ROME WASN'T BUILT IN A DAY!

Despite City's wealth and recent outlay at an unprecedented level, the club are still capable of putting us through a roller coaster experience. The peaks and troughs may not be as extreme as in recent years but they are still much in evidence. The recent dip in form has been more frustrating than alarming. How each individual interprets this run of results depends on how negative or positive you want to be. To draw three games away from home isn't so bad, but if you choose to think that we should have won at Birmingham, Wigan and Villa then those draws will be deemed as points dropped rather than won. Villa has been a relatively profitable hunting ground for us, whereas Brum and Wigan have seen us on the wrong end of defeats. So is that not an indication that we may be able to get points at the more uncompromising opposition we are likely to face?

Fans will naturally have their own views on the current situation but I can't help thinking that some of our fans have fallen into the trap of believing all they read and hear in the media about City's chances of breaking the strangle hold of the current recognised top four. This team is to all intents and purposes a 'new' team. Every department has seen additions and the spine of the team has changed completely. We are going through a transitional period and that in itself is likely to create it's own teething difficulties. Players who started the campaign in tip top form are having a bit of a confidence crisis. SWP is struggling badly. Adebayor hasn't been the same since the Arsenal win. Barry has faded a little and 'Superman', Ireland seems to have lost his way a little since his collapse in the Carling Cup tie with Fulham.New centre half Lescott hasn't found his true form yet. Injuries to Onouha, Robinho,Kompany and Santa Cruz haven't helped the cause.  In addition to these problems there is of course the tiny matter of team selection. Which of course is down to the manager. Should De Jong and Barry be starting in the same line up? Is SWP a better choice than Petrov? Is Richards good enough? All $64000 questions. Questions that will inevitably invite a plethora of answers. Ask a 100 City fans to choose a team from all the squad players and I'm sure the range of selections will vary from person to person. Just as the individual fans choice varies, so does the managers, and that being the case, whatever team the boss selects many will be in disagreement with him.

In some quarter, Hughes stands accused of being negative. I prefer to think he's possibly more guilty of being cautious -if thats not much of the same thing- sometimes it's more prudent to protect what you have rather than risk losing it all by being to gung-ho. But is it all down to the manager? Players mind sets are unpredictable. With the ability we have at our disposal do you honestly believe that when things are not going as expected the boss tells them to resort to long ball tactics and just hump the ball upfield? I think not.It's all a case of self belief and what money cannot buy is confidence . Players have to believe they are good enough. We need to have the wherewithall to tactically change things round throughout a game when things are  not going well. Players must adopt a 'never beaten' 'til' the fat lady sings mentality.

I was talking to a United fan recently and he admitted the present United team is the weakest he's seen for ages and that the football they are playing is well short of the standards they have come to expect. But I was quick to remind him that they are still winning games and on quite a few occasions coming back from the 'dead' to get results. Chelsea have learn't how to do it. Arsenal have done it. We have to learn how to do it, and that is to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat. That will take time. It is something you have to 'brainwash' players into believing. We are still on a learning curve.

So come on you Blues, ignore the media hype. Be realistic. Don't let your expectation levels cloud over the reality of our position. Accept that we have made progress. Recognise that things are possibly achievable right now but that we have no divine right to be anywhere other than where we are right now. Rumblings were in evidence after the Fulham draw. A few were slagging of Mark Hughes which I find incredulous given one really poor result. City fans are renowned for their patience and perserverance. Remember when we didn't have the proverbial pot to p**s in (compared to the millions at our disposal now). The best we could do in the transfer market was to buy over age and past their sell by date players. Bosman signings and loans were the order of the day. Managerial changes were a regular event. So lets get real. Don't lose sight of where we were and where we are now. Patience is a virtue and I'm pretty sure more will be needed before we get to where we aspire to be. 

Geoff Stevenson

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