Stoke City 1 - 0 Man City (Delap s/o 38', Beattie 45')

In today's early kick off we saw City get beat by a Stoke side who started the day in the bottom three.

The first ten minutes were all Citys but after that for the rest of the first half we were just poor,
although we had all of the ball we were just found wanting in lots of areas, our passing was dismal, countless passes made by City players finding Stoke players or nobody at all.

The first half as a whole to watch was poor from both teams and this was confirmed even more so by Delap taking his frustration out on Shaun Wright-Phillips, Delap kicked SWP's legs from behind and then whilst he was on the floor kicked through the ball into SWP's body, Delap was correctly sent off.

At the point of Delap getting sent off you think as a Man City fan things are looking up because although both teams were poor we were the better of the two and then yes you guessed it a terrible piece of defending by Wayne Bridge gifts James Beattie a header to make it 1-0 to the home side right before half time.

After watching the first half it was obvious we were crying out for Elano to come on and create something but no changes were made and the second half started as the first finished with us not being able to break Stoke down and with Stoke keeping everyone behind the ball.

It wasn't long into the second half when Hughes brought Elano on and he did try to pick up the ball and drive forward but with non of his team mates moving in front of him it just came to a halt every time, this was mainly due to the fact nobody on our team had a clue how to unlock Stoke with all their men behind the ball, to sum up the second half Stoke had everyone back and we had no invention to break them down.

I would like to pick out Wayne Bridge today who for 70 minutes was poor, he came to life a little bit towards the end of the game making forward runs but after gifting the opposition a goal for the second game in a row I have to say I want Garrido back in.

Garrido is a player who was improving in every game he played and then was dropped for Ball for no real reason what so ever and with Bridge not impressing me at the moment I would like to see the Spaniard get his go again, I think he would grasp a chance to be first choice left back with both hands.

Stoke City vs Man City 12:45

Last time out against Stoke an absolute masterclass from Robinho at Eastlands where the Brazilian bagged a hat trick ensured Man City comfortably won 3-0.

We go to Stoke with an unchanged team from the one that beat Newcastle 2-1 in midweek, Stoke have made two changes with Danny Pugh and Ricardo Fuller coming in to their starting line up.

I predict a 2-0 win for the blues and lets hope so, come on you blues!!!!!!

All post match reaction to follow............

Man City target men wanted?

Today there has been reports of a couple of clubs making moves for two of our strikers, there has been reports linking the brazilian striker Jo with a move to german bundesliga side Hoffenheim and recent speculation about Auxerre being interested in Felipe Caicedo (pictured) was confirmed when their manager revealed the move looks likely not go through.

Auxerre manager Jean Fernandez said, "We hoped to sign Ecuadorian Felipe Caicedo, but it's not been possible, As a result, I don't expect anybody here by tomorrow."

I have to say that if Jo were to go out on loan that would only benefit us, I think although when he has played for us this season he hasn't looked the part he is still worth persisting with as he is still only 21 years of age and when in Russia showed he is a natural goal scorer wether in a weaker league or not.

As for Felipe Caicedo this is a player I want to see at the club, I was a big backer of his when lots of City fans were saying to get rid, I have seen him play alot for his country and he has looked the part and then when he got in the team he didn't let me down and banged a couple of goals in.

Unfortunately he was dropped back out of the side shortly after and now Hughes has got another striker in I am not sure where Felipe stands, but it would be a shame if we were to let this young striker with lots of potential walk away from our club permanently.

My final thoughts on both of these strikers are that I would really not want to see them leave our club without getting a fair run of games on the bounce so we can see them settle into the team and show us what they can or can't do.