FORGET Franck Ribery. Forget Lionel Messi and forget Fernando Torres.

They are the kind of dream names which need to be locked up and stored away for a more distant City future, not realistic prospects for the coming transfer window.

It is an inevitable consequence, when one of the world's richest men buys your football club and shows a willingness to bankroll a root-and-branch overhaul, to let your fantasies run wild.

But the truth of what is needed at City is much more earthy, more mundane, than writing your fantasy team on the back of a beer mat and then posting it off to Sheikh Mansour, Abu Dhabi.

Nobody knows that more than Mark Hughes, and the problem which lies between the ambitious Blues boss and his immediate aim of securing a Champions League place is glaringly obvious.

There is a danger of City turning into a latter-day version of Kevin Keegan's nineties Newcastle, a thrilling attacking team but one wide open at the back.

Gamble

There is already a sense of that kind of gambling going on, the sort of "however many you score, we will try to score one more" mentality which made Newcastle a favourite of the neutral fan and the source of ecstatic agony of Geordies who simply wanted some success.

Not that Hughes is a Keegan. He will refuse to countenance for much longer the kind of defensive nonsense which handed Burnley a two-goal lead on Saturday and then - after a swashbuckling fightback - promptly threw away a winning position.

But the manager's dilemma is a tough one. He has already spent a fair amount on his defence - the back four which frequently dissolved on Saturday cost nearly £60m.

He has faith in those players, and it is hard to think that footballers like Wayne Bridge and Joleon Lescott, who have become regulars in Fabio Capello's England squad, have turned into bad players overnight.

Capello, hardly a soft touch when it comes to matters defensive, clearly thinks they have something to offer, including them in his squad for Saturday's friendly against Brazil in Qatar.

Bridge is, and always has been, an exciting, attacking left- back who fits the bill for City, who want to entertain as well as seek out some much-needed success.

If he can temper his attacking bent, learn when to sit in, when to destroy and when to despatch into Row Z, he could still be an asset.

Problem

Lescott needs to forget the hoo-ha about his £24m price tag - that is just a figure now.

But Hughes' problem is to calculate how long he can wait for his back four to become a unit. It is a dilemma that his new-look team clearly still needs time - and yet time is just about the only resource of which City are short.

The reason the Blues' owners crammed three years' worth of transfer activity into two windows was because they want to turn the club around quickly.

The only way they can start to attract the truly big names of European football is to plant their flag in the Champions League arena.

If they could effect that this season, next summer's World Cup finals could become a shop window from which Hughes can choose two or three players to turn them into a European force.

But the manager's dilemma now is not whether to go for Ribery or Messi, but whether to stick or twist with his defence.

He was spotted at Osasuna v Barcelona recently, and all the talk was instantly of Messi, Thierry Henry or Andres Iniesta.

More feasible is the idea that Hughes was watching a game which contained several possible long-term targets and maybe a couple who would shore things up in the short term, principally Yaya Toure and Osasuna's full- backs Cesar Azpilicueta and Nacho Monreal, who would cost £24m for the pair.

What Hughes has to do, first and foremost, is not fall for the kind of reaction which often has fans jerking at the knees.

Taken in isolation, Saturday's result looks poor, and the defending was, at times, abysmal. Had City not conceded the late goal, a 3-2 win might have papered over a few cracks.

But you cannot take football matches in isolation, and the fact of the matter is that the Blues are two points behind fourth-placed Spurs with a game in hand.

Hughes himself feels his team may have been found out after their great start to the season.

He said: "We have shown good signs in terms of gelling, but opposition teams have now had the chance to have a good look at us and will look at things they think can frustrate us.''

The important thing is not to judge City and Hughes over the last five games but over the course of the season.

WALES captain Craig Bellamy has withdrawn from the squad for Saturday's friendly with Scotland.