Blackburn Rovers 0 – 2 Manchester City – 15th August – Summer spending pays off

Man City started what will prove to be an important season for Mark Hughes with 2-0 victory away at Ewood Park.

Emmanuel Adebayor showed the City faithful why Hughes decided to stump up £25m for him when the Togo striker opened his City account by scoring a fantastic goal just 3 minutes into his debut. A fantastic strike from 18 yards clearly caught Blackburn by surprise and they never really recovered enough to turn the tide.

Centre-back and sometimes striker, Christopher Samba was denied by a brilliant Shay Given save and Benni McCarthy also went close; the city defense looked vulnerable as Toure and Dunne struggled on several occasion to deal with high balls towards City’s goal. However for all their lapses, Stephen Ireland finished off proceedings with a injury time goal that cemented Mark Hughes’s first win of the season.

Did City look like possible league winners? No, but they have certainly improved since last season however one can’t help but think that it will take this team of expensive buys a while before they reach their potential.