B-b-b-b-BUILD.

[Balti]

The away form has let us and him down of course. An average number of away wins on top of what we have and we are UEFA. WHU or Everton type away days and we are in a CL spot. We have the summer window to spend and improve. I see no way that we will do anything but improve next season and it could be a significant improvement.

He's been through the pain. The team/ squad know how he works and what he wants and what is required if they want to start. Bringing in more quality with the prerequisite work ethic can only improve us and the chances of us having such crappy away form again next season are negligible. Obviously he would have to go if that were the case, but I say wait till Xmas and lets see what effect the summer window has. If the away curse has been lifted then stick with it.

 

[yankblue]

We do need to B-b-b-b-BUILD a squad.

We do have quality players, but not enough of them really. We actually have a pretty thin squad.

We don't have much at striker. A good but often injured Bellamy. The Boj who hasn't played much more then 100 minutes in 2 years. Caicedo, Evans, Sturridge, they all get their fair share of stick on here and I'm not going to slag them off but I will say they're all too young and need to develop. Vass won't get another game with us, neither will Benjani.

At CB we have Neddy and Dunne. Richards can fill in there but he's lost the plot at the moment, Kompany can as well but he's needed in midfield. At RM we have no sufficient backup for SWP, really. We've had to play Robinho out of position at LM and have severely missed Petrov.

There are still ALOT of holes in this team, and we are severely imbalanced! Let that be adressed over summer and watch us improve!

 

[paul]

Hughes out now.

 

[1894]

If we measured ourselves in the way that businesses do, then we'd be looking at like-for-like results compared to last year. Both short term and full season.

We are therefore some way behind, taking into account current points and position. We could however still finish in a higher league position than last season, if we won at least 4 of our remaining fixtures, and other teams around us slipped. Looks unlikely to me though.

We have out-spent just about every other club on the planet this season, and therefore cannot blame lack of investment in the playing squad.

The playing season has been a long one. We'll have played in 56 competitive games, plus friendlies, plus international duties. No wonder fatigue set in.

Yes, we've had an adventure in the UEFA Cup and I'm sorry its over. But other clubs have to deal with the same pressures and if we are to progress we need a more resilient squad. You simply cannot 'patch up' injured players and send them out before they're fit again. Games are lost on such decisions.

I'll be glad when the season ends, and players can get a decent break. I look forward to a summer clear-out at the club. Too many players not good enough to take us forward.

A TV pundit made a thoughtful comment on the Champions League this week - he said there are now so many 'average' teams in that league, that only a handful of clubs could be called top-drawer. It made me think of the parallels to the Premier League. There's a Top 4 in both competitions...

Can we continue to attract top players to City without the promise of European football ? I don't know. The close season will be an interesting one.

On balance, and despite our European adventure, I still think we have a long way to go, therefore we still need to build. I am still not won over by the management style though.

 

[JohnMaddocksAxe]

Please compare the improvement that Gary Megson, Steve Bruce, Harry Redknapp, Sam Alladyce and Roy Hodgso have brought to their teams in less than a year with that brought by Hughes.

Then compare the quality of players that they are working with.

Then compare the financial support and money spent?

Then compare how much each has had to rly on inherited players that 'were not their own'.

Then compare the outward signs of disunity and poor morale in their squads?

Then compare how often they appear in the press hinting that their players are to blame for poor results and that their players are not up to the standards of the manager and his coaches because they are all 'winners'?

Then weigh up who has done the better job?

Then consider whether these teams are teams who should even be able to compare their ambitions to ours, let alone actually better them.

Not a bad effort. The thing is, we ARE improving both on and off the pitch. Those clubs you mention are small fry when compared to us and some have had disunity in their ranks - look at Zaki at Wigan for example. So what, they're all never going to be bigger or better than us.

At City, we have had a 30 year or more LOSING MENTALITY to try and shed. If it goes wrong it goes wrong at City. Cups for cock ups and all that. We have built our reputation on failure over the last 30 years. One of our best song is 'We never win at home and we never win away'.

The fucking LOSING MENTALITY is a tough one to shed. But trust me, in Hughes we are shedding it.

If you can't understand that or see why our club is different to any other then go and take a break for a couple of seasons and do some B&Q shopping at the weekend. When you come back, it will be a whole new Manchester City FC but one which you will still love and can maybe get behind.

The clubs I am comparing to them are, as you state, 'small fry'. And that is completely my point.

They are small fry but they can, under decent managers, achieve improvement with little in the way of resources. Improvement which sees them above or around us in the league. Improvement which dwarfs any improvement that Hughes can say he has achieved, despite the massive gap in quality of players they are working with.

The fact that they are 'small fry' also discounts the 'losing mentality excuse' that people point to as some sort of mythical entity holding us back. None of these clubs have a history of winning anything. All have comparable history to City over the past 30 years. Yet it doesn't stop their managers coming in and getting more out of poor players. And why should it?

It has no effect whatsoever on their immediate work, unsless they are some sort of superstitious nutter. So why is it a valid excuse for Hughes being unable to get anything like par performances out of a very talented squad? It's not like anyone, not one single person, has asked him to be challenging for anything this season. Just to show that he can take us forward.

And, I'm sorry, I can't understand how 'we are shedding the losing mentality' under Hughes. We have lost a huge amount of games this season, against all sorts and standard of opposition, and continue to do so. How does that tally with 'losing the losing mentality'?

What I do see is Hughes and his staff talking about that a lot and coming about with spin and soundbites about it.

Just like the likes of Mourinho, Moyes, Souness, Ball and others have done in the past. Unfortunately, you can split those managers into two groups. Those who jsut talk about it a lot and bang on about being 'winners' and those who have the ability to wed their spin and hard man bollocks to others skills like man management, making them a rounded manager and able to back up their talk.

At present, you can only say that Hughes is mirroring the Alan Ball/Souness option of talking hard and about being a winner but not actually showing any capacity to back it up.

Thanks for the inference that I should stop supporting my club because I don't believe in the manager though.

 

[Chinley Blues Jr]

Hughes Has got lots to do, he has only has 9 months FFS! All the players he has got in are class. I can't wait for next transfer window and next season to see what he does.

Mark Hughes needs more time and I'm glad the owners think this, all the people on here that want him out are fucking idiots! Consistancy is needed all round, in the boardroom and on the pitch! If we sack hughes we are starting from square 1 again!

If you don't like hughes thats fine but if he is city manager u should back him

Rant over !

 

[blueonblue]

Any team must be built, Hughes can never build one because he is clueless, a numpty is still a numpty no matter how long he gets to keep the job.

 

[BobKowalski]

Let's face it, last season we didn't rip up many trees after Christmas and we ended the season by getting twatted 8-1 off fuckin Middlesbrough, yes, fuckin Middlesbrough!

Correct. The end of last season was a frace wrapped up in a pantomime hidden inside a Thai puzzle

So, impending relegation has been cast aside under our new regime. That's got to be good.

Absolutely. You will not believe the huge sigh of relief when we got to 50 odd points as I was convinced we would be relegated. 9th spot was too close to 17th for my liking.

A work ethic has slowly been implemented into the club from the training ground upwards. That's got to be good.

Spot on. I just thinking that busting a gut 1 game in 8 is the right way forward. That'll have old red nose worried eh?

Fans have been entertained at home. That's got to be good.

Again spot on. I really like the way the club has introduced some novel entertainment during the match. Games like 'Which City will turn up. World beaters or TNS Solutions? Bet now and win a £100" or my favourite "At which point will the manager bring on yet another defensive midfielder. When a) we are 1-0 down? b) we are 2-0 down? or 3) we are 1-1 and going for the winner and on comes Gelson for Robbie or Elano. You can play on-line or go interactive by pressing the red button"

We made it to the last 8 in Europe after not even qualifying to play in it on merit. An excellent achievement never bettered since Tony Book in 1979. That's got to be good.

A great achievement. Admittedly from memory we have only played in Europe a couple of times before since Tony Book in 1979 and we did go out to a team from whom we had "purchased their two best players" (quote courtesy of Martin Jol) and it was yet another QF snafu but hey I'm with you all the way so far.

We have purchased players better than what we had at the start of the season in the same position. That's got to be good.
We will build on this next season.

THAT'S GOT TO BE GOOD.

Therefore let's give Hughes 1 more season, get behind him and the team and let's take this thing forward TOGETHER.

I'm sold! Where do I sign on for the Hughes revolution?