CITY 0 NOTTINGHAM FOREST 3
FA Cup 3rd Round
3rd January 2009
Attendance 31,869
Scorers Tyson(38), Earnshaw(42), Garner(75)
City Hart, Zabaleta, Richards, Dunne, Ball, Fernandes, Kompany, Elano, Wright-Phillips, Sturridge, Caicedo – subs Vassell(24), Jo(70), Schmeichel(unused), Berti(unused), Clayton(unused), Garrido(unused), Hamann(60)
Forest Smith, Chambers, Morgan, Brechin, Perch, Anderson, McGugan, Cohen, Thornhill, Tyson, Earnshaw – subs Wilson(17), Davies(81), Garner(73), Richardson(unused), Byrne(unused), Hearth(unused), Reid(unused)
WHAT THE PRESS SAID
Pemberton’s glorious end spells nightmare for Hughes
A competition that once brought so much joy to Mark Hughes left the Manchester City manager facing his biggest nightmare.
Hughes won the FA Cup four times as a player, yet the angry Welshman accused his team of lacking leadership as they made an embarrassing third-round exit from the famous competition at Eastlands.
Against a Nottingham Forest side sitting four places off the foot of the Championship, City were humiliated by goals from Nathan Tyson, Robert Earnshaw and sub Joe Garner.
It was a glorious ending to John Pemberton’s brief two-match reign as caretaker manager of the former European Cup winners.
Monday he resumes his duties as reserve team boss when Billy Davies, the former Preston and Derby manager, officially takes charge.
Yet the biggest moment of Pemberton’s coaching career turned into the worst moment of Hughes’s time as a manager.
Without a win in eight of their last nine league and cup games, City players were booed off the pitch after a woeful display which will cast serious doubts over Hughes’s ability to take the club in the direction the wealthy Arab owners want.
After spending an hour in the dressing room afterwards telling his players exactly what he thought of their performance, Hughes vowed to bring in new faces when he emerged.
‘You need leaders and if you have talented players missing then that spark can be lacking,’ said Hughes, who lost Shaun Wright-Phillips to a hamstring injury.
‘We need more players. It’s not going to be easy, but we’re looking to bring in new ones. It’s not as though this is a one-off game. This has happened before. This competition has gone now and we need to move on.
‘I know what the situation is and where we are in development terms, but what we’re trying to achieve isn’t going to happen overnight.’
Having used the money of City’s oil-rich owners to secure the £12million signature of Wayne Bridge, who was paraded before the game, Hughes is desperate to add Roque Santa Cruz, Shay Given and Craig Bellamy to his team.
Yet it will require more than that to put right the wrongs at City. This was the second time this season they have been victims of a giant-killing.
At least they took Brighton to penalties before exiting the Carling Cup four months
DEREK HUNTER WRITING IN THE MAIL 4TH JANUARY 2009
