Robinho away day blues puts Hughes on defensive
Alex Crook
Mark Hughes has admitted that Manchester City are not getting their
money’s worth from misfiring Brazilian Robinho.
The 32-million-pound striker was substituted with 25 minutes left
following another woeful away performance in Saturday’s 2-0 defeat at
Premier League strugglers Portsmouth.
Sensational
Robinho has been sensational in home matches since joining City from
Real Madrid but has repeatedly failed to recapture that scintillating
form on the road.
Saturday’s loss was City’s seventh away defeat in the league and
Hughes admitted the frustrating inconsistency was simply down to the
likes of Robinho and fellow Brazilian Elano not performing to their best
week in, week out.
“It was very disappointing from our point of view,” Hughes said. “The
Premier League is the hardest in the world and you need an amount of
players performing at the top of their ability. If you don’t hit a
certain level as a team you get beaten.“The opposition try and stop the
threat of world class players and Robinho and Elano struggled to stamp
their ability on the game.
“We are not the biggest team physically and sometimes we are
compromised by that away from home. It is about having the mentality and
desire to get the job done. “We missed the spark of (Shaun)
Wright-Phillips but at the end of the day we had enough quality on the
pitch to get a better result.”
City were facing a Portsmouth side playing their first game since
sacking manager Tony Adams after just 22 games in charge. The home
outfit, under the temporary control of Paul Hart and former Manchester
United number two Brian Kidd, were clearly eager to impress any
prospective new boss.
Gilt-edged
David Nugent has wasted four gilt-edged opportunities before England
defender Glen Johnson finally opened the scoring twenty minutes from
time with his third goal of the season. City defended poorly throughout
and were made to pay as Johnson waltzed into the penalty area before
seeing his powerful right foot shot beaten away by goalkeeper Shay
Given.
Johnson was quickest to react to the rebound than the visitors’
static backline and hammered his follow-up shot past the stranded Given
and into the roof of the net.
Bullet header
City’s hopes of a fightback were dashed five minutes later when
Hermann Hreidarsson notched for the second successive game with a bullet
header from Jermaine Pennant’s corner.
The match also saw Portsmouth goalkeeper David James set a new
Premier League appearance record of 536 games and his fine flying save
to keep out substitute Ched Evans’ 80th minute header was a fitting way
to mark the occasion.
Portsmouth’s bid to bring Mexico coach Sven Goran Eriksson to Fratton
Park appears to be floundering and caretaker Hart is likely to remain in
charge for next weekend’s trip to relegation rivals Stoke.
Former Nottingham Forest manager Hart is unsure if he wants the job
on a permanent basis. Hart said: “I was brought in to do the youth
development and I enjoy that. There was a tingle in the stomach today I
have not felt for four or five years but I am not looking that far
ahead.
PORTSMOUTH, Sunday, AFP
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