Tuesday 25 July, 2.00pm (BST)
Goals: Ntuka 45
City missed out on their latest chance of silverware in the final of the Vodacom Challenge with a narrow defeat to the Kaizer Chiefs.
Hughes reverted to a 4-4-2 formation and for the second time it resulted in defeat. The midfield began with Barry and De Jong making a solid pairing in the middle with Wright-Phillips and Petrov supplying the width.
Adebayor made his debut alongside Craig Bellamy and unsurprisingly they weren’t on the same wavelength. …
Tuesday 21 July, 7.00pm (BST)
Goals: Ireland 45
The second game in South Africa saw City put out a stronger side and reap the rewards with a deserved victory courtesy of a goal from captain Stephen Ireland on the stroke of half time.
Hughes ditched the 4-4-2 and reverted to last season’s formation with first Ireland and then Wright-Phillips in the hole behind a lone striker. Everybody looked more comfortable with this. There was never the sense of being overrun which we had …
Saturday 18 July, 2.00pm (BST)
Goals: Thwala 35, Thwala 55.
And so the 2009/10 pre-season began. Sunshine and unparallelled optimism giving way to defeat and a dispiriting display. Then who should pop up at Eastlands but another £25m striker to lift our spirits. Welcome to Manchester indeed.
I took advantage of the club’s offer to watch our heroes show off their tans and tattoos on the big screen at Eastlands. City took a chance on the weather with the open air seating outside …
