CITY boss Mark Hughes admitted he has one eye on Sunday's derby even though the Blues must first take on Schalke in the Uefa Cup.
The route to Euro glory will not be easy with Schalke back in top form and looking to secure one of the three qualification places quickly.
The German side have four points in the Uefa group after beating Paris Saint-Germain 3-1 in their opening fixture before drawing 1-1 at Real Racing Club in Santander, and know a win will see them through.
"Ideally we would like to get qualification in the bag as quickly as possible," said the City chief. "If you pick up a point somewhere on your travels and win your home games then it is often good enough to get you through to the knockout stages.
"We will go to Germany looking for a positive result and that is how we approach every game. There is no reason why we cannot go to Schalke and cause them problems.
"We had a perfect start to a big week with the win over Arsenal but what we have to guard against is tomorrow night's game impacting negatively at the weekend.
"I have had experience of that before but the good thing is that there is not a great deal of travelling, we will have two full days training and will be in good shape for the derby."
City will be without Pablo Zabaleta who has a sore thigh and Gelson Fernandes who has a pulled hamstring. Nedum Onuoha and Tal Ben Haim will dispute the right back berth. Jo is expected to be back in contention after missing out against the Gunners. Elano has also stayed behind to be with his wife who had a baby on Wednesday morning.
Schalke warmed up for City's visit to Gelsenkirchen with a 3-1 home victory over Borussia Monchengladbach on Saturday. It signalled a return to winning ways for Fred Rutten's side after back-to-back Bundesliga defeats.
Schalke moved up to seventh in the table, but they remain eight points behind leaders and the surprise package of the Bundesliga season, 1899 Hoffenheim.
What do you think? Have your say.
Hughes' double aim
November 26, 2008
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A draw at Schalke would be good
My double aim is a double win over Schalke and United. Big games, big results, big advertisment for the club, simple as that. I just need to look at how media and people here in Holland reacted to the 3-0 win over Arsenal.
i think we can win both games ctid
dangle the carrot of a place in the derby team for some players not guarenteed to start eg vass, sturridge, garrido
with Zabaleta and Robinho out that weakens the team. I would be happy with a point tomorrow night from what is the most difficult game in our group. I'll be one of the contingent of City fans amongst the 50,000 sell out crowd!
I'd take a point in Gelsenkirchen.
0 - 0 schalke, 0 - 0 utd, will be fine... pip..pip...
team for tomorrow.
gk kasper
lb garrido
rb onouha
cb richards
cb ben haim
dmc kompany
amr swp
aml ireland
mc hamann
fc studge
fc jo
this wont be the team as our two worst players dunne and hart will play but personally i think this team would be better.
ctid
a draw will be an amazing result even with robinho and zab!!!!!
difficult game this.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/leagues/premierleague/mancity/3525190/Manchester-Citys-transfer-window-first-eleven-the-players-on-Mark-Hughes-list-Football.html
It did surprise how likley the telegraph think some of the transfers are, just their spin on it i know but surprising still.
City starting line up next season??
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/leagues/premierleague/mancity/3525190/Manchester-Citys-transfer-window-first-eleven-the-players-on-Mark-Hughes-list-Football.html
CTID
I think we should point our main barrel at United. I worry about how much we have in the tank if we attempt to pull them both off.
If we rest on Thrursday night, then our main weapon will be harder, stronger and faster. Lets get these rags nailed.
There is no reason whatsoever why we cant beat United on Sunday when we have the likes of Robinho,Ireland and SWP in our team,my only fear is the inconsistency of Dunne and Richards perhaps last saturdays game against Arsenal has rejuvinated their partnership and if thats the case then we can win the game against United. Lets hope our players dont fall into the trap of admiring them too much because thats the problem other teams have when they meet United they give them too much respect,hopefully we wont and by the sound of Mark Hughes comments he wont fall into the same trap,come on CITY Utd are a decent side but they are far far from world beaters and like last season we can 'STUFF' them again --TWICE EVEN!!!! in fact on paper we have a better side now but it needs to be firing on all cylinders and if so then I dont see a problem other than a few bad refereeing deciosions but I'm not going down that road because it might tempt fate....... 2-0 to the BLUES and our season firmly back on tracks!
Dear Mark,
Please make after match assessment different to the rest of the Premiership management speak.
We'll be OK 2-2 or 2-1 I feel like you , we need a massive team effort tonight, hope Robbies back for Sunday.
I still haven't got to a match this term as finances not good enough yet.
Should be OK for one for my birthday ( i want my young un to come along, team might be even more interesting by then. Late January.
God Bless and Best Regards,
Dave Madden
That Telegraph piece is amusing as is all the fantasy football that supporters are playing. Never say never but I do think that January in particular is likely to be a difficult month in which to buy (although not half as difficult as February, you say!). However, City are surely going into this January window with more resource and ambition than any club before them; although whether Hughes will be quite as ambitious as some would like remains to be seen. There's so many names linked and so many other players that one could wish for that it's almost pointless speculating, especially if City are actually managing to keep quiet their intentions. The interest in RSC, Diarra and Bridge is pretty certain though.
woolleyback blue, Heart of the City
26/11/2008 at 13:43
Wooley,I wouldn't want RCS no way,he's no better than what we have already?
Enter Sir Mark
Ted Knott, if we can put a very strong side out against the Rags, (ie no injury hangovers from tomorrow, and presuming Robinho staying behind gets him 100%), and accept the place will be a Bear pit it normally is when they visit, everyone being being nothing less than totally hostile towards the players and Taggart, and letting them know in no uncertain terms that they simply are not welcome, then we have every chance, they don't like coming to Eastlands that's for sure.
Tomorrow is more important than Sunday. We have beaten United so many times recently it is not the end of the world if we lose, but a run in Europe to the next phase would be ace. It is a worry there are too many absentees now for 3 games in a week. Robinho's injury a blow to say the least.
Holywood Trev, Broadway, Moston
26/11/2008 at 14:14
Making our main weapon harder, stronger and faster and then nailing the rags with it?
We want to beat them in a football match. I'm not sure what is your suggesting we do to them.
Please dont play Ben Haim!
Elano felicitações
Great i we could win both but i would take a win tomorow and draw on sunday. reasons why, win tomorow would almost guarantee us a spot in knock out stages. we wouldnt have to play are best team available for the next matches in group stage, meanin we can concentrtae on league, also draw on derby day would be a good result imo, yes we are at home but, i hate to say it united are a very strong team and it wouldnt be a good result for them. also hope onuoha gets start tomorow with zabaleta out, ben haim doesnt have height, pace, or much power etc etc.
CTID.
Bluereed,Swimming in me neighbours fishtank,,
26/11/2008 at 15:41
I must admit I have my doubts too but I think even at 18mill, with the money MH has available, he's worth a risk to see if he can fill his boots from the chances we create. He is PL proven and I think it's more to do with the way Blackburn are currently playing than anything else thats restricting his goalscoring chances at the moment. I do agree we have potentially better but they need time.
CTID
Do you know what I would do? I would put a full strenght side out against the Germans and concentrate on winning that.
We are not going to win the Premier League, we are not going qualify for the Champions League and I doubt we will go down.
Why not try and win the Uefa Cup?
I have many mates who are also City fans and when the rags won the Premier League and the Champions League my mates were taunting rags saying 'we took six pints of you'.
Great, we finished on an 8-1 capitulation at Boro, sacked our manager etc and some fans thought it a great season because we beat the rags.
I'd rather lose them six points and win against Wigan, Spurs etc and get another 16 points in the bag. We are bigger than just settling for victory over the rags. Let's not be obsessed with them.
That said it would be excellent to win them on Sunday.
I'll be there with mt anti congestion charge shark suit on so give us a wave if you see me lads.
That should of read sic points, not pints. I have had six pints funnily enough that is why it was spelled wrong. Blame the Tenants Extra!