CITY executive chairman Garry Cook has admitted the Blues have lost their way since that stormy Premier League win over Arsenal in August.

City started the campaign in fine form, winning their opening four games, including that one against the Gunners, and challenging for the Premier League leadership.

However, a run of five successive draws coincided with Emmanuel Adebayor's return from a three-match ban for his attack on Robin van Persie.

Although the £25million Togo striker has since returned from suspension, and a subsequent hip injury, he has not found the form that saw him score in that quartet of early victories.

And with City's defence struggling as Joleon Lescott tries to cement a centre-half partnership with skipper Kolo Toure and gaps appear in both full-back areas, so wins have been harder to come by.

"There was a buzz about the place when we played Arsenal. Everybody's expectations were high but we got disjointed a little bit," Cook told The National.

"We lost Adebayor for a little bit and then international games broke our momentum up.

Result

"Since then we have had a couple of games where we thought we could have probably come away with a better result but that is the way it works."

City have another big game against Arsenal looming, on December 2, when a place in the semi-finals of the Carling Cup will be at stake.

Before that the Blues must visit Liverpool on November 21, before taking on Hull a week later, a match remembered last season for Phil Brown's controversial half-time on-pitch team-talk.

City fans will expect a win in the latter game and, given the poor form of Rafael Benitez's side, who will also be slightly distracted by their Champions League encounter with Debrecen the following week, at least a draw at Anfield.

If they can cement that last four berth as well to maintain hopes of an appearance at Wembley on February 28, it would still represent a pretty positive start to a season of so much promise following the £120million summer investment.

"Overall, we are quite pleased with our progress," said Cook.

"If someone had said at the beginning of the season we would be fourth after 10 Premier League games and in the quarter-finals of the Carling Cup, we would have taken it.

"We have gone through many years at this football club where survival has been the order of the day. Today it is about success."

Rumours

Today also appears to be about Robinho.

The Brazilian is due to link up with his international team-mates later today in Qatar after spending the last two days with City.

He will have his ankle assessed, with the likelihood that he will then return to Abu Dhabi for the remainder of City's stopover.

Despite all the speculation about his future, rumours of discontent and a possible January move to Barcelona, Mark Hughes said yesterday the South American was going nowhere.

It is a stance Cook is happy to endorse.

"One of the things we always say to Robinho is that there seems to be a lot of people claiming to represent him," he said.

"But we only speak to his father, who Robinho himself says is his only representative. His father is not here, so we assume everyone else is up to their tricks.

"Categorically, there is nothing on anyone's agenda, whether it is the chairman's, mine, or Mark's."