Man City 1-3 Fulham: Boos Rain Down on The Blues
Manchester City lamentable form spread to home premiership action Sunday with a crushing defeat to a mid table Fulham side at Eastlands.
City have the distinction of being the first side to concede two goals on their home ground to journeyman quality American midfielder Clint Dempsey, and also allowed Andy Johnson what seemed like acres of space to stimulate the Cottagers attack.
City’s road form under Hughes is worse than any season under Stuart Pearce or Kevin Keagan. In fact City’s road form this season bears little difference from the 2000-2001 season when the club was relegated under Joe Royle who had after all played for City not United, like Hughes.
Tactically Hughes setup has been simple and unconvincing. His handling of star players has been abysmal.
For all of Hughes success in handling the likes of Benni McCarthy, and Brad Freidel at Blackburn, his rapport with players of international superstar caliber like Robinho and to a lesser extent Elano have proven his limitations as a manager particularly for a club as ambitious as City.
This is not to say Hughes is a bad manager. His record with both Wales and Blackburn speaks for itself and proves he has few equals when managing a certain type of squad. But he appears at this point to be the absolute wrong fit for Manchester City.
With a UEFA Cup match this Thursday, Hughes fate could be sealed if the Blues do not erase a two goal deficit and overcome Hamburg. A performance like Sunday’s and Hamburg can name their scoreline.
UEFA Cup Quick Thoughts
I had some issues earlier the week that prevented me from getting online and doing a full match summary for the Arsenal match.
What’s more important for City is today’s UEFA Cup clash with Martin Jol’s Hamburg side. The match has started and I’ll be back later with a full match summary and thoughts.
Arsenal and Internationals
I’m traveling today but have watched the first 80 minutes of the Arsenal match live and will have some commentary as well as a look back at City’s international contingent in midweek action last week and a look at how City’s current form compares to other seasons since the club returned to the PL in the next several days. Stay tuned!
International Weekend
We’ll be tracking all of City’s players in this weekend’s qualifiers and friendlies and will have a full report Sunday.
A Chance for European Glory Driving City
Mark Hughes rocky tenure as City manager got rockier this week with published reports he’s considering dropping Robinho. But with the potential for European glory in the UEFA Cup and City’s first winning cup run since 1976 all possible in the coming months, supporters seem to be backing Hughes.
The concerns about Hughes expressed so frequently by City’s frustrated fans have become less prominent in the last several weeks. While City’s road form continues to be a source of embarrassment for the club, the focus seems to have shifted squarely from the failing of the current Premiership campaign to the UEFA Cup.
European football next season for City may only be attainable by winning the UEFA Cup. While the Blues remain theoretically within striking distance of the 7th and final European spot in the Premier League table, it’s difficult to fathom the clubs road form recovering quickly enough to seriously challenge for that spot.
So tonight the UEFA Cup resumes for City with a 2nd leg tie in Denmark. Sporting a two goal aggregate lead, the club has an opportunity to book its place in the quarterfinals and advance two rounds further than any other English club in the competition. If that isn’t motivation enough to back Hughes, I am not sure what else is.
European Based vs British Based Targets
Ty Duffy of EPL Talk has a great piece today which echoes what I have been advocating on this website for weeks. Check out Ty’s piece at EPL Talk.
West Brom 2-1 Man City
A cracking match today resulted in yet another defeat for City. This match was actually one of the more open and entertaining affairs in recent weeks from my vantage point as both sides were seeking the three points today. For City another bitter dissapointment on what is becoming a campaign that is making us all long for the days of Stuart Pearce and Joey Barton.
Much more on the match later.
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