Blackburn 0 Manchester City 2: THAT CRUEL Stretford End banner flaunting the number of years since Manchester City won the league championship may be ticking over for a year or two yet, but Mark Hughes left Ewood Park on Saturday night looking like a man who knows that, at last, he has a proper football team on his hands.
His new-look City side attacked with assurance and energy and, perhaps more important, successfully resisted Blackburn’s strenuous attempts to fight their way back into the game after going behind to an early strike from Emmanuel Adebayor, one of Hughes’s expensive new acquisitions.
Stephen Ireland, a product of the Eastlands academy, completed the victory with an impudent stoppage-time goal in front of the 7,000 fans packing the away end and spoke afterwards of a transformation in attitudes effected during the close season, when Hughes broke up the Brazilian clique in the dressingroom by dispatching Elano to Turkey and allowing Jo to remain on loan at Everton.
“The difference between this season and the last is the team spirit,” the 22-year-old Irishman said. “From the moment we arrived back for pre-season the manager has been drumming it in to us about how we had to be mentally stronger this season. He said we had to have a better attitude and he was right.
“There were some bad habits in this squad last season. The manager and coaches were trying to get us out of them but because we were in Europe and had so many games and so much travelling, I always felt as though we just didn’t have enough time on the training field and away from match situations to sort it out and put things right.
“What he has done this time is get players who have the right attitude. They are quality players of high calibre but they are also winners and that’s the difference. These guys are inspirational. There is a hunger there and a desire and they have the right approach to everything.”
Arsenal regulars will raise an eyebrow at the idea of Adebayor being among those instrumental in building team spirit. But the Togo striker took his goal with an imperious flourish, worked hard to make his presence felt in defence, and did enough to suggest that he might flourish in an atmosphere where he will be treated as a superstar.
Kolo Toure, another arrival from Arsenal, also made a positive impression in partnership with Richard Dunne, the club captain, who defended with his characteristic mixture of lion-hearted blocking and potentially catastrophic clumsiness in front of the superb Shay Given. Dunne will surely be the one to step down if, as still seems likely, Hughes succeeds in persuading Everton to part with Joleon Lescott.
Dunne, however, insists he does not expect to leave the club as speculation persists that he may be surplus to requirements. “Nothing has been said to me about leaving the club,” he said. “I’ve got three years left on my contract and I am very happy. This is an exciting time at City. There is a real competition for places and I’m prepared to fight for mine.”
Dunne has been linked with a number of Premier League sides this summer and reports suggest Steve Bruce remains determined to take the player to Sunderland.
Hughes remains confident that Everton can be convinced to part with Lescott.
Hughes added that he was looking forward to the possibility of pairing Adebayor with Roque Santa Cruz, absent through injury on Saturday. His quartet of strikers also includes Craig Bellamy, outstanding against Blackburn, and Carlos Tevez, considered fit enough to play only the last quarter of the game. “There will be opposition where we will have to have a real physical presence,” Hughes said. “Roque can play with the lone striker all day long. Ade can play off people and drop into deeper areas and then go beyond people as well, because he has the pace to do that. Maybe people thought that I was looking for two combinations of a big guy and a small guy, but actually they can all play together because they are all quality players.”
There is also Robinho. Unlucky not to score with two clever shots on Saturday, in the third minute he made an end-to-end run that distracted the Blackburn defence sufficiently for Shaun Wright-Phillips – whose passes created both goals – to delay his square ball to Adebayor for the strike that shaped the game.
By leaving Nigel de Jong on the bench, Hughes placed an extra defensive burden on the shoulders of Gareth Barry, whose decision to opt for City rather than Liverpool may have a considerable impact on the shape of next May’s top six.
“I thought Barry was outstanding,” the manager said. “The midfield got bypassed and we were scrambling for bits and pieces, but he broke up things and was calm in possession. Different opposition will merit five in midfield and one up top. What we have now is the ability to change formation.”
A kind schedule now offers fixtures against Wolves at home and Portsmouth away before the serious business starts with the visit of Arsenal and a trip to Old Trafford – two games in which the strength of City’s new team spirit will receive a rigorous test.
Guardian Service
