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Feb
16
After another dismal away defeat against a team in the lower half of the league, something has to change in the summer, and it appears the only question that remains is - who goes? Before we all point the finger at the manager let’s look a little closer at the situation.
If results are anything to go by, Mark Hughes simply does not seem to learn from defeat after defeat away from home, but one thing is for sure, our Brazilians DON’T do away games!! It is as if they need to have the home crowd around them to encourage them to play. If that is the case then we are better off without them, because as a manager you expect your most influential players to perform wherever a match is played.
Looking back, in twelve away league matches, City have won one, drawn four and lost seven, and the only Brazilian outfield goal was Robinho’s saver at Blackburn. Contrast that to eleven Brazilian goals in thirteen matches at home!
In those away games, of the three Brazilians, only Jo started in the win at Sunderland (Robinho hadn’t signed by that time). In the four draws Elano and Jo started one each (but not in the same game) and Robinho played in three, and in one game (Fulham) none of them started.
In the seven defeats, Elano has started five, Robinho five and Jo just once (the game at Wigan when all three Brazilians started).
These stats indicate that the more Brazilians you put in your away starting line-up, the greater chance there is of losing!
At home, Robinho has started every game since signing, Elano has started seven and Jo started three early on in the season, the last one being the end of October!
The big question is how patient the club will be in their quest for honours. If our owners judge the season’s success on league position and qualification for Europe, then Hughes is living on borrowed time, because the away games are about to get just a tad more difficult, and some of the home games are against teams battling for survival. Hughes would probably take finishing in ninth position now if he could.
Unless there is a significant change in fortune away from home, Hughes’ only hope then is that the Board see that the Brazilian way doesn’t work in England, and change strategy by offloading them all.
In my current frame of mind I would strongly consider this approach, but it is highly unlikely to happen, because it would be seen as a major backward step in making City a global brand. Therefore the most likely outcome is that there will be a complete change of management, and the club bring in a world-renowned manager with experience of attracting then getting the best out of these fragile talents we call superstars.
Agree or disagree, or is there another way forward?
by Steve Kay
Hughes has to go.
Game after game he picks roughly the same formation playing roughly the same way and the result is always the same.
Interestingly - the killer to your anti Brazilian stance - is we normally concede the clinching goal when he substitutes a Brazilian. Elano on three occasions and now Robinho. Gen Johnson and another Pompey player were double marking Robinho all game. As Soon as he goes off Glen Johnson starts getting forward and ‘bang’. Game over. Asside from the ‘Subsitute a Brazilian and concede a goal’ scenario, we also onstanly try to force the killer pass, lose posession in our own half and conceded as our attacking midfield are galloping off down the pitch. Once wer’e behind we’re stuffed as we havn’t got Big rough-house strikers to shake it up - or seemingly instructions to get behind the opposition defence and cross/pass into the area with the opposition defence facing their own goal.
EVERY blue I know knew we needed Caicedo on form the start to rough up Campbel/Distin and liberate Robinho yet Hughes plays the same old tactics and lo we get the same old result.
It really isn’t rocket engineering.
[1] Only try the killer pass when theres a good chance of it getting through. Otherwise pass the ball around keep posession and knacker the opposition out.
[2] Reduce the flicks and tricks.
[3] Play with a target man (Caicedo, Evans, Boj - hell maybe even Richards).
[4] get behind the opposition defence, get to the byline and pass into a disorganised rear guard to pick out the runner and score.
Yet Hughes is a stubborn ass and persists with the same tactics. Get rid now. he’s Hughes(Les).
.
I have to say I was and I still am of a view that the Manager should receive suuport from all ranks.
I would also like to point out that Robinho has had bad history before he got to City and has the ability to spit the dummy out but he does not seem to have gotten into too many verbal slanginf matches thus far but rather he leaves that to others to do.
One thing is for sure and that is Robinho even though he is a genius can only play where the rest of the team are firing on all cylinders and is unable to influence games with tracking back and taking the game to the opposition.
I don’t think anyone can doubt really that Mark Hughes is the man to get us to the next level and he needs at least one more transfer window to be able to truly stamp down his authority.
He deserves a chance and he should be given one. However if by next Christmas there has been no change in all round performance from the team as a whole then I think it would be time for him to make way for the Special one who in my opinion is the only Manager that has the attributes that the new Manchester City is looking for.
I do tend to lean toward a new Manager at some point because I think that MH will at some point reach the end of his ability to hike us into the top 4 but he should be given the chance to prove us all wrong if not simply to try and prolong a period of stability instead of chopping and changing all of the time.
He has the right ideas for the club go forwards we just have to fill the squad with players who have the balls for the job and to cut those that are lacking the essential ability to rise above the rest.
MCFC
bring back Sven. Fantastic club manager, check his history. If he was at City now, i reckon things would be going well.
What is happening is rediculious. Hughes is a good manager, he just needs his players to work hard to succed. And as of right now, no one wants to work hard on away games. If we don’t start showing up to play something has to happen, with the so called talent we have, we should not be losing as many games when all we really need is some work ethic. I feel bad for Hughes now, everyone looks at him, but only half of the team shows up to play away from home.
I love Hughes more than fantastic 8-1 Swen,But
Wanted Winning all matches and good Different form Our TEAM in summer.
jonny bringin sven bk wud not be the worst decision but at the same time he had to go when he did, i was at a big protest against him going and then the next day we got beat by boro 8 - 1 thats not acceptable sven had run his course on that game alone nevermind the fact that he also ran an inconsistent team and was very loose with the way he treated players and ran the club so i would say let it go forget bout sven.
Against Portsmouth it wasn’t just the Brazilians it was the whole team that never gave a true effort.
Sparky did take Robhino off but the game was well lost by then.
Steve Kay;s article certainly gives us all something to think about.
But I for one am not about to give up on our manager Mark Hughes.
all 3 brazillians can go, jo elano and robhino. they dont wanna play for city so f*ck em. they get paid enough to put on a performance week in week out for the fans who spend so much time and effort following the club. Get rid of the f*cking lot of em
No way should Sven come back, not after the humiliation at the end of last season (Boro 8, City 1) for which he WAS responsible. Don’t forget the 6-0 drubbing at Chelski too.
No I am sorry, but Sven is not to be trusted, he has no pride in the Club and definitely does not show pride in the job. He’s the equivalent of a Managerial Mercenary!
Hughes has to go along with all of his staff. They have been nothing short of shit.
Clueless as far as team selection, formation, patterns of play. As for set peices OMG
So far out of his depth dealing with the expectation and higher level player. He is better with grafters that give him what he wants not skilled individuals that have no respect for him.
The players are at fault but the manager has to get them motivated to play and Hughes clearly does not have the ability or respect of this group to acheive that Only Ireland is playing for Hughes.
Bad result in Europe and he is on his way, the season has been a shambles and to look at hughes you would think he has his hands tied he has spent millions!!!!
I thought these guys were supposed to be wonderful coaches? If so why is it all down to the check book cannt they develop players and teach them how to play with passion and skill?
GO NOW HUGHES
One telling factor in all this may be the form of Jo during his loan stint at Everton. Last week’s goals against a poor Bolton side are not significant but if he continues to impress questions will be asked about Hughes and his staff.
Even the most die-hard happy clappers have given up on MH now. Total lack of vision, strategy and tactics did it for him even before Xmas. Just a pity that our owners couldn’t see it, as they’re going to have to pull us out of the Championship before we can even begin to be a world-beating team.
Andy Arry: No manager can get a team to play when they aren’t being paid, as was the case with City in the second half of last season.
Just think what Sven could have done with £100 million. We would be up there challenging for the heights, not fighting our way from the depths.
I’ve been a City fan for 52 years so I’ve seen most of the ups and downs.
We’re all clearly at a loss to understand quite what’s happening right now except that, as Steve Kay says, nothing much changes from one defeat to another away from home. Same old excuses but nothing different. At home too we are far from convincing (look at Middlesborough and the chances Alves had)and Mark Hughes assertions that the team are playing well at home is not what I see.
There are rumours that Elano is a disruptive influence in the dressing room and Robinho’s performance against Portsmouth did suggest that he may be part of a concerted effort by the Brazilians to get Hughes sacked. Jo’s comments when he went to Everton about having a weight taken from his shoulders when he walked into that dressing room (he said all the players at Everton are mates) would certainly seem to confirm that all is far from well in the City first team squad.
Stan Collymore when commenting on Robinho’s performance at Portsmouth on Talksport said it was the worst performance by a star player in the Premiership ever !! I respect Stan. He says it as it is.
On paper our team should frighten the life out of some of the struggling teams it comes up against. However they soon realise the City team has no bottle, with a couple of exceptions such as Bellamy and Ireland, and start to treat us with contempt. For we supporters it’s both demoralising and degrading to watch. Imagine what it’s doing to the players.
All this leads me to feel that the omens are not good for Mark Hughes. He seems incapable of motivating the team to scrap and morale seems to be deteriorating. Our league position is not secure by any means. We have 13 games left and 7 of those are against the top 8 teams AWAY from home. Can we get the 3 more wins to at least get us to 40 points? Who knows. What is becoming clear to me is that Hughes and fickle Brazilians might not mix. I love the Brazilians but I love this Club more than anything. I think the Club is safer in Hughes hands long term and he should be given the authority to deal with the likes of Elano and Robinho as he sees fit. I’m afraid though that Abu Dhabi (bless them) might see things otherwise. Get ready for a thrilling ride on the Blue Moon guys.
[Well said, Robin!]
You cannot point the finger at the Brazilians and think that getting rid of them will make everything better.
Look at the form of Richards, crap and not even trying to get better look at him standing around on the field.
Dunne, player of the year for ever and now looking like a shell
Elano, Ball, Hamman, Fernandes etc all well below the form showed last season
Dont forget that Hughes has spent a fortune on this squad already
Stoke down to 10 men we are crying out for width and we have Richard on the right lumbering around without a clue while he keeps options sitting on the bench. Pretty much sums up MH too CLUELESS
You’re right of course Dalton. Hughes has to bear a lot of responsibility. I can’t believe he didn’t bring in more midfield and defensive players in the window. That’s where we have struggled.The window was a shambles with the Kaka affair making us the laughing stock. Gary Cook’s conduct was a joke and I can’t see him being there long. Imagine Abu Dhabi’s reaction to the failed Kaka bid. “Well Mr Cook, we sent you off with £100 million to buy a footballer and you DIDN’T get him !!” I see today that Kaka was very close to joining City so whether you agree with that bid or not Cook failed to clinch it.
Also you would have thought with the money now available that moves would have been planned well in advance of the window for confirmation during it. Instead we were thrashing around for a big striker in the last few hours after laughable attempts to get Santa Cruz.
As I said Dalton, I love the Brazilians and there’s no way I’m putting all the blame on them. I was as excited as anyone when Robinho came even dressing up in Arab head-dress (at my age!!) for the Chelsea game. However, after the initial euphoria he’s stopped playing for us along with the others it seems. Now we could be in the sort of decline at the end the 2006 season when we lost 10 of our last 12 League games. That would be unthinkable given our present status.
I’ve been very loyal to Hughes but if the 2006 scenario does begin to be repeated then the sooner he goes the better.
Daft game though. How about a win at Liverpool ? Has to happen sometime!!