Spare a thought for Mark Hughes

I have no idea how Mark Hughes does this.

Manage a club with so many players who are no shows. The club with the most bloated transfer payroll with very little to show for it. His star player is the Lindsey Lohan of the soccer world with his fair share of entries in the police blotter. Even his countrymen have washed their hands of Robinho. This fate might have befallen Jo, another double digit million pound acquisition but he found himself Everton where he and Louis Saha have rejuvenated their careers.

Hughes Blackburn teams were defensive moats, now City can't throw down the drawbridge soon enough. Micah Richards has fallen way below in Capello's depth chart after Steve McLaren could not do without him. Piotr Trochowski torched him in the Hamburg match.

More kudos to Steven Ireland, their best player whose legacy could have been defined in an entirely different way but who chose to prove his worth on the field. He rightfully questioned the courage of his team mates.

Previously I had argued that Hughes was the perfect manager for a scrappy, chip on the shoulder type of a club like Blackburn, where he served as manager. The club regularly bench pressed far above its capability with no name players. A club very much like the one he faced last night.