Outclassed, hammered, embarrassed. A few of the descriptions assigned to City’s 5-1 home defeat on Wednesday. While the result was obviously disappointing, it must also be put in some form of context. Tottenham’s starting XI on Wednesday cost around £90 million to assemble, whereas the Tigers, made up of lower league British players and unproven foreigners, boasted a side that cost just £15 million. This isn’t excusing a poor and at times witless performance, just a statement of fact.

The Tigers have to be at 100% commitment and at top form to compete at Premier League level. They weren’t on Wednesday, ripped apart in the first 15 minutes of the game after trying to match Spurs with a 4-4-2 formation. This created an exciting, open start to the game, but City’s lack of quality was shown on a grand scale.

One positive must be in the speedy reaction to Tottenham’s excellent start. Brownie realised the formation wasn’t working, and opted to sacrifice an understandably miffed Cousin to adopt a 4-5-1, which stifled Tottenham’s attacks and allowed City to get a foothold in the game. Kudos to Brown for changing things, and had City hung on at 2-1 until half time, we would have been well in the game. As it was, a mistake by a distracted looking Michael Turner allowed Jermaine Defoe to score, killing City’s momentum and any chance of getting something from the game.

The other positives have to be the performance of Stephen Hunt, who looks a lively, hungry, excellent signing, and Geo, who made a real impact when he came on for Cousin. He’s a funny one that Geovanni fellar. At times he’s fantastic, the scorer and creator of wonderful goals. But in the second half of last season he was a passenger much of the time. And where do you fit him into the side? He doesn’t really have an outright position, so Brown finds it tricky at times to accommodate the Brazilian.

City huffed and puffed in the second half, but never really looked like scoring - a major worry about our season. The constant calls for new strikers are a little misguided in my view. Yes, a proven top-notch striker would be a great addition to our squad, but he’d still be feeding from scraps. The midfield really needs beefing up. We need at least two genuine quality passers of the ball in the middle.

Olofinjana looks to have lots of potential, and adds strength and industry; we need a little more quality to go with it, particularly in home games. This is why City find it difficult to win games at home. Teams sit deep, allow little space for our midfield, and hit us on the break. Away from home, the Tigers are very good at frustrating other sides, but struggle when teams do the same to them.

Thierry Henry could have been up front for City on Wednesday night and he still wouldn’t have had a kick. While Caleb Folan is obviously no Henry, it is extremely unfair to blame City’s lack of goals purely on him. More quality is needed to supply the likes of Cousin, who scores goals when he receives a decent delivery. I feel the Frenchman has the ability to score goals at this level.

Folan really can’t cut it at this level, and needs to be either sold or loaned out to a more suitable division. Altidore and Ghilas both look as though they have potential, and hopefully will improve City’s front line. Another striker is paramount though, with pace a crucial element of a new recruit. Brown’s hounding of Negredo suggests he’s looking for another target man, so it will be interesting to see who City accost in the coming weeks.

Bolton will provide an interesting test on Saturday. They lack the sparkle of Spurs, but will provide muscular resistance. The game is likely to be a battle of attrition, and it will be interesting to see how the Tigers approach the game. Will they start 4-4-2, in a similar fashion to Tottenham, in an attempt to out-pass Bolton? If City adopt a more direct approach, I feel they may struggle. Such a plan would be tantamount to playing Bolton at their own game, and surely wouldn’t work. City have to be brave, and have the courage of conviction to try to play in the correct way.

I’d attempt to accommodate Geo on the right wing, somewhere he hasn’t plied his trade for the Tigers, but somewhere I feel he could be very effective. Cousin would be joined by Ghilas to add some pace to the front line, and I’d be tempted to play Kilbane in central midfield at the expense of Boateng, who looked shattered on Wednesday after ten minutes. Hopefully this team would cause the Trotters problems, and manage to find the net of Jussi Jaaskelinen, who produced an amazing performance in last season’s fixture to keep City at bay. This is already a massive game. City really need some momentum and points on the board, and three points against Bolton would be a great way to go into the

Jozy Altidore has now finally arrived in Hull, but surely won’t be thrown straight into Saturday’s game. Hopefully he’ll make an impact if he comes off the bench for the Tigers. In truth, I’ve not seen much of Jozy, apart from a few clips on YouTube and his performances in the Confed cup this summer. It’d be great to hear your thoughts on Jozy’s potential, how do you guys (particularly those of you across the pond) think he’ll do in the Premier League?

Thanks for the comments; it’s good to know people are reading the blog. Hopefully I’ve raised some points of interest, so please let me know what you think.

TC