Sparky heats up the forces to face Portsmouth

The fallout of the FA Cup loss to Nottingham Forest continues to dominate Manchester City conversation but as the club ventures forward against Portsmouth it must find the professional resolve to dust itself off and get back the the fight. While I am not positive I have seen that “back against the wall” attitude, it is time to heat things up and make sure those that worry about losing their jobs to new arrivals know every performance could be the difference in your career. Performances past are just that, the past and the mettle of a professional is how he gets back up.

Looking back on the recent loss Mark Hughes said:

“We all feel it very much so, obviously at the weekend we didn’t get anywhere near the level we know we are capable of, that was the galling thing from our point of view because we know we are better than we showed.

“We’ve had time to reflect on the game, watched it over and over again and the opinion of it doesn’t really change,” he said.

“After the game I gave credit to Nottingham Forest because they worked extremely hard for the victory. You look at the stats and the cold, hard facts, and at the end of the day they made the most of their opportunities.

“I think they had four shots on target and they scored three goals. We had numerous shots on goal and didn’t score any – that doesn’t tell the whole story obviously – goals change games and they got the first goal and that gave them something to fight for and defend.

“They could then play on the counter attack and we didn’t cope very well with that. When you’re chasing the game it’s important that you keep your shape and discipline, even when you’re trying to ask questions of the opposition. In the end we didn’t really have that much structure to how we were trying to approach the game.

“I’d be disappointed if they weren’t down in fairness but at the end of the day you can’t dwell on what’s gone on before.

“You have to look at the game in detail as a Manager and as a coaching staff you make sure that any issues that arose in the game are addressed early in the week. Then towards the end of the week you prepare for the opposition ahead of you.

“That never changes and the games that have been played you can’t allow them to impact you in a negative way. You have to learn from defeats as well as wins and make sure you’re better next time out.”