Etihad (seriously disappointing).

It’s almost as if Fulham forgot that City are there to be got at, including by our attack. An incredibly poor showing, regardless of the opposition. Here’s the ratings.

Bernd Leno

It’s not often I’ll give too much praise to a goalkeeper in a three-goal defeat, but I ultimately felt Leno was admirable. The three Man City goals came from fairly poor defensive play that allowed their attackers high xG chances, which Leno had little-to-no chance of saving, though he did make one or two crucial stops regardless, including from Foden in the opening stages with the game still level. It was his passing that impressed me most though, considering his normal struggles with the ball at his feet and the fact he probably had the most touches of anyone in the first half, I thought his composure with the ball coming at him from our own defenders every five seconds was superb. 7/10 - man of the match

Kenny Tete

It was a very welcome return to the starting XI considering the inconsistent performances from Castagne, but admittedly it’s a turgid fixture to come back into the frame for. Kenny nearly scored a consolation with the last kick of the game, which would’ve been a decent confidence boost. For the most part he did what he did best; it didn’t feel like a game where we were brilliant in duels, but he won more than half of his, which is what you’ve come to expect with his defensive qualities, regardless of opponent. 6/10

Joachim Andersen

It’s genuinely scary how little he offers as a leader yet Marco Silva decides to give him the armband on a weekly basis - I don’t know if that’s a worse reflection on Silva or Andersen. He’s not even most at fault for the first goal, but his lack of communication and effort to get to the ball in the air is abysmal. The way he ends up 70 yards up the pitch and makes a ridiculous tackle on Haaland to leave us wide open for the second is tinpot defending too. His long balls couldn’t save him either, they just kept going out for throw ins. A dismal performance from a player who can’t find any consistency. 4/10

Calvin Bassey

I actually admired him a lot in the first half because he felt like the main one in the back four that couldn’t stand how much we were playing the ball backwards to Leno and tried to be a bit more brave and positive in possession, just a shame that energy wasn’t matched by others around him. For proof, he carried the ball a total of 331.6 metres through the game, no other Fulham player came close to 200 metres. He won the majority of his duels. Calvin may be disappointed that the second and third goals come from situations around him, but I don’t think he defended them particularly badly. 6.5/10

Ryan Sessegnon

My main takeaway from Sess today from a positive perspective was that I think he’s got a genuinely brilliant bond being built down the left with Kevin. The way in which we attacked became so much more dynamic when those two linked up in the second half. He definitely improved on a whole in the second half too, with sadly quite a poor first 45. In that first half he lost the ball so often in his own half, lost quite a few duels and struggled to show any bravery on the ball until we’d gone three goals down. It still feels like better than anything Robinson has done in recent weeks, it must be said. 5.5/10

Sander Berge

Goodness me, he’s a hard watch. The first goal is such an embarrassing moment. How can you be that tall and that much of a physical presence and just seem to flinch in a packed box when the ball comes towards you, leaving Semenyo with an easy goal from your painfully poor deflection - unbelievable. The way we got ran through time after time with Berge just chasing shadows was terrifying. No successful dribbles, no shots and a mere 45 touches from a central midfielder in a near full 90. It’s genuinely unbelievable Marco Silva believes he’s better than Harrison Reed. This score would’ve been even lower had he not put a few decent passes together in the second half. 3/10

Alex Iwobi

He wasn’t even that good, but playing next to Berge you can make comparisons which make you appreciate the bare basics being done. Iwobi ran and ran throughout despite the City dominance and the lack of support from Berge next to him and was always trying to press City’s midfielders into mistakes, just with very little success, but at least he tried. He kept the ball well when we rarely got onto it and offered more in transition than most with the way he carried the ball. Still, he’s way off his best at the moment and isn’t in the best form since AFCON. 6/10

Harry Wilson

Harry had his moments in the first half despite City’s obvious dominance. Just after City started their scoring spree, he forced a really decent save from Donnarumma to give us some sort of hope. By the next time he got on the ball in a similar area we’d gone three goals down, but he still created a good chance for Raul on the right side of the box. Normally this is the sort of Fulham performance which would see Wilson become rather anonymous but I don’t think you can fault the effort he put in to keep us attacking when possible throughout. 6.5/10

Emile Smith Rowe

Like Wilson, Bassey etc, I felt Smith Rowe came out of the game with his fair share of credit considering how much we were being torn apart. Despite City’s dominance on the ball, he never stopped being the highest pressing Fulham player in the first half, even if he got little success from it. Similarly when Fulham had any rare attacks in that time, Smith Rowe always felt like the man that wanted to run beyond the City defence to try and make something happen, and very nearly did too, coming agonisingly close to getting on the end of a scuffed shot from Raul on the brink of half time. When you’re getting credit in a game like that, you can tell you’re in a decent vein of form. 6.5/10

Samuel Chukwueze

Admittedly it’s a completely understandable situation when your team’s being battered and you come off early in the second half, but Chukwueze felt like he was a bit within himself here, with so much less intent on the ball than normal. I’ve not see him go backwards so often rather than take a man on, and to only have 28 total touches when he’s normally the man wanting the ball whenever possible is rather frustrating, even if it wouldn’t have made a huge difference to the scoreline. Complete opposite of the player who last played City and scared their back four to within an inch of their lives. 5.5/10

Raul Jimenez

Another one of ‘those’ performances from Raul. People claiming he can’t hold the ball up despite the fact he was watching so many Leno long balls coming towards him and winning his fair share of aerial duels with nobody else around him for support. As previously mentioned, had one key moment where he dragged a shot from the right side of the goal past the left post. Thought he shouldn’t be dropped based on performances at all, the return to fitness of Muniz will hopefully come as a huge relief to both Raul and Silva and should see some rotation at times in the coming weeks. 6/10

Substitutes

Rodrigo Muniz

He replaced Raul on the hour mark and had similar struggles in impacting the game in the final third specifically. He had one effort from near the byline saved by Donnarumma to his right, but bar that really didn’t influence our attacking play, with just seven touches in half an hour of football, despite Fulham being more offensive when he was on the pitch. 6/10

Josh King

OK, we had nothing to lose when he came on in place of Smith Rowe, but it was a very fearless cameo from King. We lacked so much control in midfield throughout, but he kept the ball beautifully at times in the ten position and carried the ball more in half an hour than most did in 90. Had a beautiful turn on the edge of the box, which led to a shot that forced a Donnarumma save in stoppage time too. 7/10

Kevin

Another I would put into the “fearless” category after the way he played when he replaced Chukwueze for the final half an hour. As I said previously, really like the way he links up with Sess, as we first saw for the goal at Old Trafford. Kept getting the ball and kept running at his man in the final third, effectively offering everything Chukwueze had not up to that point. 6.5/10

Oscar Bobb

Quite a rough 20 minutes upon his return to the Etihad, for my money. His first touch often looked rusty and to lose possession six times from a total of 15 touched summed up how I felt watching him in the away end in the way that I just thought he looked really poor. Probably lacking confidence in himself after moving away from City after a huge injury, but will need to improve without doubt. 5/10

Harrison Reed

Normally I’d be unsure whether I want to rate a 10-15-minute cameo, but I feel there’s something to be said here. Even in that time, he was a huge improvement on Berge in the way he passed the ball and hurried his opponents off the ball. Berge may be the big money signing with apparent “qualities”, but he doesn’t show them, and Harrison ultimately deserves a chance more than he does at the moment. 6.5/10

Marco Silva

The away end genuinely felt embarrassed watching the way Silva had set us up. It’s fine to recognise you’re playing Manchester City at their home ground, but to setup so negatively, playing on our own goal-line, offering so little belief in our play, it was a setup that would’ve lost to City, Wolves, and everyone in between.

It’s almost like he forgot the reverse fixture in which such a set-up left us 5-1 down. It’s almost like he forgot the reverse fixture in which we gave it a go and scored four times by the end. It’s not to say we could’ve scored four again if we gave it a go here, but it cannot have been worse than the abhorrent way we played in the first half.

I’m sure some will be quick to say “yeah but the second half was a vast improvement”, but had we not showed a bit of life we’d have lost by six or seven. Showed far too much respect to a team which are nowhere near as good as they have been in the Guardiola era, Silva got what he deserved for such negativity. 3.5/10