Brucie Bonus
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By Ian Ladyman
Last updated at 12:01 AM on 15th December 2008
After a run of eight games that have produced just five points and with Manchester City out of the relegation zone on goal difference only, there are some fans who feel Mark Hughes should no longer be in charge at the richest club in the world.
They are wrong. His team are certainly in poor shape. They deserved very little from this game and got nothing.
Allied to that, the City manager has made some mistakes in recent weeks. His decision to play the ageing Dietmar Hamann in front of his back four during the recent defeat against Manchester United was certainly peculiar and the wisdom of bringing Shaun Wright-Phillips infield from his favoured position on the right recently is debatable.
Thousands of miles away in Abu Dhabi, the club’s Arab owners will no doubt be a little anxious.
However, the time for Hughes to be judged is when he has built something resembling his own team in the second half of the season. He is currently being handicapped by two factors over which he has little control.
There are players in his squad who are not good enough and there are others who have lost the form of last season.
The City manager admitted he lost his temper in the dressing room after this game, and it is little wonder.
After seeing one central defender - Richard Dunne - concede a needless corner in injury-time and another - Micah Richards - fail to get off the ground as Tim Cahill leapt to head in the winning goal, he had every right to be irritated.
Hughes must ask himself when the two defenders who did so much for Sven Goran Eriksson last season are going to show their real selves again. He also must wonder who on earth thought it would be a good idea to pay upwards of £ 25million for centre forwards Jo and Benjani. Neither are good enough for a club who see themselves as upwardly mobile, and the fact that City do not have a reliable central striker at the club is killing Hughes week in week out. Benjani was modest at best until damaging a hamstring on Saturday and, on replacing him, Jo was as dreadful and as anonymous as ever.
January, of course, will bring some relief in the form of Blackburn striker Roque Santa Cruz, Portsmouth midfielder Lassana Diarra and at least one central defender, with a bid for Arsenal’s Kolo Toure still in Hughes’s mind.
'Ideally, you would like to do business as quickly as you can,’ said Hughes. ‘You want to get them settled in really quickly.
‘I think it’s fair to say that there’s going to be a Man City premium on top of the prices and the values.
‘But the premium won't be significant. I can assure you of that. If we have a market value on any player, and the price is significantly above what we think the market value should be, then we will walk away.’
A look at City's forthcoming fixtures certainly suggests that an improved team would have reason to be optimistic, with games against West Bromwich, Hull, Blackburn, Portsmouth, Wigan, Newcastle, Stoke and Middlesbrough before they play one of the title-chasing sides, Liverpool, on February 21 at Anfield.
sauce: Daily Mail
Also Teh Independent:
"We need that physical threat, that desire to get on the end of things when balls are flashing across the six-yard box," he added. "We need a bit more devilment, a bit more aggression to resist challenges. We played a lot of football around their box but we need to get across defenders and mess people around."
In other words, what he wants, for all their ability to create a breathtaking spectacle – even, at times, in a cold, damp Lancashire December – is not more of Elano or Robinho, but perhaps a bit of Emile Heskey. "We are having a lot of play in midfield but the ball is coming back there too quickly so we are not able to keep teams penned in their box," Hughes said.
Last updated at 12:01 AM on 15th December 2008
After a run of eight games that have produced just five points and with Manchester City out of the relegation zone on goal difference only, there are some fans who feel Mark Hughes should no longer be in charge at the richest club in the world.
They are wrong. His team are certainly in poor shape. They deserved very little from this game and got nothing.
Allied to that, the City manager has made some mistakes in recent weeks. His decision to play the ageing Dietmar Hamann in front of his back four during the recent defeat against Manchester United was certainly peculiar and the wisdom of bringing Shaun Wright-Phillips infield from his favoured position on the right recently is debatable.
Thousands of miles away in Abu Dhabi, the club’s Arab owners will no doubt be a little anxious.
However, the time for Hughes to be judged is when he has built something resembling his own team in the second half of the season. He is currently being handicapped by two factors over which he has little control.
There are players in his squad who are not good enough and there are others who have lost the form of last season.
The City manager admitted he lost his temper in the dressing room after this game, and it is little wonder.
After seeing one central defender - Richard Dunne - concede a needless corner in injury-time and another - Micah Richards - fail to get off the ground as Tim Cahill leapt to head in the winning goal, he had every right to be irritated.
Hughes must ask himself when the two defenders who did so much for Sven Goran Eriksson last season are going to show their real selves again. He also must wonder who on earth thought it would be a good idea to pay upwards of £ 25million for centre forwards Jo and Benjani. Neither are good enough for a club who see themselves as upwardly mobile, and the fact that City do not have a reliable central striker at the club is killing Hughes week in week out. Benjani was modest at best until damaging a hamstring on Saturday and, on replacing him, Jo was as dreadful and as anonymous as ever.
January, of course, will bring some relief in the form of Blackburn striker Roque Santa Cruz, Portsmouth midfielder Lassana Diarra and at least one central defender, with a bid for Arsenal’s Kolo Toure still in Hughes’s mind.
'Ideally, you would like to do business as quickly as you can,’ said Hughes. ‘You want to get them settled in really quickly.
‘I think it’s fair to say that there’s going to be a Man City premium on top of the prices and the values.
‘But the premium won't be significant. I can assure you of that. If we have a market value on any player, and the price is significantly above what we think the market value should be, then we will walk away.’
A look at City's forthcoming fixtures certainly suggests that an improved team would have reason to be optimistic, with games against West Bromwich, Hull, Blackburn, Portsmouth, Wigan, Newcastle, Stoke and Middlesbrough before they play one of the title-chasing sides, Liverpool, on February 21 at Anfield.
sauce: Daily Mail
Also Teh Independent:
"We need that physical threat, that desire to get on the end of things when balls are flashing across the six-yard box," he added. "We need a bit more devilment, a bit more aggression to resist challenges. We played a lot of football around their box but we need to get across defenders and mess people around."
In other words, what he wants, for all their ability to create a breathtaking spectacle – even, at times, in a cold, damp Lancashire December – is not more of Elano or Robinho, but perhaps a bit of Emile Heskey. "We are having a lot of play in midfield but the ball is coming back there too quickly so we are not able to keep teams penned in their box," Hughes said.