New position, same outcome. Ferdi Kadioglu switched from left back to right wing but that could not stop him leading the way in the Man City 1-1 Brighton player ratings.
Kadioglu was magnificent in his more advanced role at the Etihad Stadium. And he was not the only one. Jan Paul van Hecke, Kaoru Mitoma and Jack Hinshelwood all joined Kadioglu in scoring highly.
At the same time and at the other end of the scale, there were some pretty disastrous scores. Diego Gomez had a shocker and Yasin Ayari was not far behind for performances in which they did more good for City than the Albion.
The discrepancy in ratings sums up this crazy 90 minutes quite well. Brighton could easily have won 4-1. City could easily have won 4-1. And it could easily have finished 4-4.
Which probably means a draw was the right result. Here are your Man City 1-1 Brighton player ratings.
Bart Verbruggen – 7.47
A couple of routine stops followed by an excellent save from Erling Haaland which bailed Ayari out after the Swedish midfielder played his second blind pass of the night across his own box and straight to a City player.
Jack Hinshelwood – 7.20
Has looked a bit below par in recent weeks when used in midfield. A return to form at right back showcased his versatility. Made a cheeky attempt to put Haaland off before the Citizens striker scored his penalty.
Jan Paul van Hecke – 7.87
Another thoroughly entertaining duel between Van Hecke and Haaland provided an interesting subplot. The fact Haaland only netted from the spot suggests Van Hecke won.
Lewis Dunk – 6.93
Outshone by Van Hecke but that is largely because he did not engage in an ongoing battle with Haaland. The Albion captain was solid enough with what he had to do.
Maxim De Cuyper – 5.33
There have been question marks over his defending all season. Did not really answer any of them by struggling up against Bernardo Silva. That being said, Hurzeler can just about justify selecting De Cuyper given how well Kadioglu did freed from left back duties.
Pascal Gross – 6.47
Almost had the fairy tale start to his second full debut with a header after two minutes saved by Gianluigi Donnarumma. Watching him direct his teammates around was an example of the sort of leadership this young squad have been missing at times this season.
Yasin Ayari – 5.00
Played the two most dangerous, incisive passes of the night. The only problem being they were straight to City players when he was deep inside the Brighton area. Quite phenomenal that he managed to get away without an assist for a Citizens goal.
FERDI KADIOGLU – 8.47
Did his bit defensively by helping Hinshelwood out with the sizable task of keeping Jeremy Doku quiet. There was one astonishing goal line clearance and he showed plenty of attacking intent at the other end too.
Diego Gomez – 3.87
Quite incredible. Gave away the penalty by lazily dangling out a leg in the box and giving Doku the perfect excuse to go theatrically to ground. He then managed to miss a tap in from three yards out with an entire open goal to aim at, sending the ball sideways. Amazed he scored as high as 3.87 in the Man City 1-1 Brighton ratings to be honest.
Kaoru Mitoma – 7.53
City kept him reasonably quiet for the first hour. But Mitoma can change a game with a single moment of magic. Brilliant control, cut inside two defenders and shot through the legs of third to haul Brighton level with his first goal since September.
Georginio Rutter – 6.67
A piece was published on WAB seven hours before kick off titled I will scream if Brighton play Rutter in the number 9 position again. Guess where Rutter played? In fairness, this was probably his best game of the season leading the line. The highlight being when he dropped deep and played a brilliant through ball to send Kadioglu galloping clear.
Brajan Gruda – 5.47
Hurzeler waited until the final 13 minutes to twist with some substitutes. It gave them little time to impress with Gruda not making much impact.
Danny Welbeck – 5.47
See above. The late introduction of Welbeck for minimal game time hopefully means he is fit and refreshed to lead the line against Manchester United in the FA Cup on Sunday – and score his normal goal at Old Trafford.
The WAB Player Ratings are formulated using marks out of 10 given by Brighton fans via social media. To have your scores included, follow We Are Brighton on Twitter or We Are Brighton on Bluesky and look out for the player rating thread after each game.