Citizens Talk Manchester City Blog

The news that hogged the headlines today was the shocking dismissal of Mark Hughes as Manchester City manager. Announced after leading the team to a 4-3 defeat of Sunderland at the City of Manchester Stadium, the (ex) gaffer was promptly dumped unceremoniously by our Arab owners and replaced by the Italian Roberto Mancini. Most important to note is that it has revealed the true faces of the people owning and running Manchester City now - they are quite clueless and this will be a musical chairs thing for sure. Hughes only had 2 defeats in the whole season - yes, the team had a uninspiring run of 7-8 draws but you cannot expect to bring in so many new players and have them produce immediately. Many people claim that Chelsea did just that when Abramovich and Mourinho arrived, but before the Portuguese, he had guys like Ranieri put a team together, and added just 2-3 players to turn things around. The majority of them played together for a few seasons prior to that. Mark Hughes should have been given more time. He clearly could get the best out of many players except for Robinho. The Brazilian should have been let go and really is not a marquee player by any means. What has he truly done in Europe apart from a few party tricks and then going psychotic at each club? Be prepared for Mancini to go as well at the end of the season if the team doesn't qualify for the Champions League, and if they do, Hughes laid the groundwork for him. It is sad to see this happening but what did we really expect from our club like Manchester City anyway, right?

Roberto Mancini is in for a tough time. In the first place, I'm shocked we went for a guy that has been desperately hawking himself to just about every club available since he was fired from Inter Milan. Also, he has no experience in the Premiership and now he needs to lead one to the Champions League. Ok, Mourinho didn't have any experience either but he won the Champions League with Porto. Mourinho won three Serie A titles in a row in a Serie A that did not have Juventus and a depleted AC Milan, the first title was given to them by a judge and the rest is history. They also promptly signed all the players who left Juventus after they were relegated. Basically, in a no-contest league. In Europe, he fared badly with Inter. They hardly got anywhere. This guy is unproven despite what his resume shows. He might also struggle with strong personalities. For now we shall back him as fans should, but I do not have a good feeling about Mancini in charge.

As for the game against Sunderland - what a cracker! It was classic City and good thing it ended in our favour. 4-3 to the Citizens and the goals were great. Credit to Sunderland for having a real go at us and we only just about shaded it in terms of a deserving result. Also a good way to sign off for Hughes. I hope he finds a good club to rebuild his career. Maybe Liverpool might be looking.

Here are the goals for you in case you missed them Man City 4 Sunderland 3: