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!
Monday, 29 December 2008
Saturday, 27 December 2008
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?
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?
Tuesday, 23 December 2008
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!
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!
Sunday, 21 December 2008
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.
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.
Saturday, 20 December 2008
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.
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.
Friday, 19 December 2008
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.
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.
Thursday, 18 December 2008
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!
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!
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