This season had a good start for the Citizens with the opening premiership rounds showing Mark Hughes’ side can maybe even enter the title race but incredible run of seven straight Premiership draws started threatening to ruin City’s season. The games against Arsenal and Chelsea were make or break for the City of Manchester outfit and it was the last chance for the team to show they were capable of fighting for honours this term.

Mark Hughes’ men responded in excellent manner to the disappointing run that saw them come under fire from media as they first hammered Arsenal’s second string to reach the Carling Cup semis, before putting a dent into Chelsea’s title race by beating them 2:1 at Eastlands. The two impressive wins have definitely taken some weight off the players’ shoulders and we are all hoping this is a beginning of another good run.

City are now just two points off fourth-placed Tottenham but with a game in hand, which means we are still very much in the race for the fourth place in the standings. The easy fixture list during the Christmas holidays is definitely a good thing since it will give us the opportunity to cement the good position in the standings, provided we don’t lose to Tottenham next Wednesday.

This season already looks like a promising one since we have the chance to win the first major trophy since 1981, while I really believe we have what it takes to break the Big 4. While the starting 11 always looked impressive, Mark Hughes now have players like Bellamy, Johnson, Onuoha, Kompany, Ireland and Zabaleta on the bench, and he definitely won’t hesitate to use any of them if needed.

We can now see Mark Hughes was spot on with almost all signings and that is probably the biggest reason behind good performances this term. I am especially delighted with Gareth Barry and Nigel De Jong, who are both excellent in defence and at the same time very confident on the ball and they help a great deal in the transition phase, which is the most important part of the modern game.

I was very happy to see the character the players showed against Arsenal and Chelsea, and it is this that is often the difference between winning and losing a game. Mark Hughes has to be congratulated with what he’s done with the team so far and I see a top 4 finish as a logical reward for the combined efforts of the players and coach. Online bookmakers seems to concur with Unibet (you can get bonus at Unibet) paying 2.25 on Manchester City to achieve a top 4 finish. I’m certainly gonna take ‘em.

In a recent interview Alex Ferguson told reporters that he felt Manchester City are a “small club” with a “small mentality” and despite the lavish spending from Mark Hughes, he still refuses to accept City as a threat. He also mentioned that all they (city and their fans) can do is talk about United.

Quite hypocritical then from Ferguson who nearly all of the time talks about other clubs.
Real Madrid: “I wouldn’t even sell them a virus.”
Chelsea: “their ageing squad will be struggling for honours next season” (but Ferguson has possibly one of the oldest teams in the league).
Manchester City: “small club, small mentality, not a threat”
And God knows how many insulting quotes about Arsenal and Liverpool there have been over the years. Fergie’s mind games are legendary.

Of course, there is an element of truth in what he’s saying. As I mentioned earlier he claims that all they talk about is United. Well Ferguson saying that has prompted me, and plenty of journalists and bloggers to write about him and comment on what he said. So he scores a point on that front.

The interview came in the wake of the massive billboard put up in Manchester depicting Carlos Tevez in sky blue and bearing the message “Welcome to Manchester.” Highlighting the fact that Manchester Utd don’t actually play in Manchester but the neighbouring Trafford. And that Carlos Tevez despite being an ex Utd player is very welcome at Eastlands, the club adding him to the current list of ten strikers. This wasn’t the work of some mad City fan but the club’s marketing department itself. And a very good job too.

And yet despite him saying that he doesn’t think City’s a threat there is no doubt that this marketing stunt definitely hurt him. Hughes said in an interview the very next day that the billboard was “supposed to annoy Ferguson.” No doubt this is just the start of some very interesting mind games between Hughes and Fergie over the coming season. It will be an interesting one on the pitch as well with City having their strongest squad in a long while and United’s ageing line up weakened by the departures of Ronaldo and Tevez.

Something Sir Alex can never resist commenting on is transfers. Mainly other clubs dealings. Of Emmanuel Adebayor he said; “When someone offers you that kind of money, it is a big attraction to people nowadays. That is the reason they have gone there. At the last minute, from what I can gather, either Emmanuel Adebayor or his agent phoned us (united) after they had agreed a deal with City and then did the same with Chelsea. He was desperate to get to either Chelsea or us.” Of Carlos Tevez he said; “They think taking Carlos Tevez away from Manchester United is a triumph. It is poor stuff.” And of City in general; “Do you know what City’s biggest triumph is? It’s getting those players there. I don’t know if they will do anything with them. It is not easy to get into that top four, so the biggest success of all is to just get the players there. They might not get beyond that.”

In the rest of the interview Ferguson concerned himself unsurprisingly with Arsenal. He can never resist it! And then, for once, he talked about his club and his players. He mentioned the obvious weaknesses they have in their ageing midfield and how they were going to replace his beloved Ronaldo. .

Hopefully then, City and all ten of our strikers can get one over United next season and reach their dream of a place in the top four. It will be very interesting to see how the most experienced manager in the premier league will take it if fourth place falls to City.

But, of course, we’re not without fault ourselves. Hughes seems to be relying far too heavily on attacking players and now that the John Terry deal has fallen through we are going after Joleon Lescott and Kolo Toure. Both are proving elusive. Let’s just hope that Hughes has a good defender on mind. And please, no more strikers!

This weeks signings of Tevez and Adebayor (with Terry still a faint possibility) have installed a belief in me that with the right attitude and some much needed luck, Manchester City can once again become one of England’s elite clubs

Cheesy, yes. But its true. We have one of the best squads we’ve had in many years and in Mark Hughes a manager who (so far) seems to know what he’s doing and has a very professional approach to things (although I know there is plenty of debate on that issue.)

One by one City are weakening the “top four.” We took Tevez from Utd without them getting a penny, Adebayor from Arsenal (who’ll probably prove to be our biggest rivals next year for fourth place), we’re still in discussions over Terry and we pinched Gareth Barry from under Liverpool’s nose. All these sides will be fielding weaker sides when the season kicks off again. Not to mention the fact that we can blow all of these clubs out the water when it comes to transfers.

The other managers, too, are taking notice. Ancelotti and the Chelsea hierarchy are taking our Terry bid seriously (something that never happened with kaka) showing that they regard us as one of the top teams in the league. Harry Redknapp and Rafael Benitez have started to make silly, snide remarks about how we’re “ruining football.” They’re scared. Simple.

Okay. I realise this sounds a bit arrogant and cocky and City fans have never been, should never be like that. Its probably something that comes with the money and my only worry about our future is if we lose the ability to laugh at ourselves like we always have done.

But since we became the richest club in the world this is the closest we’ve come yet to making the breakthrough. So we should get excited. Admittedly this could all go horribly wrong if the owners get bored and we have these huge wages to pay. Then we’ll be back where we started with the tag of “Typical City.” Whatever the debate about Hughes and his staff I’m backing him. For now…

City have already signed some great players in Barry, Santa Cruz, Tevez and Adebayor but it seems that the success next season depends on just one players. Yes, you guessed it right, I am talking about John Terry. Chelsea captain is having second thoughts about moving to Eastlands but that is definitely a good sign. You don’t need me telling what a great players he is and how he would improve Hughes’ side. If we are to push for the top 4 finish, we simply have to snatch him.

City already have a world class attack with players like Santa Cruz, Adebayor, Tevez, Robinho, Bellamy and few others, whereas they are also well covered in midfield. Steven Ireland and Gareth Barry should form a great partnership, while Mark Hughes has got a very good back up for the duo as well.

Considering the number of attacking players in the team, City are bound to play attacking football and for this to work you need to have an excellent defence. Micah Richards is slowly rediscovering the form that led him to becoming an England international, and Richard Dunne is definitely a very good player. However, John Terry is simply outstanding. He is a great leader and extremely reliable, while you can always count on him scoring a couple of goals from set-pieces and I don’t mean own goals. City are likely to do well next season even without Terry, but if the Chelsea captain decides to accept City’s offer, then and only then would the Citizens be able to mount a serious challenge for the top 4 finish. Online bookmakers have probably taken this into consideration as they only offer 2.75 for City to break the Top 4 of English football