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