by Beefymcfc » Thu Dec 17, 2009 10:45 pm
Didn't know whether to put this in the match thread or in here, so I chose the latter as it is more about Hughes position. For me it's a very good article that seems to echo my views and I've highlighted a couple of bits that I was unaware of, but pleased to here.
Hughes let down by City slackers
Oliver Kay Football Correspondent
If the raised voices in the Manchester City dressing room at White Hart Lane spoke of a team heading for the rocks, Mark Hughes will quietly spell out the need for more reinforcements and stronger personalities when he meets Khaldoon al-Mubarak, the club’s chairman, this weekend for discussions that will shape his future.
Hughes’s position as City manager is not under immediate threat, but, after a damaging sequence of one win in the past ten Barclays Premier League matches, a drastic improvement will be needed if he is to persuade al-Mubarak and Sheikh Mansour, the owner, to persevere with him next season rather than attempt to lure a more proven coach, such as José Mourinho or Guus Hiddink, to the City of Manchester Stadium.
City have spent more than £200 million on new players since Mansour bought the club in September 2008 and after an impressive start to the new campaign, their new-look team have slipped into alarming habits. Driven to distraction by Robinho, increasingly concerned by the form of Kolo Touré and Emmanuel Adebayor and unnerved by an injury crisis that will deprive him of Joleon Lescott and Wayne Bridge until the end of January, Hughes is desperate to reinforce his defence and midfield, and to add more leadership to a squad that has lost its way over the past two months.
Hughes is looking for stronger personalities in his squad and, for all the longer-term plans to entice Yaya Touré from Barcelona and Franck Ribéry from Bayern Munich, his targets for the January transfer window will be more prosaic. While the manager has looked far and wide in search of a left back, targets closer to home may include Brede Hangeland, the Fulham defender, Scott Parker, the West Ham United midfield player, and possibly even David Bentley, the winger who is out of favour at Tottenham Hotspur.
The departures of Kolo Touré and Adebayor on international duty this month, to represent Ivory Coast and Togo respectively in the African Cup of Nations, will stretch Hughes’s resources throughout January, but the former Arsenal pair felt the force of Hughes’s and at least one player’s ire in the dressing room after the 3-0 defeat by Tottenham on Wednesday night. Touré was culpable for Tottenham’s second goal, scored by Jermain Defoe, and Adebayor coasted through the game, as he has done on several occasions since returning from a three-match suspension in October.
Gareth Barry, the midfield player, said that the atmosphere among the City players was tense at White Hart Lane. “It was a more disappointed dressing room because of the way we lost,” he said. “There were a lot of hurt players in there and the lads were really at each other’s throats. We are desperate to put things right.”
Hughes is understood to have welcomed the slanging match, given that a similarly frank exchange of views in the dressing room last month, after the 1-1 draw at home to Hull City, was followed by victories over Arsenal, in the Carling Cup, and against Chelsea.
City need a similar reaction at home to Sunderland tomorrow — and, beyond that, at home to Stoke City on Boxing Day and away to Wolverhampton Wanderers two days later — to improve the mood before the FA Cup third-round tie away to Middlesbrough on January 2 and the eagerly awaited Carling Cup semi-final, first leg at home to Manchester United four days later.
For all that their form has been disappointing, though, City remain on course for the top-six finish that al-Mubarak cited as their pre-season target. Privately, Hughes has discussed the prospect of Champions League qualification with his players and the board, but even that ambition remains firmly within reach, with City six points behind Aston Villa, who are fourth, having played one game more.
“Christmas is a massive time,” Barry said. “There are a lot of games in a short space of time, so the chance is there to propel yourself up the league. Our desire to make the top four is stronger than ever.”
In the words of my Old Man, "Life will never be the same without Man City, so get it in while you can".
The Future's Bright, The Future's Blue!!!
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