Without Craig Bellamy, Vincent Kompany, Wayne Bridge and Shaun Wright-Phillips because of injury, City were a mish-mash yet they recovered from a sloppy start to take the lead thanks to Stephen Ireland's deflected long-range effort in the 28th minute.
It did not help City's cause that Richard Dunne, Micah Richards, Nedum Onuoha and Nigel de Jong were unable to avoid giving away possession with regularity. Despite City's lead Hughes sensed what was coming and cut a frustrated figure as he spent most of the match stalking his technical area with a scowl engraved on his face.
James Ducker, The Times
Hughes retains the backing of Sheikh Mansour, and if the City owner has any sense he will stick with the person he described as Britain’s “most talented young manager” when he took over the club last September. At the very least he will give him a full summer in which to shape a squad that the Welshman believes is not cut out mentally or physically for the rigours of the Barclays Premier League, but City’s season is in real danger of petering out.
Tim Rich, The Independent
Hughes argued that the requirements of Thursday's second leg of their Uefa Cup quarter-final meant Robinho had to be rested but there were other reasons why he should not have started. It was December when the Brazilian last scored and in game after game, especially away from Eastlands, he has sleepwalked through proceedings. Off the field, he seems a man apart, just as he was at Real Madrid.
Mark Ogden, Daily Telegraph
With seven consecutive victories behind them at Eastlands, there was little to suggest that City would surrender that record in such sorry fashion against Fulham, but so much for the form book. City’s leggy performance was perhaps unsurprising, but they weren’t just bad, they were awful.
Ian Ladyman, Daily Mail
City’s home record may be impressive this season but Mark Hughes’s players returned from a UEFA Cup defeat in Hamburg on Friday looking like a squad who perhaps did not have a lot more to give. So it proved.
Tired, without confidence and now lacking in numbers, too. All the ingredients were already in place for a performance like this.
In all honesty, they could not have made it any easier for Fulham if they had tried.
Danny Pugsley, Bitter and Blue
Tiredness (both mental and physical) can be cited and is justified to a degree, but the manner in which we conceded the goals was so frustrating and the defensive solidity that coincided with the arrival of Shay Given has dissipated. Going forward, apart from the tireless Stephen Ireland (backing up his own recent comments) we lacked the drive and creativity to close the game out and in some respects the ease in which Fulham came back to take all three points was ridiculously easy, having similar amounts of space and time in going forward that Hamburg enjoyed on Thursday.
3 comments:
"Belief is the key. Its too easy to believe things aren't going your way. You have to fight for those things."
this is a post game quote from Roy Hodgson. If the second sentence doesn't summarize the Man City mindset over the last 10 years I don't know what does.
This is the biggest obstacle facing any Manager who comes to City. Self doubt has become endemic to this club. Its become part of the culture. Hughes has rightly tried to address this, Robinho, Stevie Ireland and now Dunne have addressed this issue as well. It has become a cancer and it needs to be eradicated. The problem is how do you overcome this mindset in one season when its been prevalent for nearly a decade if not longer? Not an easy task is it?
Maybe part of the solution is that we as fans have to rid ourselves of this mindset. I personally have uttered the phrase "Typical City" far too much and far too often. Chants such as "you don't know what you're doing" are not only pointless but disruptive and only serve to foster the negativity both on and off the field.
We as fans have to always try and lift the team, especially when the going gets tough. a crowd that is 100 % behind the club becomes a 12th player. While City fans are some of the most loyal supporters around, Eastlands is not the most intimidating ground for clubs to visit. Look at how quiet we become when we concede a goal. if anything we have to become louder.
One of the things i think everyone overlooked in the loss to Hamburg was how vocal and partisan the crowd was for the entire 90 minutes. look at the body language of the Hamburg players, the crowd literally put a fire up their collective ass. We need to take it take it to that level on thursday.
C'mon you blues! BELIEVE!
Rubbish absolute rubbish today, I couldn't bring myself to do my post match until tomorrow because I didn't think it was worthy of my time on easter after that performamce.
be in no doubt if the fans are up for it on thursday we have a great chance of showing everyone city are a genuine force and shutting up a lot of doubters,get behind the boys lets be that extra man that we clearly need, sing your hearts out boys and lets have one of those nights that been a blue is all about.
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