Questions have to be asked?

[cleavers]

Oh no!!! We might play Bellamy! The only stiker to have scored for us in pre-season and a player who has a very good scoring rate since joining!! What is he thinking?

Is that meant to be a ringing endorsement ? Will he be fit, there's 24 hours yet.

We are clearly a lot stronger squad wise than when we finished last season, but that means nothing when we kick off, we still have to win matches, and nobody knows if we'll win this or not.

Those who are staunchly behind Hughes will be happy with a point, I don't understand that, its settling for second best already in my view.

Pre-season is, as many keep pointing out, only about getting fit, but the fact that nobody has a clue as to our starting 11 (if you look at various topics). I personally don't think we have used pre-season particularly well, and the fact that Bellamy is our only scorer from the strikers is a bit of a worry. I also think more should have been done about the defence a lot earlier than now, its the one are of a team you want settled as quickly as possible.

 

[Petetheblu]

Interesting thread... Haven't participated yet, but am about too ;-)

I don't get the accusations of people being negative before a ball is kicked - I'd imagine they are the same people who felt negative before the balls stopped being kicked last season (of which I was one), so it's not really a fair point.

I think we have signed fairly well this close season, although perhaps a little poncily giving our means. We have settled for second or third best in most areas which is disappointing, and we have really not addressed the defence as well as I would have hoped, but there is no denying we have a potentially exciting squad more than capable, with the rub of the green, of shaking up the top four...

However... The doubts still remain about the manager, whether a ball has been kicked or not and regardless of who our money has been able to attract. We had to listen to 'it's only a friendly for fuck's sake' all the way through pre-season as our defence looked awful yet we have prevaricated and pissed about flirting with a slightly above average defender for months now and it still remains unresolved on the eve of the season.

I have a horrible feeling we will be set up not to lose on Saturday with very little ambition to do more than get a point on the board and a hope we can sneak more. One up front, and that one being Craig fucking Bellamy.

I agree with the title of the original post. For the money we have spent it will be hugely disappointing to see us start with Bellamy upfront alone and Dunne at centre half, which looks like it could well be the case.

Really do hope I am wrong, and that as someone said to me on here a few weeks ago, I will have changed my opinion on Hughes by Christmas. I would like nothing more than for the current manager to be the one for us and lead us on for a glorious decade, I'm just not seeing many/any signs of that being the case.

Sure this will mobilise the HDF into action but so what? It's my opinion and will remain so until Hughes does something to change it.

I expect I will have changed my opinion on Hughes by Christmas, but suspect it will change from concern that he is not good enough for us to not caring about how he's getting on at Hull (or wherever) in his new job.

(all that said I will be screaming my lungs out in support of the lads on Saturday, same as I always do)

Oh no!!! We might play Bellamy! The only stiker to have scored for us in pre-season and a player who has a very good scoring rate since joining!! What is he thinking?

Hughes OUT!!!!!

*Raises eyes to the skys again*

Okay so you've replied to one of his questions and Bellamy is doing okay, but SCB made some good points IMHO. Hughes's season will be won and lost on his ability to BRING in another quality CB, if he does'nt then we will be leaking silly goals until Vinny is back and then there's nothing concrete to say that Vinny will play along side Toure well.

Last seasons problems came mainly from the back and for me this is where Mark Hughes should of started his recruitment.

I'm a happy clapper, but I'm willing to take my blue tinted specs off and see it for what it is....Injuries apart we will do well up front, but the defence is still to fragile and needs strengthening double quick. The press would love us to have a bad start and this coupled with the usual inpatient City mentality of some fans could trigger a bad reaction in the camp.

Anyway who gives a shit, I'm already past worrying. I will still be there backing the boy come what may.

 

[GaudinoMotors]

Why is it even at the time of the greatest excitement in years, when we have some genuine world class players at City and when we are about to embark on the first season in years when we could genuinely beat anyone on our day (and theirs) that some people still need to find something to whine and whinge and moan about?

I can imagine if you were lying in bed with two miss worlds, drinking Dom Perignon 71, watching City being 4-0 against United with your 100m winning lottery ticket in your hand that you would be moaning to the two miss worlds about how the pillow was a bit firm for your liking, the Dom Perignon was not your prefered 72 and the curtains didn't match the bed spread!

Hughes knows exactly who he will play on the back on Saturday, Hughes knows whether Lescott is coming or not etc etc etc

But have the two Miss Worlds played together before?

 

[Fuzzmaster101]

Okay so you've replied to one of his questions and Bellamy is doing okay, but SCB made some good points IMHO. Hughes's season will be won and lost on his ability to BRING in another quality CB, if he does'nt then we will be leaking silly goals until Vinny is back and then there's nothing concrete to say that Vinny will play along side Toure well.

Last seasons problems came mainly from the back and for me this is where Mark Hughes should of started his recruitment.

I'm a happy clapper, but I'm willing to take my blue tinted specs off and see it for what it is....Injuries apart we will do well up front, but the defence is still to fragile and needs strengthening double quick. The press would love us to have a bad start and this coupled with the usual inpatient City mentality of some fans could trigger a bad reaction in the camp.

Anyway who gives a shit, I'm already past worrying. I will still be there backing the boy come what may.

Ok my comment was a bit tongue in cheek regarding the poster's clear anti Hughes and Bellamy stance but our main concern(s) last year were indeed the defence (hence the arrival of Barry and Toure and the bids in for Lescott) and also very signifiacntly the lack of a quality target man up front (Caceido, Evans, Jo, Benjani simply weren't good enough). These weaknesses are being or have been addressed. What's the problem?

Lets not panic buy! Lescott is our first choice for a reason i.e. he's a decent CB with Premiership experience, can cover for Bridge at LB and scores from set pieces. Until this deal is truly dead we will not be going into the market for any other CB. Can anyone tell me another CB that ticks ALL the above boxes? I can't think of one. I don't want us to bring in someone else, who may not do all the above, due to panicking because Blackburn is looming.

I'm convinced that Tevez will not start against Blackburn so I hope we start with Robbie, Ade, and Bellamy as the front 3, but who knows? Well Hughes does I would suspect. I will NOT be happy if we don't win but I won't be suicidal!

 

[Petetheblu]

Okay so you've replied to one of his questions and Bellamy is doing okay, but SCB made some good points IMHO. Hughes's season will be won and lost on his ability to BRING in another quality CB, if he does'nt then we will be leaking silly goals until Vinny is back and then there's nothing concrete to say that Vinny will play along side Toure well.

Last seasons problems came mainly from the back and for me this is where Mark Hughes should of started his recruitment.

I'm a happy clapper, but I'm willing to take my blue tinted specs off and see it for what it is....Injuries apart we will do well up front, but the defence is still to fragile and needs strengthening double quick. The press would love us to have a bad start and this coupled with the usual inpatient City mentality of some fans could trigger a bad reaction in the camp.

Anyway who gives a shit, I'm already past worrying. I will still be there backing the boy come what may.

Ok my comment was a bit tongue in cheek regarding the poster's clear anti Hughes and Bellamy stance but our main concern(s) last year were indeed the defence (hence the arrival of Barry and Toure and the bids in for Lescott) and also very signifiacntly the lack of a quality target man up front (Caceido, Evans, Jo, Benjani simply weren't good enough). These weaknesses are being or have been addressed. What's the problem?

Lets not panic buy! Lescott is our first choice for a reason i.e. he's a decent CB with Premiership experience, can cover for Bridge at LB and scores from set pieces. Until this deal is truly dead we will not be going into the market for any other CB. Can anyone tell me another CB that ticks ALL the above boxes? I can't think of one. I don't want us to bring in someone else, who may not do all the above, due to panicking because Blackburn is looming.
I'm convinced that Tevez will not start against Blackburn so I hope we start with Robbie, Ade, and Bellamy as the front 3, but who knows? Well Hughes does I would suspect. I will NOT be happy if we don't win but I won't be suicidal!

To be honest bud and I'm not having a go, but this is what I was trying to point out. We should of got the defence sorted out straight away, rather than leaving it until now.

Think about it this way...If you won the lottery next week, would go straight out and get yourself a top of the reange Aston Martin or would you get the leaking roof sorted on your family home first. Personally I miss my dinner and do both on the same day and I think this is what Hughes should of done as it's getting late in the day and the defence overall was piss poor.

 

[SalfordCityBlue]

Oh no!!! We might play Bellamy! The only stiker to have scored for us in pre-season and a player who has a very good scoring rate since joining!! What is he thinking?

Hughes OUT!!!!!

*Raises eyes to the skys again*

Craig? Is that you? Didn't know you posted on here! ;-)

Not sure how the fact that only one of our strikers has scored in pre-season (once) is a plus point for Bellamy? Especially when I thought it was a shit decision to start him against Celtic anyway - Adebayor would have benefitted from the extra game time.

Simple fact is we have signed two of the most injury prone strikers in world football in Bellamy and RSC, one of which we wasted an age on before finally paying twice his worth (RSC), wasted an age (acceptably) on Terry before being blown out, are wasting precious time bickering with Moyes over paying twice Lescott's worth before possibly getting blown out, and the season starts tomorrow.

If Bellamy is doubtful, Adebayor is doubtful, Tevez is doubtful and RSC is definitely out AND we've let Bojinov, Caicedo, Sturridge, Vassell and Evans leave the club then those jokes about us playing ten strikers are even more ridiculous because we'll have to play a fucking 4-6-0 formation lol.

You could say we are unlucky with Tevez and Ade which we are, but to have a four hand of strikers where two of them are cripples is a little bit daft for me.

And all that is without mentioning the defence, which is my main bugbear this close season.

Oh, and Lescott wasn't our first choice, was he?

Have everything crossed that either Carlos or Ade makes it for tomorrow.

 

[Cheltblue]

Why the richest club in the world with less than a week to go before the start of the season have ;
a. Only bought one defender
b. Have no idea bar the left back, who will play defence on saturday
c. They won`t have played together
d. Ben-haim is still at city
e. Dunne looks like missing out, but he`s still captain?

Any answers anybody?

That first line was more than enough to get a 100% agreement from me.

We start tomorrow, with virtually the same defence that last season left bigger gaps than the grand canyon.

Brilliant management, or just a little sign of lack of nous when looking at the task ahead.

 

[Fuzzmaster101]

Craig? Is that you? Didn't know you posted on here! ;-)

Not sure how the fact that only one of our strikers has scored in pre-season (once) is a plus point for Bellamy? Especially when I thought it was a shit decision to start him against Celtic anyway - Adebayor would have benefitted from the extra game time.

Simple fact is we have signed two of the most injury prone strikers in world football in Bellamy and RSC, one of which we wasted an age on before finally paying twice his worth (RSC), wasted an age (acceptably) on Terry before being blown out, are wasting precious time bickering with Moyes over paying twice Lescott's worth before possibly getting blown out, and the season starts tomorrow.

If Bellamy is doubtful, Adebayor is doubtful, Tevez is doubtful and RSC is definitely out AND we've let Bojinov, Caicedo, Sturridge, Vassell and Evans leave the club then those jokes about us playing ten strikers are even more ridiculous because we'll have to play a fucking 4-6-0 formation lol.

You could say we are unlucky with Tevez and Ade which we are, but to have a four hand of strikers where two of them are cripples is a little bit daft for me.

And all that is without mentioning the defence, which is my main bugbear this close season.

Oh, and Lescott wasn't our first choice, was he?

Have everything crossed that either Carlos or Ade makes it for tomorrow.

Why would Ade have benefitted from the extra game time and Bellamy wouldn't? You don't say why you believe this to be the case. Lescott and Terry WERE our first choice CBs and when the Terry deal fell through we moved quickly for our Plan B which was Toure. Lescott (our plan A) is still in motion so why move on?

Like I say I hope Bellamy starts for us tomorrow because since he's arrived he's been our most potent striking force. I hope Ade is fit to start too as I think we need his ariel presence. Lets hope if he does he doesn't keep receiving the ball out on the wing and crossing it in like he did against Celtic. He needs to be central.

 

[SalfordCityBlue]

Why would Ade have benefitted from the extra game time and Bellamy wouldn't? You don't say why you believe this to be the case. Lescott and Terry WERE our first choice CBs and when the Terry deal fell through we moved quickly for our Plan B which was Toure. Lescott (our plan A) is still in motion so why move on?

I meant because I don't see Bellamy being one of our first choice options once everyone is fit, and the Celtic game should have been used to give Ade the maximum opportunity to get to know his team mates, and his team mates to get to know him.

Even if you do think Bellamy will be used more than I think he should be then he has still been there longer, and knows how his team mates style of play better than Ade does. Either way, it was a bizarre decision, either borne out of misplaced sentiment (Celtic being one of Bellamy's many previous clubs) or misplaced team selection (and Bellamy is going to be the regular starter up front).

I am really excited about tomorrow (cannot fucking wait actually) but I cannot pretend I am happy with the manager or his team selection, or think he has done particularly well in the transfer market this summer.

People will say I am being 'ungrateful' because we have brought in some fantastic players, but I just feel our transfer strategy this summer has been poor - we have not sufficiently addressed the area which we most needed to address (defence) while packing the midfield, and leaving ourselves with a great hand of strikers on paper, but who in reality are potentially disastrous when you consider two are likely to be injured most of the time, and one of the other two either might not work out for us, or even get injured themselves.

I am a bit bewildered by it all to be honest. The sooner 3 o'clock tomorrow rolls around the better.

 

[Dhenry]

To be honest bud and I'm not having a go, but this is what I was trying to point out. We should of got the defence sorted out straight away, rather than leaving it until now.

Think about it this way...If you won the lottery next week, would go straight out and get yourself a top of the reange Aston Martin or would you get the leaking roof sorted on your family home first. Personally I miss my dinner and do both on the same day and I think this is what Hughes should of done as it's getting late in the day and the defence overall was piss poor.

how about thinking of it this way:

1. We go for Barry, very straightforward dealing with Villa & player
2. We go for RSC, again, straightforward this time around
3. We get Tevez, Adebayor (and go for Eto'o) - names that you just have to put effort into getting when they become available
4. We go for the defence, fail at target #1, slow dealings with target #2, get target #3

As far as I'm concerned the focus has been put right - first get some seriously good players who are an easy job, then look at the rest..and if someone profile lifting becomes available, drop whatever you are doing and go for that.

I can't blame Hughes & City transfer management system for the failures of bolstering the defence even if we pretty much disregard that explanation - it's not as if we haven't tried. You just can't get all the targets you go after.

If it were the other way around and we would've gotten Terry & Ramos instead of Tevez & Adebayor and been unsuccessful in the hunt for them, you'd be shouting the same thing. 'We should've gotten the attack sorted out straight away instead of leaving it until now'.