Man City 5 - 1 Birmingham City - *Video*

Goals from Tevez, Adebayor, and our very own true blue Nedum Onuoha helped us to an impressive victory over Birmingham. Goals and highlights below!

This really was a good win today, Birmingham have been a very good side all season. I did expect us to beat them at home but putting five past them sends out a strong message to our remaining opponents, we just need to keep it up now.

It has not been hard to turn ourselves back into a free scoring good attacking team, all that has happened is a slight change of tactics. We have not been sitting deep and instead have been holding a higher line, teams just can not handle us when we play that way.

The players attitude has had a lot to do with our good form as well, they all seem up for the challenge which is something that I don't think we were seeing enough of on a regular basis. Mancini has to be given credit as well, he has made these changes and seems to have injected some passion into the team, lets hope he can cope with the pressure and grab that fourth place for us.

Fourth place is certainly ours for the taking now and although I don't think we should get excited just yet, I do have a feeling that we may actually have something to smile about come the end of the season for a change. Come on lads you can do it!!!!!!!

Goals and highlights.

Burnley vs Man City - Sat 3rd Apr 17:30 pm

We travel a short distance today to play a struggling Burnley side, I would like to say that this should be a comfortable win for us but you just never know.

I really hope that we don't mess up in this game against Burnley, it is so hard to be properly confident about a game when your team is so inconsistent.

As well as our inconsistency this season, I think that a lot of teams have us figured out. We are far to rigid at times and sit back to much, it is not hard for opposition teams to counter that. The main way the opposition have foiled us this season is by working hard, almost every time we have come across a workman like team this season we have struggled.

We only managed to comfortably overcome Wigan after we changed the way we were playing, we pushed our line much higher up and did what we are good at, ATTACKING! That is the way that I think we should play for the rest of the season instead of using Mancini's unimpressive 'safe' tactics. However we set up tomorrow one thing is for sure, we must win!

Man City Team News:
Wayne Bridge is still out after a hernia operation and Martin Petrov is still struggling with a knee injury. Stephen Ireland misses out with an ankle problem and Pablo Zabaleta is suspended.

Burnley Team News:
Steven Caldwell is expected to come straight back into the squad after being out for four months with a groin injury. Former City man Stephen Jordan is expected back for Burnley after recovering from a knee problem, the same can't be said for Chris McCann with his knee problem expected to keep him out.

Possible Man City Line Up: Given, Richards, Toure, Kompany, Garrido, Bellamy, De Jong, Barry, A Johnson, Adebayor, Tevez.

Possible Burnley Line Up: Jensen, Mears, Duff, Caldwell, Jordan, Alexander, Elliott, McDonald, Paterson, Fletcher, Nugent.

My Prediction: Burnley 0 - 2 Man City.

Worth A Bet: Adam Johnson scores the first goal in a 2 - 0 City win.

Everton result is a bad set back

Last nights result was a big blow to us, I should think we would have to win close to every remaining game to claim fourth place.

After last nights game the stats made good reading for City, bags more possession, more goal attempts, better passing percentage and so on.

So why did we lose? Maybe it was because the referee was rubbish or maybe you could just say it was one of those nights. Last night I would have used both of those excuses when I was fuming but after thinking about it when I had calmed down today, we lost because Everton had our number.

Every time an opposition team has us sussed we can't cope, we don't seem to be able to counter act the other teams game plan and to be honest it is getting annoying. I don't know why we can't because the quality we have in our squad suggests we should be able too, they need to sort it out though because otherwise we will slip further down the table never mind getting fourth.

It's not that we shied away from a quite frankly unclassy dirty Everton team last night because we got stuck in back, I just think we concentrated on that side of the game too much at times because when we did play football we were ripping them apart.

It also could have been a slightly different game last night if we didn't start with one up front again, Tevez on his own against two big strong centre backs is certainly not the way I would go. We should be playing two up top and especially at home because it changes the way the opposition think about playing if they have one more attacker to worry about.

I don't understand what Mancini is thinking with his tactics sometimes, one week he gets it spot on and then he changes it for whatever reason. Why would you change a formation that won the week before away from home to bring an out of form Ireland in as support for your striker, I don't know that's for sure.

I am really on the fence now as to what will happen as far as fourth place is concerned, I think we can do it if we want it bad enough but the question is do we want it bad enough?

Fulham 1 - 2 Man City - ( Santa Cruz 7', Tevez 36', Murphy pen 75')*Video*

They certainly know how to make us sweat, the game against Fulham wasn't much of a spectacle but I don't suppose that matters, as long as we get three points that will do for me.

Our goals came from Roque Santa Cruz and Carlos Tevez, Roque was in the right place at the right time to tap home our first before Carlos doubled our lead after a bit of smart play in the box. GOALS AND HIGHLIGHTS BELOW.

We should have had this game wrapped up well before Fulham managed to give us a scare by getting a penalty, although we were only more or less going through the motions we were still a lot better than Fulham. Fulham were certainly not at full pace either if they were the game would have been tougher, but having just played Juve and with a Cup game coming up their minds were obviously elsewhere and we should have made them pay.

I don't want to be overly critical of our team because at the end of the day we won without busting a gut, however I still would have liked to see us really stick it to Fulham. I think it all comes back to us not be very good at finishing teams off, perhaps the players were happy with the way things were going and that's fine but if they would have got that third goal which was there to be had it would have saved us all a lot stress!

Although we were not really tested yesterday I still think that we had some good individual displays, Toure for one I think proved a lot of his doubters wrong. He was very steady yesterday and made a couple of important interceptions, Kompany again was also very good at the back and I can certainly see him as a permanent fixture there for some time to come.

Mancini also got it right yesterday, I have to say I was surprised when I saw that he was playing a 4-4-2 but maybe he is realising that packing the midfield and playing one up front is not always the way to go.

Overall it was a good performance, it is going to be a different ball game in midweek against Everton though so I hope that the players don't become complacent and make sure they step it up for that game.

Goals and highlights.

Fulham vs Man City - Sun 21st Mar 15:00 pm

Villa drew today but Spurs won which makes this game a must, must, must win, it will not be easy against a Juve conquering Fulham team but still we must win!

I am not looking forward to this game if I am honest because if we don't win then that could be the end of that, no fourth place and another mediocre season to look back on. I think we would probably have to win this to stay in the race unless the teams around us decide to totally lose form, something that I can't see.

I am not more worried about Fulham because they beat Juventus because they have shown their quality throughout the season, I have had this game down as a tough one for us for a while now because we are hopeless at exploiting hard working teams.

Roy Hodgson has said he is prioritising the cup competitions so with them playing in the FA Cup in midweek we might see a weaker team put out against us tomorrow, not that I necessarily think that will make a big difference.

Hodgson is doing a brilliant job at Fulham and has his team working very hard, so no matter what team he puts out I think they will still play the same way. If they do approach the game in a workman like fashion then we could be stuffed because we never seem to know how to unlock those kind of teams.

Don't get me wrong though Fulham work very hard but they can also play football, players like Clint Dempsey are more than capable of taking advantage of our defence and if we are not working hard ourselves that's exactly what will happen.

It is down to our players now, it is time they backed up what they have been saying about being the strongest team and knowing how important it is to qualify for the CL, prove it to us!

Fulham are sure to be a good test of our players commitment to the cause, with no disrespect to Fulham if our players are putting their all in, we should be beating these kind of teams.

Man City Team News:
Wayne Bridge is out for up to a month after having a hernia operation, Martin Petrov is out with a knee injury and Emmanuel Adebayor is suspended.

Fulham Team News:
Andy Johnson and John Pantsil are both out with knee injuries, David Elm could miss out after suffering from illness. Danny Murphy and Jonathan Greening missed out against Juventus but are both expected to be back in the squad for this game.

Possible Man City Line Up: Given, Richards, Kompany, Lescott, Garrido, Johnson, Zabaleta, de Jong, Barry, Bellamy, Tevez.

Possible Fulham Line Up: Schwarzer, Kelly, Hangeland, Hughes, Shorey, Davies, Murphy, Baird, Dempsey, Gera, Zamora.

My Prediction: Fulham 0 - 1 Man City.

Worth A Bet: Nigel de Jong scores in a 1- 0 City win.

Bridge over troubled waters!!! *Video*

Chelsea 2 - 4 Man City
Lampard 42', Tevez 45', Bellamy 51', Belletti s/o 75', Tevez 76'(pen), Ballack s/o 81', Bellamy 87', Lampard 90'(pen).

What a win! That's six points off arguably one of the best teams in Europe this season, we needed to win that game and for a change we did it! BRILLIANT!!!!

Tevez and Bellamy both got two goals a piece today, Tevez managed to equalise for us right before half time before Bellamy finished off a good counter just after half time to put us in front. Tevez then converted a penalty after Gareth Barry was brought down, Bellamy rounded the game off after finishing off a move forward that he was involved in starting. Goals below!!!!

Finally City gave us a pick up, we played reasonably well today although I still think we can play better, I think beating Chelsea when we are not on the very top of our game proves how good we can be. When we went one nil down I thought it was undeserved, we were not playing well going forward but neither were Chelsea, thankfully Tevez put us back on terms before the break. I have to say Tevez's equaliser certainly made us book our ideas up in the second half, we started off well with Bellamy putting us ahead and then we continued to improve.

I have already seen a lot of Chelsea fans say that they played badly but I think we had something to do with that, Drogba for starters was not allowed to get away with bullying our defence, Lescott, Kompany and Richards gave him a taste of his own medicine and muscled him.

The defence was excellent all game and as well as keeping Drogba contained they made sure that Anelka, Cole, Malouda and then Kalou and Sturridge were not effective going forward. I have to say it looks like Kompany and Lescott have answered the call for better performances from our centre backs based on their few performances when they have played together.

This was just the sweetest result today, we have managed to beat an excellent team away from home, Sturridge played against us and was beaten, Terry got one shoved up him for a change and most importantly we have taken three points. It couldn't have really worked out better for us!

We should be full of confidence now and have a renewed sense of vigour in our quest for fourth, I am starting to get confident again I probably shouldn't but oh well carpe diem, COME ON CITY!!!!! CTID.

Goals. *Not many decent videos available yet, this may need time to load for you*


P.S. Sorry I haven't been posting as much lately but I have had some obstacles to get past in my private life lately.

Man City vs Liverpool - Sun 21st Feb 15:00 pm

Massive massive game for us tomorrow, we must beat Liverpool and try to pull away from them.

This is not a game we would really want at the moment considering our form but basically that's tough, we simply have to start performing better.

Liverpool have been quite similar to us this season, very inconsistent and frustrating. They have started to perform better lately though and we will definitely have to be on top of our game to beat them.

I think this is the first game that I have come across this season where I am just not quite sure what will happen, I have every faith that if we play well that we can beat Liverpool but that's a big if considering our form. I certainly don't think we should be nervous about playing them, I don't think they are a major threat although they are a threat.

I tend to trust in the fact that City are destined to do something sooner or later and at the moment I am hoping that fourth spot will be ours, saying that if we can't slow Liverpool down tomorrow then I am not sure that we will be able to make it to the Champions League. I think that they will keep their momentum going and be really tough to beat to fourth, so come on City stuff them!!!

Man City Team News:
Carlos Tevez is still in Argentina spending time with his new baby and will not play, Patrick Vieira is suspended. Vincent Kompany is having a test on his groin and is rated at 50/50, Shaun Wright-Phillips and Stephen Ireland have both been carrying knocks but are expected to feature in the squad. Martin Petrov is out with a knee injury although Craig Bellamy is expected to return after resting his own knee problem.

Liverpool Team News:
Fernando Torres and Glen Johnson are both out injured although Yossi Benayoun may return after recovering from a broken rib. Sotirios Kyrgiakos is suspended.

Possible Man City Line Up: Given, Richards, Toure, Lescott, Bridge, De Jong, Wright-Phillips, Barry, A Johnson, Santa Cruz, Adebayor.

Possible Liverpool Line Up: Reina, Carragher, Skrtel, Agger, Insua, Lucas, Mascherano, Kuyt, Gerrard, Maxi, Ngog.

My Prediction: Man City 1 - 0 Liverpool.

Worth A Bet: Joleon Lescott scores in a 1 - 0 City win.

Man City 2 - 0 Bolton (Tevez 32' pen, Adebayor 73')*Video*

Another regular performance at best, but another three points none the less.

Our first goal was a penalty, Adam Johnson won the penalty and Carlos Tevez just about scored it. Our second was scored by Emmanuel Adebayor, Vieira pinged a ball over the top to Ade which he then finished emphatically. Goals and highlights below!!!

We were not impressive last night by any stretch of the imagination and if we are to continue to win games we will have to play a lot better.

It made me laugh a little when I heard Owen Coyle say that Bolton made us look average for large parts of the game, sorry to break this to you Owen but we made ourselves look average, playing well we would have hammered Bolton. To be fair to Owen Coyle he is probably not the only manager that has thought his team has done well against us this season when really we are playing badly; we need to stop teams thinking that by playing better otherwise they come to play us with a lot more confidence.

Our players were not really at fault for our performance last night they all played OK, the main reason we were bad was because we were set up wrong again. Ade and Tevez were continuously on the flanks instead of being in the middle and Adam Johnson had to play on both sides of the pitch. We were badly lacking an extra wide man whilst at the same time being overloaded in midfield, I ideally wanted to see SWP come on at half time but it didn't happen, when he did come on it proved that Mancini should have started with him because he made a difference.

We need to start playing with a balanced team because we look much more of a threat when we do, playing a 4-4-2 with our two inform strikers would suit us down to the ground at the minute and in the next game I hope to see us line up with two wingers in the side.

Now to our home debutant's, I thought that Vieira was only good in patches and basically his only contribution to the game was the pass for Adebayor's goal, I think he could get better for us though because he does not look match fit at all. Then there was Adam Johnson, he was fantastic for us last night and is certainly a bargain considering all the money that we have spent lately. A lot of City fans I know were questioning why we didn't wait until the end of the season and get him for free and I did say to them that you bring players like him in as soon as you can because it is to risky to leave it until he has options, I think that last night he proved that spending money on him was definitely the right decision.

P.S. Just to let you know, there is not long left before the draw is done to determine who wins the free City top, if you don't know about it you can see the details by clicking the following link, http://wevegotrobinho.blogspot.com/2010/02/win-man-city-shirt.html.

Goals and highlights.

Man City vs Bolton - Tue 9Th Feb 19:45 pm

We must win convincingly tonight and continue to push for that Champions League spot. Bolton are not a bad team but I feel that we should be able to push them aside in our quest for fourth.

This is another game where I have no concerns over the opposition, we are way better than them and should be able to reflect that by winning.

I would like to see a lot more hard work put into this game tonight considering how effortlessly we approached Hull. Bolton are sure to work hard and we must match that, our midfield for one certainly need to be more of an engine for the rest of the team than they were against Hull.

So just a bit of hard work mixed with a bit of class and I am sure that we will take all three points against a side that do not come close to us in terms of quality.

Man City Team News:
Joleon Lescott is ready to return to the team but is expected to start on the bench, Roque Santa Cruz is also fit and should also return to the bench. Vincent Kompany (groin) and Micah Richards (calf) are doubtful and Craig Bellamy is being left out so that he can rest his knee. Patrick Vieira and Adam Johnson are both expected to make their home debuts.

Bolton Team News:
Gary Cahill is expected to be out for the season after being taken ill before the Fulham game which means Andy O'Brien may come in to partner Zat Knight if Knight has shook off a thigh strain. Fabrice Muamba (ankle) is doubtful while Gavin McCann and Ivan Klasnic remain sidelined. Vladimir Weiss is not allowed to face his parent club.

Possible Man City Line Up: Given, Zabaleta, Boyata, Toure, Bridge, A Johnson, Vieira, De Jong, Barry, Adebayor, Tevez.

Possible Bolton Line Up: Jaaskelainen, Ricketts, O'Brien, Knight, Robinson, Lee, Muamba, Cohen, M Davies, Taylor, K Davies.

My Prediction: Man City 4 - 0 Bolton.

Worth A Bet: City win 4 - 0 with Patrick Vieira scoring on his home debut.

Hull 2 -1 Man City (Altidore 31', Boateng 54', Adebayor 59')

Total rubbish, I can't believe how bad we were again today! We have to beat teams like Hull if we are to finish fourth.

We were poor today and I think it had a lot to do with the team selection. Mancini should have started with SWP and Johnson, we lacked width throughout. I thought the whole point in signing Johnson was to have an equal balance on each side of the pitch, so why those two players didn't start is beyond me.

As well as not being tactically set up properly we lacked any kind of fight, Hull wanted it more than us and got stuck in to us, something that we did not do. Every second ball was won by Hull, our passing was terrible and basically we lacked any conviction in all areas of the field.

After not starting with a positive attacking team I thought that Mancini changed things to late, Bellamy and Ireland who have both been poor in recent weeks should have been replaced sooner. When he did make some changes I felt he made the wrong ones, SWP should have definitely been brought on but he didn't do it.

I was surprised to see Petrov brought on before SWP considering how bad he is, I don't know why Mancini can't see that Petrov is not good enough, he won't tackle, he doesn't track back and he doesn't even do what he is best at and run at people all that often anymore.

As you can see by the way I have sporadically vented my frustration, I am very bitter and disappointed with the result. It is just not good enough though, sometimes it seems like it is only us fans who can see the problems that could be easily fixed.

We have a real shot at fourth but if we carry on playing like this then we can forget about that, I think that Mancini should have a training session or two based on attitude and work rate because both of those things certainly need some work.

Yet again we have to look to our next game to get back on track, as always and maybe stupidly I believe we can do that.

Man City vs Portsmouth - Sun 31st Jan 13:30 pm

Our focus turns back on to the league tomorrow as a struggling Pompey side visit Eastlands.

We have to make sure that we stick the boot in on a club that are struggling on and off the pitch.

I don't like to see what has happened to Pompey but when it comes down to a football match I don't care what position they are in and hope that we can make their situation a little worse.

We should by rights hammer Pompey tomorrow, we are in good form and they are in poor form. Our squad is much stronger than theirs and on top of that their defensive rock Younes Kaboul has just been sold, so I can't really see us not scoring a few goals against them.

Actually all we have to do to convincingly win this game is play like we did against Utd in the Cup, I have no doubt if we play like that for this game we will comfortably win. In fact if we play to that standard for the rest of the season we will easily make fourth spot.

Just a little message to any Pompey fans, I really want us to hammer you tomorrow but it's not good seeing what has happened to your club after making so much progress in recent years and I hope you pull through.

Man City Team News:
Joleon Lescott and Wayne Bridge (both knee) are both expected to miss out although Bridge has been getting closer to fitness and may make a return, Roque Santa Cruz and Patrick Vieira are both set to miss out with calf problems. Emmanuel Adebayor made his return in midweek and is expected to be back in the match squad along with Kolo Toure.

Portsmouth Team News:
Jamie O'Hara has returned to Pompey for another loan spell and will be available as will David Nugent who has returned from his loan spell at Burnley. Younes Kaboul has left for Spurs but goalkeeper Asmir Begovic has not yet joined him as expected and should be available.

Possible Man City Line Up: Given, Richards, Kompany, Boyata, Garrido, Zabaleta, Wright-Phillips, De Jong, Barry, Bellamy, Tevez.

Possible Portsmouth Line Up: Begovic, Finnan, Hreidarsson, Ben-Haim, Wilson, Mokoena, Boateng, Mullins, Basinas, Utaka, Piquionne.

My Prediction: Man City 4 - 0 Portsmouth.

Worth A Bet: Nigel de Jong and SWP score in a 4 - 0 City win.

Everton 2 - 0 Man City (Pienaar 36', Saha 45'pen)

What a totally rubbish performance, we don't expect to win every game but surely we expect the team to try harder than they did yesterday.

The team decided to return to the form that got Mark Hughes sacked yesterday, we were terrible. The whole team were poor but there were also some particular awful individual performances, Martin Petrov and Robinho being the two that stand out most.

Robinho got most of the flack but Petrov was just as bad as him, non of these players looked as if they had played football before and if either of them ever makes a tackle I will probably suffer from shock for a long time! Robinho ran round yesterday like a headless chicken, maybe it was his way of trying harder but what he was doing was pointless. His confidence is obviously low and he needs to sort that out rapidly or he will find himself getting sold because he is not wanted and not because he thinks he is worth a move to a bigger club.

Petrov is the one who is annoying me the most at the moment, a lot of City fans agree with what he says about deserving to be in the team, I don't I have always seen what Mark Hughes saw in him. He is a liability, he doesn't even do what he is good at anymore and run at people and as for his tackling, I have never seen anyone bottle going in for a tackle as much as he does.

I think the thing that annoys me most about both of these players, is that they are clearly talented players on their day. It is just a shame we are not seeing the best out of them regularly.

Now I have got that out of the way I want to be clear that I am not just blaming these two players, I think we also saw de Jong have a bad game for the first time yesterday and Zabbo wasn't as neat as he usually is. In fact the only player who I thought did OK was Javier Garrido, he was steady and did his job well.

I just hope they got the slap in the face they needed before we play United, I mean lets face it if we approached the semi final in this manner then United would have really battered us. So if I am trying to be positive I would say that the defeat may have been a blessing in disguise that will help us pull our socks up on Tuesday!

Everton vs Man City - Sat 16Th Jan 17:30 pm

Arguably our toughest game of Mancini's reign takes place today, Everton have been playing better in recent weeks and will be hard to beat.

I have a lot of respect for Everton's ability, I think a lot of people have wrote them off but I still think they are a strong side despite their bad patch.

I still think that we should win this game as long as we don't become complacent, in recent times we have seen the team take it easy after a couple of wins and expect to win games, if we do that today all our good work of late will be wasted.

I have something a little different in my build up today, my good Evertonian friend Anthony or 'Chunky' thought it was a good idea for him to have a little say on today's game and I agree.

Anthony aka Chunky says.........

''I am looking forward to a good game of football today, I think both teams will be up for it and it should turn out to be a good contest. We are both in form and will both really want to win the game, but I see Everton coming out on top with a 3 - 0 win. City have the best striker in the League at the moment but I feel one man can't take down a team like ours that have a strong team ethic.''

Well if all goes to plan I will be seeing Chunky at the game today and on behalf of us all I will be sure to tell him how wrong he is!

Man City Team News:
Shaun Wright-Phillips (ankle) and new signing Patrick Vieira (calf) are both said to be fit but may not be rushed into the team. Joleon Lescott (knee), Nedum Onuoha (calf) and Stephen Ireland (hamstring) are all expected to be missing, Wayne Bridge may feature on the bench. Kolo Toure is at the African Cup of Nations and Emmanuel Adebayor is still recovering from that terrible attack on the Togo team bus.

Everton Team News:
Sylvain Distin returned to training this week after coming back from a hamstring injury but is not expected to make his first team return today. Yakubu Aiyegbeni and Joseph Yobo are on African Cup of Nations duty and Lucas Neill looks set to play his last game for Everton before moving to Galatasaray.

Possible Man City Line Up: Given, Zabaleta, Richards, Kompany, Garrido, Petrov, De Jong, Barry, Bellamy, Benjani, Tevez.

Possible Everton Line Up: Howard, Heitinga, Neill, Baines, Neville, Cahill, Fellaini, Pienaar, Osman, Donovan, Saha.

My Prediction: Everton 1 - 3 Man City.

Worth A Bet: Nigel de Jong and Benjani score in a City win.

Man City 4 - 1 Blackburn Rovers *Video* (Tevez 7', 49', 90', Richards 39', Pedersen 71')

Another win saw us move up to fourth spot in the table, Carlos Tevez was the driving force behind the teams performance last night.

City's and Tevez's first goal was scored off his knee after Benjani turned to drill the ball towards the goal. Our second was scored by Micah Richards, he picked the ball up in his own half and steamed towards the Blackburn box, he then passed to Benjani who hit the post but Micah was there to put the loose ball into the back of the net. Both of Tevez's other two goals we absolute crackers that he curled from outside the box and passed Paul Robinson. Goals and highlights below!!!!

We played well last night and each and every player can say that they played their part, I was very impressed with our whole back four and particularly Zabbo. Zabbo goes about what he does very quietly but oh boy he is effective, he put in a real strong performance last night and didn't put a foot wrong. Garrido was also steady again, he does get wrong side of his attacker at times but I am sure Mancini will soon knock that out of him. Lescott and Toure will have a job getting back into the defence at the moment because they are playing very well as a unit.

In the midfield I was impressed with Barry again, he seems to have put his bad form behind him, de Jong was also excellent again. I was a little disappointed with Bellamy and more than disappointed with Petrov, Bellamy just wasn't himself last night and Petrov may as well have not been playing. Bellamy just had an off night he wasn't bad as such but he wasn't good either, Petrov was a waste of space and did pretty much nothing, why he plays him on the right hand side I will never know because I am not even sure he knows what a right foot is!

And then there was our forwards Tevez was exceptional, think of every possible way of playing a game of football well and add them all together, that was Tevez's performance last night! Benjani wasn't to bad himself, although he drifted in and out at times he was really strong, held the ball up well and ran the line very well.

The players must see themselves that making the top four is in their hands, all we have to do is keep it going and we will have no problem with making the top four and maybe even getting higher than that.

Goals and highlights.

Man City vs Blackburn Rovers - Mon 11Th Jan 20:00 pm

A win against Blackburn tonight will see us make our way into the top four, hopefully we can do that and then stay there!

We convincingly beat Blackburn in our first game of the season and I don't see why this game should go any different. Blackburn will fight hard but lack what I believe to be any necessary class that they will need to defeat us.

I can't see Blackburn giving us any problems when going forward so for me it is just down to our attackers to stick the ball in the net, saying that I wouldn't take the likes of McCarthy and Roberts for granted because you would have to be stupid to do that but I still can't see how they will bother us if we defend properly.

We must win tonight to keep our momentum going, a place in the top four is ours for the taking if we apply ourselves properly. We have to continue to build on our good form of late and resend the message out to any doubters that we are a force to be reckoned with.

Man City Team News:
Patrick Vieira's debut is in the balance, he has been carrying a knock on his calf and is rated doubtful. There are also still concerns over the fitness of Shaun Wright-Phillips (ankle), Joleon Lescott (knee) and Nedum Onuoha (calf), SWP is said to be nearing fitness but whether he plays remains unknown, Lescott and Onuoha are not expected to feature. Wayne Bridge is close to fitness but expected to need another seven days of training before returning to the squad, Roque Santa Cruz is rated at 50/50 to make tonight's game. Kolo Toure is away at the African Cup of Nations and Adebayor is resting and trying to recover from the terrible incident he encountered this week.

Blackburn Rovers Team News:
Brett Emerton is looking to return to the the starting line up after being out with a groin injury, Vince Grella misses out due to a thigh strain and El-Hadji Diouf also misses out due to suspension.

Possible Man City Line Up: Given, Zabaleta, Richards, Kompany, Garrido, De Jong, Barry, Petrov, Robinho, Bellamy, Tevez.

Possible Blackburn Line Up: Robinson, Chimbonda, Nelsen, Samba, Givet, Emerton, Andrews, N'Zonzi, Pedersen, McCarthy, Roberts.

My Prediction: Man City 3 - 0 Blackburn Rovers.

Worth A Bet: Tevez bags two goals in a 3 - 0 City win.

* For anyone who normally parks in one of the stadium car parks like myself I would suggest maybe leaving a little earlier than normal, this week City said that they were using some of the car parks to store snow so maybe you will have to find alternative parking.

Wolves 0 - 3 Man City (Tevez 33',Garrido 69',Tevez 86') *Video*

Another win, another clean sheet and most importantly another three points. Up to now it seems like Mancini is doing a good job at continuing with what Hughes left behind.

Our first goal was scored by Tevez from inside the box after some great work down the wing from Bellamy, the second was a wonderful free kick from our forgotten man Javier Garrido. Tevez finished off the scoring with a left footed shot from outside the box. Goals below!

I am delighted with this win and with our current form in general, this result makes it three wins from three games and with our next six league games looking more than winnable then maybe we can break in to the top four.

We had periods in the game last night where we let Wolves have to much of the ball for my liking, but all in all we dominated for the majority of the game. When Wolves did put pressure on us tonight we coped with it excellently, our defence looked a lot more assured than it has at times this season.

Barry and de jong did a good job of guarding our midfield again last night although I thought that Ireland and Petrov could have been a whole lot better. Ireland was replaced and rightly so, he was not playing well at all. Petrov was also very poor, this week he said that Hughes was unfair to him but I don't think he was, he is a total fairy and I have to say I am getting tired of the way he ducks out of tackles repeatedly.

Our attackers were good again, Tevez worked hard and scored two goals what more could you possibly ask for? Bellamy, well he is for me the most consistent player in the league this season and I would have to say that for me he has to leading the hunt for the PFA player of the year award.

I am starting to regain hope that our season will not be yet another mediocre finish, our defending is better and our attacking is second to none lets hope it continues!

Goals.

Man City 2 - 0 Stoke City (Petrov 28', Tevez 45') *Video*

I am sure that I wasn't the only one who breathed a big sigh of relief after this victory, you could imagine what the papers were going to be saying tomorrow if we didn't.

Our first goal was scored by Martin Petrov, the Bulgarian winger hit home from close range and believe it or not he actually scored using his right foot! Our second goal was scored by Tevez, Zabaleta crossed the ball into Barry who headed into Tevez's path for him to finish in an unorthodox fashion. Goals and highlights Below!

This was a good win for us today considering the events of late, we played OK and deserved to win but there is still a lot of room for improvement.

Our defence was still dodgy at times today but luckily our midfield duo of Barry and de Jong were doing a good job at protecting them, in fact saying that Barry alone made a big difference for us today. It was his first good game for quite some time and he made a major difference, he controlled the ball in the midfield and Stoke were not able to freeze him out of the game.

We missed a big man upfront today, Tevez did a great job on his own but we were certainly restricted from attacking aerially. If we had a big man up top I think that we would have won by a more convincing scoreline.

A huge difference from Hughes's team today was the tactics, Mancini was countering all Stokes changes and also made sure we played much more narrower when we didn't have the ball. It worked great for us because in recent times we have been far to open and the opposition have been able to take advantage of that, not today though!

I think the only thing that I was a bit unhappy with today was not seeing Weiss come on, we were really missing any kind of width on the right hand side. Petrov was going over to that side form time to time but was not very convincing because he constantly has to go back onto his right foot, I think at two nil we should have gave Weiss a run out for twenty or thirty minutes.

Listening to people at the match and on the radio on the way home today it is clear that they have already made their mind up about Mancini, I am not going to do that. It will take a few more games before I say if I like him or not, so far so good for now though!

Goals and highlights.

Man City vs Stoke City - Sat 26Th Dec 15:00 pm

A boxing day match awaits and I love it when we play at home on boxing day, it makes my Christmas that much better. Lets just hope we win!

Tomorrow sees the start of yet another 'new era' at City, Roberto Mancini takes charge of his first game as Manchester City manager.

I honestly think that Mancini has a huge pressure to win this game tomorrow, it is an absolute must win for us as far as I am concerned. We have a lot of injuries of course but I am not even going to let them use that as an excuse, if this guy is better than Mark Hughes as the club obviously think then he will be able to work something out.

If we are to make fourth place then we have to start winning game after game starting now. Without trying to be disrespectful we should have enough quality to beat Stoke regardless of injuries, on top of that it is time for people to make their mark and try and stay in the team.

We have to look at Stoke and see a threat tomorrow, not necessarily a threat in the sense that they can beat us but at the very least a threat that can stop us from winning. Stoke are a very decent side when they are playing well and I actually like the way they set up, they are a very strong, physical and organised team who perform the basics of football quite well.

Of course we are a threat to Stoke in a lot of ways but at the same time these kind of teams are not nervous of our threat because they come into these games against good teams with nothing but pride to lose if they don't at least play well.

The battle has to be won in midfield tomorrow, Stoke will not sit back and will certainly be in our faces from the first whistle, we have to be better in that department for sure. I think if we do that then we will not concede and because we know that we can score goals that should win us the game.

Man City Team News:
Joleon Lescott and Wayne Bridge are still out injured and Nedum Onuoha has joined them after picking up a calf injury. Micah Richards is 50/50 after coming off against Sunderland with a knock and SWP is also fighting to overcome an ankle injury, Adebayor is another doubt due to the same problem. Nigel de Jong returns from suspension.

Stoke City Team News:
Stoke are sweating on the fitness of Ryan Shawcross who has been having sugar injections in a groin injury. Robert Huth is back from suspension and could come straight back into the team, Ricardo Fuller and James Beattie are very much pushing for a place back in the starting line up.

Possible Man City Line Up: Given, Richards, Kompany, Toure, Sylvinho, De Jong, Barry, Robinho, Tevez, Santa Cruz, Bellamy.

Possible Stoke City Line Up: Sorensen, Wilkinson, Huth, Abdoulaye Faye, Collins, Whelan, Diao, Whitehead, Etherington, Sidibe, Tuncay.

My Prediction: Man City 3 - 0 Stoke City.

Worth A Bet: Santa Cruz and Tevez score in a 3 - 0 Man City win.

Today's goals *Video*

Considering tonight's events at the club I have decided against doing a post match report, seems as we are about to start a new period at the club I think that what we seen today may be irrelevant now. In fact it would be pretty easy to sum up today's performance anyway, poor!

Videos may need time to buffer, sorry for the inconvenience but it was all I could get at the moment.

Goals.

Tottenham Hotspur 3 - 0 Man City (Kranjcar 37',90' Defoe 54')

We were let down again, our biggest game of the season so far and we didn't bother to turn up for it.

Rather than disappointed I am actually angry with the showing we put in last night, it is pathetic for professionals to play the way that we did.

We actually started off well and looked like dominating the game but it wasn't to be, the second half was an absolute waste of time. Spurs were totally bypassing our midfield which took de Jongs influence out of the game, our game plan should have been changed but Hughes obviously didn't see fit to do that.

We were crying out for width and I thought Hughes should have gone for it and brought on both Petrov and Weiss, I would have took Adebayor and Barry off for those two and played Robinho across the front line behind Tevez and used him as our creator. I don't know why Hughes didn't do something along those lines because the way Adebayor and Barry were playing it could not have got any worse.

Hughes at least could have made a tactical change so that Robinho was brought into the game more, he got a lot of bad press about his performance last night but for me we were not using him. When he did get on the ball he looked up for it, although I do think he gave up bothering in the second half and there is no excuse for that, I just think he got frustrated with not seeing any of the ball.

The performance as a whole was basically all round poor, players at this level diving in and turning their backs on the ball is damn right pathetic, there is players at the club at the moment that I do not think are fit to wear our shirt and that includes some big money players.

Yet again we are looking at getting back on track at the weekend, if we don't then I think Hughes should fear for his job, maybe I will apply if that does happen because I am sure that I could do a better job than him at times.