Neither man has made a first-team appearance this season. Vassell suffered a knee injury in the pre-season friendly with AC Milan, while Benjani has struggled to shake off a thigh problem.
However, both came through a meeting with the Reds second string on Monday night, Benjani sealing a 2-1 win just before half-time.
And with Hughes desperate to end a slump that has seen City lose at Middlesbrough and relegation-threatened Bolton in the past seven days, the extra striking reinforcements are vital given a change in formation could be on the cards.
Benjani in particular would beef up the Blues forward line and take some of the responsibility away from £32.5million man Robinho.
Left-back Michael Ball also made his comeback from an ankle injury.
Would you put Benjani or Vassell back in the first team? Have your say. Tweet
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I have to admit, I was knocking these two at the start of the season...
but thank Jebus that they're back!!!
Both, and also Michael Ball to put some (pardon the pun) balls back into a leaky defence. Welcome back boys!
There are bound to be those on here who will ask whether the return of Vass and Benjani is good news or not. It is a valid question but we should remember what a great preseason Vass had before he got injured, and look at the work rate he puts in and then remember the question marks raised quite recently about effort levels in the squad. For Benjani, we do not know what he can do in the current set-up. He might be hopeless, or he might play alongside Jo like his long lost brother. Let us wait and see.
Both are better than Evans who is Championship standard at best. However, if Robinho is going to keep getting caught in posession it doesnt matter who is "up front". 2 points off relegation.......
thats it then, we have our new left back sorted in benjani and vassel will slot nicely in at centre back.
watch us storm up the table.
HUGHES is our SAVIOUR!
But where will they fit in?
Don't expect too much too soon from Benjani & Vass. They have been out for a long time.
Be a big boost to have these players, and Jo, and Ball available. Not many Premiership teams have been relying on Youth team strikers playing a lone role with which they are not familiar.
No allowances are made for this, and we still have Johnson, Petrov, Bojinov to come back
The derby day heroes are back!
I certainly hope MH will slot Benj back into the squad at the first given opportunity. It's going to be much harder for Vass to get back into the reckoning though, but who knows? He always gives 110%, and a bit of squad rotation is going to be required at some stage.
BTW, can anybody provide more details of the reserves game last night? Did Liverpool put out a decent squad?
good to see benji back and scoring also vass and bally played as well just need benjani playing up front somebody who can hold the ball up cos jo aint good enough YET
Get Vass & Benjani in the team for Thursday but more importantly Sunday. Vass was flying until he got injured, get him, give SWP a rest. Benjani n Vass will give us stronger options
"But where will they fit in?"
Optimus Prime, Manchester
4/11/2008 at 10:24
Where wont they fit in! I could walk in to that team currently, drop Evans & SWP or Ireland or Elano. The list is endless!
Phil Neals laxative:
Benjani marked his return to action in the best possible way in City’s win over Liverpool at the Halliwell Jones Stadium.
The Zimbabwean striker pounced just before the break to score what turned out to be the winning goal, meaning that Glyn Hodges’ young side have now done the double over Gary Ablett’s talented team in the space of a month in the Barclays Premier Reserve League.
Darius Vassell & Michael Ball, along with Benjani, increased the average age of the Blues team as the trio put 45 minutes under their belts before the side reverted to a more traditional, Academy-based eleven.
Paul Marshall opened the scoring after just nine minutes, pouncing on an error by Huth on the edge of the area and drilling the ball past Gulacsi.
The rest of the half was largely without incident until two goals inside two minutes just before the break changed the face of the match. Firstly, El Zhar levelled the scores when he drove the ball in from 20 yards out, but the Blues hit back almost immediately through another error in the Reds’ defence. Benjani had nearly latched on to McDermott’s through ball but looked to have been denied by Huth, however Gulacsi fumbled the chance to save and Benjani did not need to be asked twice, quickly pouncing on the rebound to net from close range.
The experienced senior City trio made their exit at the break, after which the game went quiet with neither side coming too close to adding to the score. James Poole skied a good chance over the bar on 65 minutes, while at the other end Brouwer dragged a shot well wide.
Liverpool: Peter Gulacsi, Stephen Darby, Emiliano Insua, Daniel Ayala (Mikel San Jose 71), Ronald Huth, Damien Plessis, Nabil El Zhar, Jay Spearing (Vincent Weijl 71), Jordy Brouwer, Daniel Pacheco (Andras Simon 81), Gerardo Bruna. Unused Subs: Dean Bouzanis, Steven Irwin.
City: Tobias Johansen, Shaleum Logan, Michael Ball (James Poole 46), Ben Mee, Clayton McDonald, Adam Clayton, Vladimir Weiss, Paul Marshall, Darius Vassell (Sam Williamson 46), Benjani (Ian Daly 46), Donal McDermott. Unused subs: Greg Hartley, Scott Kay.
vassell had a great pre-season and i think he's a useful squad player but nothing more. would probably be best for him to move on. ball is easily our best left back and i think benjani should start when he's fit. if he is for sunday my team:
hart
zabaleta, dunne, richards, ball
kompany
swp, elano, ireland, robinho
benjani
subs: kasper, onuaha, garrido, hamman, vassell, sturridge, jo
The fact that these two will
walk back into the squad highlights how threadbare it actually is.I really don't have the strength to point out how utterly average these two plums are.I suppose
Hughes is thinking we haven't been defending from the front of late,which is just about the only thing Vass and Benjani bring to the table.That and their "100 percent" commitment.Although if it's goals you were after from these two "strikers" you will sadly be dissappointed.
Hughes deperately needs to get some points on the board to slow down the bandwagon that's heading his way.So it looks like it's going to be a
back to basics approach to grind out some results.Let's
hope for Hughes' sake it works.
these 3 will add strenght and work rate in to us
Blue n Proud, Manchester of Course - vass was flying?! he is one of the worst members of our squad and would add next to nothing if included now!! Worse than Sweep on the right, cant play left, too small for a battle and cant score for peanuts so i fail to see where he will be of value! Benjani will be a bonus but come on showing happiness for the likes of Ball and Vass coming back was what made us crap under Pearce!!
Next line up.
Hart - Zab, Tal, Onuoha, Garrido
Ireland, Kompany, Elano
Sweep, Rob-o
Benjani
Logan should be on the bench with Hamman left at home.
To Joe of Glossop, "Jo ain't good enought yet"? Sorry my friend and to the many others who support your view but I think you are way wide of the mark. Stoke aside it is no surprise that our inability the hold the ball up, win headers at the front and bring others into play to create room and chances have all reduced to a mere trickle in the last two games. The common factor in both is Jo's absence. True he is not as clinical as we perhaps had hoped but it is still early on that front for him. We are missing him.
Good news finally, gives Leslie some options then for Thursday night.. Leslies Team for Thursday & his explanation for it.
G.K SWP, L.B Ireland, L.C.B Elano, R.C.B Benjani, R.B Robinho, L.W Hamman D.M.F Vassell,C.M Jo, R.W Kompany A.M Dunne, C.F Richards
Well SWP commands his area, needed to stiffen the back 4 up, gone for Hamman and Kompany's pace on the wings, Dunnie and Richards are proven in front of goal and should give us an edge there.
Thoughts on my selections please fellow Citizens lol
Even more important is that Ball is fit. He should be put straight back in at left back! It's about time that Mark Hughes admitted that the experiment of playing Micah in this position was a failure. In addition lets get back back to the Dunne/Richards combo that worked so well!
It was clear against Stoke that Garrido was being exposed and that something had to be done. Having seen Nedum play there in his early City career, I would have thought that that would have been a good option. But Micah? Then following the failure at 'Boro, Hughes compounds it by playing the same formation at Bolton.
What's even more exasperating is that given what both 'Boro and Bolton have to offer, he could have got away with playing Garrido in these two games, which would have given more attacking width.
I must say some of Hughes decisions have been poor and costly.
The most worrying aspect is that we are now hovering above the relegation zone. The November fixtures look horrendous. A rejuvenated Spurs at home; they nearly always beat us. Hull away, followed by Arsenal and United. By the end of the month we could be in real trouble.
I don't want to appear a pessimist, but realisticly the future is far from Rosy. The January window may be too late.
I would be interested to hear other opinions.
No really its great news in terms of attacking options. Benjani would and should be a great foil for Ribena and Jo. No he isnt prolific, but he is great at leading the line and holding the ball up, which aids Ribenas play in particular.
As for Vassell if and i mean if he comes back playing in the way he was pre season i would play him out on the left and push Ribena in behind Benjani or Jo. The one thing Vassell has is pace and a great work ethic.
As for Ball, for me he goes straight back into the team as our center ba... no really as left back.
At worst these three can take us upto the January window and be used as bait in some of the deals that may be struck...
Onwards and upwards Citizens
Benjani and Vassell are just what is needed at the moment,I just hope that Mark Hughes does`nt decide to play them at left back !
Don`t get me wrong,I`ve nothing against MH,but some of his substitutions and playing players out of position recently has cost us points.
In the giddy days of early September when the squad on paper seemed unbelievable with Robinho,£19 million Jo,Elano,SWP,Petrov etc, I joked to a friend that come December Vassel will be up front on his own, the sound of hysterical laughter followed from my friend,but I wasnt being serious.
Good to see the Liverpool academy is producing plenty of English talent for the future. Or am I Michel Platini?
Benjani could start on Thursday, then Jo on when he starts fading, Also Vassell on for SWP, only because SWP has looked tired in the recent games, I totally agree with the poster who has said that although Jo isn't prolific he has been badly missed by the City attack. Sturridge and Evans haven't quite made the grade. Evans battles up front but looks a bit like Jon Macken to me. Sturridge has the ability but cannot be played as a lone striker. Hughes would have been better playing one of these with Robinho or playing these two together while Jo was missing. Garrido should have played on the left wing in the last two games, he'd help out Richards and have given more width to our play ! This was Hughes's biggest mistake, especially when moveing Richards to left back.
ball should go straight back into the team, as long as he is fit. and i would go for
hart/zabaleta/dunne/richards/ball/swp/kompany/elano/kompany/ireland/robinio/benjani
has to better than the last two weeks. need to beat the lower teams if we have anychance this year of breaking into the top 4. Its there for the taking this year.