Man Citry 1 Fulham 3:MARK HUGHES'S bold decision to leave Robinho on the bench backfired as Manchester City were humbled in front of their furious fans by Fulham yesterday.
Instead of City applying pressure to West Ham for the final European slot, a second-half double from Clint Dempsey either side of a Dickson Etuhu effort against his old club mean Fulham are now pressing for seventh spot.
City must now attempt to overcome a first-leg deficit against Hamburg on Thursday to reach the Uefa Cup semi-finals and salvage their season.
No-one is suggesting Manchester City might go down but the brutal truth is they are just eight points above second-bottom Middlesbrough after a season that promised so much but is turning into one of deep depression.
The vast sums spent on Hughes’s squad are not looking like value for money, with the €36 million lavished on Robinho a major piece of poor judgement.
City did take the lead through Stephen Ireland on 28 minutes. It was just about the only noteworthy effort of the opening 45 minutes of a match that pitched Nigeria-born brothers Dickson and Kelvin Etuhu against each other. But, just as they did 12 months ago, Roy Hodgson’s men overcame a dismal interval position to get their noses in front.
Robinho’s introduction, along with that of Daniel Sturridge, followed shortly afterwards, to rapturous applause. Not that it made much difference as Fulham continued to look more threatening and Dempsey finished City off with seven minutes of the game left.
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