ROBINHO is facing up to a pivotal stage in his career as he bids to prove he can be City’s main man – both at home and away.
He returned to Manchester from Brazil this week convinced that he had finally sorted out the ankle problem which has dogged his season and has been passed fit for the last-16 Uefa Cup tie against Aalborg at Eastlands tomorrow.
Now his aim in the closing two months of the campaign is to prove that he can produce his undoubted brilliance on a consistent basis.
The Brazilian has already stated that he believes he can go on to become the best player in the world at City.
Yet various reports continue to link him with a move away in the summer, less than a year after his dramatic arrival from Spain, even though he has never stated a desire to leave Eastlands.
There have been times this season when Robinho has looked worth every penny of the £32.5m City paid Real Madrid to snatch him from under Chelsea’s noses in September.
The frustration for the player, his manager and the club’s fans is that too few of those moments have come away from home.
Just two of Robinho’s 12 goals for City have been scored away from Eastlands – a penalty in the 2-2 draw at Newcastle in October, and a coolly-taken injury-time equaliser at Blackburn three days after Christmas.
Contrast that with the gallery of magical moments he has produced on home turf this season.
There was the unstoppable free kick he struck on his debut against Chelsea in September, the hat-trick to see off Stoke in October, the beautiful curling shot into the top corner against Steve McClaren’s FC Twente in the UEFA Cup in November, and the double he struck while inspiring the Blues to a 5-1 thumping of Hull on Boxing Day.
If those have been the high points, then the low came on a blustery day at Fratton Park three-and-a-half weeks ago.
Congratulate
Robinho was just about as anonymous as it is possible for a British transfer record signing to be as the Blues crashed 2-0 at Portsmouth on Valentine’s Day – and team-mate Craig Bellamy let him know it.
Both players have since insisted that there has been no fall-out between them.
And that was backed up by the way Robinho immediately went to congratulate Bellamy after the setting up the Welshman’s second goal in the 2-1 UEFA Cup victory over FC Copenhagen two weeks ago.
It is clear, as well, that the Brazilian is a popular character with his Blues team-mates.
“He’s really nice, Robinho,” said captain Richard Dunne. “He’ll chat to anyone. He smiles on the training ground, and he’ll try different things. Sometimes they’ll come off, and sometimes they won’t.
“But he’s willing to try, and he’s willing to teach people. He’s a really good character to have in the group.”
Robinho is certainly a character, driving to training in a Lamborghini and introducing his team-mates to his favourite Brazilian samba tunes.
And a quick glance at his official website will also reveal, among other things, his views on Barack Obama’s election to the US presidency.
“He was the right candidate,” Robinho said. “I think he will promote racial equality. I see him as the good guy. Let’s give him time and then see.”
Mediocrity
However, he has laughed off suggestions that he and his wife regularly get the bus to go shopping at the Trafford Centre.
“He’s a lively lad,” said Blues winger Shaun Wright-Phillips. “We all get on with him. And he’s not as quiet as he looks in the dressing room. But we like to have noisy people around.
“His taste in music is all right. I like an eclectic selection of music anyway, so I’m all right with it.”
All of this, of course, is secondary to the performances on the pitch – and Robinho knows it.
He has made it plain more than once this season that he is not prepared to settle for mediocrity.
The Brazilian’s comments that the Blues should not be happy just to finish in the top six, but ultimately set their sights higher, may have been misinterpreted in some quarters, but they found favour with boss Mark Hughes.
As things have turned out, the highest Premier League position City can realistically hope for this season is seventh – which is likely to be enough to secure a Europa League place for next term.
Both City and Robinho will certainly have to step up the away form in the closing weeks of the campaign if they are to close the four-point gap on West Ham, the team currently in seventh.
That the first of City’s final five away league games of the campaign is at Chelsea, the club Robinho nearly joined last summer, only adds to the intrigue.
For the Brazilian, it is a chance to show Roman Abramovich and Co what they missed out on, as well as to prove to the City faithful that he can perform consistently on the road.
But before then, there is another home game – the UEFA Cup clash against Aalborg.
Robinho knows that the Blues can afford to take nothing for granted against dangerous Danish opposition.
“Manchester City can beat any club,” he said. “But if we don’t play well, we can also lose to any club.”
With Bellamy missing, City will be relying on Robinho to provide their major attacking threat against Aalborg.
Hughes expects tomorrow’s opponents to be a step up in standard, having already held United to a draw at Old Trafford in the Champions League earlier this season and defeated highly-rated Spanish outfit Deportivo La Coruna in the last round.
“Robinho has the ability to unlock the door,” Hughes added. “Sometimes in Europe defences can be very hard to break down. You might need a flash of inspiration or a piece of brilliance. Robinho can do that for you.”
Team (from): Given, Hart, Schmeichel, Richards, Onuoha, Dunne, Bridge, Garrido, Zabaleta, Elano, Caicedo, Ireland, Fernandes, Vassell, Weiss, Robinho, Evans, Bojinov, Logan, Berti.
Robinho ready to deliver
March 11, 2009
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“Manchester City can beat any club,” he said. “But if we don’t play well, we can also lose to any club.”
Welcome to the crazy world of Manchester City!
Team Tomorrow? 4-1-4-1
Given
Zab Dunne Onuoha Bridge
Kompany
SWP Ireland Elano Robinho
Caicedo
SUB: Hart, Richards, Gelson, Vassel, Bojinov(wanna see him a little bit more this time)
Its probably an obvious thing to say but i think Aalborg will just sit everyone behind the ball tomorrow hoping for a low scoring lose or sneaking an away goal. 2-1 for us would be a great result in Aalborgs eyes. if we can go 2-0 up then they'll be forced to change their gameplan and open themselves up as they'll want an away goal to give themselves a chance in the 2nd leg.
this is not a slight against robbi, but until then they'll crowd him out of the game and stop him from playing. Bringing him on when the gaps start to appear would be a master stroke and hopefully kill the tie off. thats assuming we can go 2 up of course. just a thought.
my head says 2-0 city. but i'm hoping for 4 or 5.
for once i would like a relaxing, nervous breakdown free 2nd leg.
Pretty Much somes us up!
We are capable of beating anybody, also capable of Loosing to anybody! Been our problem for Years.
Robinho knows that the Blues can afford to take nothing for granted against dangerous Danish opposition.
“Manchester City can beat any club,” he said. “But if we don’t play well, we can also lose to any club.”
No fly's on Robinho then !!!!
I can't for the life of me understand why Robinho get's singled out for blame with regards to our abysmal away record.The whole team were at fault against Pompey,sure Robinho had a stinker that day but I don't recall anyone(including Bellamy) coming out of the game looking particularly good.Our away form has been shocking for some considerable time,Keegan,Pearce,and Sven all failed to get the team playing with anything like the sort of consistency needed away from home to push the club forward.The team as a whole looked totally lost in some of the away fixtures I've seen,as if they don't know what is required of them.That's got to be down to the coaching in my opinion.Until this problem is sorted out the Club will achieve nothing.CTID.
Taggart knows which games to play his players in. All his strikers are rotated to suit the match. I think City will need to develop this kind of approach too. At home in Europe Robhino starts every time. maybe midweek away at Wigan you play two different forwards. Teams that can play to different systems with different personel are ultimately successful in the most competitions. Only Villa have tried to play the same players in the same formation which has led them to concentrate on just one competition and start to look burned out in that.
A truly world class performer who we are very fortunate to have.
abu dhabi city group,
11/03/2009 at 10:16
TOTALLY AGREE MATE
COME ON LAD PROVE ME WRONG
get on here and post some post some encouraging posts before blue boy copy`s and pastes the same rubbish he normally does or does he get it from the rag side i would`nt know because i`m not sad enough to even want to know what they think
He is the most talented player to ever pull on a City shirt and should we ever have a manager be it Hughes or another who can get him performing in the premier league consistently then he will be the Best player we have ever had and by a long way.
I think a part of the inconsistency is that it is his first year in the Prem, clearly he can cut it here but it is his first season and you only have to watch last nights game between Liverpool and Real Madrid to see how different it is. Or Juve and Chelsea...did you see pavel nedved having his tummy rubbed every five minutes until he went home!! To give Robinho credit he is not a cry baby, he is hopefully just adjusting.
The more world class players like Robinho the club signs the better.We ve been watching mediocre dross for years.We still have a few players of that ilk, players that have stayed at the club in the "comfey slipper syndrome"for a bit too long and are now more often than not found wanting.We all accept that there are some supporters who yearn to be a pennyless going nowhere side again,aka under Pierce.I think the Robinho doubters should seriously consider supporting Bolton!!
any one go to the fans forum last night?
“Manchester City can beat any club,” he said. “But if we don’t play well, we can also lose to any club.”
Not only is Robinho City's best player,he also sounds the most intelligent
Unstoppable freekick against chelski?? It was deflected off the wall.
Remember the talk when we had kinky? If we could build a team around the tyblisi ballet act we'd see a player of genuine world stardom..... shame ball thought that was jamie pollock and the genius that was steve 'billy goat' lomas, not forgetting the spawn of buzzer having a abysmal effect on the kid. To me, the only player in the past 15 years you could call world class that have turned out for us is le sulk, and now rob. He scores 11 in 22, yes he's faced a few demons, his nemesis being away from home, but please don't sit there and tell me we are better off without him, its ridiculous. The guy started and finished at santos as the embodiment of the Revie plan (research for the educationally challenged), playing in the hole where he was was 'phenomenal, we have had to play him out wide due to circumstance, for which he has delivered on the whole, it's, as pointed out, when were away and pinned back he becomes a passenger. When the option of petrov is available, he should move inside, behind the front man, and take the defensive burden off his shoulders, he's one of the most gifted attacking players in the game, his workrate in the opposition's half isn't in question, he chases balls down and harasses the defender, just look at papa shango across the rd, laziest swine in the league in his own half, tho magical in the oppositions, grafters do his work, and slowly but surely were developing the same mantra.... here's jonny jong, the business, che guevara, even right hand 'clyde' upfront, it's coming, even sadmaniral can see it, don't force the first piece of the jigsaw to become disillusioned because of negative karma...... were almost there, can taste it. In words once spoken outside this gaf called castle grayskle 'we have the power'.
Zin Zimmer m14 born and bred ....... and thats the truth ruth.
shaun,at my desk..........totally agree,i think the problem is robbie is the big fish,if he does not play a blinder every week it is splashed all over the press.sweep for instance,played a blinder against villa but the games before his ban were, lets be honest were average at best.there is still a lot of envy that city have now got money,and they do not like the fact that little city have one of the best players in the world.hopefully we will get a lot more,then if robbie has an off day it will not be such a big deal
Just occurred to me. If we are serious about finishing at least 7th, then we have to beat Chelsea on Sunday. West Ham will beat WBA at home on Monday and if we do not beat chelsea we will be 7 points behind West Ham on Monday night, and that would be too much to make up in 9 games.
I think everyone is forgetting that this Aalborg is actually a pretty decent team and all talk of a thrashing and killing it off in the first leg could be very premature. Remember they have dropped down from the Champions League and got some decent results and performances in that competition. This is going to be an incredibly tough tie and we will do very well to go through we are only favorites for this competition in this country there are still the likes of Zenit CSKA Werder Bremen Hamburg Galatasary and Marseille are all still in this competition and will all be thinking they can win it as well. I hope we go as far as we can in this competition but it will be much harder than a lot of us think!!
I think roobie has a genuine affection of city,he knows he's the big fish at city.intresting to see how he reacts when a couple more superstars arrive in the close season...CTID 3-1 for city thursday and a score draw a their place.
Completely off topic if anyone wants a bit of nostalgia head over to vital football or you tube there is a video called city in crisis including a memorable game against liverpool that i had the pleasure of watchin from the kippax even now brings a tear to my eye oh good memories
its only right i put this
whether he`s class or crass
WEVE GOT ROBINHO WEVE GOT ROBINHO
give it to em thurs i will be cheering
Lasts nights 4um
Club are looking into moving the away fans from behind the goal.
- They might reduce ticket prices for Aalborg and future european homes after numerous complaints at having to fork out an extra fiver.
- Cook seemed keen to stress that the Academy is the future of the club, and expanding it so that its name carries weight abroad is the number one aim of 'expanding the brand'
- Rumours of a stadium expansion are just that, but if things goes to plan then the club might have to look at it within four or five years.
- The new setup at the training ground is excellent, according to Dunne, who says he remembers when the heater at City's training ground was a fire in an oil barrell!?
- Elano, or 'Ela' as Les called him, has a big role to play, if he wants to.
- Glauber Berti is 'a good lad who works very hard in training' according to Hughes.
- No plans to have a charity sponsor the shirt, though the club are very keen to keep up their support of them in other ways.
- There are no real pluspoints in owning the stadium, according to Cook, and it's unlikely to be bought. Club would have to pay a lot of unecessary money and lose council support.
- Cook quite self-deprecating about appearing green over the Kaka incident. Quoted his 'they bottled it' line before shaking his head and having a good giggle.
- Cook stressed (not that you'd expect anything different) that Hughes is absolutely the man for the job, and everyone thinks so. There's absoulutely no truth in rumours we've got anyone else lined up.
- Hughes was asked whose fans are the better, ours or the munes, answered 'Wales'.
- The recent case with the Sun over Messi was a case of 'enough is enough', the press have their agendas and the club have reached a point where they won't stand for it. If papers run factually incorrect strories then we'll take action.
- Now that the takeover's settled down a bit the club are going to regularly get players and staff to supporters meets, starting with Dunne at Reddish next week.
I see that Valencia have now stopped playing their players' wages - a cheeky £30m bid for Villa should be our priority in the next few weeks.
Surely we can do what Madrid did with Diarra and get everything agreed and signed up to prior to the Transfer Window re-opening on 1 June?
In a way its grazy to even discuss Robinho being part of a starting 11. Yet it would not be the first time a team is not playing well as being too depending on one player. I still would play him as it's a European opponent and a homegame. I would NOT play him as a lone striker. It will stick the 2 central defenders in the middle, as when Robinho can come from the outside (and he favours that as well) the fullback will need constant back-up by one of the central defenders, leaving more space for our centre foreward. De Jong is cuptied, so I hope Richards is fit enough and Zabaleta can move to a defending midfieldrole with Kompany. If not, I would play Fernandes next to Kompany and leave Elano out. Elano and Ireland can't play together if none of them is placed wide (like Ireland was put wide left in absence of Robinho vs Villa). Elano played a great 1st half vs Villa, faded a bit in the 2nd as Villa was pushing.
Forget a big score, it will not happen although I would be very happy with the result Villareal-Aalborg in de Ch.League: 6-3 ...
Manchester City can beat any club,” he said. “But if we don’t play well, we can also lose to any club.”
it didn't take him long to work that one out did it ;-)
Arsenal and Forest come quickly to mind.
shall we tell him about Shrewsbury ?? or 100 goals for and 104 against.
ca la change, ca la meme, what is that in Portuguese.?
come on you blue boys.