Soccer Central

They might be fourth from bottom in the Championship, but Nottingham Forest today overcame Manchester City with a comfortable 3-0 FA Cup win. City was without the likes of Stephen Ireland and Robinho; it was still a pretty solid team for City though, and one that certainly shouldn’t have lost 3-0 at home to a struggling side from the league below.

Wayne Bridge was welcomed to Manchester City today, and it’s thought that about £10-12 million has been spent in order to get the deal done with Chelsea. Mark Hughes apparently has £100 million to spend in the window, so there’s still another potential £90 million to be spent as Mark Hughes looks to strengthen his side further.

Is Mark Hughes really the right man to lead Manchester City forward with all these millions though? The fact that Manchester City currently sits just two points outside the relegation zone in the Premier League suggests not, and today’s cup heartache combined with the fact that Manchester City was earlier in the season knocked out of the League Cup by League One’s Brighton & Hove Albion really does ask some serious questions of Mark Hughes capabilities as manager.

Mark Hughes did a decent job during his time at Blackburn, guiding his team to 7th place in the Premier League last season; his job at Manchester City is very different however, and a team that last season finished 9th has somehow gotten worse under the guidance of Mark Hughes despite many millions having been spent in the summer.

There are admittedly a number of underperforming players at Manchester City at current, would a more capable manager be able to get the best out of them though? Morale it would seem is certainly very low at Manchester City right now; the Abu Dhabi group is obviously expecting big things of Mark Hughes and his Manchester City team, right now it’s just not happening though, and the team is failing to perform in the league, and has also been knocked out in the first round entered of both domestic cup competitions.

Change needs to take place at Manchester City; will Mark Hughes splashing out £100 million on new players be enough though, or is Mark Hughes in actual fact the core problem here?

Well done to Nottingham Forest for defeating Manchester City and making it through to the next round of the FA Cup, and many congratulations to the three goal scorers Nathan Tyson, Rob Earnshaw, and Joe Garner for making it happen for them today. Nottingham Forest thoroughly deserved to win the game today, and the true magic of the FA Cup is always in the giant killings.

David has defeated Goliath, and Nottingham Forest is a team now heading through to the Fourth Round of the FA Cup.