Blue discipline grinds Wolves into the ground

Sometimes a 3-0 win is more satisfying than a 7-0 drubbing.

A 3-0 win can speak of a controlled and disciplined performance, an efficient despatching of a team that (unlike in a 7-0 scenario) has not completely lost its head but has tried its utmost to defeat you, and yet has still been beaten comprehensively. In brief, this is the story of City’s 3-0 victory over Wolverhampton Wanderers yesterday.

The blunt teeth of McCarthy’s Wolves
The Midlanders had a right to feel at least partially aggrieved because they did try hard and they did have spells of sustained pressure in the first half that should have lead to a goal. In the end, the best they had to offer was a shot from outside the area that did little to trouble Shay Given, who must be quietly enjoying his newfound status as one of the top five goal keepers in the world, at least according to a certain Italian. It soon became very clear that McCarthy’s men had very little to offer going forward other than the obvious hulking presence of Chris Iwelumo and the more nascent threat posed by Kevin Doyle, the latter of which was thankfully substituted in the second half.

City demonstrate a solid core
Whilst the blunt attack of the home team was partly down to their one dimensional play, it was also down to the grit and fight of our central midfield and defensive partnerships. Bellamy and Tevez will naturally take the plaudits but this was a victory built as much on our two attacking kingpins as it was on the midfield dynamism of De Jong and Barry, who both worked tirelessly to win back possession and distribute it effectively. I felt that Barry in particular showed a welcome return to the kind of form he was turning out during the winning streak at the beginning of the season.

An assured air was once again detected at the heart of City’s defence. As he boards the plane to Angola, Toure will be pleased to have finished his City shift on a higher level than what we have seen from him in recent weeks. It is a shame that he and Kompany will not be allowed to build upon their fledgling defensive understanding by delivering another clean sheet against Middlesbrough at the weekend.

The continuing centrality of Tevez
Once again, it is impossible to ignore the quality of our attacking play. Whilst it’s true that we look much more threatening going forward with Bellamy in the team, the importance of Tevez to our overall offensive play grows with every game. For a small guy he wins a surprising amount of long balls, which makes Adebayor’s tepid contribution in this department all the more frustrating. Tevez succeeds where the Togolese fails because of his guile (knowing to jump at the correct moment) and strength (he can pretty much hold off anyone once the ball is won). The central payoff for the team is that he brings other players into the game in the final third of the pitch. Aside from the Argentinean’s undoubted technical ability, it is these attributes above all that lead me to believe that he was made for this League. He is a joy to watch.

It is so easy to take players like Tevez for granted, but after listening to BBC Wolverhampton radio after game and hearing the glowing praise heaped onto the Argentinean’s shoulders by Wolves supporters, it puts it all into perspective. How privileged are we to have a player like Tevez in our starting 11? How wistful must Wolves supporters feel? Mick McCarthy must yearn for a striker of Tevez’s quality heading up his attack, as must most managers in the game.

Mancini’s touch?
Clearly something seems to be going right since the Italian took over. He is after all working with the same players as Hughes, in fact if anything he is working with a slightly weakened team given injuries to Lescott, Bridge, Santa-Cruz and Adebayor.

We must still apportion some of our recent success to the ‘new manager syndrome’ – i.e. a surge in form as everybody tries to impress. But we must also pay attention to what Mancini is doing with the team.

Changes in the realm of tactics could be seen at Molineux with the shifting of Bellamy to partner Tevez up front. This is being widely touted as a big turning point in the game, and whilst there’s leverage in this I felt that we ultimately won the match because of our tenacity and determined mentality that slowly picked apart an industrious Wolves side. Of course, tactical changes play their part, but with the group of intelligent, skilful players that we have, I have always felt that the right mentality will return positive results 95% of the time.

This leads me to the other area where Mancini may be making inroads. Far more difficult to quantify of course but fundamental in my opinion, is the Italian’s man-management and motivational methods. There must have been some positive change in this area. You can have all the tactics in the world, but if they are not applied correctly, they are wasted. Implementing the job in the right way comes down to concentration, which in turn comes down to motivation, and knowing what makes the players tick. Whether it be Mancini, Kidd or whoever else, someone is doing something different in this department. How fascinating to be a fly on the wall of the changing room before the game?

Balancing Bellamy with Robinho
The media has clearly looked to make much of the supposed rift between Mancini and Bellamy. Far from ‘dropping’ Bellamy against Stoke or Robinho against Wolves, Mancini has looked to rotate. Robinho is a much more potent weapon at home when the onus is on us to attack (although admittedly he failed against Stoke). Bellamy is a much more potent weapon away when we need to do a bit more leg work whilst retaining an attacking threat. Taking current form into account, I’d be inclined to play Bellamy everytime, but we must also remember the effect of two full games in the space of three days on the Welshman’s troublesome knee.

When Robinho did emerge from the bench we saw a more switched on performance than the one we got against Stoke. He showed some nice touches, sent a shot fizzing tantalisingly just over the upright, and of course set up Tevez for the third goal.

Garrido strikes back
Finally, a word of congratulations to the forgotten Spaniard, who not only made his second substitute appearance in as many games, but managed to score with a superb curling free kick that made the Wolves keeper look rather amateurish. I would’ve forgiven Garrido for thinking that he had been discarded forever in the wreckage of the Hughes era, but he certainly hasn’t been forgotten by certain members of the City blogging community, as fellow blog We’ve Got Robinho will attest. It’s a funny old game.

Mancini passes first of many tests

The physical storm offered by Tony Pulis’ Stoke ended up being quietly weathered at a packed Eastlands yesterday, as City saw off the Potters 2-0 in an efficient but effective performance. Coming away from the game last night, the big question for me was whether I saw anything that represented progress from the Hughes era.

Possible changes
Of course at this early stage, even if the team has improved it is difficult to put this down to the new man at the helm. More often than not there’s an upsurge in work rate when a new manager comes in, which usually translates into an upturn in form. So positives should be taken with a pinch of salt at this stage.

We felt more assured at the back and consequently that meant we dealt much better with Stoke’s physical onslaught. Kompany was a welcome name on the team sheet. Although he was initially bought for defensive midfield duties, in many ways he is a modern centre back because of his confidence in possession. I felt Kompany had a good game yesterday, much more comfortable than Nedum Onuoha’s recent nervy showings.

Sylvinho turned out his best performance so far, although admittedly the left back could only improve after his showings against Spurs, Bolton and Sunderland. Zabaleta continues to be steady and proved once again what a good crosser of the ball he is by laying on the cross that eventually lead to Carlos Tevez’s seventh Premier League goal.

Its worth noting that Tevez is now City’s joint top scorer in the League alongside Emmanuel Adebayor. Who said the little Argentinean wasn’t a goal scorer?

The most notable change for me was the way we defended corners. We packed the 6 yard box with a line of four, followed with a line of three in front, with our attackers getting in amongst the Stoke players around the penalty spot. Not sure if this was a Mancini tactic or not, but it seemed to work against Pulis’ towering attackers. If anything, it served to give Shay Given the required space to better judge the cross, as opposed to Stoke players being allowed to crowd the small keeper.

Offensively, Mancini adopted a clear change in formation, partnering Robinho with Tevez up front and bringing Petrov in on the left side of midfield to fill the gap. I liked the look of this on paper because theoretically it gave the team more defensive cover down the left flank. After watching the game though, it must be noted that Petrov is not much better than Robinho when it comes to defending, and with Sylvinho wanting for pace, the left side is a definite weak spot that only begins to look stronger once Bellamy is in place.

Definite constants
Of course there were errors in our defensive game. In the first half Tuncay went clean through on goal, and were it not for the sheer quality of Given’s reactions Stoke might well have been heading into halftime 1-0 up with a very different game in prospect. In the second half the Potters began to ask more questions of the City backline and became more of a threat from set pieces. James Beattie in particular went close to the mark, but Given again proved to be more than equal. So although there were improvements at the back, its fair to say that this area will probably remain our weak spot for many more games to come. Only time (and hopefully more of Mancini’s double training sessions) will put this right.

I suspect one of the main talking points of this game will be none other than our erratic little Brazilian. There was certainly little evidence that a change in manager had produced the desired change in Robinho’s mentality that everyone wants to see. If it isn’t already, this will soon turn into one of Mancini’s most pressing problem: how to solve a problem like Robinho?

Unfortunately the lad was useless today. At best, his scuffed shot inadvertently lead to Martin Petrov’s tap in. At worst, his presence became a liability to wider efforts of the team. And let’s face it, football is, at the end of the day, a team game. At times the Brazilian’s body language was all wrong. When his passes went astray, it was always the fault of another blue shirt. When his shots dribbled off target, he was all eyes to sky and hands placed together, praying, though for what I cannot imagine. The frustrating thing is that Robinho requires no such divine intervention. He already has all that he needs at his feet. Its just that he refuses to use it.

It has been brimming for a while, but the crowd’s reaction to Robinho was also telling yesterday. With each additional pass that went astray, Eastlands become more and more exasperated with the little Brazilian’s wastefulness. When Mancini moved to Robinho’s aid by substituting him for Craig Bellamy, the Brazilian made it worse for himself by trying to take the applause that Eastlands crowd had so clearly reserved for the its talismanic Welshman. This sentiment was thrust home to Robinho when Bellamy ran onto the pitch, greeted by the roar of the home crowd.

And yet in all of this, I still believe that the lad does care. The petulant kick of a water bottle as he exited the stage can of course be interpreted in many ways, but I see a player who still wants to be loved by the Eastlands faithful.

I strongly advise Robinho to listen to the crowd that he paid to entertain. Within the rapturous applause given to Bellamy lies a message for the Brazilian: toughen up, increase your work rate, up your concentration levels, and whilst you are doing of these things, keep on producing the magic that only a handful of players in the world are capable of producing.

Perhaps it is a pipe dream to ask these things of Robinho, but if we do not see these improvements I fear one of the most talented players we have ever seen at City will be dropping off the Premiership radar for pastures new. And that will be seen as a clear failure by the likes of Mansour, Khaldoon and Cook because of the fact that Robinho cuts much more than just a footballing figure at the club. He remains the club hierarchy’s marquee signing, their statement of intent that City should be looked upon as one of the big movers and shakers of the world game. The media are sure to interpret his sale as an indictment on the club’s true aspirations.

On to Wolves
Overall I was pleased with the way Mancini’s City team (if we can call it so) despatched Stoke. It clearly could have been a lot worse given our recent defensive outings. Mick McCarthy’s Wolves will provide a slightly different test, away from home support of course, and will reveal more clues as to the direction in which we are heading in the post-Hughes era.

The battles that await the man of 'good fortune'

And so we have ourselves a new manager. Roberto Mancini, Italian, 45 years old, is said by his countrymen to be ‘kissed by good fortune' because he has won something at every club he has previously managed. Well, there’s a record right there that City might well threaten to break.

It may have been ugly, but there is little point now in dwelling on the departure of Mark Hughes. The board have cleverly left City fans with little option other than to get behind Roberto Mancini and the players. The new man at the helm will need all the support he can get given the nature of the problem on his desk this morning.

Winning back the dressing room
It’s impossible to say how this one will go. It’s one of those things that could just as easily be a storm in a tea cup as it could end up damaging squad morale to the point that it takes a toll on our league placing. This latter scenario would indeed represent a particularly ironic twist of fate for the powers that be at the club.

But we are not there yet. In fact, it is difficult to say exactly where we are at this point. Although Garry Cook has denied any rumour of a player revolt, it is clear that something went on after the game on Saturday. At best, there seems to be a fair bit of disgruntlement throughout the playing staff. At worst, things might be teetering on the borders of chaos if we are to believe everything we read in the media.

Upon learning of Hughes’ demise, a group of players are believed to have left the dressing room to confront members of the board in an attempt to keep Hughes in the job. The players that are said to have confronted one or all of Khaldoon / Cook / Marwood after the game (Given, Bellamy and a handful of others) are more likely than not our leaders on the pitch. It is thus vital that Mancini finds a way to channel the angst that now flows from these players. I might be wrong, but I think Bellamy might need a bit of work. Today’s press conference tells us this, with Mancini pointing to the fact that the Welshman has lost a manager he loved.

Delivering results that indicate a top four finish
This is such a vague target that I can only say “good luck with meeting this one Roberto.” At what point does a team look like a top four team? This season, I truly believe we will only know for sure when everyone has played 38 games.

According to Garry Cook's statement, after the initial target of 6th place, the board agreed a new target of 70 points with Hughes and his team. Last season, 70 points would have put us in 5th place. This season, it will most likely be 4th. So, the bottom line appears to be Champions League football next season or bust for Roberto Mancini.

This will be difficult because in a sense we are starting afresh. A lot depends on how much we change our style and formation of play and, just as if Mark Hughes would have been at the helm, an awful lot depends upon how the squad processes their instructions and applies the change. Mancini will need to have his communication hat on this week, and plus will need to improve his English to get specific messages across.

Winning over the fans
I certainly don’t expect a negative response from the crowd at the next home game against Stoke. But the fans need to see certain things from Mancini and his team before buying into his regime and the owners’ decision to change things around in the manner they did.

Winning the League Cup, and therein bringing home major honours to the club for the first time in 33 years will go a long way in this regard. Although the foundations of this cup run have been put into place by Hughes, it is of course still there to be won. Mancini’s task will be harder in this respect, but if the Italian is successful, not only will he have returned a major trophy to City’s dust laden cabinet, he will have also put one over on our Red neighbours.

Defensive improvements represent the other area where Mancini can really win fans over. If he can foster a system that gives the back four more protection whilst retaining our attacking potency, he will be onto a winner. But that of course is the Holy Grail as far as this side is concerned, and is easier said than done. A great deal of confidence building needs to take place at the back and the defence badly needs some breathing space in upcoming matches.

Which conveniently leads me onto our next opponents. Breathing space? Funny I should say that. Some might say this is a pessimistic view, but our next opponents, Stoke City, could not have come at a worse time. We all know what’s coming, and it certainly isn’t a game where we will have time when we have the ball. Balls are going to be pumped into the box at every opportunity in a bid to keep on asking questions of our backline. Its going to be a test, as is every game between now and the end of the season because of our newfound prominence in the game.

How well equipped is Roberto Mancini for the job at hand?
The man has good experience in Serie A and more importantly has won things on a consistent basis in Serie A. In this sense I certainly don’t think he is a flash in the pan. Another good point for City’s current squad is that he has dealt with some big name players at Inter – likes of Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Luis Figo, Patrick Vieira, Javier Zanetti etc. Not small fish by any stretch of the imagination.

My central concern is how quickly he will get to grips with the English game. It was like water off a duck’s back for Jose Mourinho, and to a similar extent Guus Hiddink, but with Mancini we simply do not know. This is the alarming thing about the whole affair – how the club seem to have gambled on this appointment. Whatever the reality, and however much deliberating they really did, I can’t help thinking that it still looks like a knee-jerk decision, a throw of the dice.

The one positive light that shines on the board is the speed at which they despatched with Hughes and installed a replacement. At least once the decision was made, we weren’t dithering around with botched moves for replacements. That the board were efficient gives Mancini quite a few days to work with the players before Stoke, and importantly it also gives the Italian a transfer window in which to operate.

At any rate it’s done deal now, so good luck to Roberto Mancini. I wonder whether he ever thought those four appearances for Leicester City in 2001 would come in handy?

Bipolarity leads to the demise of Hughes

Perhaps the events of yesterday were inevitable. Perhaps Mark Hughes was always destined for the sack. Perhaps he was never really the man our Arab owners envisaged to lead City into a new era of success.

The real conundrum here is that Hughes has been given £200m to overhaul the squad. At some point over these past few months there must have been quite a bit of belief in the Welshman’s ability to do the job required. Why then, after investing so much money in the team, in the manager’s selection of players, in the manager’s revamp of the club facilities, have we decided to jettison Hughes.

Has this club really changed? Or are we making the very same mistakes that have seen us dispatch some very good managers over the years? You can probably guess that I am vehemently opposed to the sacking of Mark Hughes.

More bipolar play against Sunderland
Now, don’t get me wrong. It has certainly not been all roses under Hughes this season. In a strange way, the Welshman’s final game in charge against Sunderland yesterday said it all about the nature of play under his tenure this season.

We can attack. Very well. That much is certain. Yesterday our frontline looked like it would score almost every time it went forward. Granted, this owed much to the ineptness of Sunderland’s defence, but you can only beat what is put in front of you, and yesterday we breached Sunderland’s backline time and again. The lynchpins of our forward movement are clear for all to see: Bellamy, Tevez and, when he feels like it, Adebayor. Sometimes they are a joy to watch, unlike anything I have ever witnessed at City over all the time I have been going to the games. Hughes should take credit for this – we have been attack minded and free flowing for the most part because we have been trying to play to our strengths. Hughes has tried to take the shackles off our forward players. He has told them to go and play.

But we just cannot defend. Indeed, this appears to regressed ever further with yesterday’s game. We weren’t capable of defending our area – it’s pretty much as simple as that. The vast majority of crosses caused us problems and there seemed a distinct lack of our backline winning any sort of aerial battle. The battles we won yesterday were hardly ever directed towards a blue shirt, which meant that we were being called upon to defend again.

Of course, the defence hasn’t been helped with injuries to Bridge and Lescott (the latter of which was beginning to look like the more promising of our two big central defensive buys). What consistency there was has been wiped away, with Sylvinho understandably still getting to grips with his second spell in England and Onuoha looking shaky.

At the end of the day, these are excuses. This is what we have a squad for, to bring players into the team to do solid jobs when our first choices are injured. But nothing has gone right at the back pretty much since the home draw against Fulham.

The blame game
The debate will rage on long and hard about who exactly is responsible for the downfall of Hughes.

Of course, the Welshman must shoulder some of the blame himself. Bar Robinho, all transfer deals appeared to have his blessing, so we cannot say that this wasn’t his team. Maybe he got it tactically wrong. Before the summer signing spree, Hughes talked and talked about getting the balance of the side right. John Terry and Theo Walcott aside, he pretty much got what he wanted during the summer. Getting the right players in the right positions is one thing, but moulding them into a cohesive unit is another. And this is where the tactics come in. Louise Taylor makes a very interesting point here – that Hughes’ tactics have inadvertently ended up exposing players like Bridge and Lescott (who both previously played under more cautious managers) to new defensive frailties.

This said, I think there were small signs that defensively we were coming together. Yes, we were still leaking goals badly, but I thought that Bridge, Lescott and Richards were making small strides after the Hull game. Time and patience are the only things that could’ve given us any kind of real verdict here, but time and patience are luxuries that have now escaped Mark Hughes, and now perhaps we will never know whether or not we were coming together as a defensive unit.

For me, the real buck must stop with the players. The Robinho’s, the Adebayor’s, the Toure’s of the squad have let Mark Hughes down badly. We signed quality attacking players that have delivered only occasionally. We signed hardened premier league players that demonstrated their experience only in glimpses. Everybody knows we have the quality to be better than where we currently are – 6th in the table. But I don’t think the players have taken the necessary responsibility required. There was a time when they did, in the early part of the season, but somehow this has been whittled away.

The real movers and shakers behind the scenes I feel have made a big mistake. Who knows from where the initial urge to terminate Hughes’ contract initially came? It is probably wrapped within conversations between Mansour, Khaldoon, Cook and City’s Executive Leadership Team. We are 6th in the table, we are 6 points of 4th place with a game in hand. We are in the Semi finals of the League Cup, a stage we have not reached in any cup competition since 1981. How can this not be viewed as progress?

The counter argument lies in the nature of our performances. Two wins in the last 11 league games is not good, and although we have lost only one of those 11, it is the way we have been surrendering leads against lesser teams that surely has to have been the final nail in Hughes’ coffin.

Do we now have a pop at the club’s leadership?
Whether or not we can vilify our leaders depends upon the manner in which they have communicated to Hughes how they were to assess his performance. If they have simply said “Mark, its top four or bust for you this season,” then I don’t believe this sacking stands up. This league is an open one, I and believe we are still very much in the mix for that 4th place. If, like Hughes says, he was given a target of a top 6 finish, then the board’s move is sheer madness.

If on the other hand, the leadership has set mid-season targets with Hughes, then it is a different ball game. I think that it’s entirely likely that Hughes has been set a target of wins before Christmas, and as he has gone because he has not achieved that. If he knew this from the beginning of the season, then fine. If not, then foul play is at work here.

Thank you Mark Hughes
I liked Hughes as a manager. I thought he conducted himself well for the club, was very professional both at the dugout and off the pitch, plus was not afraid of mixing it when other managers started to apply the mind games. The sad fact is that, much like Richard Dunne, he found himself overtaken by the broader drive of a club whose ambitions have been in overdrive for some time now.

Hughes has given us some good memories. Some, like the UEFA cup run that saw us reach the quarter finals, are all his. Unfortunately others, such as the oncoming League cup semi final against United, he will now not be allowed to enjoy. Above all he has given us some excellent attacking play.

Looking back, I always thought that Hughes would bring this club into an era of consistency. Funny then, that one of the biggest memories I will have of this era is just how consistently inconsistent his team has been.

But when all is said and done, I still firmly believe that this is something time and patience would have righted.

Now the merry-go-round starts again, as another promising manager attempts to cure our club’s seemingly intractable ails.

Building Rome

We all know that Rome wasn’t built in 24 hours, but yesterday City went a long way to putting some vital bricks into place. What a performance. I was inspired by it.

The subtitle to this blog illustrates my current state of mind: the frustration of the seven draws, now coupled with the elation of victories over Arsenal and Chelsea, along with a smattering of belief that this side is truly changing. City teams of old would not have delivered the result we have witnessed today.

Positives throughout the team
Aside from individual performances, the nature of this victory made it that much more satisfying. Coming from a goal behind to defeat Chelsea, undoubtedly the team of the moment, the favourites to win the Premiership title, was for me the real sweetener here. Chelsea are very talented, creative and skilful with the ball, but the remnants of the Mourinho regime are clearly still there for all to see. Power, aggression, resilience, the will to win. If the Portuguese left the club with nothing else, he left it with a team of fighters. Yesterday, we outfought that team.

Our refusal to go quietly was epitomised by Shay Given’s penalty save from Frank Lampard. The Chelsea midfielder rarely misses, his technique is often spot on, but because Given is a top class shot stopper, penalties against him need to be placed in the corners. Fortunately for City Lamps wasn’t up to the task. I felt Given’s save swung the momentum of the match back towards City. Chelsea pressure had been steadily building since City edged ahead, and it was clear that something had to give at one end of the pitch. After the miss, Chelsea never got going again as an attacking force, City’s counter attacks became more frequent. Frankly the game could’ve easily finished 3-1 just as easily as 2-2.

The defensive partnership between Toure and Lescott is now looking in much better shape than it did a couple of games ago. For me it has been on the cards with Lescott. He has been gradually improving since the Hull game. The midweek victory against Arsenal in the Carling Cup saw more positives for the centre half, and then yesterday he cut a commanding figure once again. Toure made some vital tackles and looks more like the player we thought we had signed from the Gunners. Up until now perhaps injury has made him play within himself.

Meanwhile Micah Richards, unbelievably, is looking more like his old self. Somehow, whether it is down to Micah sorting his own head out, or whether it is down to Hughes putting a rocket up his backside (I suspect the latter) the right back’s mind seemed to be entirely focused on stopping the coming attacks from Ashley Cole and simultaneously supporting SWP when necessary. Added to the mix here was the willingness to put his body on the line. His early exit from the game due to injury I think was testament to this.

Carlos Tevez is looking more and more like our attacking fulcrum. Aside from scoring the winning goal, his linkup play, especially in the last quarter of the match when we were under the cosh, was excellent. Without it we could not have withstood Chelsea’s pressure. Instead, Tevez (halfway between the penalty area and halfway line) provided the vital outlets that allowed the team to release the pressure. If we could have called upon this skill against United, we would have come away from Old Trafford with a point and would now be the only unbeaten team in the league.

Tactical improvements
Hughes deserves praise. The nature and timing of his substitutions have improved markedly since Hull. Against Arsenal, Kompany came on to sure things up, and Weiss came on to give Arsenal something different to think about. Against Chelsea, Kompany and Zabaleta came on (although it must be acknowledged these were more forced in the sense that they were in response to the injuries of Richards and Bridge). These substitutions seem to be a better fit with Hughes’ footballing philosophy. Just because we have an array of attacking talent at our disposal doesn’t necessarily mean we should be making attacking substitutions to protect our leads. Sometimes, it is better to shut up shop and win through a cautious approach than try to kill teams off. Against Arsenal, Kompany’s introduction arguably gave us the more solid defensive formation that eventually allowed us to finish them off.

The bottom line
The simple underlying change we have witnessed this week is that City had the concentration and passion to match our footballing skill. Every blue shirt put in a shift. When that happens, we look increasingly formidable. And this means that – when it clicks like it did yesterday - we are always going to be a hard outfit to beat. Even for the best the Premier League has to offer.

Another day, another dollar, another draw

I was nervous going into Saturday's game with Hull, but I did not expect a 7th consecutive draw. I was so frustrated I felt sick. Maybe I should see a doctor.

We are certainly not at crisis point, but this trend needs to be arrested quickly. All City fans, whether they be of the uber pessimist or die hard optimist ilk, must recognise that something is not right. What is the problem? How do we go about fixing it? These are the real questions, pretty much identical to the ones I asked after the Burnley game.

From 5-1 to 1-1
Let’s be honest, Hull will have headed home laughing their socks off. Phil Brown must have been incredulous on that bus. It seems their luck has changed for the moment and fair play to them. Apart from the industrious Jimmy Bullard – their best player by far – they had very little to offer other than the usual fouls on SWP and awkward, bouncing punts forward for our centre backs to deal with. They’ll struggle staying up but if they fight like they did yesterday they’ll certainly give themselves a great chance.

Aside from a miscommunication in the first half (the crowd blamed Richards but Given didn’t seem to be telling him anything in terms of leaving or clearing the Hull cross), and of course the goal in the second (to which I was irate that we again allowed opposition attacker a free header in our penalty area so late in the game), I thought we saw defensive improvements. I’ll admit that Richards continues to look shaky, almost resembling the schoolboy that needs to be told where to position himself. He still looks at his best when going forward, purely because of his strength and speed. It was much better from Lescott, I think he had his best game in a blue shirt, which was still not great but given his recent form was a positive. He looked more commanding in the air, did better with clearances, and of course saved our blushes by clearing a shot off the line in the second half. It was better from Bridge too – again not great shakes but the left back positional sense looked a bit more assured.

I think Jimmy Wagg’s post match phone in on BBC Manchester indirectly underlined these improvements. In recent weeks the defence has rightly been taking the brunt of criticism. This week it was the turn of the attack, again, rightly so. And I must say I think the attack has been getting away with it of late.

It was not that we did not endeavour to go forward. It is just that our control of the ball and concentration in the final third was woefully lacking. To many times did the final ball go astray. Too many times did it not reach a blue shirt. Too many times was it inaccurate. Our set piece play also seems to have regressed. We seem intent on hanging corners to the back post area. Why not mix it up? Why not try a fizzing inswinger into the box? This isn’t acceptable. We have to expect and demand more from this crop of attacking talent.

Robinho was the best of our forwards on Saturday, looking dangerous every time he was in possession. Adebayor continues to disappoint after a blistering start. The only target man we seem to have in the team is Santa Cruz. I wished we used him more like the battering ram he is rather than employing him in approach play positions around the edges of the box.

It is also futile to push forward the ‘we were robbed by a bad refereeing decision’ argument. It probably wasn’t a penalty and SWP had a decent penalty shout turned down at other end. But this is not the point. We should not be hanging on these decisions against team like Hull. It smacks of desperation. We should have pulled away long before the referee pointed to the spot.

Underlying problems: confidence and leadership
One of our most assuring performers, Nigel De Jong, speaks of the confidence being there but the rub of the green as deserting us. Well, I think we are a side running low on confidence. Great players have come in and perhaps the squad has half expected immediate results. And when those results have not come off, heads have gone down. This is where team spirit and leadership come in, or in our case lack of them.

And that is partly down to the squad being new. This is the reason why Hughes has brought players like Barry and Toure to the club – to play well and lead. But it is no mean feat to come straight into a club and take up the captaincy immediately. Leaders need to be built up and need to feel an affinity with the club they lead. Of course, this takes time. Richard Dunne is gone, so there is no point harping on about how much we miss him. The Irish centre back, a legend of the club, was never going to be our long term future. Players like Onuoha and Lescott are.

So when Hughes rightly talks of the team showing a collective anxiety, we know and the players probably know that there is no-one amongst them who is currently capable of quelling it. Only time will provide the solution. Before we can seriously think about the top four, this team needs to build character. To do that, I think it needs to lose together as well as win. It is vital we remember that the team is still only in 6th place, five points off 3rd. But the weight of expectation dictates that this team’s back – however rightly or wrongly – is up against the wall. This is where the foundations of a winning team spirit are built – not by winning your first five games and having it all too easy.

A note on the future of Mark Hughes
In no way should we be contemplating parting company with our manager. The chopping and changing of managers has never brought good things to this club. I know that it is different now in the sense that money is no object. But we need consistency, badly. At the very least Hughes should be given until the end of the season.

The pro-sackers should be careful what they wish for. There are no guarantees in football and a new boss won't guarantee us anything. Impatience has been the enemy of this club for far too long. It would be madness to prolong this trend to make it 12 managers in something like 20 years. Mansour and Khaldoon need to apply patience here, and I believe they will do it until the end of the season.

A note to Jimmy Bullard
Finally, even if it is at the expense of City, it is good to see the Hull midfielder enjoying his football again given his horrible luck with injuries. Bullard is an excellent player, and I would like nothing more than to see him in the England World Cup squad. I congratulate him on a well taken penalty and a celebration that was truly legendary.

Wingmen

Who emerges as the dominant forces down the channels may well prove to be one the most interesting squad battles of the 2009/10 campaign. The abundance of talent that City now have in the channels will bring new tests for our players and indeed for Hughes himself. To keep the squad morale afloat, different combinations of wingers will have to be used at different times. For this, Hughes man-managing abilities will have to be spot on. The wingers themselves will have to get used to increased competition.

Bellamy’s form
Different wings are giving rise to different problems. At the moment, it is the left that is giving rise to the most debate. The form of Craig Bellamy has surprised a lot of people – and a welcome surprise at that. His blistering start the season, combined with the injury sustained by Robinho, likely blew out of the water all pre-season conventional thinking about the left
wing.

The big question is whether this situation is going to be sustainable. Even if his good form continues, Bellamy’s troublesome knee may well put pay to his aspirations of cementing a left wing birth. If this happens, it will be a great shame. The Welshman’s performances have not only stood out because of his goal contribution, but because of his work ethnic and therein the quality of his defensive wing play. I think it will turn out to be a case of a vicious circle for Bellers: he is a first choice winger because his overall play matches the demands of the Hughes regime, but these demands will probably end up taking a toll on that knee, making injury and time out of the team more likely.

The gathering storm around Robinho

The current predicament of another one of our left wingers, Robinho, is threatening to turn into a saga. Rumours of a move to Barcelona, ebbing and flowing for months, have now stepped up a level. The Guardian seems to think this it is a question of not if, but when the little Brazilian moves to Spain.

To what extent has Robinho been pushing for this move? Stephen Ireland has recently come out in support of his team mate, stating that Robinho is a ‘changed man’ (Ireland goes on to attribute this to players like Elano leaving the club, making it less cliquey and encouraging Robinho to interact more with the rest of the squad).

Whether or not this is true, I don’t think it will have a big impact on Robinho’s intentions, which appear to be a law unto themselves. Footballers can sometimes speak in mysterious ways, but I find it difficult to believe that Robinho is not angling for a move. For me, the alarm bells began to ring when he went on record as saying: "I'm very happy about the interest that Barcelona have in me. I'm not forcing a hypothetical exit from England and nor do I have problems with my coach. Playing in the Nou Camp it is much easier to be the best player in the world than at City."

Mixed messages? Yes. But there’s definately smoke here I and suspect there’s fire too. Particularly irksome is the final sentence. The bottom line is that Robinho should not be talking about Manchester City and Barcelona in the same breath. Why would the player do this other than for the sole reason of fanning the flames speculation to engineer a move?

A strange co-incidence is the fact that more wood has been thrown onto the fire this week with Hughes’ stand off with the Brazil National team. The root of the problem here is the national team’s open consideration of playing Robinho against Oman next week. City, concerned about the Brazilian’s recovery from injury, say they struck a deal with Brazil to allow the player to train with the national squad but to not play in the international friendlies.

With speculation growing that Robinho and his wife are apparently sick of the sight of Manchester, the club’s spat with the Brazilian national team will only serve to give the winger another stick with which to beat City with.

In terms of our own interests (because at the end of the day this is what this whole thing should be about, not the interests of one player), this needs to be nipped in the bud asap. I have never been the Brazilian’s greatest fan. The lad is immensely talented – that is beyond doubt – but if he were to leave tomorrow, what could we say we got out of one of the most talented players in the world? Half a season (during which he scored the majority of his 15 goals) at best? For me it’s always been a question of commitment with Robinho. We are at the point now where he either needs to be brought in check or sold on and replaced with someone who wants to play for Manchester City.

Petrov’s window?
With Bellamy injury prone and Robinho’s future uncertain, a window of opportunity has opened for Martin Petrov. The Bulgarian has always impressed me with his attacking play and crossing of the ball from the left. If he can improve the defensive side of his game to the level of Bellamy, there’s a real chance of him cementing a left wing spot. Petrov also provides another striking outlet and has already scored some important goals this season. This aspect of his game will also need to be sustained if he is to make the desired impact. Despite his contribution to the team so far (delivered in the context of limited appearances, it must be said), I still think Petrov’s biggest barrier could be winning over the manager. The recent speculation surrounding Benfica winger Angel Di Maria moving to Eastlands could well turn out to be an indictment on the Bulgarian's future at City. If there's substance to the Di Maria move, it sends the message that Hughes views left wing position as out of Petrov's reach.

Problems of the right
Competition for places down the right channel is a different ball game. For now, the right wing position belongs to Shaun Wright-Phillips. We need more competition down this flank for the reason that Shaunie is not being pushed hard enough. SWP is a cracking little player. He has a balanced game, he plays for the shirt and is willing to track back. We all know he has an eye for goal too. But I believe he has played within himself this season. I can’t put my finger on it – perhaps it’s a lack of confidence or a lack of concentration, but his final ball is not really there at the moment. Also, his dribbling skills are not coming off in the way that they used to. I think a bit of competition for SWP is the answer here – it will certainly be interesting to see what Hughes does in this department in the next transfer window.

Of course, the growing presence of academy product Vladimir Weiss is relevant here. Weiss looks really promising. Going forward he is a very exciting prospect – the kind of player that gives you the sense something is going to happen when he gets the ball. Whether he is ready to make the step up to a starting place is another thing entirely. Personally I think we need to see him make more substitute appearances in Premier League games before making a judgement on how ready he is.

What is going wrong?

Yesterday’s 3-3 result against Burnley is another draw that feels like a defeat. This team can’t afford to have many more days like this at home.

To be honest the whole thing appears to be a conundrum. My reaction to the previous home draw against Fulham was to suggest a midfield combination of Barry and Ireland as opposed to Barry and De Jong. I thought we should’ve been more positive. Well, today I got my request. The team sheet did look more positive and we did have that combination, but soon after the half hour mark we found ourselves 2-0 down against a much lesser side than that of Fulham. So just what is it that is going wrong? I welcome suggestions.

Yes, players are making individual errors – strings of mistakes are leading to us conceding goals, but I fear the problem is wider, with the real worry being that Burnley appeared to want it more than City. Apart from our spell early in the second half when we were dominant, more often than not a Claret shirt was seen winning the 50/50 challenges.

Hughes is right to talk of the problem being a collective one – partly to save the confidence of our defence but also partly for tactical reasons. Whilst we are scoring goals, our front men are perhaps not doing enough in terms of offering outlets for the ball from the back. Today, this was illuminated by the performance of Adebayor. For me his mind was never really in the game, he gave away possession – both with his feet and his head, and I felt he was slightly behind the pace of the game. Adebayor is so talented, so much better than the majority of strikers in the league. Sometimes I feel as if he can take on whole defences on his own – Drogba style. All the more frustrating then, that he didn’t turn up today.

This said, our attacking qualities remain the big positive. It should not be forgotten that we came from 2-0 down to place ourselves in a winning position. Okay, we went 2-0 down and it shouldn’t have happened, but this is sometimes football, and we have to recognise the resilience that underpinned our comeback.

At the end of the day, you can spread the blame of our performance as thinly as you want, but when you really get down to it, the real problems lie in the midfield and defence. Everybody knows that we are frail at the back. Yesterday our defence appeared to just melt away. Zabaleta was the most assured of the four, but I couldn’t find many positives about the other three. Hughes can bring Kompany in, but that’s just about all he can do at the moment. I certainly wouldn’t like to see Richards return to the starting line up, and Onohua remains injured.

But if we look at the team as it is today, perhaps the root of our current fragilities comes equally from midfield. It is no coincidence that our recent run of mediocre results has taken place alongside Gareth Barry’s slight dip in form. I have written of how Barry epitomised the mainstay of our earlier success, and how much of our ball pursuit, retention and distribution had improved. Those qualities, as fast as they came, now appear to have gone missing. The result is more pressure on the defence, especially yesterday with Barry basically the sole defensive-minded midfield player. With the defence in the state that it is, the back four are finding little time to settle, which leads to confusion, doubt and ultimately errors. The counter argument is that the back four are (apart from Zabaleta, who is not a worry) all seasoned Premier League professionals and therefore should be doing the basics right. I can’t really find any answer to this. After all, this is the reason Hughes bought Lescott, Toure and Bridge. They are all supposed to be familiar with the rigours of Premier League combat. But somehow a lack of confidence has set in and now seems to have spread pretty much across the back four.

Regression
The confusing thing in all of this is that, having had an excellent start to the season, we appear to have regressed. With all the new players we have signed, I would’ve expected a shakier start to the season whilst the new squad gelled. Round about now would’ve been the time that I would’ve expected to see the right signs. But it is not happening that way.

Perhaps we have been lulled into a false sense of security by our solid start? Perhaps it just went for us a lot more in those opening eight games? The home game against Wolves was very similar to today in the sense that, having got ourselves into a winning position, we almost let it slip when they hit the bar. The difference is that Burnley were a lot more clinical. Furthermore, the game against Arsenal could have gone either way – in the end the score line suggested we ran out comfortable winners, but this was not the reality.

Or perhaps our poor form is a question of teams knowing what we are about now that we are into the new season? If this is the case, it doesn’t make yesterday’s result any more acceptable. Good teams always find a way to get around awkward opponents and win.

Mediocrity
The upshot is that our current world of mediocrity has come into focus, which will heap more pressure onto the team. We are still up there at the right end of the table, but we have thrown away numerous chances to make that next step, to go one better and cement a top four presence. This fifth draw in a row is sure to make the trip to the UAE slightly uncomfortable for Hughes and his playing staff.

Also of note is the fact that our expensively assembled team are the first to hand Burnley any points on their travels this season.

Rolling back the years?

Yesterday's 2-2 draw against Fulham felt more like a capitulation than a draw. Walking away from Eastlands on a cold, wet Sunday evening, the first questions that came to mind were as follows. Was this an aberration? Or have we just taken a massive step back into last season?

I try not to be a pessimist, nor the fan who has a short memory. Our start to the season has been excellent. But the manner of this draw brought back some unwanted memories. The bloke on my left summed it up. At 2-2, with Fulham looking decent value for the winner, he turned to his mate, sighed, and uttered the words: “I’ll settle for a point.”

The reality is that we should not be settling for a point. We really should not be going to 2-0 up at home and then drawing games, not with this squad of players.

The defence
Clearly still not right, and by today’s standards there appears to be some way to go before we are talking top four. The warning signs were there in the first half when Bobby Zamora ballooned an effort over the bar from yards out and with Given sprawling. The concentration of Micah Richards worries me. He was in no mans land in terms of stopping the cross that led to the first Fulham goal. Clint Dempsey’s equaliser was down to the central defensive pairing, and if I was pushed to name names I’d point the finger at Joleon Lescott.

And let’s also not forget that Fulham had the chances to win the match.

The really worrisome point is that our current defensive frailties are beginning to stand out. I don’t have much tactical nous, but if I were the next opposition manager to visit Eastlands, I’d certainly tell my centre forwards to get in amongst Toure and Lescott and pressurise them at all costs.

The midfield
We know what Fulham are about. They are about patient, disciplined football, two banks of four. Mistakes are kept to a minimum. The left hand knows what the right is doing. For this reason I think a midfield combination of Barry and Ireland would’ve been more potent. De Jong has been playing very well, and away from home when we are certain to be under the cosh we need him. But I think we need to be more ambitious at home against non-top four teams. Hughes talked about the need to shift around Fulham’s formation, manoeuvre it out of shape to create space to play into. With two defensive minded, tidy midfield players in Barry and De Jong, I think we gave ourselves less of a chance to accomplish this. Petrov was the positive in this department – his switches of play were good, but we didn’t take advantage of them.

The other side to the defensive-offensive midfield debate is that we already had four very potent attackers on the field in the form of Tevez, Adebayor, Petrov and Bellamy. So to place another offensive minded player – like Ireland – on the pitch would be a big risk against a Fulham team looking to hit us on the counter. It is swings and roundabouts. We all know Hughes has a conundrum on his hands tweaking the team against every new opponent. Perhaps sometimes there can be too many options on the table for a manager that has, in the past, been forced to work with very limited resources.

The attack
Tevez was the better striker in the first half. He created a few chances for others and had two very good scoring opportunities himself. I certainly admire the Argentinean for all his toil, but the £25.5m man should be putting away these opportunities.

Adebayor was off form. He wasn’t on the ball enough, we didn’t see enough of his power and pace, nor his ability to run at defenders. And whilst I’m harping on about Adebayor, I’ll also say that for a big man he doesn’t win enough headers for my liking. Still, his talent is so huge that he should’ve made a bigger impact on this game.

Implications
This result was all the more disappointing because of the results around us. A win would’ve seen us jump to third place, making ground on United due to their Anfield defeat, and overtaking Arsenal, Spurs and Liverpool. Fulham are a good team, but we should be putting them away at home if we want to think about nicking fourth and / or beyond.

I don’t want to sound overly negative. It is still early days and we have hardly lost touch with the top four. Arsenal drew – albeit away from home - in a very similar fashion yesterday and of course Spurs were defeated at White Hart Lane against Stoke – which must have been a real gutter for them. Perhaps all of this is evidence that the league is changing in the sense that it will be a tighter affair this time around. I hope that is the case, rather than the other more depressing scenario that despite so much investment, the Blues are still in the business of throwing away games like the City teams of yesteryear.

Fragility and greatness: the return of Michael Johnson

The first quarter of the season has brought many positives for Manchester City, perhaps none more satisfying than the return of academy product Michael Johnson.

The young midfielder made a substitute appearance in the 3-1 win against West Ham and was then on the bench for the visits to Aston Villa and Wigan Athletic. If he keeps his fitness and continues along his current path, a regular place in the first team squad must beckon. This represents a fantastic achievement for the lad from Urmston.

Flashes of greatness: a new talent emerges

Since breaking into the City first team in 2004, Johnson has already experienced much of what the game has to offer. Initially, these came in the form of unforgettable highs. It was playing in Sven-Goran Erikisson’s free-flowing, high octane, high risk attack of the early 2007/08 season where Johnson really made his mark, scoring the winning goal in a 1-0 win over Derby County.

Picking up the ball at the halfway line, Johnson showed his guile by rounding the opposition midfielder, his strength by brushing away the oncoming challenge, his linkup play by interchanging passes with Elano, his first touch by deftly knocking the Brazilian’s pass into a goal scoring position, and finally his goal scoring instinct, as (in full stride) he struck the ball with the outside of his boot and curled it around the keeper into the back of the net.

Irrespective of the opposition, the strike was immense and indeed was all the more so because it represented so much more than a goal. It represented a player who had the whole package. Later, Johnson went on to score a similar goal against Aston Villa. Surrounded with the new, exciting talent of the Eriksson era, the world was at Michael Johnson’ feet.

Rumour and injury: the nightmare begins

But that world soon shattered. Soon after Johnson scored his wonder goals he was sidelined with a reoccurring abdominal injury. At first the midfielder was out for a short period, but further abdominal problems eventually caused him to miss the majority of last season.

And then rumours began to emerge that all was not well with the young midfielder. For someone who was attempting to get fit, he was supposedly being seen far too much in the wrong places at the wrong hours. With the club struggling to get to bottom of his injury, the lad was losing his way. Hughes’ assistant Mark Bowen could’ve been interpreted to indicate as much when he gave an interview to the Daily Telegraph in December 2008:

“Michael is a young lad who has been unlucky. He has had a nagging injury that has held him back. When Michael in on the training ground and is focused he is a fantastic asset for this club. When young players have been in and out of action as long as he has it can mess your mind up a little bit because they just want to be out there playing. He has just got to be strong, fight through it, train hard and get back in the team. In the early part of the season he was a big player for us and we miss him.”

Seeing Johnson interviewed about his fitness on Sky Sports News, it was easy to believe that he had lost his way. He looked extremely uncomfortable and nervous, and it was clear for all to see that he had gained a lot of weight.

The Bell albatross

Johnson’s build, gait, footballing attributes and surging runs into the box from midfield positions earned him comparisons with Steven Gerard. But the heftier comparison came in the form of Colin Bell, for many fans the greatest player ever to play for the club.

The sidelines of a football pitch are a lonely furrow to plough for any player, but for one such as Johnson, such a young boy with the weight of Bell on his shoulders, I suspect those furrows were immense. To add to this, he has had to sit and watch the unprecedented upheavals that have taken place at the club over the last year. Witnessing the City midfield get stronger with every transfer window – first Kompany, then De Jong, then Barry, whilst excellent additions for the average fan, certainly cannot have been good news for the returning Johnson. With his starting place in midfield long gone, he was in real danger of being overtaken by bigger events.

A welcome romance

However fragile, Johnson’s re-emergence in pre-season, coupled with his return to first team action must be taken as a huge positive. Hughes and his team must also take some credit. In these situations, I believe mental toughness is just as important as physical fitness. Indeed, I think the stronger you are mentally, the less likely you are to get seriously injured. It has been no surprise to see Hughes building up Johnson’s confidence, first talking of the midfielder’s great potential and then speaking of how Johnson started so well in the early days of the Hughes regime before his major injury. Knowing full well that the minds of idle young men can wander, the key for Hughes and his team has been making Johnson still feel wanted, still feel as if he has a major part to play in City’s future. I think they have got it exactly right. Johnson’s pre-season return prompted Hughes into this statement:

"I thought it was a good exercise for us, a lot of players had good periods, but a big positive was Michael Johnson getting through 45 minutes. We are absolutely delighted with that. I was really pleased with what he was able to produce in that time. If we can get him back at anywhere near the level that we know he is capable of then it's like an extra player for us this year.”

I couldn’t agree more. The academy has produced some good graduates in recent years. Micah Richards, blistering when he first emerged, has since hit a sustained patch of inconsistency. If Nedum Onouha keeps on building up his game in the quiet and assured way that he has to date, he is certain to become a formidable international-class defender. Stephen Ireland has become a vital cog in the City engine room, attracting attention even from Old Trafford. Ireland’s dynamism, footballing brain, energy and goals make him a cut above most players. You can see from his performances that he is ready for the Champions League. And then of course we have the raw talent of Daniel Sturridge, spirited away by the clutches of Ancelotti’s Chelsea. All of these players are good. Some are excellent. Others outstanding. But Johnson is better. With the ability to do it all, he has the potential to reach the greatness that City fans would like nothing better to see coming from one of their own.

And this is where the real romance of Johnson’s return emerges. The midfielder is special not only because of his footballing abilities but because he may buck the wider trend of the club in recent times. He is the young, homegrown talent that we as City fans all want to see mix it with the rest of the expensively assembled squad. If he could rise to this challenge, it would be proof that, through the mediocre years since returning to the Premiership, the academy really was capable of producing the kind of class that could compete at the top of the game.

Of course, rising to that challenge is one thing. Overcoming it is something else. The task facing Johnson is bigger than the task facing Richards or Shaun Wright-Phillips for the simple reason that he is coming into probably the most highly competitive area of the team. But if can get fit and stay fit, he stands a great chance of overcoming the barriers of first team selection that stand in his way, just as John Terry and Steven Gerard overcame similar hurdles.

A fit again Michael Johnson will bring another dimension to a squad that it already hugely talented. Questions of fragility remain, but I am sure I would not be alone by saying that I for one would like nothing more than to see him answer those questions that are now surely heading his way.

The season so far

Any reasonably minded City fan cannot really complain. Eight competitive games played, seven won. Its been a strong start to the new season. Actually, no. Its been more than strong. The victory against West Ham makes it our best league start since 1961.

The defeat of Arsenal

The real high so far has been the 4-2 defeat of Arsenal, a match that will go down in Eastlands history because of the intensity in which it was played and controversy that it produced. The skill, pace and power of Emmanuel Adebayor is something that City fans should cherish. Such a shame for these talents to be dampened by the attack on Robin van Persie. I am not fully convinced that the Arsenal striker’s head was the intended target, but that Adebayor went for some part of van Persie is not in doubt. Seen in the longue duree of the game, the actions of the former Arsenal man become a bit more understandable. The intensity that Wenger’s men directed towards Adebayor was there for all to see. But stamping on another player is not the way to do business and I have no qualms over his ban.

The hatred that existed between Adebayor and the Arsenal fans before the game has now surely been increased tenfold by that infamous goal celebration. Lost in the rhythms of a highly charged game it was a stupid thing to do, but also I think excusable. Of course, that is much easier to say when you are on the winning side. And I will always be biased of course.

The mainstay of our success

If the goals of Adebayor represent the icing on the cake of a season that has started so well, it has been the energy, concentration and pure footballing savvy of players like Gareth Barry that represent the foundation upon which this early success has been built.

Clearly this is an area in which the team has massively improved. Grinding out wins against the likes of Blackburn, Portsmouth, Crystal Palace and Fulham means that the team is already displaying a resilience that I have never seen in twenty-odd years of supporting City. Barry’s ball pursuit, ball retention and ball distribution skills are not only of a very high quality but are also consistent. Moreover, they seem to have spread throughout the team. Although it was against lesser opposition, the Palace game is the best example of this new kind of tenacity. Palace gave us a hell of a game, and attacked with bags of energy and speed. City teams of old would have withered under this style of play – that this City team didn’t is highly encouraging.

A Derby to remember

What a match. I disagreed with all the media hype surrounding this fixture – that it was a judgement on whether we were going to be real challengers to United’s title. People forget that Derby games are never a good measure of where the two teams are at. It’s a cliché, but form really does go out of the window. We’ve gone to Old Trafford in the past with much lesser teams and have got much better results, so I don’t accept linking the outcome of this fantastic game to the position of City’s project.

Irrespective of the injury time (or should that be Taggart Time) controversy, I really believe that this was a game that we should have got more out of. After a shaky start, we equalised and ended up dominating the first half. After the break we were our own worst enemy, with the very qualities that have brought us so much success (ball pursuit, retention and distribution) deserting us for the best part of the second half. In this desertion lay the real reason for our defeat, not the supposedly sublime attacking talent of United. They are clearly a top side, but the mistakes we made coupled with our inability to keep hold of the ball meant that United were able to press and press. Goals were thus inevitable.

The real sublime attacking talent of this game came in the form of Craig Bellamy. The Welshman was already on blob with his fizzing strike against Arsenal, but his goals at Old Trafford were a step up again. It will be interesting to see what happens when Robinho returns to the squad. For me, the Brazillian will need to do something to warrant starting ahead of Bellamy. Still, this is what we want – competition for places all over the pitch.

Having come back for the third time it was difficult to stomach coming away from Old Trafford with nothing. For Owen to score the winner will go some way towards justifying Ferguson’s gamble on a gambling man. Irrespective of what Ferguson may say of the Manchester rivalry, his joy at the final whistle showed just how much it meant to put one over on City. For me, Ferguson can enjoy this victory all he wants, but I think we stand an excellent chance of returning the favour at Eastlands.

The departure of Richard Dunne

From the moment our new owners were installed, the future of Richard Dunne, one of City’s most reliable servants of recent times, was in doubt. His move to Aston Villa on transfer deadline day was unsurprising, but for me was tinged with a little bit of sadness at the way in which he exited the club.

There is little room for sentimentality in football, and I accept that in footballing terms Richard Dunne was not the long term answer for the Manchester City of the future. But it is sad when you hear rumours of Garry Cook attempting to sell the City captain behind his back. We may never know the extent of the truth behind Dunne’s words, but I tend to believe him. There has been a bad taste in the mouth ever since a bullish Cook spoke in August 2008 of the need to replace steady, workmanlike players such as Dunne with global footballing superstars: “China and India are gagging for football content to watch and we’re going to tell them that City is their content. We need a superstar to get through that door. Richard Dunne doesn’t roll off the tongue in Beijing. Ronaldinho brings access to major sponsors and financial reward.”

Cook may well have been speaking the truth, but his comments were reckless and potentially highly disruptive. Speaking about the club captain in this way also showed a complete lack of respect – a word that City’s current owners seem to quite big on. Finally, Cook’s comments showed a lack of understanding. Dunne was the best thing about City up until very recently, with four player of the year awards in a row telling a story. The defender was a rock of stability in what was, at times, an extremely volatile and turbulent environment.

If Dunne is right, and Cook was trying to force a move behind the Irishman’s back, then this shows poor form. It is also surprising, given how savvy and in-touch the club seems to have been with everything else.

Good luck Dunney. You were good, but in the end you were the victim of wider machinations. Thanks for the massive effort over the years.

Conn’s trilogy

Our newfound prominence in the English game has given rise to some fantastic City analysis in the papers, coming in the shape of three big articles from The Guardian’s David Conn. Here’s some points I found interesting from Conn’s reporting:

The New Owners: for big business, for prestige, and for the love of the game

Conn’s first report focuses on the new owner of the club and his objectives. Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed al-Nahyan is said by his friend and City Chairman, Khaldoon al-Mubarak, to have wanted to buy the club for two central reasons. One is the Sheikh’s supposed love of football, the irresistible pull of embarking on a “great football journey” that will finally bring sustained success to a club that has always underachieved.

The other motivation sounds much more realistic: to develop a business capable of reaping a long term (and probably lucrative) returns. But it doesn’t end there. Conn sheds light upon the really fascinating element of the deal: how City appear to have become a tool of the UAE’s foreign policy. Although the Sheikh is a businessman, and his purchase of the club has been a private one, his position as a member of the ruling family of Abu Dhabi also makes him a political figure. The nature of the Premier League meant that when Mansour’s deal became public knowledge, it became global public knowledge, a tool for Mansour to communicate with a new global audience. And herein lies the politics. The takeover of Manchester is now playing a big part in the global prestige of Abu Dhabi and, therefore, the UAE. The words of our Chairman echo this: “We are acknowledging that how we are handling this project is telling a lot to the world about who we are. The UAE is different from other Arab countries. People think the Arab world is one, but it is not. This is showing the world the true essence of who Abu Dhabi is and what Abu Dhabi is about.”

Khaldoon goes on to describe how the new Manchester-Abu Dhabi connection is much more than about football: “The reception from day one, from the fans, has been absolutely incredible. There is an element of bridge-building, of understanding, between the Arab world and England. It was never intended. The intent was business and football, but it has come along, as part of this journey.”

Disarray and disrepair: how we almost lost everything

Conn’s second instalment is perhaps the most alarming read. Here he analyses the last days of the Shinawatra regime, seeing as it did the appointment of Hughes as Manager and Cook as Chief Executive.

The revelation here comes in the form of Hughes’ naivety, and his admission that he nearly walked away from the club. Then Chairman Thaksin Shinawatra was clearly a wealthy man – perhaps even a billionaire – but his murky political background meant that he was facing corruption charges in his home country of Thailand. And that in turn meant that up to $2BN worth of his wealth was frozen by the Thai government, which was bad for City – and Hughes.

“The reality wasn’t exactly what was described and sold to me,” said the Welshman. That may be so, but one would’ve thought that one could work things out. As Conn reports, Shinawatra had after all been facing the charges since 2006. Clearly, for a manager coming into the fray the picture was not transparent. My view is that Hughes took a gamble.

Then there was the club infrastructure. Hughes quickly realised that the training facilities were shot and in addition was having to address suspicious goings-on within the club in the form of attempts to sell players behind his back.

The bottom line is that there was no money. The by now infamous cash flow story – when former chairman John Wardle has to loan the club £2M in order to pay playing personnel – it completely true. We were on the edge of a precipice, the worst debacle in the club’s history.

Should we be surprised? Probably not. We were living up to the ‘typical-City’ tag after all. The difference this time was that instead of there being mistakes made on the field, there was mistake after mistake made off it – and with a good deal of stupidity thrown into the pot.

As Conn appears to suggest, it started with Wardle and Makin. Why did our previous owners even think about selling the club to a man facing wholesale corruption charges? Here were two men that were bailing out of a sinking ship.

The cacophony of errors carried on with Cook. “I deeply regretted my failure to do proper research on Thaksin,” said the City Chief Exec. I cannot understand how a former Nike Brand Jordan president fails to do the research on his next employer.

The real twist of it all is this – would there have been Mansour without Shinawatra? Indirectly, Wardle and Makin may have just delivered us into the most financially powerful football club on earth. And there’s a twist with Hughes and Cook too. Despite their naiveties Shinawatra actually delivered the club two very talented individuals. I doubt whether Mansour would’ve appointed either, but as it happens the Sheikh has stuck by both because of the qualities they bring to the club.

We shouldn’t be surprised, for the simple reason that this was City – ‘typical City’ – a club capable of plundering the depths and touching the heavens in the same sentence. But strangely enough, things have somehow fallen into place.

Culture wars: the exorcism of ‘typical City’

Conn finishes his trilogy by detailing how the Hughes-Cook-Khaldoon axis has set about revamping the culture of the club, curing the ‘typical City’ disease.

For Hughes, it is about stamping out the bad habits of the previous regime. These include eradicating a cliquey dressing room that had been allowed to become so through Eriksson’s signings. Of course, here we are talking about Elano. Part of Hughes’ solution to this has already been well documented – offering the squad a ‘no-excuses culture’ – or in other words giving them everything they need to perform to best of their ability in every game so that there is no opportunity for them to whine. It is also about developing greater linkage between the youth academy and the senior squad, giving our younger players key opportunities to learn from top quality professionals in the first team. There are certainly a lot of latter about at present.

For Cook and Khaldoon, it is about thinking big off the field – something City have never done. In Conn’s previous articles, Khaldoon has talked about how he found the infrastructure of the club ‘unacceptable’ upon arrival. New, top line gym and treatment rooms were in place weeks after Khaldoon first set foot in Manchester. For Khaldoon also, it is about what image the club is projecting. Conn draws attention to this by emphasising a lengthy debate between Khaldoon and Hughes over the signing of Bellamy. The Chairman was clearly not convinced by this target and Hughes most likely had to do a bit of explaining to get his man. Khaldoon’s unwillingness to immediately yield could’ve been to do with footballing reasons, but I doubt it. It could’ve been to do with Bellamy’s chequered medical history perhaps. There’s a business dimension too: I can’t see Bellamy’s shirt sales competing with the likes of Robinho’s. But I also think that image also played a part. The Welsh striker has a history of disciplinary problems. Did we really want to sign a player who did not seem capable of channelling his aggression in the right direction? Did we really want to sign a player that appeared to be incompatible with some of the values of Abu Dhabi as outlined by Khaldoon himself: commitment, discipline and respect? At the moment Hughes is being proved right.

Cook’s role in the exorcism comes in the form of thinking globally, something that was embodied by the audacious move for Kaka. A big buzz word for Cook must be ‘ambition’. We may have ultimately failed, but as a club we showed massive ambition by lodging a bid for probably the most talented player in the world at the height of his powers. Moreover, the bid was credible and could’ve gone through given the right climate. Off the pitch, Manchester City has never thought bigger or had as much bottle in its entire history.

This exercise in exorcism is about mobilising the resources of the club to achieve three interlocking objectives: making big money, winning big trophies and projecting a positive image of Abu Dhabi worldwide.

All of this seems light years away from the days of Peter Swales. And it is.

Lack of activity

It is already clear how eventful this season is going to be for City fans.

Because of this, I feel I must apologise for the distinct lack of activity on this blog of late. Lets face it, over the last few weeks there has been reams and reams of material to write about, all of which has been has been brilliantly analysed by the City blog community, the links to which can be found on the right.

This blog is far from been consigned to the dreaded dustbin of blog inactivity. I've been a bit busy of late, but watch for incoming posts soon.