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.

Man City 2 - 2 Fulham ( Lescott 53', Petrov 60', Duff 62', Dempsey 68') *Video*

Well to say I am disappointed would be a major understatement, I am angry and disgusted with our performance. We failed to take advantage of other teams results once again.

Lescott put us ahead when he poked the ball in the net from right on the goal line, Petrov made it two nil with a good strike after making room for a shot. Fulham pulled one back through Damien Duff, the Irish winger scoring from just inside the box. A free header from a free kick for Clint Dempsey meant that Fulham had drawn level. Goals below!

Right let me get this out of the way, what I say about City is not reflection on Fulham. We helped Fulham to be able to play a bit more freely because we were awful, apart from that Fulham deserved their point and played very well.

We were disgraceful today for most of the game, we had a good spell in the first half and that was about it. We have to many people in our team who are not pulling their weight, I can only pick out Bridge, De Jong and Tevez from our whole team today and say yeah he played well. Adebayor has returned from his ban a different player and is totally useless, Petrov scored today but yet again was rubbish apart from that, Barry was not himself at all and should have been replaced and the list goes on, it needs sorting out and fast or our season will come and go.

Actually to be honest Hughes has to take a lot of the blame for our performances at the moment, he finally got the guts to drop SWP, but then did nothing else. We are totally tactically naive, we have no shape, no work ethic and we don't really have a plan A at times let alone a plan B. Our midfield might as well not be on the pitch, it gets totally bypassed 90% of the time, the ball goes from defence to the forwards and then back which in turns puts pressure on our very average defence.

I was talking to people who I go to the match with and I said are we expecting to much from them, they quickly pointed out we are only expecting what we should be capable of after spending all that money. We are not expecting to win the league or expecting them to batter the Chelsea's and Man United's of the league, we expect without being disrespectful to beat Fulham at home.

I am quite fed up at the moment, I feel down when ever we lose but to lay down for teams and lose is much more hurtful. We need to get it right and hopefully we will, if not then I have no doubt that our owners backing of Hughes will disappear.

Goals.

Man City vs Fulham - Sun 25Th Oct 15:00 pm

It is about time that we get to see a full throttle City performance, tomorrow is the time to to show us one. A draw or a loss is no good to us, we had some results go for us a little today and we need to take advantage.

We face a team that has been a little inconsistent this season, Fulham certainly haven't done as well as I thought they would up to now. It is actually kind of worrying for us that they have been inconsistent because I can't see that carrying on for long, it is only a matter of time before they get consistent and consistently good at that.

Fulham are a great example of what a lot of managers in the premier league are instilling into their average teams, the are very organised and work hard for each other. So Fulham are definitely good as a unit but I am not so sure that they have a player within the team to provide a spark, I am a big fan of Dempsey and I like the way he plays, if anyone was going to provide a spark for Fulham I reckon it would be him.

In all honesty I am not really worried about Fulham posing a threat to us, we should be winning games against teams like Fulham at home and that is no disrespect to Fulham, more of a view on what I think City should be capable of.

I am expecting some big displays from certain people tomorrow, it is certainly about time that SWP pulled his finger out. Hughes seems to be happy letting the rest of the team carry him at the moment but that surely can not go on much longer, he needs to prove that he is worth his place. Adebayor is another player who needs to play better against Fulham, he was rubbish against Wigan and that is something we do not need from our big players.

Man City Team News:
Kolo Toure is expected to return to the side after overcoming his heel injury, Craig Bellamy should also return to the side after being out injured. Nedum Onuoha (thigh), Benjani Mwaruwari (thigh) and Robinho (ankle) are still out. Pablo Zabaleta will miss out due to suspension.

Fulham Team News:
Fulham have quite a few injury problems with Danny Murphy, Simon Davies, Andy Johnson and Dickson Etuhu all out for the visitors. John Pantsil is expected to start at right back, replacing Stephen Kelly. Damien Duff is also expected to come back into the starting line up.

Possible Man City Line Up: Given, Richards, Lescott, Toure, Bridge, Wright-Phillips, Barry, De Jong, Tevez, Adebayor, Bellamy.

Possible Fulham Line Up: Schwarzer, Pantsil, Hughes, Hangeland, Konchesky, Gera, Baird, Greening, Dempsey, Kamara, Zamora.

My Prediction: Man City 4 - 0 Fulham.

Worth A Bet: Bellamy scores two and Tevez grabs one in a 4 - 0 City win.

Man City 2 - 1 Fulham (Gera 34', Barry 52', Toure 110') *Video*

We are through to the last 16 but oh boy did we make it hard for ourselves. We had to play extra time before finally wrapping up the win.

Our goals were scored by Gareth Barry and Kolo Toure, both goals were headers from set pieces, Goals below!

I have to say last nights game was the most boring game of football I have seen in a long while, both teams were absolutely rubbish to watch.

I have no idea what was wrong with our lads last night but as a team they were shocking, their decision making and passing were particularly poor. It wasn't like we were playing a good side, Fulham were rubbish as well.

I think the main reason we were poor was because of two certain individuals not doing their jobs again! Ireland and SWP are both proving to be weak links in our side at the moment, granted SWP was involved a little more last night than he has been lately, but he still seems to think he run right through a defender and on top of that his final ball, passing and decision making were rubbish all night. As for Ireland I don't know if his poor performances have got something to do with over training himself or what, what I do know is we need the old Ireland back!

Out of all the negatives last night City had one huge positive, Nigel de Jong! He was absolutely fantastic last night, he was all over the place winning tackle after tackle. I love to see this from players, he is backing up what he said about not being happy on the bench, keep it up Nigel.

Most important thing, last 16 here we come!

Goals.

Man City vs Fulham - Wed 23rd Sep 20:00 pm

Next up in the cup is Fulham, Fulham have improved a hell of a lot since Hodgson took over and it will be a tough game.

The Carling Cup is a trophy that we should be targeting this season, firstly because it means ending our wait for recognised success and secondly it is an early route into Europe. It makes me laugh when people slag this competition off, it would make my day to win it and that is hopefully something we can do with our new squad.

I think tonight will be a reasonably tough game for us, I do not think Fulham are as good as us but I do think they are a very strong team and will give us a test. Fulham have really transformed since Hodgson got there and play some good football. They also have danger men and I am particularly a fan of Clint Dempsey, he works hard, he is quick, he can score and he can take people on, he will definitely pose a threat to us tonight if he plays.

Honestly I think we can comfortably win this game, when I say that I do not want to disrespect Fulham because they are a good team. I just think that we will have to much for them going forward and apart from Dempsey I don't see anyone in their team that will cause our defence any problems.

Man City Team News:
City still have injury problems, Robinho (ankle),Vincent Kompany (toe), Benjani (thigh), Nedum Onuoha (thigh) and Michael Johnson (abdominal) are all out. Roque Santa Cruz may make the squad, but is unlikely to. Tevez is expected to be rested which could see Martin Petrov or hopefully Vladimir Weiss come in. Emmanuel Adebayor is serving the second game of his three match ban.

Fulham Team News:
Hodgson is set to put a second string squad out for the game with the likes of Simon Davies, Jonathan Greening, Diomansy Kamara, Zoltan Gera and Bjorn Helge Riise all expected to get a chance to impress.

Possible Man City Line Up: Given, Zabaleta, Bridge, Toure, Lescott, De Jong, Barry, Ireland, Wright-Phillips, Petrov, Bellamy.

Possible Fulham Line Up: Stockdale, Baird, Kelly, Smalling, Pantsil, Greening, Riise, Davies, Nevland, Gera, Kamara.

My Prediction: Man City 5 - 0 Fulham

Worth A Bet: Bellamy scores a hat trick in a 5 - 0 City win.

Fulham next in the Cup!

The Draw for the third round of the Carling Cup has just been done and City have drawn Fulham.

The game will be played at home and with that home advantage I am quite confident we can progress to the next round.

Disgrace!

Man City 1 - 3 Fulham ( Ireland 28', Dempsey 50', 83', Etuhu 59')

First of all I am sorry that my post match is later than normal, but yesterday I was so angry that there would have been a big possibility that I may have said some bad things in temper.

We started yesterdays game very flat and to quote a favoured word of Hughes we didn't look one bit dynamic enough. When we went ahead, although we were not playing very well we were comfortable enough. Thankfully we went into the break leading, now I can only guess that Hughes's halftime team talk consisted of him telling our players Fulham were going to come and play at us and try to get a goal, I then think he must of followed that up by telling our players to let them do that, because that is what happened.

Fulham are a good team that's for sure, but getting beaten and letting yourself get beaten are two different things. Our team didn't look like they were bothered if they win or lose, we keep hearing all the right things being said after a poor performance but we never see any action taken to rectify these things and now it is starting to wear thin.

Yesterday's game has turned a lot of fans against Hughes and I think it is more than deserved at the moment. He does something good and then cancels it out by doing something stupid, for example yesterday I was quite pleased to see Kelvin Etuhu starting, he was rubbish but I am a big believer in replacing players like for like, I hate to see us plug gaps by playing people out of position, something we like to do a lot. He then follows that up with a poor decision, only playing one up front at home all the time is not acceptable, you just can not play that negative all the time and that was one major difference between us and Fulham, they had two strikers constantly troubling our defence.

I still feel Hughes can be the man to build a good strong squad but he needs to stop these stupid things he does. Dropping Robinho did not come off for him yesterday, I think a lot of people realised what he does do for our team, because we missed him. There was nobody dropping off and picking the ball up, something that Robinho does regularly, he also brings invention and movement, he is even adding work rate to his game lately. I think that because he hasn't scored for a while that we were getting distracted away from his other qualities.

To finish off I want to talk about Garrido, Garrido has looked dodgy in his last few appearances lately and I have said it is because he just needed to get back into the swing of things, that seems to have been the case going off yesterdays performance. I thought he was really good and is clearly a better left back than Wayne Bridge, his defending is better, he reads the game better, he is better going forward and he is quicker. Garrido should never have been dropped in the first place for Bridge he was just coming in to his own when Hughes decided to replace him, I hope he carries on playing well and keeps Wayne Bridge out of the team because I don't think Bridge is good enough.

Lets look forward to the Hamburg game now, maybe we have got our recent run of bad performances out of the way and we will stuff Hamburg, well we can all dream can't we?

Man City vs Fulham - Sun 12Th Apr 16:10pm

Our second big game in the space of a week sees us entertain Fulham at Eastlands, if we are to make a push for 7Th place this game is a must win.

We go into this game with two possibilities of making the Europa league next season, if we are to keep the option of qualification through the league open, this is surely a must win.

This game for me is an absolute must win, if we don't win it I think we should wave bye bye to the possibility of playing in Europe next season, via the league at least. I know we have a lot of injuries at the moment but we come up against a Fulham team that is as bad as us away from home, having won one away game all season.

This will be a tough game for us I have watched Fulham enough to know that they are a good side, if we take them to lightly we may be sorry. Although it should be a tough game I am not worried to much and think we should be able to beat Fulham, we all know how good we are at home and I really expect that theme to carry on today.

I have no proper idea what kind of team we will put out against Fulham, but I do know who I don't want to see start the game. Sturridge is definitely someone that doesn't deserve to start after being very poor against Hamburg. He was sloppy and didn't show us any work rate what so ever and for someone asking for a massive contract that isn't good enough, I am hoping to see Bojinov start. I would also love to see Petrov start today and well a start might be to much to soon, I hope to see him for at least 45 minutes.

If Petrov does start today it could be one of the most balanced midfield's we have fielded all season, providing injuries don't get in the way. We could possibly see us start with two wingers in Petrov and SWP, a creative mid in Ireland and then De Jong as our holding midfielder, sounds good to me and it is also a definite option for Hughes. I do think it would be a perfect line up and it would also be a good way of playing Petrov and Robinho together, by giving Robinho a free role across the front behind the striker and having Petrov on the wing, it could prove effective.

City team news:
Benjani (thigh), Bellamy (knee) and Wayne Bridge (hamstring) are all likely to miss out, although Bridge is still in with a slight chance of playing. Shaun Wright-Phillips is carrying an ankle injury and Vincent Kompany is carrying a hamstring injury, a decision on the fitness of both players will be made on the day of the game. De Jong returns to the squad after being ineligible for the Uefa Cup and Martin Petrov is back in the squad for a league game for the first time in a while, after a long lay off with injury.

Fulham team news:
Both Zoltan Gera (foot) and Toni Kallio (virus) have not trained all week but Roy Hodgson expects them to both be fit for the game at Eastlands.

Possible Man City line up: Given, Richards, Onuoha, Dunne, Garrido, Wright-Phillips, Petrov, De Jong, Ireland, Robinho, Bojinov.

Possible Fulham line up: Schwarzer, Hughes, Hangeland, Pantsil, Konchesky, Murphy, Davies, Etuhu, Johnson, Zamora, Dempsey.

My prediction: Man City 2 - 0 Fulham.

Worth a bet: Robinho scores in a 2 - 0 City win.