Blackburn 2:2 Manchester City. Robinho draws city level.

A bit late...

Well i wanted 3 points, disappointed we didn't get them, but with the manner of the result, i will certainly take a draw.

Poor midfield performance mainly from ireland, swp and robinho. Ireland was awful yesterday which was sup rising, his passing was poor, swp should of scored but otherwise failed to live up to his high standards. Robinho drifted for most of the game and missed an easy chance in the 1st half, but i was delighted to see him get the ball in the box, he was never going to miss.
I thought elano and kompany endeavoured to get the game going, both misfired with some passes, but elano showed himself to be much more robust and created two cracking chances with his vision.

Credit goes to Danny Sturridge another Young star who has staked his claim again for a spot in the squad, i would of liked him to partner big Felipe upfront as it could be quite successful. It was sturridge who changed the game and saved the game...

The defence again was and is a problem. Ball is simply not good enough and can't cope with even the weakest of attacks, I'm not sure what garrido did to warrant losing his place, but he was certainly out performing ball. Dunne was caught for both goals, with a nutmeg and poor headed clearance, he again showed that he is easily bullied by big strikers. Onouha is simply too injury prone, i think his city career is near an end, despite his potential, he hasn't been able to string 5 games together. Pablo Zabaleta again is the only defender who has been reliable this season. He has been a rock this season. his crossing wasn't the best but he still stuck at it and tried to give options in attack.

Joe Hart distribution is becoming a problem, we lose too much possession because of him. He doesn't look like a goalkeeper who can win games. He needs to be sat on the bench and watch buffon or given show him how it's done.

Considering how poor we were before Christmas, i am happy to take 4 from 6. Hughes has pulled it out of the bag and built the teams confidence for January. We are being linked with everyone from the distinctly average scott Parker and Craig Bellamy to the underachieving big headed right midfielder David Bentley. It's important that hughes buys the right people, bellamy shouldn't be one of them! There is an obsession in the press linking us with every striker under the sun. Bellamy some how falls into that category despite the fact that he rarely scores. City score enough goals, the striker problem can wait until we solve the misgivings at the back. Our midfield needs enforcing, the likes of senna could fit in easily (he is of course Brazilian!, although his age may be against him.

It will be interesting to see how quickly we do business in January, knowing city it won't run smoothly, but hopefully with our economic power we can really do some damage in 2009!

Manchester City 5:1 Hull City - The long awaited comeback?

Merry Christmas all! Keep out the doom and gloom for this one!

Today was a nice treat, and it was great to see the players actually put a bit of effort it. We have been waiting for a result like this for some time, i was beginning to question why it hadn't happened! This is our 1st win in December, which meant we have been festering down at the bottom of the table. We are back above spurs now with an extra point and a brilliant goal average.


A win was much needed. Hughes is under pressure and needed to show the squad was on his side today. I noticed pre-game glauber, clayton, evans, ben haim and hamann were being beasted on the pitch, I'm not entirely sure why but they didn't looked like they enjoyed it. The team gathered in a huddle before kickoff which showed there is some unity in the side. I was delighted to see Hughes picked our best squad. Caicedo deserved his chance, he should of been given earlier. Elano was a great addition today, it shouldn't be a problem for Hughes to deal with a player who's only gripe is he wants to play for the club more. He came out today and showed how good he is. I mentioned this early in the season, his role in collecting the ball from the back goes largely unnoticed but it's blessing as it allows us to build up play with our better players. Robinho returned and SWP played out right instead of vassell. Stevie Ireland plays better when he has better players around him, funny that!

The 1st half was great for the fans, we deserved it after some of the performances recently. Big Felipe Caicedo showed the power of having a striker who hold he ball, dribble and shoot. He is a young lad and hopefully will be given time to develop at city along side Henry, Villa and Ibrahimovic. Ireland was inspired today apart from his shooting, they were pretty hard chances but he seem to hit them all the same way. Robinho was Brazilliant along with elano who cam back with a bang, Hughes needs to keep him motivated. Swp was unlucky to score, his 1st effort should of been in, but again a great game. Kompany sat deep and showed why he has been the most consistent top performer this season.

Hull's attacker were sporadic in the 1st half, Ball looked the most vulnerable at the back, with Hart second. Phill Brown gave has side a good going over in front of the hull fans at half time and it did improve their performance in the second half. City were always going to be less than great in the second half, 4-0 there it little motivation to push on. Jo and Onouha came on and we looked awkward.

Our Defence is still the problem. Dunnie had a much improved game today, but he still had shaky moments against king and gives away needless corners through poor clearances. Onouha came on and was an improvement on Richards, he looked up for it and did what he was supposed to do. Zabaleta was great again, he is a quality right back, i think he will enjoy his time in the premier league, he has no time for show pony's. Ball wasn't so great, couple of good tackles, but otherwise he was easily skinned, struggled to deal with the hull attack. We need a excellent left back to replace him not bridge. Joe Hart to looks shaky, I'm not confident at set pieces that his punches work, his distribution is a joke, we must lose the ball most times he kicks it out.

The work starts here. I really hope Hughes can build on this, I've said that plenty of times before. I'm not a fan of Hughes, but he is going to be here for the rest of the season at least, and i want my team to do well. Our attacking play is brilliant at times, Hughes need to be able to harness that and sort out the charade at the back. Picking Elano today, meant Hughes went up in my estimation. He did what was right for the team not for his own ego. Blackburn is next, crunch tie against Allerdyce at Hughes former club. Needless to say, but it's has to be 3 point and nothing less if we are to go into the transfer window with a decent position, it may help our course in attracting someone, anyone, better than bellamy!

Ratings:

Hart: shaky at corners, poor distribution 6

Zabaleta: strong tough tackler, great character. top player 8

dunne: better today, some faults, but create run up the pitch. 7

Richards: only played a half, didn't do much. 6

Ball: wasn't all that great, couple of decent tackles. vulnerable, extra work for dunne.5

Kompany: He is always in the right position, great work rate along with ability.8

Swp: Unlucky not to score today, three clear chances. Great to see him out right, or strongest flank with pablo pushing forward. 8

Ireland: Brilliant performance, great run into the box, got a goal himself. Top effort from him. 9

Robinho Skillful, elegant, could of had more than 2. Can score tap In's as well and beautifully crafted strikes. At his best today. 9

Elano: the carrier in the midfield. majestic passing, 90 mins of class. 8

Caicedo: He much be the most prolific player we have considering he has probably had less than one game in total to score 4. Big strong, skillful, in the right places in the box. A proper striker at last.8

Subs:
Onouha: good solid, dependable. 7

Jo: The lad looks wrecked confidence wise. Put himself about, goes down to easy but won his fair share. He will need allot of time, city fans are not so forgiving due to his price tag, if he was an academy player he would be given the luxury (like a certain welsh striker). He is after all, only 21, i wont accept that he is shit, he wouldn't of partnered pato at the Olympics if he was. 6


Is this the start of Hughes fightback or another false dawn?

Sell Elano, Buy Bellamy!

Flippant i know, but it gets the point across^

Well the papers are full of it tonight Elano is 1st out this January and i expect JO and Robinho will soon follow, it's clear they dislike Hughes and have had enough of his arrogant little charade.

Last match vs WBA was the embodiment of things to come at city, Hughes reward for those who run up and down the pitch for 90 mins rather than try and play the game with skill and flair. This was most evident against Everton, pretty much the same side that thrashed pompey 6-0 had simply lost interest and under the guidance of Hughes have developed any thing that was good left from Svens reign, ie. the patient football, quick breaks, clever passing and it's been replaced with basic workman like performances. His intentions are clear, city will be reinforced with these types of player in January, Bellamy is liked by Hughes will add work rate to the side. Santa Cruz is big and will a target we can lob the ball up too from defence. Wayne Bridge is another try hard, makes up for average ability.

Mark Hughes may well have modelled his training camp on some of the top team in Europe, but the problem is his own personality. Like Keane they believe that ruling with a iron fist is the only answer, this dictator type role does nothing for Team morale, this isn't a small town club with a low fan base and low expectations. Again like Keane he probably likes to think he is using taggarts style of management, but they are both wrong, taggart does rule a strict camp, but you won't see him punishing Ronaldo for not tracking back! He has the ability and the intelligence (well..) to know foreign players generally don't like to be treated children, and recognise that some of his mercurial talents need to be treated differently. I'm not a big fan of 'appy arry' at spurs, but i'm pretty sure he gets results from player through good managment rather than running the club like the KGB.

Hughes isn't going to get sacked that much is clear, Garry cook hired him under the previous ownership, and has more than the clubs interest at heart in keeping Hughes, he stuck his neck out to get Hughes and has backed him all the way, he doesn't want to be see as failing under the new ownership who didn't hire him. So where do we go from here? Is it really plausible that Hughes can replace all those not performing, ie dunne, micah, all strikers...are Such whole sale changes going to make a difference in the middle of a busy season? Hughes is extremely lucky that he has all this money to spend, because otherwise he would of dismantled a good premier league squad and almost certainly lost his job. The fact that he as to buy his way out of trouble in January is disgraceful in it self. It's going to be a long hard season, Garry Cook better bloody hope he comes good or his head should roll too!

West Brom 2:1 Manchester City. The Biggest Losers!

The game: Well we lost, although it wasn't the abject displays we have been used to in the past few weeks, there was some degree of work ethic today. An industrious effort from City, but city still lament the lack of ability upfront.

WBA are very much a long ball side that should of been dealt with, we defender fairly well for most of the game. Decent chances came few are far between for city, Benjani effort and gusto showed promise, but his strike partner lacks ability, confidence and despite Vassell efforts he simply adds no threat whatsoever. Plenty of industry, little flair or skills, for me this is a sign of whats to come in the Hughes era (more on this later).

Error prone city once again turned up, poor positioning and lack communication meant we gave away two silly goals. Our combative midfield wasn't effective, if gelson is a defensive midfielder then why is he so poor at it, he's decent going forward and can pass fairly well. Kompany is generally very good but can't do it all on his own.

Attacking wise, Ireland is less effective when played out wide, he came of this game with great respect for his work rate and effort, but perhaps lacked composure in the final third. SWP again has great ability to skip through challenges, had one decent effort but crossing wise is fairly poor. The introduction of the Adrianoesq Felipe Caicedo showed the lad does have great promise, he's more skill full and a better shot than Vassell. His back heel was a good effort, but probably showing too much flare for Hughes liking.

Here is an article on tldorc a very good read, I'm not sure i agree with his conclusion but the article is extremely interesting.

I don’t believe Mark Hughes will be sacked as he says so himself, although I am pretty confident now that I don’t want him at the club. Hughes came to city and has implemented a regime that would have Nazi Germany green with envy!

Small club mentality doesn’t suite city and has clearly pissed off the players. on TLDORC, the writer has highlighted Hughes almost arrogant dismissal of Svens era at the club. His insistence to distance himself from the previous regime and implement a new programme of discipline and extreme fitness has taken it's toll on the players morale and commitment to the club. The demise of player of the season Richard Dunne and Elano who last season, the top scorer and had one of the top assist and pass completion rates in the premier league.

He's taken all that was good from last season, flair, skill and cultured football, ripped it apart to implement mind set of fast paced bully tactics and industrious attacking with little or no flair. Unfortunately for Hughes our players are simply better than that. This team enjoys skillful passing, patient attacks and explosive breaks, the remnants of that ended with our 6-0 thrashing of pompey, it was never to be seen again. Hughes favours the likes of gelson, vassell because of their work rate and effort that they give to the team. This goes someway to explaining his mild success at Blackburn. He got an average side very fit, with low expectations, they came out shocked opposing teams confidence with aggressive tackling and plenty of set pieces to the big men in the box, it was never pretty and very similar to style of current Blackburn manager Sam Allerdyce.

Today performance I saw this as a step towards that tactic, a very workman like performance lacked all the flair and entertainment that got us to 4th this time last season.

I don’t like Hughes, I don’t like what he did at Blackburn, I believe his work was blown way out of proportion. The press often like over inflate British players and managers because of their nationality, I’m rarely surprised when it ends in disappointment. Hughes great in the transfer market? As I covered in the Santa Cruz article, most of his greatest signings have only sustained one season form and flopped. The likes of Samba and Warnock were vastly over-rated at the time and have proven to at the low end of premier league quality. They generally over achieved at a small club with low expectations. Bolton were very similar under Big Sam. He has actually achieved very little, he organised Wales to get a couple of decent results, well Lawrie Sanchez managed Northern Ireland from 124th to 27th in the world rankings, why not get him in aswell. We have all seen how Blackburn played under hughes, what he achieved at Blackburn that much different to what Big sam achieved at Botlon, both qualified for europe once and both had a decent domestic cup run, both played similar football. So what makes him the right man? His obvious great ability to manage a harmonious squad? his tactical nous? or his natural love of skillful, classy attacking football?

A proven British manager would be Martin O'Neil who did great at Leicester than Celtic, winning titles at both before turning Villa into a skilful good footballing side, who have progressed every season. Are we really going to sell the likes of Elano to a big Italian side and then buy Santa Cruz and Bellamy, if that is so, then I’m not sure I want to watch our team become blackburn.


Again I don’t believe Hughes will be sacked, Garry Cook was behind the hiring of the Welshman during the old regime, he has an invested interest that Hughes does well to assure his position with the new owners. This is a terrible situation to be in, Hughes has simply failed, in any other field of management he would be culled I wouldn’t be sorry if he was gone in the morning, but he won’t and there is nothing I can do about it.



For an extra christmas treat Real madrid have signed one of our targets Lassana Diarra, along with Huntelaar they are well ahead of the game in terms of transfer dealings.

West Brom Vs Manchester City: Preview. Relegaion battle?

The joy of having city on sky again fills me with fear and panic. We always fail to impress on TV, i can only hope we turn up for once. West Brom are in the bottom three, were above with a decent goal average, so this is now a crunch battle at the bottom. it's needless to say, but this is a must win, many believe Hughes won't be around much longer if we don't win.

What can we expect? Hughes has been largely conservative away from home due to our woeful record. Fulham for instance, it became obvious as the game went on, we played for a draw. The likely hood of playing two defensive players will probably mean either Hamann or Gelson partners Kompany in the middle of the park. Ireland and Swp will certainly feature after, well some rest for swp at least. Dunne is will return, along side, micah, pablo and Javier at the back and Joe Hart returning after a poor display from the young Dane midweek. With benjani, Robinho, Sturridge all certainly set to miss out, Jo's fitness is unknown, so it could be a battle between the unimpressive Ched Evans and The 10 minute wonder Felipe Caicedo.

I can't contemplate losing tomorrow, we will be in sorts of trouble is that is the case. I expect Hughes to go out with a winning mindset, as we should be beating a side like WBA. A draw isn't good enough. therefore i must predict a 2-0 win for city.

Hughes to move for the familiar.

It appears a move for Roque Santa Cruz is on the cards again for Hughes. I'm personally not a fan, it's allot of money to spend on one good season form, which he hasn't be able to sustain. He's scored 3 in 13 league performances this season. Benni McCarthy scored 18 goals in his 1st season, he has steadily scored less in two seasons campaign. I can mention similar dips in form for Gamst Pedersen. I'm yet to be convinced that Santa Cruz is a right target. Hughes has told us he doesn't want to be ripped off.

It appears Roque wants out of Blackburn, and of course Hughes is likely to go for whats worked for him before. He's a big target man, but he could be another big disappointment. This deal looks more plausible than David Villa for instance. I'm yet to be convinced, but I'm pretty certain he will be signed considering today's announcement. 17-18 mill for a striker that has averaged around 5 a season at top champion league side, crazy really.


We have drawn FC Copenhagen in UEFA cup, tldorc has a good summary on the draw.

Racing Santander 3:1 Manchester City. Blues fail to turn up in Spain.

Few positives can come from tonight. The big plus point is that we came top of the group, PSG stuffed Twente 4-0, meaning paris finish third in the group with a greater goal average than Santander.

Final Standings:
Man city 7
Twente 6
Paris 5
Santander 5
Schalke 4

A very poor defensive display from the centre backs and goalie, meant Santander could waltz through our defence netting three times. General poor positioning, poor tackling meant we couldn't handle anything they through at us. Kasper was at fault for the 1st half, but he was also let down by a catalogue of errors at the back. A very poor performance, here lies the source of the problem, it needs to be fixed 1st.

Our midfield failed to win the battle, elano dispite what Bailey's written in the MEN, he endeavoured to get the game going, but was in fact the only creative player. Kompany showed how much we need him when he came on, he came on showed gelson how it's done. Ireland added much needed energy but couldn't raise the a downhearted well beaten side. Hamann and Gelson couldn't get to grip of the midfield, gelson's rather erratic style, and hamann's slow legs meant we were outwitted and out ran for most of the game.

Ched Evans can't really read a pass, fairly slow and not really effective. No doubt he'll start Sunday then. The promising Big Felipe Caicedo came on and flashed skills and scored. He is a strong lad and isn't much older than Evans, he should be given a decent chance a city, he's young and talented, he should be given more opportunity's to prove himself. I have mentioned a while back on here, that he deserved a chance, an Ecuadorian adriano. Hopefully Hughes will give him a chance.

I recognise that we didn't have to win tonight, but a bit of effort could of been nice. Robinho is injured again apparently, hope that's a worthy excuse for his performance. Hopefully with our better player back, ie kompany, ireland, swp we can at least muster up some effort for the WBA game.


Good summary on here!

Manchester City 0:1 Everton. Pride in battle?

A dreadful display of lacklustre football. City failed to keep out a side that in fact had no strikers on the pitch. The prevailing message from yesterday game was the evident lack of desire from the city player compared to Everton squad who simply looked better, tackled better, passed better and deserved the result despite what Mark Hughes might think. That's made the result even more disappointing, at home we performed like we usually do away.

Moyes has spent less than Hughes even without Robinho and Jo added to the list. Everton have more injuries than city. Yet we are 7 points a drift at Christmas. How do we account for this. Our tactic of playing one upfront simply isn't working! Yes we have scored allot of goals at home this season, but our strikers have hardly made an impact. Benjani isn't good enough, his 1st touch is woeful and lets him down.

Jo looks disheartened and simply not up for it. I find it all too easy to criticise Jo, he came with a expensive price tag, he's played for his country. Yet he has only had small chance to impress in our side, ched Evans has featured in more games. I believe the manner and time given to Jo by hughes is inappropriate and harsh, I'm not saying the lad is the answer, but we saw yesterday he actually won a fair amount of ball, but there is know one to feed of it. He isn't good enough to play alone and probably hasn't done it before. This is my view of Jo and i know many will disagree, but he hasn't had a great deal of opportunity, and should be played up front with another striker.

The continued decision to play a side in this formation is simply reinforcing failure. It would be interesting to see how many points dunne has actually cost this season rather than saving. I sit to left side of the goal in the north stand and watched dunne all of the second half, he's clumsy, i don't even trust his defensive skills anymore he couldn't handle a couple of midfielders playing up front.

Another question to ask is whether the team is on Hughes side, i perceived our squad yesterday to be one of our strongest, especially without vassell. Yet we were pretty bad. a half promising start slowly ebbed away has Benjai fell over the ball for the third time. Some have been harsh on Elano, but his effort in the 1st half was good, even when losing the ball, he endeavoured to re-claim it. He may have drifted in the second half but who didn't. Ireland simple looked lightweight, he could hack the combative nature of pienaar who ran the midfield yesterday. Swp gave a gallant effort, some good skill to beat defenders but often met with very little options in the box. I'm concerned because we simply looked like a losing side. Everton were certainly more up-for it and performed well. Considering these players are fighting to keep their place for when January comes, such a gutless performance makes you wonder what is happening behind the scenes.

Player ratings:

Hart: a good game generally, one bad punch, but some good saves. 7

Zabaleta: Reckless, possibly should of been yellow carded, but again a good performance and by far the best defender we have at the moment. 7

Dunne: i don't share Chris bailey view, I'm not sure what agenda he has, but he's wrong. a poor performance, struggled against a team without strikers, poor clearance, gave away three corners, one led to the goal. 5

Richards: not at this best, missed the header for the goal, but tackled fairly well. 6

Ball: Decent defensive showing, not a great crosser, but a decent effort. 6

Kompany: He is our most consistent performer. Over-worked, but a good effort. 7

Ireland: should of scored in the 1st half, light weight, not at his best. 6

Elano: very good 1st half, indifferent 2ND half, not combative enough, but should be played behind the strikers anyway. 6

SWP: Always endeavoured to push forward, good to see some one effective on the right again, had a good shot hit the cross bar. 7

Robinho: i forgot about him, not his best showing, only trained the day before, looked unfit, his ankle was strapped up before the game. wasn't effective, still had a decent shot saved by timmy.6

Benjani: couple of good passes, poor 1st touch, poor second touch. 5

Subs:

Jo: Didn't make an impact, nor did i expect him to, won a fair amount of balls, but know one around him, drifted out wide to receive the ball. 5

Vassell: Well he came on and ran at the keeper, that was about it, that's what he's good at, pointless endeavours. Cheered the fans up. 6

WBA is a must win, will Hughes still be incharge come January?

disagree with anything, feel free to comment!

Manchester City Vs Everton: preview

Short preview today.
Good to have another 15:00 kick off. Team wise, Robinho may be fit, i am unaware if he trained today, hopefully he did and will features again tomorrow. Danny Sturridge has been ill will a virus, likely not to play, garrido is possibly still out too. Hughes staunch support of vassell, assures his prolonged role in the side.

Everton are a decent side, but are lacking firepower at the moment, our home form should count tomorrow and see us through to a much needed victory. It's teams like everton that we need to be able to beat regularly. A good run into the christmas period will push us back up the table away from the relegation spots.


hopefully a decent crowd tomorrow too.

Injury News Update from the Boss.

Some mixed news coming out of city today!

The City boss said on Sky Sports News: "Boj is doing really well. We are really happy. We are hopeful we will get him back for mid-January, if everything goes to plan.

"He has been out training on the pitches looking like a footballer again.

This is great news, Bojinov (or Bozhinov as is should be written) is a cracking player, i was really excited when he signed, sadly he hasn't had a chance to impress with two horrible injuries.

Robinho it appears still isn't fit, Hughes is hoping he will train tomorrow, doesn't seem very promising.

"Gelson Fernandes is training today, Nedum Onuoha is training, Javier Garrido is having treatment and Daniel Sturridge is ill."

Not great news, sturridge has been pretty good this season and a good replacement for Robinho, without both we lack any one with real ability on the left. Garrido has bee in good form and shown great improvement this season, his replacement ball isn't up to standard.

Manchester City news round-up.

Bitter and Blue has an interesting article on city seeking out a new sponsor, mainly Etihad the Abu Dhabi based airline. A move that would see city rival the likes of Arsenal with Emirates and United with the economically unstable AIG. This will be another large step for the club to compete on the world stage.

Two interesting articles in the M.E.N, firstly Mark Bowen has come out to slam reports that Hughes was ready to walk, due to interference from the ADUG board. The sun is mainly responsible, most discerning fan will ignore anything written in that paper.

The next article really irritated me. Mark Hughes believes Vassell is the right man for the job.

He is doing a job for the team and maybe some people, though not the players or myself, are not appreciating what he is doing for the team as a whole."

In my opinion, it appears hughes is having a little dig at the fans, who have shown their annoyance in Hughes persistence to pick vassell. He offer very little to the team apart from work rate. He may well track back, but he's not even good at that, his tackling is poor and often leads to giving away a foul. I believe he's a player who's simply redundant in skill and ability, he simply isn't premier league standard, I'm sure there will be a few who disagree, but I'm sure i wont be convinced otherwise.

Here is a link from the poster below from his correspondent at ESPN about Vassell and his impact on the team and results.

The Final article i found interesting was from yesterday, Vital football believe they have a scoop, they have stated city may have started preliminary talks with Eto'o's representatives to bring him to City. Obviously it's another rumour, but i do enjoy reading some of the big names linked with a move to city, hopefully we will buy some top quality in January.

Match day photo's

I just wanted to bring to light this website i often use for good snaps of home games. I dont know the person running it but, they do a good job, plenty of photo's from seasons past to the present. Bit of non article, but an interesting site. Feel free to check some of my other links, i will be re-organising them soon, but there are some good blogs out there( far better than mine).





last season at carrington





Celebrating the final goal in a 3-0 victory over Arsenal





Action from Uefa cup night Vs Paris St-Germain

Who do YOU want Manchester City to Sign?

Rather than listing the many players linked in the tabloids, which seems to be the only focus in city related news. Who do you think city should be signing this January window? Obviously the likes of Kaka would be wonderful additions, but the likeliness of signing him in January isn't very high, despite what you may read on tribal football.

What are we looking for?
: Another striker to add to list of many, but one of proven quality and perhaps a bit older than 21. City have been keen to gamble on young stars, emerging talents, why not go for a proven top class talent who has proved himself at a top level. Looking at La Liga from Villa, Luis fabiano, henry...even forlan. Or look to Italy milito still rampant in front of the goal. Obviously you can't really rely on early season form, after all Corradi has scored the same amount as Ronaldinho.

: Battling Midfielder is an obvious one. Vincent Kompany has done a great job, but has been isolated at times, and if we lose him through injury or suspension, we are left with poor options, a tiring Hamann or an incompetent Gelson. I personally would love to see Cambiasso at the club, he is an extremely classy player, a definite replacement for Hamann, his positional sense and tackling ability is world class, he's not bad going forward either, he would be an excellent choice along side Kompany. Others i would like in similar moulds, toulalan from Lyon, he runs that team, effective and great going forward. Or we could go for the likes of Lassana Diarra, who is formed in the Makalele type role, he's better than Claude going forward, but is certainly in a similar mould of the psg man. There are plenty of players to look out for in this role, Blaise Matuidi form St Ettiene for me is another star rising in France; he could be a great coup.

: A left back, Garrido has been in great form recently, he could complain about lack of cover from Robinho, but i find he still gets skinned far to easily. He is also a young player and certainly worth keeping. Taye Taiwo is a name heavily mentioned with city and i know why! He is a very gifted player, strong, pacey left back, certainly can get forward, and can certainly shoot if any one saw him playing against Liverpool a couple of weeks back. Other names mentioned, Wayne bridge, who doesn’t get regular football, I’ve never rated him, decent player but on garrido's current form i would say he isn't much of an improvement. The bigger names coming to mind would be Grosso, Lahm... Real Madrid has two youngsters in Drenthe and Marcelo. There are allot of quality left backs, robinho mentioned Kleber at his and elano's former club Santos, he is a highly gifted player and isn’t a kid either at 28.

: Centre back, we haven’t been great at the back this season and our back two haven’t made their positions safe, Dunne has been awful, whilst Micah Richards has struggled to get any decent form. Robinho, who has had unsuccessful times at Porto and dynamo Moscow, has recommended Thiago Silva. He would be a great option, and will be snapped up by a big European team regardless. Kolo Toure from Arsenal has been linked; he is certainly a good player.

: Goalkeeper, Joe Hart isn't the finished article yet, he is very talented but young and naive, he has allot to learn, he has shown at times that he is really quite inexperienced. Again there are allot of really good keepers out there, from the likes of Buffon to the Mandanda's, akinfeevs to the relatively unknowns such as Enyeama, Ochoa.

Who do you think we need to buy this January?

Fulham 1:1 Manchester City: Average sides, boring football.

We truly are an average side. The defending from the city side is pathetic at best, considering we have some highly rated stars in our side we look like a side that should be drawing 1-1 with Fulham.

Once again Hughes doesn't pick Jo and persists with the inept Vassell and the rather basic Benjani. Once again Hughes decides to utilise Ched Evans, who can only get a game because of his nationality and nothing else. He is a young player who clearly isn't good enough, i wonder what the likes of Jo and Caicedo must think, both vastly more experienced and better players.

This will certainly dismiss any false confidence gained from beating a miss firing schalke and demoralised and heavily weakened Arsenal. We haven’t improved from last season, despite adding several players at high prices, there are still too many weak links in our side, Richard Dunne is one of them. Tal Ben-Haim may not be everyone’s favourite defender but his past few performances have already shown his quality compared to the calamitous Dunne, who couldn't handle second rate striker Zamora.

The midfield is far too weak, for all of Hamann ability and class, he is simply too old and doesn't have the ability to keep up with the game, Kompany works far too hard, he had a mixed game today, but we would be far worse without him. Ireland shouldn't be out on the left, he was pretty woeful today, he may be out of position but that doesn't excuse his poor passing. Wright-phillips didn't look fit and I’m not a fan of him in that position, he is far more effective down the right, as he was against united, he gave a left goo left back a torrid time. Vassell for all his effort and forest gump like running adds nothing to the side, he remains the thorn, and the sooner he is rid of the better.

Benjani is a poacher, but he sure has a poor 1st touch, it amazes me, how often his 1st touch means he has to do something completely different, sometimes it works in his favour. I like Benjani, but he shouldn’t be leading the line for city.


Ratings:
Hart: some decent saves, difficult sun light, difficult to stop bullard shot. 7

Ball: Poor player, he won't last long, Garrido has really made that position his (until January) 5

Dunne: allowed Zamora too much freedom, caught out for the goal, some really poor clearances. Not good enough. 5

Ben Haim: Decent effort, one glaring error, allowing Zamora space, but otherwise covered for Dunne. 7

Zabaleta: His tackle our well times, but today his attacking ability was great, it's a shame when your right back is more threatening than your right midfield, but that was the case today. MOM 8

Hamann: Reliable, class act, but too slow, caught out.. 6

Kompany: some good tackles but got caught in possession a couple of times, good effort.6

Ireland: not in the game, bad passing did very little.5

Vassell: did very little, when he has the ball, turns back to goal, often loses possession, waste of space.4

Wright-Phillips: great effort, not on the ball today, hadn't trained in the week, looked tired. 6

Benjani: Good finish, poor 1st touch, didn't improve anything taking him off. 6

Subs:
Ched Evans: poor. 2

Manchester City Vs Fulham: Preview

Last premier league result was a 0-1 loss, this is our chance to bounce back. Fulham are not the best of sides, nor the worst. We should be beating them. Hopefully Robinho will come through fit, as he is simply a brilliant player. SWP is also much needed, his drive and ability to drive through defenders is much needed. Micah is also doubtfull. Who is mark hughes going to pick, probably benjani and vassell, despite severall inept performance from the players, hughes seems to want to persist with them and leave out the better players.


worryingly Jo has been linked with a loan move back too russia, crazy, he needs to play football, he's talented and needs a chance, i'm losing my patience with Hughes, he is more than ready to give ched evans more than enough chances, he wont give Jo a far better young star more than 60 mins, how are you meant to get a confident striker if you pick himfor 60 mins and drop him.


Better play well tomorrow, as we are on tv.

Manchester City 0:0 Paris St. Germain: mental fans, rubbish football.

Not much to report on the game, bitterly cold night was made worse by an abject performance from both teams. Robinho accusations of not wanting to win were to clear to see with the efforts from some of the players. Hughes still wont give Jo 90 mins, GREAT man managment mark!!! I thought Elano was quite poor on the night, but re-watching the game on tv, i felt we were much worse without him, his passing wasnt the best, but he is always looking to get the ball moving. Ireland once again dissapointed, a dip in his form should hopefully run out against fulham. Kompany was the star man, brilliant in every aspect, strong, full of effort, great passing and tackling. Once again vassell porved he is a donkey, forest gump style running comes to no avail, as he simply loses the ball at the end of it. Last 20 mins saw some decent effort from psg, guily and talented Reunion man Hoarau caused us some trouble, especially for dunne who was neatly nutmegged. Our saving grace was Tal ben-haim, he gave a cracking performance in defence and was decent going foward.


...bring on fulham, we still need results.

Manchester City vs Paris St. Germain: Uefa cup preview.

Back to the UEFA cup again after a decent result Vs Schalke last week. Robinho yet again may be a doubt for the match, he probably wasn't that fit in the Derby and is still suffering with the same ankle problem. Shaun Wright-Phillips is also a doubt after he has taken out several times last match and was lucky not to be more severely injured. Micah was taken off Sunday due to injury so he isn't likely to feature either. Hughes also says Kelvin Etuhu and Michael Johnson are two weeks away from fitness.

So changes are afoot. We have qualified for the next stage already, our aim now should be to win the group and avoid the better opposition in the knock out rounds.

Paris haven’t been in the greatest form at the moment, I would site them as the perennial under-achievers in the French league. In Europe, they lost to Schalke with a largely weakened side and only drew with Racing Santander. They are set to field another weakened side tomorrow, due to their congested fixture schedule. Most of the big guns will feature, i.e. kezman ( the ex Chelsea flop), luyindula, Rothen. But Le Guen will rest ex-barca star Ludovic Guily and Makelele. The pressure is on psg to get a result.

Hopefully the team will show a bit more grit and desire than they did on Sunday, we need to get a result to keep on top of our European campaign. We can win this trophy and we need to start thinking we can win it.

Manchester City Vs Manchester United:Ronaldo vs Robinho - never happened.

Crap result in the end, pretty gutless response from city. United are obviously the better side, but that didn't excuse their Bolton style of play. Ironically taggart calls for protection on his prancing wimp cristiano, when the player who really needed protection was Shaun wright-phillips who he Scythed down by the petulant Portuguese winger, and rightfully got booked for it.

Basically Hughes got the side wrong, a false sense of confidence in a side that beat a demoralised and heavily weakened Arsenal and a win against a poor out of form schalke side, having real trouble in their own league. Vassell hasn't done anything in a city shirt worthwhile. I dont understand why he gets picked. Hamann is too slow and old. The defence looked far better with Kompany at the back and Zabaleta on the pitch. Dunne isn't the answer to anything, he may leave in January, i for one would be happy with that. I dont know why Chris bailey in the MEN sticks up for him. Garrido 1st half performance was troubled, but he was isolated. Diego Capel has said he is open to a move into the premier league, i would see that as a good player to sign. Wright-phillips is better out far right, he causes more problems for the defence, evra couldn’t handle him and resulted in fouling him. Elano should be playing; he is always looking for players moving, unfortunately yesterday, robinho and Steven Ireland didn't perform. Jo is a really good player; we took him from a side who regularly plays in the champion’s league, why does Hughes persist with Benjani.

Robinho was crap yesterday, he along with cristiano ronaldo, decided they didnt want to do much. Ronaldo's sending off meant little to united because he had done sod all. Apart from wimp out from a corner after the ball boy threw the ball in his face.

Ratings.

Hart: very poor. Distribution more often than not went to the opposition. His spill led to rooney's tap in. 5

Garrido: better in the second half, but too isolated on the left, we need a stronger defender. 6

Dunne: poor distribution failed to deal with a number of attacks. 5

Kompany: by far the best city player on the day. 8

Richards: spent most of the time watching the ball, crouching, but rarely actually tackled, one rash challenge could have got him sent off, if he connected. 5

Hamann: was he on? 4

Vassell: rubbish player. 4

SWP: cracking effort, fouled all game, tried and tried. 8

Robinho: not much work from him, spent allots of time really deep, often found know one moving for him.6

Ireland: couldn't handle it against the big boys. 6

Benjani: Had chances, hit them wide, not good enough, offside allot again.

Subs.

Elano: tried to get into the game, not great movement, not all his passes work, the again Benjani running speed is abysmal.

Zabaleta: much needed bite and purpose driving forward.

Sturridge: too little too late from Hughes.

Ref Howard Red: awful ref, in bed with taggart in this game, right to send ronaldo off. Taggart is an idiot. Ronaldo was jumping to win a header in the box, why would he use his hand to stop it hitting his head?

Manchester City Vs Manchester United: Derby day preview.

Don't have a great deal of information about tomorrow...but the formbook goes out the window.

Apparently Liverpool is United big game of the season, although you wouldn't know it this week, with amount of crap our poor Salford relations have come out with. Taggart's deep concerns, rooney managing to string 5 words together and giggs looking at 6 different reporters at once, even Fletcher opened his mouth, sadly know one listened.
It's clear United were a little put out that we beat them last year in the Munich™ ® disaster memorial. They were in a self-congratulatory mood, and we soon rid of that. A rightful punishment for a team that had long neglected the actual victims families and merely used the incident as a tourist attraction.

I'd like to welcome the United fans a rare trip to manchester for the game, it hopefully will live up to expectations, with the world watching on from 1:30 tomorrow.

Who knows what tean Hughes will pick.
Zabaleta returns hopefully along with Elano and of course Robinho!
Garrido may be a doubt after going off injured Vs Schalke, so Ball will step into the fray.

The scarf's will be out tomorrow, I'm bringing mine because it's bloody cold. Hoping for a good game tomorrow, with no fog. City to win!

Man City advance to the next stage

Santander drew 2-2 with PSG, so we are through into the next stage, although we should stuff racing and psg to come top of our group, avoid the good teams in the next round.



well worth watching pompey v's milan, great game, brilliant free kick from ronaldinho led to a nail biting finish. pipo inzaghi finished with real quality to draw all square.

Schalke 04 0:2 Manchester City . Hughes tactics prevail.

A great result, putting us top of the group, we could qualify tonight, depending a draw in the other game tonight.

We defended well tonight, Kompany at the heart of it all, we managed to restrict Schalke to half chances. Joe Hart played a blinder, great saves, a great star jump, that he prob got from kasper and punched well.

We absorbed the first half hour, which Schalke dominated. We looked dangerous on the break, Danny Sturridge, and Stevie Ireland causing endless troubles for a decent schalke back four.
Strurridge effort creating the 1st goal was brilliant, benjani finished very well and was on side. An unlucky second goal was disallowed after ireland was caught offside.

The second half started again with containment, Schalke tried to push foward, but city frustrated retaining possesion, and springing with swp, irelandand sturridge.
The second goal finaly came with a bit a of luck and persistance from Benjani and Irealand, who nipped in and finished neatly passed the young talented german goalie.

A very measured and controlled performance from city tonight, kept fairly tight at the back and attacking with pace and flair. Got the valuable goals and now top our group with 6 points. Bring on the derby, with the return on Robinho and elano.

Ratings:

Hart: great game today, top saves, good punching. 8

Dunne: solid, good interceptions caught for pace in the 1st half. 7

Richards: Good display at right back .7

Garrido: only played half the game. did ok. 6

Kompany: Star man today, dominated in the defence, decent passing 8

Hamann: steady german did well. 7

Ireland: Industrious, good passing, got a goal. 8

SWP: Worked hard, got a good shot in, a typical performance. 7

Sturridge: Worked well on the left, tricky, unlucky not to score himself. 8

Benjani: got a goal, did well, still offside alot. 7

vassell: didnt do anything. 5

Subs
Ball: did well for 45 mins .7

Jo: only on at the end

Ref: should of booked Rafinha, but had a good game.

Schalke 04 vs Man city: Half time teamtalk

Well we are winning! Benjani with a very good tap in after a great run on the left from Danny Sturridge. We are unlucky not to be 2 up with another effort from Sturridge being ruled off-side...with Ireland goal hanging.


Have we played well>? i dont know! We didn't start great, some cracking efforts from the Germans, mainly Jermaine Jones. But two good breaks from the blues got us a goal and we have started to look like we can win it, if we continue.

Kompany at centre back is good news, micah at the right, it really works.

-varius Dassell shouldnt be taken off soonish.

Schalke 04 vs Man city: Team News

Schalke: Neuer, Westermann, Bordon (c), Rakitic, Jones, Farfan, Rafinha, Altintop, Kuranyi, Pander, Engelaar.

unused subs: Schober, Kobiashvili, Ernst, Asamoah, Howedes, Zambrano, Sanchez.

City: Hart, Richards, Dunne (c), Kompany, Garrido, Ireland, Hamann, Wright-Phillips, Vassell, Sturridge, Benjani.

unused subs: Schmeichel, Ball, Ben-Haim, Logan, Glauber, Evans, Jo.


jo starts on the bench... only wish hughes gave him a chance

Kaka discusses city with Robinho and Elano

Kaka interview from sky sports:

"I like very much the Premier League," Kaka told Sky Sports News.

"It's a very tough championship, but there are a lot of big players and a lot of big teams, so now I think it's the best championship in the world.

"So, one day maybe, I don't know when, but it would be great to play in England."

Kaka's compatriot Robinho joined City for a British transfer record fee as the August transfer window closed and he has sparkled in the Premier League.

When asked if he would be interested in joining City, Kaka replied: "I have a lot of friends that are playing there, so I watch some games.

"I speak with Robinho and Elano sometimes about Manchester City."

Is he good enough to displace Vassell? I'm not convinced considering the current situation, but he would be good back up...

Robinho no-go for Uefa cup clash

Quick update.#

NO robinho, hughes hopefull he will be ready for united this sunday
No elano, his wife jsut had a baby with heavy medical precedures.
No zabaleta, hopefully fit for sunday.

our chance of success has just dropped.

Schalke04 vs Manchester City: Uefa cup preview

This will be a much tougher game than the Arsenal match. Schalke have some really good players, the likes of Kuranyi, Farfan, Rakitic and Altintop are all top players, Not forgeting the the Brazillian right back Rafinha who has great ability.

Jo was apparantly injured from playing in the reserves the other week but will be in squad. Hughes is sweating on Robinho and Zabaleta who both picked up knocks at Arsenal. But hopefully both will feature as we need them.

Vassell is likely to continue in his staring role in the ' worst player on the pitch' position.

This is a competition we really do have a chance in, this will be the hardest game in our group, hopefully we will raise our game, becasue when we are on form, we can beat anyone.

The confidence of beating Arsenal will hopefully kick start our season.

The Game is on FIVE, with coverage starting at 17:55.

Manchester City 3: Arsenal 0. Much needed win for Hughes.

The final result is great, beating Arsenal in the premier league for only the 2nd time. Yet does Arsenal current crisis take away something from the win? The had no Adebayor, Fabregas, Walcott, Eboue, Sagna and of course William Gallas who rocked the Arsenal dressing room this week with scathing comments about the players commitment and desire. Wenger was forced to play reserve defender Gavin Hoyte who had a torrid time dealing with Robinho. An out of form city beat an out of form Arsenal who were heavily demoralised and weakened through injures.

The 1st half was very unimpressive. Both teams failed to keep on the ball and chances came few are far between. It wasn't until just before the brake, stevie Ireland got lucky with a ball squeezing through two Arsenal defenders leaving him to finish coolly over Almunia. Neither side looked good for the win at half time, but city managed the get the confidence boosting 1st goal. Arsenal attempts had mostly fallen by the way side.

The second half saw city playing the better football. The work rate from the players had improved greatly; we defended solidly, although we were not really tested at the back. One good effort from the 'over rated' Bendtner was all Arsenal good manage on target, that was comfortably saved by Joe 'miracle man' Hart. The Second city goal was a real treat, Robinho released by a dogged run of SWP who had stolen the ball from Van persie, who spent most of the game cheating. Robinho finish was brilliant and certainly stole the headlines in the press. City were unlucky to go three up with a goal being disallowed for offside, although replays show it should have stood. Danny Sturridge capped of the afternoon, winning a penalty, and it was a penalty, the defender was clumsy and Sturridge like every other striker went down under the pressure. He finished well after insisting to take the penalty, even though Elano is our team penalty taker, and he didn't look best pleased at Sturridge decision. In the end city could have had four or five goals.


I am not overly enthused about the result; we couldn’t have picked a better time to play Arsenal. Hughes still insists on playing Vassell, who for all his hard work simply just isn’t good enough. His work in the 1st half was atrocious, giving the ball away, running away from the opposition towards our goal, he isn’t up to standard and is taking up wright-phillips best position. Benjani spent most of the game offside, he is another who works hard, but who knows what has happened to Jo, he didn’t even make the bench. Jo is a very talented player and he needs to chance to play more games and find some form. The defence were solid, but were not over worked, an on form Arsenal may well of exposed the frailties. Steven Ireland and Robinho were giving 100% from the word go and it’s great to see. Even if the 1st half didn’t get going, Ireland was getting stuck in the middle of the park. Elano came on and showed his class immediately, winning the ball and releasing Robinho with a world class ball, which should have been another goal. He again played a brilliant ball to Zabaleta across field, he really is a good player, and it’s crazy he’s behind Vassell in the pecking order.

Ratings:
Hart: Surprise appearance, made a good save. 7
Zabaleta: Times his sliding tackles really well, will get sent of again. 7
Dunne: Decent game, ball watched a bit when bendtner had his shot. 7
Richards: solid, distribution not great, but tackled well. 7
Garrido: another good game from the spaniard. 7
Kompany: passing was awful, tackling was good.7
Ireland: effort, drive, and a goal. 9
Swp: great work rate, won the ball for the 2nd goal. 8
Robinho: King! 9
Vassell: frustraing, works hard . dont like him. 6
Benjani: tried hard, always offside. 6

Subs,
hamann: replaced robinho. 6
Elano: great passing. 8
Sturridge: got a penalty and converted it. 8

ref had a decent game, reluctant with the cards, but officated pretty well.

villian: Van persie: he simply cheats, if he spent more time trying to score, rather than falling over, he may get somewhere. Should of been booked for kicking the ball while hart was kicking. The gk is still in controll of the ball at that point, van persie, who has already shown this season that he is petulant, acted with blatent disregard for the rules.


- were not out of the woods yet, Schalke and united next... a very tough week.

Manchester City Vs Arsenal - Pressure mounting!

Arsene Wenger believes Mark Hughes will achieve success at city, he’s currently in a minority who believe that, considering our league position, were 1 point off the bottom three. An article posted on vital football, from Telegraph journo Paddy Barclay, he isn’t convinced the Arab owners will stick with Hughes if our form doesn’t get better before January, explaining a reluctance from the owners to give millions to a lame duck. I personally share his concern, Hughes has already fallen out with two Brazilians and now Didi Hamann and Michael Ball appear to be the next crack’s appearing in the dressing room Harmony. Hughes reluctance to play Elano really worries and irritates me. Elano is a great player, he proved it last season, with one the top assist rates in the premier league and our top scorer, and his pass rate success was excellent. He has improved his game this season, working in a new position, yet Hughes has used him as a scapegoat for all the individual errors at the back mostly from Dunne, Richards and Ben Haim. I dont want to see Darius Vassell in a city shirt, he’s simply a donkey, he cant pass, he cant shoot and certainly isn’t a right winger!

Are we going to win the game tomorrow, who knows? Arsene Wenger will have no idea which city turns up. Arsenal will be without Fabregas, Eboue, Walcott and probably Kolo Toure. But even without some Key players, they have plenty of talent in reserve. Arsenal have been pretty good away from the Emirates and we ‘were’ good at home, although I’m not convinced of that now after the Spurs game. We have to play football against Arsenal, who can be shaky at the back, like us. I have no confidence in a win, because i think Hughes will persist with Vassell, which basically starting with 10 men. It’s up to Hughes, he can pick a side using our best players, or he can pick a side with the ‘works hard’ tag. I hope for Hughes sake we win this and kick start our season, it's about time city had some stability.

City team news.
-Dunne and roadrunner fernandes return from 1 match suspension
-kasper to start in nets, while hart sits out for around two weeks.
- Swp, elano, robinho, evans all return fit from international duty.

Elano scores for Brazil, yet we still pick Vassell!

Video link to Goal

Elano scored in Brazil's victory over Portugal. The game ended 6-2, with a hat trick from Luis Fabiano, two of his goals came from Robinho assists.

Shaun Wright-phillips played well for England last night, in their 2-1 win over germany, while ched Evans started for Wales in their 1-0 win.

Injury News:
Joe Hart's injury looks less serious than 1st expected and his injury time has been reduced to 2 weeks.
Danny Strurridge has returned to full training, while his future lies in the balance, he has an opportunity to prove himself to hughes, we all know he's far better than Evans.

Star Studded Reserve Outing

City tonight will field a Reserve side with Michael Ball, Glauber Berti, Didi Hamann, Felipe Caicedo and Jo. City are facing a Bolton reserve side at mini coms. There is an hour to kick off, so if your close pop down to the ground it's free with a seasoncard.

Not sure what Hughes thinks he is achieving playing Jo in the reserves, he just needs games to get confidence, not to be taken off every game he has played. What message is he sending to Jo?

Fat Ronaldo has once again been linked with city, he seems keen to join the other Brazilians not he is getting back to full fitness. I personally would snap him up, he isn't getting any younger, but was in fairly decent form before his bad injury. It's not really a risk, we have 'loads of money', if he fails, he fails. We are missing a cutting edge upfront, tubby ronaldo may be a bargain!

QPR have made a laughable attempt to sign Elano on loan. A middle order championship side isn't really appealing to a Brazillian international. I am more worried about the prospect of Inter signing Elano in January, as Hughes has made him a scapegoat this season, he's replaced Elano with Vassell.


Not looking foward to the next two games!

Hull 2 - Man City 2 - when will Hughes turn things around?

Another Game on sky that we failed to perform. Hull came out of their 1st live premier league sky game as the better side.

Once again individual error from city lead to another disappointing result. Ben haim awful miss hit pass to Joe Hart, which was taken up by Cousin, who squeezed the ball under hart. We were poor after the goal, hull were in full force and created some decent chances. It was only another defensive error from the Hull defender zayatte pushed the ball into the path of Steven Ireland who gladly pulled city even. After the Goal we picked up pace, robinho and ireland got the game going, we started to look good. The second goal was a real beauty from Steven Ireland, i thought at this point we were on for a win, half time came as an unwelcomed brake.

Second half, we didn't start with any convicition or drive that we had before the break. The Game was fairly open at both ends. Hull worked hard and most of their chances came from Geovanni, who is without a doubt the heartbeat of the hull side, i felt city, considering he was at the club last season, completely failed to deal with him all game. Some awful wasted chances from vassell, showed really that he shouldnt be in the squad, and that hughes makes worrying squad choices. We tried to push foward, but were suceptable to breaks from the Hull side. The game would change for the final time when Phil Dowd gave hull a debatable Free kick. Geo stepped up and scored from a deflected free kick. Dissapointing, but fully expected. The game ended with a few chances for either side, but predictbaly ended another dissapointing result for city.

Stevie Ireland had a great game, worked hard and finally got on the scoresheet, he did it twice with real style. Worryingly Joe Hart is now injured for a month, Kasper now has his chance to impress. Ben haim failed to perform, makes you wonder what Onouha and Glauber have to do to play. Shaun Wright-Phillips plays best on the right, why is highes insiting on playing him in the middle, where elano should be and stop playing Vassell who in reality is a donkey. Hughes also left it too late for a change, we had long lost the initutive, yet Hughes left it far too late to include the unlucky Jo, who has also fallen out of favour with Hughes. The decision to leave sturridge off the bench for Ched( not so good) Evans seems to be upset Sturridge and talk has arisen about him leaving.

Ratings:

Hart: didnt play long enough, injured after the 1st goal, unlucky for him with the england game comming up,he is out for a month

Zabaleta: Not his best, but not bad, some good tackles and decent going foward. 6

Garrido: not as good as his last few games, but decent going foward. 6

Ben haim: Got booked early, gave away the goal, poor game. 4

Richards: not firing in all cyclinders, hughes failing to get the best out if him. 6

Kompany: We certianly need him, sometimes loses the ball, but did a decent job. 6

Ireland: Great game, Top finishing, great effort. 8

SWP: Decent effort, but stuck in the middle 6

Vassell: Misses most of his chances, cant pass, cant take any one on. 4

Robinho: Decent effort from the captain. Tried to get the game going. 7

Benjani: didn't get a look in. always works hard. 6

subs:
Jo had no chance to make a difference.

Hull are a decent side, they should be safe this season, if they can keep the likes of boateng and Geo fit.

Poor result to add to the rest, Hughes has to turn it around sooner or later. It could be a very short city career if he doesn't. He seems to have fallen out with the Brazillians. Not entirely sure what he is trying to achive at the moment.


Feel free to comment, city and hull fans.

Hull Vs Manchester City preview

Well hughes has dealt with the Brazillians this week, had meetings with the Owners and had have been given the thumbs up for january. The question is, will he make it to january.

Hull have some decent players and a decent manager in phill brown. We also welcome back Geovanni, the talented brazillian will hopefully get a warm recpetion from the away fans, he is a quality player, shows how blind sven was.

But we have to beat them, we are better than hull, man for man, it's up to the players and managment to get it right, stop these individual errors, be more clinical away from home.

Hughes really has to get these guys playing football, it's a result business and if he doesn't win tomorrow, we will have had our worst start in the league since we were relegated in the 95/96 season. Let's hope not!

City have to win tomorrow, hopefully a convincing win too...

Hughes backs the wrong man!

Hughes has moved to support Richard dunne who has been in a rich vein of poor form since the end of last season and has continued with style this season with 2 goals and plenty of assists. ok, fair enough, he needs a boost, but stories circulating elano and micah richards being targeted as the one's underachieving, makes me question what has Mark Hughes been watching this season.

Elano interview

It's clear he has laid the blame on Elano, one of the best players at the club, who has performed well this season. He dropped elano and in doing so, removed any support for the back 4, and loses the creative force that elano brings with excellent passing.
Elano has come out and said, he plays for Brazil but can't get in the city side, why? It puzzles me, what is Hughes up to. Elano also said Hughes doesn't talk to him when he comes off, so he doesn't know what he is doing wrong. Elano has cleared up the rumour that the three Brazilians dislike Hughes and his coaching style, although it appears with Jo going out midweek whilst being ill and then skipping training, shows our Brazilians are not quite content.

Robinho has scored 2 in 2 and both times he has run to the touchline to cheer with elano. This sends a clear message to Hughes, that if he sells elano, robinho is almost certain to want to leave.

feel free to leave your views (as long as your not abusive cockneys)

Hughes: the right man for the job!

Al Muburak has come out in support of Mark Hughes, rightly so! We have a long season in front of us, with january edging closer, that will define the beginning of the mark hughes era, his previous (very good transfers ) were on a budget, he has yet to get his hands on the millions that brought Robinho to manchester. Hughes needs time to iron out the problems in the team, and he has to play around with the squad to do it. Some of his decisions may not be liked, i know several decisions which i regard as mistakes, but he is in the early stages of building a side and needs a lot of time to do so. Were not playing that badly, but have been restricted by poor discipline, unlucky decisions and some individual errors. His tasks should be to sure up the back line, sort richard dunne out and then buy the right players in january.

The defense, we have;
- onouha a young talented player, needs to play himself into form.
-Ben Haim- i am sick of people saying he is shit, he's looked better every game he's played. Mourinho wouldn't of signed him if he was shite, he can also pass the ball better than dunne and richards.
- Glauber Berti- An unknown quantity, tall, left footed, one cap for brazil, cant be bad.
-Kompany- a gifted centre back, a risk losing him in the centre as we have nothing to replace him with.


Dunne- this suspension will do him good, give him to get his head straight and for hughes and co to work him hard and sharpen up.


Transfers.

A left back: we need someone strong, good tackler and positionally good. Taye taiwo is strong quick, hard tackler, but can also attack, with a ferocious shot. Others linked haven't been so great, Wayne bridge doesn't get regular football and hasn't done for years. He isn't getting younger either, spent too long on the sidelines, never really been a fan. Warnock from Blackburn, er no thanks, liverpool reject, we don't want him.

Centre back? not sure about this, depends on dunnie!

Midfield: we never replaced Foe as a box to box midfielder, even joey barton, for all his faults, he was able to pick the ball up and drive it forward and grip the midfield when needed. We could do with Lassana Diarra as well, who will play more like makelele, but is good on the ball and can pass, he would be an ideal acquisition. Javi martinez the young spanish midfielder is tall and strong, and can pick the ball up from the back and drive it forward.

i would also recommend Rafael Carioca a quality young DM. While were at it, get the new Robinho in Douglas Costa, to add to our brazillian contingent.

Striker wise- i am unsure, Jo needs his chance, he's good and needs confidence, but i wouldn't say no to the likes of vagner love, huntelaar, just not santa cruz. Bojinov set to return for the New Year we could be ok. Goals are not the problem.

Anyway, city fans, have patience, you may not like hughes, i hate the man, never liked him at blackburn, don't like him now, but i recognise he is a top manager and one of the best British managers around. He will implement his changes in january and then we will see what hughes is trying to do with our team.

Man city 1- spurs 2 - ref ruins a good game

The pressure on Hughes shoulders in now immense, with Hull, Arsenal and Manyoo coming up along with Schalke in Europe, this spell will be the most important one of hughes managerial career. There is plenty of hostility on radio phone-in's, message-boards alike calling for hughes to be sacked. Are we really going to sack a manager so quickly again? Hughes has made mistakes but has also been unfortunate with injuries and refereeing decisions that have certainly contributed to our poor form. Sending off at liverpool changed the game, penalty at boro changed the game and yesterdays match was ruined by 3 sending offs. I think, if by the end of january we are still around the bottom, his position becomes untenable, but for now i hope Al Mubarak and crew stick with him. It appears he will regarding comments on the official site, i for one am happy with that.

We scored 1st in a game that was open and exciting, we were the better side, vassell did something right, shot on target, gomes with his ability to be brilliant and rubbish in one game, excelled once again pushing the ball out in the box, where robinho was waiting to pounce. The mood around the ground was generally good, despite the awful weather. Mike Dean decided to spoil what would of been a good spectacle of two good attacking sides. He 1st booked Gelson for a reckless but not dangerous challenge and then again for a minor foul, considering how early it was in the game, the horrible conditions of the pitch, the mediocre nature of the challenges, common sense should of prevailed, instead an officious, arrogant ref, couldn't wait to show a red card and make sure he had his stamp on the game.

spurs then dominated in patches as we still tried to score. A lofted pass, that was easy to deal with would become city's downfall, the captain missed the ball completely allowing Darren Bent to place the ball beyond Joe Hart for the equalizer. Dunne once again showed how out of form he is, and how wrong he was criticizing our attacking nature, when he and richard have been at fault for most goals through individual errors. There second goal would come about through some poor defending from dunne allowing jenas to hold up the ball in our box, we were carved open and bent shot passed hart on to the post and in.
To cap off a calamitous performance a through ball from huddlestone would spell the end to Dunnes game. The ball managed to ricochet off the clueless defender into the patch of bent, dunne gave chase and touched bent on the side with his hand, according to the ref any contact on a player constitutes a foul and as he was last man, he had to go. It was far too harsh, dunne barely did anything wrong, the conditions were awful and bent slipped under the pressure. The Fa have reduced his ban to 1 game.

Manchester City Vs Spurs - predictions

I think there is a sense of ambiguity towards city at the moment. I dont think there is much confidence in a win tomorrow against a vastly improving spurs side, rejuvenated by 'arry' Rednapp. There is certainly confidence in our attacking ability, we have scored more goals at home in the league than any other team, yet away we have conceded the highest amount of goals along with Blackburn rovers, hughes former club. After Thursday nights defensive display it's clear we have a lot to worry about tomorrow. With Kompany missing out through suspension our midfield looks really light weight, gelson struggled against an average FC Twente, how would he cope with Huddlestone. Didi Hamann has looked off the pace recently and I'm not convinced he can really cut it now at this level. We should go all out to beat off advances from spurs for lassana diarra and get him in quick. Richard Dunne has to be sorted out, he isn't leading the team very well with some inept performances and others around him are suffering now as a result. Tomorrow we have to be back to our best, i have no idea what Hughes is going to do, to combat the situation. We can't lose, hughes can't lose or he may well be on is way out. We can't afford to drop points at home with our away record being as shambolic as it is. If spurs were to win, they would only be 1 point behind us in the table.

It is really up to our attacking players to put pressure on the spurs back line, which still isn't great, i would encourage the likes of elano and robinho to get plenty of shots on Gomes as he seems a quite unstable character. Benjani and Jo will hopefully start scoring goals for us upfront. We need our talisman Robinho to continue his form.

I really can't predict, but i will go for a home win.

EURO Cup Clash Result for city!

First thing's first, it only cost £25 sterling for two European Home tie games. It's not as if we have been in Europe for years, this is a big tournament that we haven't reached for a long time, certainly to this stage. Where was everyone? Twente fans brought a handful but were loud all night, we decided that we couldnt be bothered. It bet the invisible fans will suddenly appear if we progress from the group stage! It was a disgraceful turnout last night, and i personally was embarrassed my the half empty stadium.

On to the game.

A decent attacking performance all round, good to see swp and ireland stepping back into the swing of things. An odd formation really, swp is best on the right, vassell is best without a contract! I thought Jo was playing really well, created two of three decent chances for himself, his only error was not finding the net, he needs confidence and that comes with goals, hughes please stick with him. Robinho waited till he scored a Brilliant goal to step up a gear, and could of had three goals, with two coming off the post. Steve Ireland despite still being goal shy, was on top form passing and effort wise! Good to see Benjani back, lucky deflection of course on his goal, but he worked hard, had another decent shot forcing the decent keeper to save, he will be working his way back to full fitness. But of course with city we can score 10 goals but we could of conceded 12.

The defense is a shambles. Zabaleta had a fairly poor 1st half, being skinned a few times and lost the ball in the lead up to the 1st goal. But at least he did improve second half and made some good tackles. Garrido was the best at the back and I'm delighted for him, he made some last gap tackles, passed well, it's what we need. Micah Richards was woeful, school boy stuff from him with the 1st goal, appealing for off-side while their attacker broke on goal. Dunne another rubbish performance, this guy is meant to be our captain, he is off the pace defensive wise, slow for the 1st goal, way off the mark for the 2nd. He needs to be dropped! Joe Hart is apart of the problem, i expect him to be beaten most times now, we need an experienced goalie who can command the defense. Dunne and Hart caused us alot of problems last night, the lost the team possession so many times, just kicking it up field aimlessly, it's horrible to watch and is actually detrimental to the teams progress. The benefit of elano is he collect the ball from the back stopping them form giving the ball away.

Other worries.
Gelson runs around like road-runner, great energy, has ability but he seems so rushed, he doesn't do anything properly. He gave away the ball alot and didn't nearly do enough good tackling. He was horribly exposed, but simply isn't as good as Kompany, who will miss the Spurs game, a great worry for me, as we can lose the game in the middle to the likes of modric and huddleston. My other worry is why did Hughes pick Vassell. He can't attack, can't pass, can't take anyone on, h just runs alot. He doesn't deserve to be in the team, and should be sold very quickly in Jan.


Happy with the result, Twente are a well organized, average European side, and Mclaren is an idiot. We need to beat Spurs next, who are in good form with saggy face 'arry', if we dont sort out defense out by tomorrow we could be in for a goal-fest.

Views on Hughes

Big game tomorrow Vs the mighty mclaren. We need to win! The major plus point for city is we are at home, where our form has been fairly good. Hughes has allot to sort out, to dampen the growing pressure on his job, otherwise change may come quicker than he thinks. Defensive wise, we are doing so well, one of the left back has to play, I’d still pick Javier Garrido as an all round better player than Ball, to counter his weakness at left back, I would put Micah Richards at the left of centre back, as Dunne is currently playing blind potato headed buffoon and isn't as athletic or quick to help cover on the left. That should of been Hughes move rather than moving Micah to left back. Dunne looks likely to miss the game with an injury, I think this is a blessing! He has been on woeful form and Ben Haim has been getting sharper. Hughes also has to stamp out the bad habit that appeared again at Bolton game. Joe Hart, Dunne, and too a lesser extent Ben Haim, should stop booting the ball across the pitch to our small midfield and striker force, especially against a giant physical Bolton side. It's awful to watch and we lose possession each time.

Attacking wise, perhaps a change is needed! Elano and Kompany in the middle, with ireland and Swp on either side will do. Robinho behind Jo as the second striker.
Here arises my worries about Hughes. Elano is such a gifted player, he needs to be given the chance to play, I don’t know why he always get subbed or dropped. Hughes is more inclined to go for heart and lungs rather than class and ability. Steven Ireland for all his early form and praise has some serious flaws, one being his limited brain capability, it irritates me no-end the amount of times ireland, arrives to late, or is offside, or generally in a poor position but thinks he should of been given the ball and walks away whinging, throwing his arms in the air, it's good he want's the ball, but his special awareness is poor. His finishing is also very poor, when he does get a chance on goal he doesn’t have a very good shot, I believe he is living a charmed life in side. I think there is allot to do in January, I believe a box-to-box midfielder is in order, I would recommend Javi Martinez, tall young Spanish midfielder who can drive the ball forward from the defence and create goals.

Nery castillo is hoping to leave in January! He said the new management has really spoken to him. This also really worries me. Hughes let Geovanni go with out really looking at him, castillo isn’t a bad player, he played so well against spurs last season, but suffered several injuries. He's quick, he is also left footed, While petrov is out, we have a replacement. Felipe Caicedo is a talented lad, only 20, rated as one of the most promising prospects in world football, he is strong and can score, will he get, I doubt it. I think he will be better than ched Evans, who by all accounts hasn't really impressed anyone, let alone his opposition defenders. I am worried that Hughes is so reluctant to try these guys out, Vs Bolton the game was begging for another striker, yet Felipe just sat and watched. He will lose his place now to benjani.

I have worries of course, but I think Hughes needs to be given a few seasons to build a good side. I just think he should listen to me!

twente will be physical and have some decent player, but it think we can put them away along with the Wally on the touch line

Morning Rumour Mill

A quick round-up of transfer mews as we edge closer towards the window. (it's only november.)
Blues eye Marseille left-back

Taye Taiwo, the nigerian left back, who we were lnked with pre season, not sure why we didn't buy him then, are need for a left abck hasnt changed since then!

City to pounce on unsettled Adriano

A now fit Adriano has been caught out drinking again. Mourinho dropped him for the following games, he's looking like his old self, had a brilliantt season in brazil and is doing it for his national side, of course i would take him.



Article on city target Sergio 'kun' aguero

a reported 35 million deal is in city sights to seal a magnificent player, if you catch this weeks repeat of revista la liga, he scored two goals for atletico!


cheers to footballl fitler for useful site


* oh and well done joey barton, another rash studs up tackle and sticking his finger into Agbonlahor face, Yes of course he has changed! The ref, arrogant creep steve bennet chose to ignore the incident, Barton should of been sent of in the game! Chris Hughton said incidents will get blown out of proportion when joey is involved, he's right of course, but the fact joey is already involved in incidents shows nothing has changed at all.

Liverpool Reserves Vs City Reserves

Update* The game finishes 1-2 to city! Vassell(ohjoy) Benjani and ball all played 45 mins! Benji of course finding the back of the net.

- shock result of the night, Toon beat villa 2-0 , obafemi scored twice, Shocking result, considering Kinnear is a buffoon.

LIVE UPDATE


Team: Johansen, Logan, M Ball, Mee, McDonald, Clayton, Weiss, Marshall, Vassell, Benjani, McDermott.

Subs: Poole, Hartley, Williamson, Kay, Daly.


score 2-1 to city so far, Marshall and Benjani scoring

LIVE LINK

Bolton 1 Richard dunne 1 vs Man city 0

Another awful result to add to our pretty awful away form. The worst performance of the season i have to say. Previous games against boro, newcastle we played pretty well, defensive flaws let us down. Yesterday we were awful at the back and up front. No Jo again, means we are not effective upfront, Ched Evans tried hard, but didn’t really worry the Bolton defence, he’s too inexperienced. The decision to remove Elano again seems to be costly, hamann was pretty bad, we lost elano gift to create something out of nothing. Hughes be warned, we could lose elano if you dont play him. The Defence again failed to perform, kompany was often the one cleaning up the mess at the back. Micah played most of the game upfront, it doesnt work! Ben haim out performed dunney, zabaleta fairly solid as ever, But dunne again looks dodgey and scored another own goal, i don’t understand why this bloke is captain, he seems to be lost most of the time, doesn’t grip the team when needed, he may be replaced if he doesn’t buck his ideas up.

Hart- Kicked the ball out all game, we lost the ball everytime. Didn’t really have much to do all game 6

Zabaleta-Solid, good to have him back. Couple of poor crosses, so did everyone else. 7

Ben Haim- Decentish (not a real word). Tried going foward. 7

Dunne- Crap distribution, own goal again, poor leadership. Average display. 6

Richards- Not very good going foward, tries too hard, hopefully back in the centre soon. 5

Kompany- Solid, Strong, did most of the covering at the back. 8

Elano- tried hard, alot of balls going foward, shouldnt of gone off. 6

Ireland- poor game, did very little, cant finish, often off-side, yet whinges when he doesnt get the ball- stupid! 6

SWP- Woeful, poor ball retention, didn’t look as good as he has earlier this season. Couldnt shoot. 5

Robinho- poor game, lost the ball too much, although could of scored, always has the ability to change a game. 6

Evans- Doesn’t read passes very well, not very skillfull, decent pass to ireland was about it, not a threat to bolton defence. 6

Subs:

Sturridge- 6 what could he do?

Hamman- 5 worst performance from him, i’ve seen.

Bolton- too physical, awful side really, makes it even harder to take, that we lost.

Notlob Vs City - Preview

Hughes is desperate for a bit of consistancy. He score alot of goals, but also leak alot. Against boro, we looked like city of old, plenty of chances, but couldnt find the net. I dont think that will be a problem too much this season, Ian wright has tipped robiho to reach his 30 target, that will do for me! Jo is desperate for a goal, i reckon it will come tomorrow!

Defence wise, Zabaleta returns much to our delight, hopefully micah will return to centre back, not sure who will feature left back, ben haim cant really do it, garrido, we know cant tackle. Ball clearly fallen out with hughes, but simply isnt good enough either! Glauber berti is very tall, looks like a centre back to me, but he is left footed.

Team wise, as noted on other blogs, it looks likely that elano will be the fall guy from away games. CAUTION! hughes, he is our best player, he does alot more work than most people credit him for. I'm inclined to bring in ireland and elano around kompany, in a more compact midfield, we know ireland has defensive qualities, ask him to use them more. Effectivly gearing us for breaking, rather than dominating, we can let them play in their own half and have the ability to take advantage of sloppy play. I think ireland and elano are more than capable of sitting deep.


My predicition city win 3-1

Man city 0 - Boro 2

Another disgraceful score line. With over 60% possesion through out the game and a significantly greater amount of chances on goal, yet again we lacked the goal machine to put away all of our chances.

Boro are a pretty crap side, that we should beat easily! Yet again we outplay a team but still come away with nothing.

Chances from SWP, Ireland, Kompany, Robinho, Elano, Struridge. The boro goalkeeper played well, but the finishing wasnt good enough! We have scored alot of goals this season, but we should of scored more.

The penalty decision was woeful! Sturridge didnt do anything wrong! It wasnt a foul, and ultimately gave boro the game.

Hughes decision to replace elano, with road runner gelson, seems strange when we needed to score a goal.

We need to be more clinical, after winning at the weekend, i thought we would grind out another win, but we failed in the final third, We need to beat Bolton to get our season on track.

News Roundup!

Been linked with more players after the incidents over the weekend - Juande Ramos next day harry! ( my own headline)

Jermaine Defoe and Lassana Diarra have been linked to move up north along with an obvious trip to join harry at spurs. I wouldn't mind diarra, think he's one of the best in the league in his role! He will come at a price but who cares, WERE RICH!

We have been linked with Mario Balotelli the young italian striker, who until recently was still considered a ghanaian immigrant in italy, until they realized how good he is. The player is reportedly worried about his development under Mourinho and would like a move. A great buy in my eyes, hope it happens!

QPR want to make a loan move for super danny sturridge, but Hughes has rightly put his foot down and said the golden boy isnt going anywhere! Great news! Hughes is letting these young lads fight for their place!

City 3 - Stoke 0 Robinho 3 goal stunner!

The Starting line up came as a shock today, with Jo omitted from the whole team (through illness). Evans was chosen as next choice, but to my dismay! I struggle with the lad, dont really rate him at the moment, yeah, he got a decent assist today, but otherwise he just seems to lack finesse and all round quality. Passing and general ability to take on defenders isn't really there. Sturridge now has to over take hughes golden boy, taffy evans, in the striker rankings!

City again flattered in the 1st half; a good goal from Robinho, but no real penetration afterwards tills half time. I hate it, when we pass it around like a training match, it happened against the geordies and i was worried it would happen again.

We could have had a shed full in the second half, Two more great goals form the main man robinho, but SWP, Ireland and Micah should of all netted.

Pullis felt his team should have got something from the game, disagree! They had a couple of chances that were well saved from Joe hart, who played his best of the season. They are horribly physical side and were allowed to continue by the ref, who didnt really have a bad game, but should have clamped down on the over physical challenges. We peppered Sorensen, who looks to have revived his career, looking like the top class goalie has he left behind last season. Sturridge changed the game today, someone more gifted up front to complement what we had going in the midfield. We could of been 10 nil up by the end of it, stoke were lucky we didnt score more!


Players performance
Hart: Best game of this season for me, less dodgey at set pieces, delaps's throws are quite slow and can be picked up easier than a cross. Made some cracking saves today, to top off his new contract at the club!

Richards: looked off the pace today, although brightened up towards the end of the game, glad he's fit. Should of scored, he tried to blast it, unlucky, the other players seemed to find it amusing that he missed.

Ben Haim: Couple of cock-ups, but by far his best performance, tackling was superb today and his distribution on the whole is better than dunnie.

Dunne: 1st tackle, it thought he was going to have a cracker, MEN had him down as being almost faultless, almost being the word, he made a couple of mistakes today, but is looking like he can recover form, which we need.

Garrido: Defending wise pretty average for him, got skinned a couple times and missed a sliding tackle in the box towards the end, some decent balls today, some not so great a usual performance for the lad.

Kompany- MEN gave him a 6!!! Did they watch the game, he was brilliant today, made so many tackles, dropped deep when needed and eventually moved to centre back because he was so solid today. Back on Form!

Elano: Outstanding again for me, He is the engine of our team, he creates so much through clever balls and movement, was desperate for a goal, and made some decent efforts on goal. My man of the match (usually goes to the hat trick hero!)

Ireland: quiet game today for stevie, but again came alive towards the end, great ball for swp in the build up for the final goal.

SWP: Much better from him today! Allot of effort, cocked up a big chance, but help assist another, he will be even better Vs boro!

Robinho: Outstanding, full of class today! Finished well every time. I knew from go, when he 1st broke on goal, we was going to be a handful today

Evans: Nice assist looks like a revved up nutter that will challenge anything, far from the finished article! Injury doesn’t look great

Subs
Sturridge: Changed the game, created goals, and nearly scored himself, very strange that he's 3rd choice.

Onouha: much better today, played a wicked ball in the box, glad he looked less surprised to be playing.

Gelson: it's like letting a jack Russell out of a box, he is everywhere, full of energy, running into both boxes.

Ref :

Steve Tanner: well done, the game flowed fairly well, only one card, should of gripped physical stoke more, but did well!


3-0 a good result to set us up for the REVENGE match at boro midweek. Great news about hart signing a new 5-year deal at the club. Good day all round for city, but not for juande ramos i guess!