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Posted: **Fri Jan 01, 2010 4:10 pm**

Micah Richards is set to switch back to the heart of City’s defence at Middlesbrough as the Blues seek to build on their knockout success of this season.

The England international will answer Roberto Mancini’s call to shift positions after the Italian lost Joleon Lescott and Nedum Onuoha to injury and Kolo Toure to the African Cup of Nations.

Richards is likely to partner Belgian ace Vincent Kompany in a new look central pairing.

Richards, recalled to the side at Wolves on Monday night, is familiar with many of the Boro players thanks to his outings with the England under 21squad and a former fierce rivalry at Academy level between the Blues and the Teessiders.

And he is determined that the FA Cup should not be overshadowed by the looming Carling Cup semi final with United.

“We want to win every match and the Boro game is no different,” he declared. “We don’t want to be fall guys and help kick start the second half of Boro’s season.

"Last season we went out of the FA Cup
in terrible fashion at home to Forest
when we were beaten 3-0. That was a
real low point of the campaign"

“Having tasted the excitement of reaching the final stages of the Carling Cup we want more of it in the FA Cup. We are not bothered about fixture congestion or anything like that because the longer you stay in competitions and the more games you have then the more successful you are being.

“We know that Boro have not been having the best of runs in the league but I know they have good players, talented players, and we know too that they will feel they have nothing to lose.

“One of this club’s worst experiences in football in recent years – probably ever - was at Boro when we lost 8-1 and it would be nice for the fans to come away from the Riverside feeling happy!”

Richards is sanguine about having to move across from the flank to reprise a role he has played many times before.

“I like the freedom of playing full back but I am equally happy at centre half,” he concluded. “I feel as if I am coming into the game in a decent patch of form and hopefully that will continue.”

from mcfc.co.uk

Posted: **Fri Jan 01, 2010 4:16 pm**

Richards has been sanguine about most things since his big pay deal - especially working hard - lets just hope his recent improvement is not just a blip in form

Posted: **Fri Jan 01, 2010 4:47 pm**

I'm glad to have someone of his ability and quality available considering that he's technically 5th choice centre half at the moment. Zabaleta is a decent option at right back. We should be strong in the air and we can play a game of letting Richards attack the ball and Kompany sweep behind.

Posted: **Fri Jan 01, 2010 5:00 pm**

Read that title then and worried me for a second. Hope he keeps up with his form and continues to improve as a player now that waste of a manager has gone.

Posted: **Fri Jan 01, 2010 5:15 pm**

Vhero wrote:Read that title then and worried me for a second. Hope he keeps up with his form and continues to improve as a player now that waste of a manager has gone.

Ah, I see.... Micah's form was Hughes' fault?

And the hits just keep on rolling...

Good on you Micah, I haven't lost faith in you yet.

Posted: **Fri Jan 01, 2010 5:16 pm**

Vhero wrote:Read that title then and worried me for a second. Hope he keeps up with his form and continues to improve as a player now that waste of a manager has gone.

You could be a journo with that comment - bit lazy and convenient - Micah's form (which I accept has improved recently( simply can not be laid at Hughes's door - it is absolutely down to him

Posted: **Fri Jan 01, 2010 5:25 pm**

read the title and thought there was a surprise move by arsenal or some other club for him - glad to hear it's just him moving to central defense. good for him.

Posted: **Fri Jan 01, 2010 8:03 pm**

Original Dub wrote:
Vhero wrote:Read that title then and worried me for a second. Hope he keeps up with his form and continues to improve as a player now that waste of a manager has gone.

Ah, I see.... Micah's form was Hughes' fault?

And the hits just keep on rolling...

Good on you Micah, I haven't lost faith in you yet.

I just think since Hughes took over his career went downhill and so far although premature it's starting to flourish again.

Posted: **Fri Jan 01, 2010 8:08 pm**

Just read the posts from you guys and Micahs form was on the up when MH was in charge..I think it was a more mental thing than a management fault.
Micah will be fine at CB. Hes fast,good header of the ball,plus hes got Vinny next to him..I have every confidence in him.

Posted: **Fri Jan 01, 2010 8:56 pm**

Well lets just hope......

But at the level we have supposed to have moved to we should not be in a situation where we are hoping some player that has been well out of form runs into form in our 1st team

Posted: **Fri Jan 01, 2010 9:12 pm**

hes still only a kid lots to learn and if we put him on transfer list you would have no shortage of bids. he will improve over years an his bad patch im sure he will learn from

Posted: **Fri Jan 01, 2010 11:16 pm**

paulh wrote:hes still only a kid lots to learn and if we put him on transfer list you would have no shortage of bids. he will improve over years an his bad patch im sure he will learn from

Top post and i agree entirely he will improve with age and experiance.

Posted: **Sat Jan 02, 2010 1:14 am**

Original Dub wrote:
Vhero wrote:Read that title then and worried me for a second. Hope he keeps up with his form and continues to improve as a player now that waste of a manager has gone.

Ah, I see.... Micah's form was Hughes' fault?

And the hits just keep on rolling...

Good on you Micah, I haven't lost faith in you yet.

Amazing how he's suddenly remembered how to jump and head the ball again...

Posted: **Sat Jan 02, 2010 1:47 am**

Socrates wrote:
Original Dub wrote:
Vhero wrote:Read that title then and worried me for a second. Hope he keeps up with his form and continues to improve as a player now that waste of a manager has gone.

Ah, I see.... Micah's form was Hughes' fault?

And the hits just keep on rolling...

Good on you Micah, I haven't lost faith in you yet.

Amazing how he's suddenly remembered how to jump and head the ball again...

I do hate to say it, but Micahs regression did coincide with Hughes appointment. That doesn't take the blame away from Micah as even if (hypothetical) Hughes lacked the ability or will to give him the proper direction, he had hit levels under the previous 2 managers that could have been maintained through his own sheer will.

Posted: **Sat Jan 02, 2010 2:12 am**

That interview has made up quotes and is bogus. They don't have Micah saying "yeah" at the beginning of every sentence.

Posted: **Sat Jan 02, 2010 2:39 am**

Original Dub wrote:
Vhero wrote:Read that title then and worried me for a second. Hope he keeps up with his form and continues to improve as a player now that waste of a manager has gone.

Ah, I see.... Micah's form was Hughes' fault?

And the hits just keep on rolling...

Good on you Micah, I haven't lost faith in you yet.

In fairness mate, it wasn't only Micah who was playing poorly- Touré, Lescott and Bridge were all way below their standards, Dunnie had an awful season along with Micah in 08/09, which he's now putting right at Villa. There's no denying we played some great football under Hughes and our forward thinking players like Ireland and SWP benefited from that approach but for 18 months, with a handful of exceptions, we were appalling defensively.

Anyway, I'm pretty confident that Micah will do well for us at centre back. He was colossal there during Sven's reign and Mancini's brand of football is fairly similar. The defence-first, patient approach should work in his favour and like Ronk said, he can look after the aerial side and Kompany can sweep up and bring the ball into midfield. On paper it looks a good combination- and to think that players of their quality are only stand ins for our regulars- it really highlights how far we've come and how strong we are as a squad.

Posted: **Sat Jan 02, 2010 8:42 am**

mcfc1632 wrote:Well lets just hope......

But at the level we have supposed to have moved to we should not be in a situation where we are hoping some player that has been well out of form runs into form in our 1st team

I'm starting to think Micah's your personal boo boy ;) Have some faith in the lad, he's only 21 still, and has shown improvement in recent weeks.

Posted: **Sat Jan 02, 2010 9:32 am**

CityFanFromRome wrote:
mcfc1632 wrote:Well lets just hope......

But at the level we have supposed to have moved to we should not be in a situation where we are hoping some player that has been well out of form runs into form in our 1st team

I'm starting to think Micah's your personal boo boy ;) Have some faith in the lad, he's only 21 still, and has shown improvement in recent weeks.

I understand you saying that - and I have admitted feeling bad about it - just sick of so many points being thrown away whilst we hope he finds his form (which would be less frustrating if he had looked as if he was making effort to...)

I have previously gone through Richards love-in etc - wanked over his great potential - but if we are moving up and away from our old level you simply cannot have a flank simply 'abdicated' to the opposition because your RB does not get back and just jogs when we are under pressure or just stand around with his hands on his hips blaming people who are running like mad to fill the void he has left

I really do accept that I am now in such a negative space with him that I do not think that I will ever get out of it until he is either part of a side that concedes no goals down his flank consistently - or he is out of the side - bit like some were with Hughes - he can do little / nothing right for me

But I do think my bias is factual based - people accept that he was poor last year and a lot of this year - but point to recent improvement - but I think even that belief in recent improvement is blue-tinted. People speak about Sylvinio getting murdered against Spurs - well yes he did because Lennon played down that flank and the tactics were very poor leaving him exposed - but I hate to think what he would have done to Micah in that form. I was at the game and I can tell you that he made 3 muscular tackles but spent the majority of the time jogging around in blissful isolation whilst Kolo was trying to fill in that space and some of the mistakes made by Ned

Frankly (putting personal negativity to one side) - he is simply not a good enough RB to warrant a slot at this time - and we should bring in a top RB

Posted: **Sat Jan 02, 2010 9:39 am**

mcfc1632 wrote:
Frankly (putting personal negativity to one side) - he is simply not a good enough RB to warrant a slot at this time - and we should bring in a top RB

On this, I agree. I've never thought him to be a top class RB, really. He's always struck me as a better CB than RB, so we will see in these weeks where he has to play in the middle of the defence how he does there.

Posted: **Sat Jan 02, 2010 9:45 am**

CityFanFromRome wrote:
mcfc1632 wrote:
Frankly (putting personal negativity to one side) - he is simply not a good enough RB to warrant a slot at this time - and we should bring in a top RB

On this, I agree. I've never thought him to be a top class RB, really. He's always struck me as a better CB than RB, so we will see in these weeks where he has to play in the middle of the defence how he does there.

Yes - and I really hope he takes the chance.

He has had a number of chances - and I think that this is likely to be his last - he needs to grab it with both hands and make the manager think that he must be kept - in the last couple of games there has been more effort - perhaps he is feeling the need to prove himself (bit like the old AA approach - before you can tackle the problem you have to be able to admit to yourself that you have / are the problem ..... do not think that he has been able to do that previously)

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