VK on his way back

More good news:

Hughes said: "Vincent had his first training session with the group yesterday, and he was the star man.

"So he must have been doing a lot of technical work while he was away. We were pulling his leg about the quality of his play. But joking apart, it's a credit to him as a professional.

"We've watched him while he has been training with the physios, and they have done a great job with him. He looks strong, he looks fit and he's raring to go...

The manager said: "Vincent is similar to Michael Johnson in terms of where he's at. He needs matches to get him up to speed, but he looks in great fettle."

Like many quality players, Vincent Kompany will not come straight into the side. But his versatility plays in his favour. With Nedum Onuoha injured, he is our principal back-up centre-back. And, with Pablo Zabaleta currently in position of the right back slot, he must be the principal back-up destructive midfielder. So he's only one injury - whether it be to Kolo Touré, Joleon Lescott or Nigel de Jong - away from the side. And then there's the possibility that Hughes will want both Kompany and de Jong and Barry in midfield - Anfield on November 21 perhaps. So it shouldn't be too long before we see him again.

MJ back from the dead

Well, in a sense. City's prodigal son played 45 minutes for the reserves today, as did the £18m man Roque Santa Cruz. It was a behind-closed-doors match against Wrexham, as reported by the invaluable Gavin Cooper:

With the Manchester Senior Cup game being postponed and the uncertainty of next week's Premier Reserve league game happening on its scheduled date due to Liverpool's Champions League commitments the need to arrange a game for Roque Santa Cruz and Michael Johnson was quite important and so due to Mark Hughes' close links with Dean Saunders it was a logical solution to arranging a game at quite short notice.

City's goals came from Jack Redshaw and a brace from young Slovakian Robbie Mak who also set the other goal up as well. As the scoreline shows however City did not have it all their own way as Wrexham certainly gave City a good game.

Injury update

The three long-term absentees: Roque Santa Cruz, Michael Johnson and Vincent Kompany - are all looking better, according to the manager:

"Carlos got 90 minutes under his belt without a reaction, so we're pleased about that. In the next 10 days we should get Roque Santa Cruz and Michael Johnson back, fit & well,

"Roque won't be featuring against Fulham, but the likelihood is that he will play a part in the next game if we can get him involved.

"Michael Johnson is shaping up really well, and Vinnie Kompany is way ahead of his schedule so he is going to be an option for us very soon."

Bad news, though, for Nedum Onuoha:

"Unfortunately Nedum is injured at the moment," the boss confirmed. "He's pulled a thigh during the reserves game last week, he played around 55 minutes but felt a bit of discomfort. There is a tear in there and he will be out for three or four weeks."

Positive injury update

Good news regarding our injured trio of Roque Santa Cruz, Michael Johnson and Vincent Kompany. Mark Hughes talked about all three of them today, saying of RSC:

“We're happy with him, as I've said before we have to give him the time he needs, and he is working really hard. He's desperate to play, but we're holding him back a bit because we have a break at the moment.

“The internationals actually come at a good time for him, psychologically he's not missing any more games but he's adding to his fitness. When Roque is ready he will be involved, we want to get him in a City shirt and out there playing because he is going to be a big asset for us. With our options up front, we can give him the time he needs.

“We're looking at the long-term with him, if we introduced him too early we could still lose him on a longer basis. Roque understands our thinking over this, he's a bit frustrated but we will all benefit from it.”

Of VK:

“Vinnie’s doing well; we are having to try to keep the reins on him too,” reported the boss. “The bone in the toe needs the time it deserves to heal, if you don't do that then the player is compromised. It will heal in its own time, but he is pain-free and raring to go.”

And of MJ:

“We're positive, Michael saw a specialist a few weeks back, was very happy afterwards and since then we have been building up his fitness. The approach we are taking with Michael is that we want to give him games to give him a base level of fitness,” explained Hughes.

“He's been out for a year; if we rush him back he could break down. We'll get him involved with the reserves, and if we get him and the other two up and running in the next month or so it would be like three new signings for us.”

Given how many good players we have on the bench now our competition for places is only going to get more intense when these three get back.

Injury update

Hughes speaking in the M.E.N. about RSC:

"Roque went to a specialist yesterday and he was really pleased with his progress," said manager Mark Hughes.

" We are talking about two to three weeks for him. I don't like to put games as a target because it's difficult to predict but I imagine he will be available round about the time of the United game or West Ham after that."

And Vincent Kompany:

"The surgeon who did the operation on Vinny is very pleased," said Hughes.

"Fitness-wise there is no problem because he is a good, dedicated pro, and as soon as he gets the green light he will be back very, very quickly. There is a little way to go but he is progressing really well."

I got tickets this morning for Crystal Palace on Thursday and was hoping to see Roque Santa Cruz's debut but it looks like he won't be back in time. Will have to make do with Bellamy and Tévez instead. I do fear for Kompany though: neither Onuoha nor de Jong started at Ewood Park, and Kompany is less good than either of those two in their respective positions.

Zabba injured

It doesn't sound possible, but Pablo Zabaleta, City's man of steel, has finally picked up an injury. And it looks like it could be serious:

PABLO Zabaleta is a doubt for the rest of the season after injuring his hamstring against West Brom.

The Argentinian, who has been used in midfield for much of this campaign, played at right back against the Baggies in the 4-2 win but has picked up a muscle problem.

Had we still been in the UEFA Cup, this would have been a disaster. But with only weekly league games left, and so with Nigel de Jong always eligible, we can probably cope with it. Micah Richards will return at right back, with de Jong, Vincent Kompany, Stephen Ireland and the resurgent Elano to pick from in central midfield.

But thirty nine starts in defence and central midfield (particularly given the running he gets through), in his first season in England is still quite an achievement. He will certainly finish on the podium for my Player of the Season.

Injured players returning

Mark Hughes is positive:

"Daniel [Sturridge] and Benjani are at about the same level and they are just ahead of Martin and Michael," Hughes told Key 103.

"They are all coming back at the right time for us. They will introduce an energy and enthusiasm to the squad.

"We have a number of players coming back now who are itching to get into the side and that can only be a good thing for us."

Taken alongside the news that Sturridge played and scored for the England U20s last night, he must surely be in contention for the Arsenal game. And given Bozhinov's ineligibility, Hamburg away in eight days time.

Whom to drop?

Mark Hughes has a big decision to make. For all our appearance of a settled side in recent months, various injuries, suspensions and regulations have combined to save the manager from dropping a front line player. We are yet to have a match when all of these players have been available: Bridge, Dunne, Onuoha, Richards, Zabaleta, de Jong, Kompany, Ireland, Robinho and SWP. I've not included Given or the strikers, because their positions are self-contained - there's only slot in the team, they can't play anywhere else in our current system, and no-one else can play there.

I know this sounds unlikely but it's true. To move backwards in time since :

Sunderland - Bridge and Ireland injured.
AaB (a) - de Jong ineligible.
Chelsea - Kompany and de Jong injured.
AaB (h) - de Jong ineligible, Kompany injured.
Aston Villa - Richards, Robinho injured.
West Ham - SWP suspended.
København (h) - de Jong ineligible.
Liverpool - SWP suspended.
København (a) - de Jong ineligible.
Portsmouth - Richards injured, SWP suspended, Dunne suspended.
Boro - Dunne suspended.
Stoke - Dunne suspended.
Newcastle - Dunne suspended.

So as you can see, one key absentee in each of the last thirteen games has allowed Hughes to rotate the players (principally by moving Zabaleta and Kompany between midfield and defence as appropriate) without dropping a big name. But for the Arsenal game on Saturday, we may well be in the position of having all of those ten players available. And providing that we stick with Bellamy or Bozhinov alone up front, we can only pick nine of them. So who will it be? Here are the options. (I've used Bellamy rather than Bozhinov up front, but naturally you could switch Boji in and everything else would still hold):

1) To drop Richards


Maybe harsh on Richards, who has played well. But Zabaleta is probably a better right back than he is. And this allows us play three specialist central midfielders.

2) To drop Kompany


He's had a fantastic first season in England, but has noticeably struggled for form and fitness recently. Zabaleta, Ireland and de Jong are all in better nick at the moment. But leaving him out gives us a midfield lacking height though - it's the middle three from the Fratton Park defeat.

3) To drop Onuoha


This is probably quite unlikely. Onuoha is having his best ever sequence of games at the moment, at centre back alongside Dunne. The only reason to do this would be if Hughes fancied Kompany ahead of Onuoha at centre back, which is questionable on current form.

4) To drop Zabaleta


Moving Zabaleta into midfield was done, amongst other reasons, to help get the best out of Richards. And it may be that Richards has done so well that he can't be dropped. And if Kompany and de Jong are preferred to Zabba in central midfield, he may well find himself on the bench.

5) To drop de Jong


This is the UEFA Cup team. But it would be stupid to miss the chance to rest some of our UEFA Cup-eligible players in the league when we have an £18million Dutch international on the bench.

6) To drop Robinho


Heavily rumoured in the press, but generally in conjunction with 'Petrov to return' stories. But how about doing it without Martin Petrov? It's the team from Anfield but with SWP in for Robinho. Could be an option at the Emirates?

As you can tell, none of these options are much better than the others. They all involve leaving out a player who deserves to play, while maintaining a similar quality and balance to the side. It's for this reason that I don't think Hughes will reach any long term decision to this question. There will be games when certain options are better than others, players who will need a rest, and all that. It's called rotation: Sir Alex Ferguson does it quite a lot, and he seems to know what he's doing. For the Emirates on Saturday, I suppose it depends on the fitness of SWP, Kompany and Robinho - all away on international duty. But should every one come back 100% fit, I imagine I'd go for option 2, and give Vincent Kompany a rest. He's looked tired for some time, and we really need him fresh for his return to the HSH Nordbank Arena next Thursday. And Arsenal are not a side against which a big physical presence in midfield is a must to compete. But for Fulham the following Sunday? Who knows.

Richards out of U21 squad

From TheFA.com:

Gabriel Agbonlahor and Micah Richards have been forced to withdraw from the England Under-21 squad.

Both players were carrying hamstring injuries when they met up with the squad and will return to their respective clubs as a precautionary measure.

No replacements will be called up ahead of the Norway fixture and a squad of 17 players will now travel to Sandjiford later today.

So Micah's added to the list with Vincent Kompany and Valeri Bozhinov of City players who aren't playing their international game on Saturday. I guess I need to find something else to do with my weekend now.

Some good injury news

For a change.

Johnson, out since September with a groin/abdominal injury, is "feeling better and doing work on stabilising an imbalance. His pain level is down, and we're hoping to get him up to speed quickly. He might join in on Monday, barring setbacks".

Petrov, who started the campaign so well before a damaged knee on international duty required surgery, was initially ruled out for the season.

Hughes said: "He's very good fitness-wise, he's a fit guy. He's going back to the surgeon shortly for an update to see if he's ahead of schedule, then we can start getting him back in first-team sessions again."

Benjani's also on the way back, but I'm less excited about that because unlike Petrov and Johnson he's not very good.