Saturday 27 September, 15:00
Barclays Premier League
Selhurst Park, London
Crystal Palace 2
Campbell 51′, Jedinak 54′
Leicester City 0
Phil Neville described it as City’s “welcome to the Premier League” on Match of the Day, but whether you want to call it a reality check, the bubble bursting or as there was no hiding from the stark contrast against City’s performance from last weekend, or the resulting ratings given by the City fans. Esteban Cambiasso received the highest rating with a meagre 5.7 and will be credited with his first LCFC Ratings Man of the Match, but it was a game where nobody could hold their head up high with Crystal Palace winning individual battles all across the field.
Yannick Bolasie gave Ritchie de Laet a particularly torrid time resulting in the Belgian receiving the lowest rating of any starter, while the 30 minute cameo of Riyad Mahrez was voted the worst contribution on the day. Danny Simpson didn’t rate particularly highly on his debut after Bolasie continued to shine even after the ex-QPR full-back replaced Ritchie de Laet at right back, while Dean Hammond clearly seemed to struggle in a game where he had more time on the ball than off it compared to previous fixtures. Matty James put his case forward to return to the team for Burnley next week after being voted the second best performer from the bench, and his inclusion may well be at the expense of Hammond who has probably had more game time already than many expected him to have this season.
Manager Nigel Pearson also fared particularly badly with a low rating that showed what the fans thought about his tactical and team choices against a different kind of opposition to that which City have faced so far. However whether this warrants a 7% drop in overall confidence is questionable. Crystal Palace came in as the second best opposition City have faced this season after Shrewsbury Town, while referee Keith Stroud received an average rating in his first top flight game for over five years.
Total Votes : 174
Man of the Match : Esteban Cambiasso*
- Esteban Cambiasso : 5.70
- (SUB) Matty James : 5.58
- Kasper Schmeichel : 5.57
- Liam Moore : 5.47
- Paul Konchesky : 5.39
- Wes Morgan : 5.33
- (SUB) Danny Simpson : 5.06
- Jamie Vardy : 4.80
- Leonardo Ulloa : 4.76
- Danny Drinkwater : 4.69
- David Nugent : 4.51
- Dean Hammond : 4.46
- Ritchie de Laet : 4.39
- (SUB) Riyad Mahrez : 4.34
* Man of the match selected using weighted average based on minutes played. Actual ratings as voted shown above.
Manager Performance : 4.78
Opposition Performance : 6.96
Officials Performance (Ref: Keith Stroud) : 5.55
Manager Confidence : 92.26% (-7.33%)
Stay: 143 | Go: 12
LCFC Ratings 