Manchester City manager Mark Hughes is determined his team will not be the fall guys when they face Scunthorpe in the Carling Cup tomorrow.
Hughes wants to land the trophy early next year as a reward for the progress made since Sheikh Mansour and the Abu Dhabi United Group took control of the club.
So losing at home to the Coca-Cola Championship side, who won promotion through the play-offs, is not on his agenda.
Even though Kolo Toure and Martin Petrov are sidelined through injury, Hughes still expects his team to overcome lower-league opponents in their fourth-round match.
He said: “I will still field a strong side - there will not be a raft of changes. We want to progress in the competition and it is important we do so.
“We have given the competition the respect it deserves in previous rounds and will do so again. It is a game we want to win, so that will determine our attitude, I would suggest.
“Scunthorpe are a good team and we will give them the respect they deserve. It is a big game for them but it won’t faze them coming to our stadium.
“They have experience in recent times of playing at Wembley and dealt with that situation. They will arrive here in the hope of causing an upset. We have got to sure that does not happen.”
City go into match on the back of a home draw against Fulham at the weekend when they frittered away a two-goal lead.
Hughes, however, is pleased overall with their defensive work.
He said: “We were disappointed to lose the lead to Fulham but only Chelsea have conceded fewer goals than us and only Chelsea have more clean sheets than us.
Scalp
“I would suggest there is not that much that needs to be put right. We have seen more teams come to our ground and look to frustrate us and make sure they work exceptionally hard.
“We are a big club and we are viewed as a big scalp. That is a consequence of our outstanding home form.”
Meanwhile, Hughes believes most Barclays Premier League stars are capable of recovering from swine flu in a matter of days.
Blackburn and Bolton have a number of players showing signs of the virus ahead of their Carling Cup matches.
And City defender Micah Richards was struck down while on holiday in Cyprus in the summer.
Hughes said: “What you find with Premier League clubs is that there are a lot of young, fit, energetic guys.
“If they do get it, they are only laid low for a couple of days. They soon get over it because they are fit and healthy and are not compromised too much.
“We have had experience of the illness already, with Micah going down with it, and we are quite happy with the things we have in place.
“We look at official guidelines and what is recommended in terms of any outbreak occurring.”
Provisional squad: Given, Taylor, Zabaleta, Richards, Lescott, Bridge, Sylvinho, Garrido, De Jong, Barry, Johnson, Wright-Phillips, Ireland, Weiss, Vidal, Bellamy, Santa Cruz, Tevez, Adebayor, Kompany, Ball.
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Chapman (27/10/2009 at 14:07)
GK : Taylor
DEF : Zabaleta,Richards,Lescott,Sylvinho
MID: Wright-Phillips,Ireland,Kompany,Barry
FOR: Santa Cruz,Bellamy
Sub : Given,Tevez,Adebayor,De Jong,Johnson,Weiss and Vidal
Alfie15, Bedfordshire (27/10/2009 at 14:07)
Richards Kompany Lescott
DeJong
Weiss Ireland Barry Petrov (Bellamy if Injured)
Adebayoy Tevez
Lets be positive and use the pace at the back and control midfield as well as Ireland running rom misfield and Barry with the pin point passes.
I think Weiss will thrive on the occasion with a start and will be experience for him as well as Giving SWP a kick up the backside.
ADE and Tevez need to start knocking in the goals Santa on the bench to come on if they don't produce.
I would have prefered Toure at the back for pace but would rather see him rested for the premier league games.
Look forward to views on this.
The Colin - Leeds, Over the hills and far away (Mancunian Reject) (27/10/2009 at 14:10)
------------ Santa -------------
------------Tevez--------------
Bellamy - Ireland - Vlad
----------- Barry -------------
Sylvinho - VK - Toure (or Vidal if unfit) - Zab
---------- Given -------------
Subs: Ade, Petrov, Richards, SWP, Johnson, Bridge, Taylor.
Not the first eleven, but still a very strong team.
That team should get us through and give some great up and coming players a shot - it's the way forward.
Powelly, Northwich (27/10/2009 at 14:36)
Zab vincent lescott sylvinho
swp ireland ( de jong after 60 mins ) barry,( johnson after 70 mins) bellers (first 45 mins only )then Wiess
Tevez + Ade B
Nazarko, (27/10/2009 at 14:42)
Steven Goran Eriksson, www.mancity.blogsfc.com (27/10/2009 at 14:49)
Subs: Taylor, Vidal, Sylvinho (Weiss if Sylvinho starts), Barry, Johnson, Bellamy, Adebayor
Andrew Shaw (27/10/2009 at 14:53)
Drew Peacock (27/10/2009 at 15:02)
27/10/2009 at 14:42
Scunthorpe should bring around six thousand backing them? We only allocate 3000 to away fans at most??
The Big Easy, (27/10/2009 at 15:16)
dave stretton (27/10/2009 at 15:19)
O how i cried that night..In sheer anger!
That was then and this is now,we just need to be aware because they really
aren't a bad side who have beat bar New'c and Sheff U in last 2 weeks
so they obviously up there game for the big boys(yes City,before any crap gags follow off the debters)So come on you blues!!how doe's that song go?
GET THE COMPASS OUT,WE'LL ROB ANYTHING WE SEE,WE'RE GOIN TO WEMBERLEEEE,GET THE COMPASS OUT! O'k Shelly i might not be,but i have go.
mike parker (27/10/2009 at 15:23)
Nazarko, (27/10/2009 at 15:26)
27/10/2009 at 15:02
My friend we do in the league,in the cup the away team gets a higher percentage for visiting supporters.
The Iceman Cometh, somewhere really cold (27/10/2009 at 15:30)
27/10/2009 at 15:02
Drew, away sides get a lager allocation for cup ties.
J (Original), Manchester (27/10/2009 at 15:35)
DEF: Zab, Big Vince, Lescott, Sylvia
MID: SWP, Bazza, Ireland
FOR: Ade, Tev, Bellers
SUBS: Taylor, Roque, David Ball, DJ, Johno, Vlad, JV.
dave stretton (27/10/2009 at 15:35)
if club and Dibble agree.I remember years ago in 88,Liverpool had about 10'000 out of the 44'000 crowd..result hammered 4-0.
P.S Sure your not called Ashley..i say Ashley!!
Gerry Craney's love child, sale (27/10/2009 at 15:39)
Don't know how closely some people have observed Kompany when he's played centre half,great footballing brain and awareness,good in the tackle and pretty quick given,but good in the air he aint.Seems to be one of those tallish players you'd expect to be good in the air,but his jumping ability can leave a bit to be desired!
Spoke to some Hamburg fans last season at the UEFA cup and they said it was one of the reasons why there Dutch coach(who's name escapes me at the mo) played him more in midfield.
MJ, Ontario, Canada (27/10/2009 at 15:48)
Given
Richards Kompany Lescott Sylvinho
Weiss Johnson Ireland Wright-Phillips
Tevez Santa-Cruz
Lescott & Richards need the practice.
alan who, ancoats (27/10/2009 at 15:56)
Reidus, Cambridge (27/10/2009 at 16:19)
Richards Kompany Lescott Sylvinho
SWP Ireland Barry Bellamy
Tevez Ade
camp bleu, Prestwich (27/10/2009 at 16:20)
I’ve had a look at the Premier League tables since its inception (92/93) and I was pleasantly surprised to see that if we had acquired 76 points in each of the last 17 seasons we would easily have finished in the top four. Only Liverpool in the 07/08 season finished fourth with 76 points but in every other season the 5th placed teams fell well short of the mark. In fact, we would have finished 4th seven times, 3rd seven times, 2nd twice and in 96/97 we would have won the league!
So, foamers, is it still all that bad?
Whilst I’m on can I also refer to a couple of minor incidents over the weekend, just to highlight the inconsistency of our referees. Firstly, during the City V Fulham game the referee added 5 minutes additional time. During that 5 minutes two substitutes were made and Fulham used blatant time-wasting techniques, but the referee added only 7 seconds to the original 5 minutes. However, over at Anfield the referee added 5 minutes additional time, a goal was scored and I think a substitute was made and the referee added a further 2 minutes. Perhaps Vidic was sent off during that period, I’m not sure, but I’m not complaining about the time added at Anfield, just the lack of time added at COMS. Minor point but, nonetheless, frustrating.
Also, the Liverpool keeper ran from one end of the pitch to the other when Liverpool’s second goal went in. He actually travelled further than Adebayor did for his goal against Arsenal. As we all know, Ade was booked for time-wasting not for any conduct issues, which conveniently paved the way for the FA to press conduct charges. If so, why was Reina not booked for the same offence of time-wasting? Perhaps the referee didn’t see it!
Anyway, just picked up tickets for tomorrow. £21 for me and my daughter, not bad.
Peter Doherty. As good as it gets. (Was it really 37 years?) , Levenshulme (27/10/2009 at 16:32)
Planet City (27/10/2009 at 16:58)
Anyone see Ryan McGivern play for the foxes last night, he was outstanding!
A word of warning for Sparkey......no excuses, just deliver the goods !!!!
C'mon City !!
The Riddler??, Prestwich (27/10/2009 at 17:02)
I have to agree Kompany has never looked that dominant in the air when he's played centre half.I think people automatically just think he'll be good because he's tall but know where your coming from about his jumping ability,great footballer though prob Hughes best signing in terms of what we payed for him and his potential,and unlike De Jong can pass the ball forward!
Howard (27/10/2009 at 17:21)
Well that is true but they are more positive going forward because they can rely on there defence. City can't, that is why we play two defensive players in de Jong and Barry. Plus Ireland is not as free to go forward as he would like and be more affective. Get the defence sorted MH!!!
Sam Haggar-Feed the Goat and he will score (27/10/2009 at 17:29)
GK Given
RB Zabeleta CB Kompany CB Lescott LB Syvinhio
RM SWP CM Barry Ireland LM Bellemy
CF Adebayor CF Tevez
subs Taylor, Garrdo, Weiss, De Jong, Johnson, D Ball, Santa Cruz