Hughes delighted with Blues

Sparky coy on transfer rumours

By Hayley Paterson   Last updated: 31st August 2008

Mark Hughes Hamburg v Manchester City friendly

Hughes: Full of praise

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Mark Hughes hailed his Manchester City side for their emphatic 3-0 win away to Sunderland thanks to a Shaun Wright-Phillips brace.

From the start City looked the more threatening in front of goal with South American Jo proving a handful and Wright-Phillips announcing his comeback with a well taken brace.

"I was delighted with the performance it's been a difficult week having to play in Europe on Thursday night," Hughes told Sky Sports.

"I thought they were excellent from start to finish, we had real purpose to our play, good accurate passing and got the goals when we needed."

Debutant

Hughes was particularly proud of his debutant Wright-Phillips, who recently returned to City following an short spell at Chelsea, and lone striker Jo.

On SWP he said: "Everybody's delighted that he's back at his club.

"You saw the reaction after the goals, he was absolutely delighted, so it was a great day for him.

"He wasn't the only one who had a decent performance, I thought Jo was excellent today."

Before half-time, Stephen Ireland fired home from close range after he guided Michael Johnson's cut-back past Craig Gordon.

Clinical effort

Then, after the interval, Wright-Phillips tapped in Jo's drilled ball across the box and then placed a clinical effort into the bottom corner from a Michael Ball clearance.

"Today was a performance of intelligence, we understood exactly what we wanted to do today," Hughes said.

"We got the rewards for it, it was an excellent performance from start to finish."

As the transfer deadline looms on 1st September, with the City boss recruiting Espanyol defender Pablo Zabaleta to his promising squad, he still remained coy over more new arrivals.

"We're bringing good players to the club, that's what we need to do. Obviously I've got good players already here so I'm just complementing what I've already got and try to push the club forward.

"I'm sure tomorrow will be busy for a number of players and clubs. We'll wait and see."