so, hughes needs to change it, what options?

[s1ty m]

clearly kolo and ade will bring loads to the team. ireland needs to play. swp needs to sit out. rsc is not fit. jonno could do with some playing time. petrov must wonder what he has done wrong. robbie returning will give us that edge too. what an embarrassment of riches we have.

anyone agree that zabaleta is not up to it?

[mr_nool]

clearly kolo and ade will bring loads to the team. ireland needs to play. swp needs to sit out. rsc is not fit. jonno could do with some playing time. petrov must wonder what he has done wrong. robbie returning will give us that edge too. what an embarrassment of riches we have.

anyone agree that zabaleta is not up to it?

It's not only about the players. It's about tactics, work load, grit, passion ...

[Niall Quinns Discopants]

clearly kolo and ade will bring loads to the team. ireland needs to play. swp needs to sit out. rsc is not fit. jonno could do with some playing time. petrov must wonder what he has done wrong. robbie returning will give us that edge too. what an embarrassment of riches we have.

anyone agree that zabaleta is not up to it?

It's not only about the players. It's about tactics, work load, grit, passion ...

First and foremost the tactics and the system. Hughes needs to sit down and see which system and which players were winning combination. Past four league games we have been using Hughes' favourite system of two midfielders sitting deep and efectively four players (two strikers and wingers) doing ALL the attacking. We haven't managed to win any of those games.

[Geo123]

Firstly he needs to have the guts to drop tevez although that will not happen, if he insists on playing 442 he should of started with players in their natural positions,

Bell and Roque up front, Roque for knock downs and flick ons for someone who wants to run forward and get in behind (bellers)

Ireland in midfield to create, do the box to box thing and generally push on, de jong sitting and if he insists on playing barry put him on left for a while cause hes been awful in the centre although i wuda had petrov on the left.

[david yearsley]

Almost forgot Robbie ! He might have won it for us today - Weiss against Burnley and back to 4-3-3

[CITYTILLIDIE11]

Are you taking the piss what options ?

Ffs he could start by playing our best side, organising them and having a game plan that deviates from get the ball and lob it in to the box.

Says it all that players like Steve Ireland and Robinho apparently have no future, whilst the clearly limping RSC is first name on the team sheet, a sign of things to come.

I think he is in on borrowed time,fcuking strange that we sign world class players and they start playing like a bag off shit under Hughes,unbelievabley they have all gone backward under his management, they have already peaked

[edge275]

clearly kolo and ade will bring loads to the team. ireland needs to play. swp needs to sit out. rsc is not fit. jonno could do with some playing time. petrov must wonder what he has done wrong. robbie returning will give us that edge too. what an embarrassment of riches we have.

anyone agree that zabaleta is not up to it?

It's not only about the players. It's about tactics, work load, grit, passion ...

First and foremost the tactics and the system. Hughes needs to sit down and see which system and which players were winning combination. Past four league games we have been using Hughes' favourite system of two midfielders sitting deep and efectively four players (two strikers and wingers) doing ALL the attacking. We haven't managed to win any of those games.

I agree. 4-3-3 is the way to go. It's very difficult for opposing teams as players are constantly changing round.

4-4-2 is way too predictable and easier to stop. Hughes in my opinion pissed 19m up the wall with RSC. I could think of plenty of other strikers who are way better value for that kind of dosh.

Petrov has more than earned his place in the team and if there aren't any other underlying issues (injured for example) as to why he didn't start then it's an absolute disgrace. Surely other players are looking at the Petrov situation and thinking "Fucking hell, looks like Hughes doesn't pick on merit, why should I be arsed?"

SWP has been rather poor of late in my opinion and Hughes should definitely play Weiss instead of him.

Ireland should be played more advanced.

I'd also perhaps look at dropping Lescott for Kompany.

Johnson should start coming into games second half to build up his match fitness.

[Geo123]

Agree with most edge said except dont think weiss is the answer, the system is to rigid not the players,

[Dameerto]

Kompany was as bad as Lescott today - his passing/distribution was crap.

[Wonderwall]

Kompany was as bad as Lescott today - his passing/distribution was crap.

also looked like Kompany was running in treacle at times, he is quick once he has built up his speed but he is awful from a standing start. We were lucky he didnt cost us a couple of goals today with his poor decision making.

[david yearsley]

Are you taking the piss what options ?

Ffs he could start by playing our best side, organising them and having a game plan that deviates from get the ball and lob it in to the box.

Says it all that players like Steve Ireland and Robinho apparently have no future, whilst the clearly limping RSC is first name on the team sheet, a sign of things to come.

I think he is in on borrowed time,fcuking strange that we sign world class players and they start playing like a bag off shit under Hughes,unbelievabley they have all gone backward under his management, they have already peaked

Ade and Toure weren´t fit mate so he couldn´t play our best 11

[Niall Quinns Discopants]

Are you taking the piss what options ?

Ffs he could start by playing our best side, organising them and having a game plan that deviates from get the ball and lob it in to the box.

Says it all that players like Steve Ireland and Robinho apparently have no future, whilst the clearly limping RSC is first name on the team sheet, a sign of things to come.

I think he is in on borrowed time,fcuking strange that we sign world class players and they start playing like a bag off shit under Hughes,unbelievabley they have all gone backward under his management, they have already peaked

Ade and Toure weren´t fit mate so he couldn´t play our best 11

Are you taking the mickey? We have spent 250m on players and have fucking massive squad. So the explanation why we can't give Birmingham a game is that we have couple of injuries.

Why THE FUCK did we spend 17m on Santa Cruz if he can't even deputise for Adebayor against fucking Birmingham??

[edge275]

Are you taking the piss what options ?

Ffs he could start by playing our best side, organising them and having a game plan that deviates from get the ball and lob it in to the box.

Says it all that players like Steve Ireland and Robinho apparently have no future, whilst the clearly limping RSC is first name on the team sheet, a sign of things to come.

I think he is in on borrowed time,fcuking strange that we sign world class players and they start playing like a bag off shit under Hughes,unbelievabley they have all gone backward under his management, they have already peaked

Ade and Toure weren´t fit mate so he couldn´t play our best 11

Are you taking the mickey? We have spent 250m on players and have fucking massive squad. So the explanation why we can't give Birmingham a game is that we have couple of injuries.

Why THE FUCK did we spend 17m on Santa Cruz if he can't even deputise for Adebayor against fucking Birmingham??

I believe it was 19m actually. Just think we sold Anelka for 7m and bought Santa Crutches for 19m.

[Blue2]

One change would be never to play that useless piece of shit RSC again for starters.

[bluej]

Our distribution from the back needs improving so much - well not improving but being more consistent. The few chances we created were from playing the ball from the back and releasing Bellamy, SWP, Tevez. The amount of times Given sent it long and no where near to RSC it was ridiculous.

[Robinho_Is_GOD]

forget tactics Hughes needs to go, Hughes and tactics don't go together Hughes tactics put 11 men on the field and hpoe we win

[blackburnblue]

forget tactics Hughes needs to go, Hughes and tactics don't go together Hughes tactics put 11 men on the field and hpoe we win

do us all a favour pal and do one......

[Robinho_Is_GOD]

forget tactics Hughes needs to go, Hughes and tactics don't go together Hughes tactics put 11 men on the field and hpoe we win

do us all a favour pal and do one......

So you want Hughes to stay you must be a rag, all us true CITY fans want him gone.Our last 6 managers did not have 200m to spend and they got the sack playing shit just like we are playing now.

[Douglas Higginbottom]

Haha nice to see RIG back he really does raise a laugh when you most need it.

So I decided to post on this thread out of them all. As is well known I like to be positive whenever possible but at the same time I think I am fairly realistic about where we are and what's going on. Obviously on the positive side we are not losing games which we would have done last year when not playing well but I fear there are a few negatives which are getting a full airing on here.

The last 3 away game draws in isolation haven't been bad results really unless you have the belief that just because we have spent zillions we should smash almost any other team.If I remember correctly 3 managers in a row ( O'Neil , Martinez and now McLeish) have heaped praise onto their team saying how excellently that have played etc etc and yet we havent lost!!

What is concerning though is that we haven't posed enough of a threat in these games. OK we have a few chances and some other situations which just lack a final pass. We seem to be fairly ok on the wings but very little is happening down the middle. Ade hasn't been in good form after his lay off , RSC isn't fully ready yet and really needs somebody playing close with him and Tevez... well it isn't quite happening for him yet either. He does some good stuff but if he is to be considered a central strike partner he needs to be up there a lot more.

If the front 2 in a 4.4.2 system arent playing well there is a problem especially when the 2 midfield players don't really get alongside and past them much if at all. As I and many others have said before I don't think 4.4.2 suits our players but if we stick with it we need miles better performances from the front 2 plus I would say a different playmaking central midfielder , namely Stevie.

There has been all the talk about the team gelling but for me the gelling is more about the manager finding out about the players we have and the best way to use them. So far not so good on that front.

And also irrespective of the system we play I want to see braver team selections. Form and fitness should count for a lot. Players out of form should be replaced if the sub is in good form and the same should happen if the player isn't fully fit. Maybe he has to do more of that and we might see Weiss quite soon.

[mcfc1632]

clearly kolo and ade will bring loads to the team. ireland needs to play. swp needs to sit out. rsc is not fit. jonno could do with some playing time. petrov must wonder what he has done wrong. robbie returning will give us that edge too. what an embarrassment of riches we have.

anyone agree that zabaleta is not up to it?

well for me Zab is the 1st name on the team sheet - just to keep Micah on his arse - but he had a shocker today and I really think that we need a top RB in January