Hughes on the Brink.

Manchester City manager Mark Hughes is on the brink of the sack.  Reports from sources within the Club would suggest that Hughes has 3 matches at the most to save his job and that even if he were to get results, it may be just a stay of execution.

On the heels of 8 draws in 9 matches then a humiliating loss to Tottenham on Wednesday, City's owners are said to be growing more impatient with the lack of progress.

It is no secret that Executive Chairman Garry Cook has had contact with the agent of Guus Hiddink and there is no denying the fact that the City hierarchy have great admiration for Jose Mourinho.  However, Inter Milan would be very reluctant to let go of Mourinho mid-season and Hiddink is set to renew his deal with Russia.

Even so, given the lack of managers available, Mark Hughes is in no way safe anymore.  Sitting 8th in the table, 6 points behind 4th, City find themselves slipping further behind in the Champions League race.

Manchester City face Sunderland today with the aim of redemption after the embarrassment in London on Wednesday.  City players left White Hart Lane in a rage after the 3-0 loss with numerous reports of a dressing room shouting match between many of the players.  No reports of physical altercations have arisen, but many fingers were pointed around the room.

Only time will tell if Hughes has a job after the match today, or if the City players have the pride to come back with fire and determination against Sunderland.

One thing is for sure, a poor result against Sunderland will most likely mean that the trapdoor will drop from under Hughes.

Hughes' Reponse to FA - Bluewatch Style.

Dear FA Official

In my post match comments I made reference to "laughable" decisions by referee Twat Mark Clattenburg. My explanation for these comments are as follows.

1) Boltons 1st goal is clearly offside, Adebayor's new son could see that so it makes me laugh that 3 grown men qualified to referee the best football league in the world could not!

2) The throw in that Bolton ultimately scored their 3rd goal from should have been a city throw, whilst not a big decision its was another clear error by the three blind mice referee team.

3) To book Bellemy for a "Dive" suggests that Mark Clattenburg could clearly see that no contact had been made, I would suggest that the decsion is utter bollocks, It is the opinion of myself, Manchester City and our legal team that given the proof backing up our claim that one can only laugh at the low levels of expertise on display by Mr Clattenburg.

Thank you for taking the time to send me that letter to me, no doubt you will find in favour of your beloved referee and I expect my fine and slap on the wrist at your earliest convenience. Please forward Mr Clattenburg's explanation of these decisions with that letter for my amusement.

With little regards,
Leslie Mark Hughes

Mr Hughes if for any reason you waste your time reading this drivel please feel free to copy and paste this as your response for only £47.

Most Important 20 Days of the season?

So right now as I write this I am looking at the table and we are sitting just two points behind the final top four place with a game in hand over all the teams above us, except Arsenal.

In the next four games (three league and a League Cup Quarter Final) could see our season effectively over and possibly the consideration by the owner to change the man at the helm of the good ship City.

We start that period against Liverpool at Anfield. It is true that Liverpool have not been playing well this season so far but it is also true that they have the capability to turn weaker teams over when they are playing at their best and it is also true that our defensive players need to step up their game if we are to get anything from this game.

Meanwhile, the other fixtures have Chelsea, Scum and Spurs home to Wolves, Everton and Wigan and Arsenal and Villa travel to Sunderland and Burnley respectively.

The rest of fixtures in this period see us back at home at Eastlands starting with Hull City. Now last season we turned them over, winning 5-1. I think it is going to be a bit tighter this time around. Phil Browns job is on the line for sure and our ruthlessness in front of goal has not been as we would like.

With that said, before the fixture last season we had only picked up a single point in the previous four games so anything can happen and it really is vitally important to pick up three points from this game. Part of this reason is because on paper it is the easiest of the period but also the other fixtures see Arsenal host Chelsea and Villa host Spurs.

Points will be dropped by at least two if not all these teams that week. Scum travel to Portsmouth in the other fixture.

Next comes the League Cup quarter final and we host Arsenal. This is certainly a winnable trophy for City and having already beaten our opponents once this season we should certainly be confident we can do it again. All of our top six rivals play in the competition so there will be no teams resting for the final game of the quartet selected.

Finally, we play who possibly will lift the Premier League trophy this season, Chelsea. Currently sitting atop the crop with 30pts it is hard to see how City will win this game on current form. In fact you have to go back to April 30th 1994 when we last got a point from this fixture (Although we did beat them in the same season 1-0 at home in the League Cup). A league win at home, however, last happened in 1991. Megson and White scored the goals as City won 2-1. That season we finished 5th and a place and three points above Scum. Interesting note we also got knocked out of the League cup at home to Arsenal, although it was in Round 3.

The rest of the fixtures see Arsenal and Villa at home to Stoke and Hull while Scum and Spurs travel to West Ham and Everton.

In conclusion in twenty days we could be out of the cup and with an increasing gap in points between us and the top teams. It will then be interesting if the owner looks at making a change before the transfer window opens, or even limiting the January funds with the view for a change at the end of the season?

Whatever the long term future of the club I think our position will get worse before it gets better. Your thoughts?

City - A Season in Stats.

Blackburn Rovers away W2-0.
Last season we tied the game 2-2 and the season before we lost 1-0. Blackburn this season have also beat Aston Villa, although they have lost to Arsenal, Chelsea, United and Everton all those games were away. The last time we beat Blackburn at their ground was in August 2003 with Tarnet, Anelka and Barton scoring our goals in a 3-2 win

Wolverhampton Wndrs home W1-0:
The last time we played this fixture it ended in a 3-3 draw back in 03/04. Everton and Villa have also played this team this season and only got draws. Arsenal are the only ‘big four’ to have played them so far this year and that resulted in an Arsenal win.

Portsmouth away W1-0.
Portsmouth really have been stinking up the league this season but in the last two seasons in this fixture City lost 2-0 and tied 0-0. In fact you have to back to November 2004 to see the last time City beat Portsmouth away from home.

Arsenal home W4-2
Probably our stand out result from the season so far! Tottenham and Everton have both lost (3-0 and 6-1). United is the only other team to have beaten them this season. We did beat them 3-0 last season, with Robbie, Ireland and Sturridge on the score sheet that day.

Manchester United away L3-4
Lost in the 96th minute in what was a controversial game. United have also lost to Burnley, Liverpool and Chelsea this campaign. Everyone remembers the last time we beat United on their ground. Munich anniversary, Sven, Vassell and Benjanis dreadlock won it that day. To date, it still remains, our only loss.

West Ham United home W3-1
A good win against a team that Villa lost 2-1 to and Arsenal could only get a point against. Again last season we also won, this time 3-0.

Aston Villa away D1-1
The start of our ‘slump’, though at the time it was considered a good result. Liverpool and Chelsea have both lost to this team this season.

Wigan Athletic away D1-1
Wigan have been a bogey team for us in recent years and you have to go back to October 1998 and a single goal from Shaun Goater for the last time we beat them on their turf. (Although we spent a while in different divisions). In fact that point was only the sixth in nine games, home or away.

Fulham home D2-2
These guys have beaten the likes of Everton and Liverpool this campaign. Although City were 2-0 up at one point in this game it wasn’t too long ago when in the same fixture we were 2-0 up and ended up losing 3-2. In fact the last two seasons have seen us pick up zero points from the home fixture and only three (including this seasons)

Birmingham City away D0-0
Were robbed of all three points at Liverpool by a flying Ngog today. This team has been somewhat of a yo-yo team recently. The last time they were in the Premier League they beat us at their place 3-1 before getting relegated.

Burnley home D3-3
Not much of a recent history to compare with this team. This season, however they have beaten United and Everton. The last time we played them on our turf we did turn them over pretty good, Wanchope got a hat-trick and Berkovic and Huckerby added the icing in a 5-1 win.

So, for those of you that want to know, based on last season results we have actually gained (in comparable games) an extra 8 points on to the 50 we got last season. (10 of those points were gained from the relegated teams, Newcastle, Boro and West Brom). So if you take those points away then we are left with 48. Then add the results from promoted teams and our points total would now stand at 53. Our next three games Liverpool (A), Hull (H), and Chelsea (H) will need to give us four points in order to keep on track. Fixtures after that, leading up to and including Christmas see us facing Bolton(A), Spurs(A), Sunderland(H) Stoke(H) and Wolves(A). Obviously we didn’t play Wolves last season but from the other four games last season we only got six points.

Now just on a game by game basis, last season after the first 11 games of the season we only had 13 points and it took us until boxing day to get past the 20pt mark. The season before was a bit better with us passing the 20pt mark on October 20th, Although we would only get another 33pts in the next 27 games!