After the Argentine attacker delivered a feisty second-half cameo to revitalise Manchester City, it was impossible not to conclude that Mark Hughes’s use of Tévez would influence whether City replaced Liverpool as one of England’s elite four.
Like Sir Alex Ferguson before him, Hughes may be reaching the realisation that Tévez is best deployed only when running against tiring legs, when the game opens up. All hungry heart and whirring limbs, Tévez acts like a shot of adrenalin on a team, particularly one in search of inspiration.
Kevin McCarra, The Guardian
City have not had such a degree of disruption, yet there is a strange sluggishness, despite the high-octane investment. Mark Hughes really made his mark in 2008 by getting Blackburn Rovers to a seventh-place finish in the Premier League. Regardless of the means at City, it looks as if improving on that is going to be a close call. Hughes' team are sixth at the moment.
Comparisons with the Ewood Park spell are not entirely fair since the strain and scrutiny he encounters nowadays are of a different order. All the same, it is hard to resist pointing out that comparatively impecunious clubs such as Fulham and Birmingham City are among those who have conceded fewer league goals than Hughes' side. His goalkeeper and back four at Anfield had cost some £63m in total.
Tony Barrett, The Times
Unfortunately for City, the penny did not drop until the 50th minute, when Martin Skrtel’s first Liverpool goal startled them out of their torpor.Until then, they had meandered through the game with such little intent that it seemed the precious opportunity that had befallen them — to stick the knife into one of their leading rivals as they aim to usurp their place in the “big four” — would be wasted because of a chronic lack of ambition.
Ian Herbert, The Independent
The United rivalry has been built on that Mancunian ability to discern and exploit weakness and vulnerability; to make you worry for the kind of cobbled defence, callow front line and less-than-fit Steven Gerrard, which Liverpool deployed, and make a kill. But City had no killer. Gareth Barry, who took the Arab dirham and turned his back on Anfield, was not subjected to any of the anticipated derision because he barely seemed to be there. He should have been thumping into challenges and reminding his friend Gerrard why he so badly wanted him at Anfield. Instead, by taking up a series of curiously advanced positions behind Emmanuel Adebayor, he gave pockets of midfield space to Javier Mascherano. The kindest interpretation is that Barry, struggling with the calf problem he brought back from England's trip to Doha to meet Brazil, needs rest.
John Edwards, Daily Mail
City’s stellar signing of last summer owed everything to Tevez tiring of his limited involvement under Sir Alex Ferguson and believing he would be valued more highly at Eastlands.
He may think again after a development that illustrated how managing City these days comes with demands that never used to apply.
Hughes has his hands full trying to keep everyone happy, from owners who want a return on their investment to players who struggle with the concept of squad utilisation.
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