Plenty to shout about: Manchester City's manager
Mark Hughes
Manchester
City manager Mark Hughes believes his
expensively-assembled team have passed their first test with a good
start to the Barclays Premier League season.
Hughes spent about £115million in the summer bringing in
Arsenal duo
Emmanuel
Adebayor and Kolo Toure, Manchester
United forward Carlos Tevez, Blackburn
striker Roque Santa Cruz, Everton
defender Joleon Lescott and Aston Villa
midfielder Gareth Barry.
The club's significant financial resources, which come from Abu
Dhabi owner Sheikh Mansour Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, mean expectations
have soared and before the campaign kicked off City were talked
about as being contenders for Champions
League qualification.
Big successes: Emmanuel Adebayor (left) and Gareth
Barry have made solid starts to life at Manchester City
Hughes, who less than 12 months ago was fighting off
questions about his future at Eastlands, knows the critics were
waiting for his side to slip up.
But they have dropped just five points - three of which were in
the controversial last-gasp defeat to city rivals Manchester United
- in seven matches and currently sit fourth in the table with a
game in hand.
'There were a lot of questions - would we be able to gel early
as a team, would so-called egos in the dressing room be able to be
managed - being asked of us before a ball was even kicked,' said
Hughes.
'From our point of view I think we have answered each and every
one of them. We know there is a long way to go but we are pleased
with the start we have because we needed a good start.
'The review we have had of the first phase (of the
season) has been good. There will be more tests ahead of us but I
think we are in good shape.
'When you go through the experience we went through at Old
Trafford it can only help to make the group stronger as a whole. We
know what we are capable of. We have shown glimpses in games where
we have been outstanding but we've not clicked for the full 90
minutes yet.'
Hughes and senior club officials have admitted they have crammed
three years' spending into two transfer windows in an attempt to
get City up to speed with their more established Premier League
rivals.
The manager is confident the players he has brought in are of
the right character to achieve the ambitions of Sheikh Mansour but
has warned they cannot afford to get ahead of themselves despite an
impressive start to the season.
Hughes has also told his squad to ignore the media hype, which
today is linking
Brazil forward Robinho with a January move to Barcelona.
'Everyone realises the people we have brought to the club have
made us stronger physically, technically and mentally - which was
the key thing from my point of view,' added Hughes.
'As a consequence it was inevitable our results would improve
but we have to make sure we are consistent through the whole
season, and given the quality in the squad, I see no reason why we
can't be.
Great form: Craig Bellamy
'With all the media platforms out there everyone wants
to discuss Manchester City so it is difficult to protect the
players but we have used it to our own.
'We've used some of the negative stuff as a positive in terms of
motivation. You shouldn't go too overboard about praise and
negative criticism will always be there and so you shouldn't be too
upset when you see it because you know it is coming.
'But the group we have are knowledgeable and experienced and
they know how it works.'
