Manchester City vs Barnsley Player Ratings

Carlos Tevez showed that he is not affected by the recent controversy surrounding his arrest with a starring game where he bagged a hat-trick and picked out two assists in the win. Aleksandar Kolarov and David Silva also found the net as well in the mismatch where the result was never in doubt.

Man City

Costel Pantilimon - 7.5

Pantilimon was never bothered in the first half but showed impressive concentration in the second half to pull off a string of saves to keep his 100% clean sheet record in the competition.

Pablo Zabaleta - 7.5

It was an easy game for Zabaleta with City concentrating their play on the other flank while Barnsley hardly found the chance to launch an attack 

Kolo Toure - 7.5

Toure looked comfortable on the ball and did well in pushing higher up to provide an extra passing option.

Joleon Lescott - 7.5

Lescott found first team chances hard to come by recently and won't have found his prospects improving after this game simply because Barnsley found it hard to muster an attack.

Aleksandar Kolarov - 8

Kolarov bombed forward frequently to help out in attack and grabbed a deserved well-struck goal for himself. 

Yaya Toure - 8.4

The big Ivorian is used to playing up against 'elegant' players in the Premier League but showed that he has what it takes to mix it with the physical players from the lower leagues as well and provided an imprenatable shield for his defenders.

Gareth Barry - 8

Barry was unspectacular but did a fine job of moving the ball about to facilitate play for his side.

David Silva (Off 66') - 8.5

Silva was right in the thick of the action in terms of creating chances for City, linking up with Nasri, Dzeko and Kolarov well down the left. He scored a well-taken goal that only showed how superior his side were.

Carlos Tevez - 9

Tevez was surrounded in controvery recently after his arrest but he put up a professional performance to fire in a hat-trick and set up the other two goals. The Argentine was full of running and constantly finding himself in dangerous positions, which also created space and chances for his team mates.

Samir Nasri (Off 51') - 8.5

Like Lescott, Nasri found himself on the bench recently but impressed against Barnsley and will have donehis future prospects no harm with a hardworking performance down the left. It was just poor luck that he was brought off after suffering an injury.

Edin Dzeko - 8

The big Bosnian put up an excellent all-round game and layed off many dangerous short passes in and around the Barnsley box. He was unlucky not to be able to grab a goal.

Substitutes

Scott Sinclair (On 51') - 6

The former Swansea man had a quiet outing despite having a fair amount of time on the pitch.

Abdul Razak (On 66') - 6

The youngster's highlight of the game came from his first shot which curled away towards the corner flag. He came on when the game was effectively over.

James Milner (On 75') - 6.5

Milner was unlucky not to get on the scoresheet after his shot struck the post with five minutes left in the game.

Barnsley

Luke Steele - 7.5

Steele impressed despite having a shambolic defence in front of him. He could do little about the City goals but kept the scoreline from looking ridiculous with some good saves.

Scott Wiseman - 2

Wiseman was overwhelmed down the flank and frequently left too much space for the City players. Most of City's threats came from him losing track of his position and the little awareness of the other players around him.

Martin Cranie - 2

Cranie struggled against Tevez and let the Argentine have too much space in front of him, a situation that led to two of the goals conceded.

Thomas Kennedy - 4

Kennedy was probably Barnsley's best defender based on the fact that he had the least to do since City's attack mainly came down the other flank.

Stephen Foster - 2.5

Foster was also overwhelmed in the box trying to mark Dzeko and failed to help out his colleagues as he found himself with too much to handle.

Kelvin Etuhu (Off 51') - 4

The former Manchester City youth product failed to make an impression against his former side and hardly saw action on the ball.

Ryan Tunnicliffe - 5

Tunnicliffe started brightly with sharp running down the right to keep track of Kolarov but then faded away. His only other significant moment in the match was when he burst through the City defence on the counter but failed to make the chance count with a tame shot.

David Perkins - 4

Perkins tried to play the role of distributot for his side but failed miserably as his passes found a sky blue shirt more often than not.

Tomasz Cywka (Off 51') - 3.5

Cywka should have done better given that he was less occupied down the left due to City's lack of a right winger, but he could only muster a few wayward half-shots.

Chris Dagnall (Off 51') - 4

Dagnall looked fatigued and never had the speed not guile to launch counter attacks for his side.

Marlon Harewood - 5

Harewood's days of Premier League football is behind him and it's obvious that he cannot make it at the top level anymore. He hardly found any chance on goal.

Substitutes

Jason Scotland (On 51') - 4.5

The veteran striker was starved of possession and did not really get into the rhythm of the game.

Jacob Mellis (On 51') - 4

Mellis could not match up to City's powerful midfield. Fun fact: Mellis was the player who set off a smoke grenade in Chelsea's training ground in 2012.

James O'Brien (On 51') - 4

He hardly had time on the ball after City kept the ball from him.