It may not be this year.

[mammutly]

Billy, you seem to be disagreeing whilst refuting nothing.

It is an irrefutable fact that Hughes has won nothing as a manager and that last season he was true to type in that he never looked like winning anything with us.

There is no logical basis on which to assume he will do better next season. In fact, people are already arguing that he doesn't have to! How mad is that?

If Hughes has in any way actually got what it takes to be a winner, then he needs to prove it. I don't want City to be still 'aiming for top 4' in 2011/12.

Ridiculous as it may sound to some, I actually think we should expect to win things and I think we should expect it now.

 

[Anonymous]

Billy, you seem to be disagreeing whilst refuting nothing.

It is an irrefutable fact that Hughes has won nothing as a manager and that last season he was true to type in that he never looked like winning anything with us.

There is no logical basis on which to assume he will do better next season. In fact, people are already arguing that he doesn't have to! How mad is that?

If Hughes has in any way actually got what it takes to be a winner, then he needs to prove it. I don't want City to be still 'aiming for top 4' in 2011/12.

Ridiculous as it may sound to some, I actually think we should expect to win things and I think we should expect it now.

Well, I guess that makes two of us who are utterly full of shit.

It maybe "irrefutable" that Hughes has won nothing as a manager. But it's also "irrefutable" that he did enough in the eyes of the people investing hundreds of millions into the club to be given another season.

By saying there is no logical basis for assuming he will do better next season you are truly talking cobblers pal. How about the fact that he will begin this season with a squad entirely of his own making, with the options he felt he didn't have last season, with a team who will not be ravaged with internal disagreements about the manager's methods. How about the extra hundred odd million invested in the team over this summer. Not a logical reason to assume we'll do better?????

I expect us to win things to. I just don't expect us to win the league next season.

Maybe rather than ranting and raving about what you think Hughes won't achieve next season, why don't you tell me what you would like him to achieve. Realistically.

 

[mammutly]

Realistically, I expect City to be competing ( and i mean competing) with the top teams in the Premiership. Chelsea did it. Blackburn did it. We should be able to do it.

 

[Anonymous]

Realistically, I expect City to be competing ( and i mean competing) with the top teams in the Premiership. Chelsea did it. Blackburn did it. We should be able to do it.

Nice sidestep.

Is fifth, two points behind the fourth placed team good enough?

 

[mammutly]

Realistically, I expect City to be competing ( and i mean competing) with the top teams in the Premiership. Chelsea did it. Blackburn did it. We should be able to do it.

Nice sidestep.

Is fifth, two points behind the fourth placed team good enough?

No! Absolutely not.

 

[Anonymous]

Nice sidestep.

Is fifth, two points behind the fourth placed team good enough?

No! Absolutely not.

LOL...

 

[Unknown_Genius]

It's a shame we have a few who would be happier with a Mark Hughes failure than a Man City success, we need everyone behind the club this year. Because if we lost Mark Hughes from aiming at unrealistic goals, then I'm really not sure where we would go from there and that would be a shame.

This comes up every time MH is debated, and frankly its bollox, not one City fan I know WANTS MH to fail, rather than City be a success.

There are plenty though who watched us last year, and saw little or no improvement in various aspects of the team, I don't care what people say, MH and his coaching staff are responsible for getting that improvement.

The defence (largely the same as the previous season) went backwards, our away form showed no sign of improving from start to finish, all things that if he and his staff were good enough then we would have shown some improvement in. But to those who laud MH as some super hero, it was ALL the players fault.

Anyway that's last year, so what about this ? Its totally his squad now, even he wouldn't disagree, he's been given a (very conservative in my opinion) top 6 target, but with the money spent adding to what we already had, the top 4 is possible, and should be achievable, but it will mean the team showing a lot more balls away from home than it did last year, and it will need some proper organisation, players playing in the positions they are best at, a squad pulling together.

As someone says above, the bar has been greatly raised now, I think the "top 6" is for public consumption, but the true target is to challenge at the top, expectation have rightly been raised too, and MH now has the team he wanted in place (bar maybe one or two).

Our first 3 games should all be winnable, but they are games that won't be easy, 1 bogey team, a newly promoted side still on a high, and another we often struggle away from with. They will be a great marker as to where we will finish. 6 or 7 points as a minimum for me.

Finally this stability thing is a red herring, if the manager isn't up to the job, no matter who he is, he should be replaced for the best interest of the club.

Mourinho won things in his first season at Chelsea, so why not MH in his second, if he's so good.

You cannot compare Mourinho's situation to Hughes'. Mourinho inherited a team that had finished 2nd the previous year, had reached the Champions League semi's, and had alot of great players already there (Terry, Lampard, Makelele, Joe Cole, Duff). Hughes inherited a not very good team in disarray after the Thaksin shinanigans left him with little to spend throughout the summer, it was only on the very last day he had loads to spend. They're both incomparable situations.

I remember Chelsea being linked with Hughes, after Avram Grant left, and I knew a few Chelsea fans at the time that were keen to see Hughes be their manager. I wonder what would have happened had they got Hughes, and we got Scolari instead.

 

[Bill Walker]

cant see us getting anywhere near top 4 with our defence.

Im disappointed in Hughes not focusing on it more, to concentrate on Terry and Lescott all summer when he was told they wernt for sale was crazy, all we have is Toure ..

as proved v celtic etc our defence is poor

if we dont get at least 2 good defenders (ie Hangerland) we'll be lucky to finish top 6

 

[1894]

Trying to untangle some of the issues here is revealing.

I think there's a strand of 'Hughes the manager' with people expressing various opinions about his achievements and capabilities.

There's also a strand around 'fans expectations' which shows a variety of assessments from 'top 6' to 'challenging for the title and good cup runs.'

ADUG's vision is also in here - perhaps the least controversial of all the issues, as their commitment is public and well evidenced by the stratospheric amount of money poured into City.

Finally there's a strand about the playing squad we now have, compared to the one we used to have.

One thing we all agree, is that we aren't talking top ten finish any more; we're aiming much, much higher.

My favourite strand is 'fans expectations' because this is why we post.

I have to say that my own judgement is formed by how well I try to understand ADUG's vision for the club. Gone are the days of 'let's try and see how it works out'
or 'doesn't matter if we lose as long as we give a good account of ourselves' or even 'we didn't get the rub of the green.' The vision is more demanding than that.

Given the vast amount of money pumped into the playing squad, the huge increase in quality in that squad, and the potential for more goals than we concede, I'd say a Sky 4 finish is not only achievable, but desirable. When Sven was asked what the target was, he always managed to avoid giving one, thus lowering expectations. I think Hughes is more astute than that, and has bought players to help us challenge for top honours. Top 6 is the minimum, not the maximum, and it starts at Blackburn on Saturday.

 

[Dhenry]

Agreed, top 6 by the end of the season is the least that is expected. As I said earlier though, if we are 8th in December then I'd say we're well on track for that still..a view I can already tell many here will not share.

That to me is a shame, because fans who will be ranting loudly (here and elsewhere) will only create bad publicity to the club, and I do believe that a vocal minority like that can actually do a lot of damage to the confidence of everyone at the club fighting for the results..the players, the coaches, everyone. So I'm sorry, I just see this whole negative approach to Hughes / too high expectations from the squad really as nothing else but a stab to the heart of the very same club we all here support.

I say, unless Hughes really messes things up early on, like Spurs last season, let's count our chickens when the season's over.