Manchester City shed their 'negative football' tag by hitting Sunderland for five unanswered goals in the Premier League.

Man City

Joe Hart - 6.5
Cool as a cucumber between the posts and was barely tested in the game.

Dedryk Boyata (Off 70') - 6.5
A rare start for young Boyata, but showed he is a reliable backup player in the absence Mancini's first choice right backs.

Vincent Kompany - 7.5
An impregnable fotress at the back for City. Showed great strength and timed his tackles well, giving Gyan nothing to work with for the full 90 minutes.

Joleon Lescott - 7
Played in the central of defence alongside Kompany and it was s stroll in the park for him as Gyan and Welbeck barely threatened Hart's goal.

Aleksandar Kolarov - 7
With Lescott and Kompany in control at the back, Kolarov could afford to make runs forward and got involved in a few set piece situations.

Yaya Toure - 7.5
A neat finish from this man gave City their fifth goal after Sunderland shot themselves in the foot with some horrible defending.

Nigel De Jong - 7
Has De Jong turned over a new leaf? His tackles were more docile in this game given his history of bad tackles, but still put in a solid performance in midfield protecting City's back four.

David Silva (Off 78') - 6.5
Apart from that flick past Mignolet in the 63rd minute, Silva was relatively quiet and could have contributed more to the team.

Adam Johnson (Off 66') - 8
It only took 9 minutes for him to get on the scoresheet. Man of the match performance from him, looked sharp throughout.

Carlos Tevez -  7.5
The skipper showed some great touches and vision to play in his team-mates countless times. City have him to thank for their current league position as he is by far their most consistent performer this season.

Mario Balotelli - 7
The bad boy was well behaved against Sunderland and showed what a talent he is. Less talk and more training and City would have a world class striker in the making.

Subs

Ryan McGivern (On 70') - 6
A few amateurish errors from him, but went unpunished as City kept their clean sheet.

Patrick Vieira (On 66') - 7
He scored City's fourth goal barely seconds after his introduction after Kolarov drilled the ball into the danger area. Used his experience in midfield to keep possession and defend City's lead.

Shaun Wright-Phillips (On 78') - 6.5
Still has the pace to run at defenders and whip in dangerous balls into the area.

Sunderland

Simon Mignolet - 6.5
Got a hand to the Tevez penalty, but it wasn't good enough to keep it out. He wasn't helped out by defenders during the game and could hardly be blamed for conceding five goals.

Phillip Bardsley (Off 45') - 5.5
Taken off at half time due to an injury. No loss for Sunderland as he was culpable for both City's goals.

Michael Turner - 5
We know it is not Sunderland's day when we see Turner deliberately handling the ball and kicking out at Balotelli from behind.

John Mensah - 5
Had no solution to the waves of City attack. Sunderland's defending was simply disastrous.

Anton Ferdinand - 5
Was Ferdinand that bad or were the City players just too hot to handle?

Lee Cattermole - 4
Poor ball back to his keeper for City's third goal just about summed up his contribution.

Jordan Henderson (Off 59') - 5
An England call-up later, and Henderson was never the same again. A far cry from the player he was at the start of the season.

Sulley Muntari (Off 72') - 5
Everyone must be wondering if he was the same player who played for Inter Milan last season and lifted the Champions League trophy. Muntari was struggling to keep up with the City defenders.

Stephane Sessegnon - 6
Not a natural wide player, hence the running infield instead of giving his team that extra passing option on the flank.

Asamoah Gyan - 6.5
Attempted every trick there was in the book, but still could not test Hart. The only Sunderland player who was not awful in the game.

Danny Welbeck - 4.5
He sure doesn't play like an England international. If he keeps this performance up, his loan move from Manchester United may be a permanent one.

Subs

Ahmed Al Muhammadi (On 45' ) - 6
Could have ended Sunderland's three game goal drought if he could keep his header on target.

Boudewijn Zenden (On 59') - 6.5
Tried to get the team to believe they could get something from the game, but his efforts were futile.

Jack Colback (On 72')
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