Racing Santander 3 City 1

Racing Santander 3 Manchester City 1

Thursday December 18, 2008, 8.45pm

Estadio El Sardinero - Att: 18,360

[BBC report, mcfc.co.uk report, guardian.co.uk report, MEN report, telegraph.co.uk report]

Not a night that will have remembered as one of our finest nights, and a perfect illustration perhaps of why so many people denigrate this competition - and in particular the group stages of the tournament.

Despite talk of going all out to top the group, Mark Hughes opted to rest the trio of Wright-Phillips, Kompany and Ireland (although Ireland was introduced for Robinho at half-time) who have been our most overworked players this season, and to be honest in need of a rest.

It was perhaps a calculated gamble in that FC Twente were in a similar position to us in that they had already qualified and going up against a PSG side who needed a win to stand a chance of qualification.

And so it proved with PSG winning 4-0, with Racing Santander missing out on qualification along with Schalke 04 - the team I initially predicted to top the group.

Whilst it was objective achieved, you do wonder what effect another defeat and lacklustre performance will have on the confidence of a side who are struggling, and it was a game where few (if any) positives can be drawn from it - although Caciedo getting on the scoresheet may have been a slight nudge that could see him receive more playing time.

UEFA Cup : Final Group A Table

		P	W	D	L	F	A	GD	PTS
1	Man City	4	2	1	1	6	5	1	7
2	FC Twente	4	2	0	2	5	8	-3	6
3	PSG	4	1	2	1	7	5	2	5
4	Racing Santander	4	1	2	1	6	5	1	5
5	Schalke 04	4	1	1	2	5	6	-1	4

City v Racing Santander open thread

Open thread for today's game which does have a little more riding on it than hoped, with Santander needing a win to keep their hopes of qualification alive whilst a win for ourselves would secure top spot and avoid the Champions League 'drop outs' (current qualifiers here).

Team wise, Richard Dunne misses the trip along with Jo and with the injuries we have it won't give Hughes much opportunity to experiment - although given the need to win the group I'd be surprised if he played anything other than his strongest side.

UEFA Cup draw analysis

Concensus has been that the draw we've been handed is a tough one, but whilst we have a couple of tricky fixtures in there, it is perhaps an easier group than some of the other English sides (certainly Aston Villa) have been handed.

Jack believes that 5 points should be enough to go through, but I would think Mark Hughes would be aiming at six points as a minimum, and probably seven to ensure a smooth progression.

I posted previously that the home games would be crucial, and I firmly believe that 2 wins is a must from the fixtures against Twente and PSG, both sides who are mid-table this season in their respective leagues.

The real big game is the trip to Schalke - a recent perennial Champions League side, who unfortunately came up against Atletico Madrid in the qualifiers. If we took a point from this game it would be a bonus - particularly coming as it does between home fixtures against Arsenal and United.

The final game - at Racing Santander could be a crucial one, although the hope is that we have done enough to secure qualification already, as despite not being a 'big side', they had a good campaign during 2007/08 and were not far off qualifying for the Champions League, and a trip there on the final day needing something to go through will not be an easy prospect.

Whilst we have the undoubted talent to go through - and it will be important to do so to get to the knock-out stages after the January window, the concern could be our lack of European experience as looking at the squad there is not a whole lot there.

The pace of games are slower than the Premier League, and we have seen so far (from lesser sides) that we do have to be patient and bide our time (particularly at home) against sides who will come with a game plan and set their stall out.

Having sounded that note of caution, I am taking us to go through in second place on seven points, along with PSG and group winners Schalke.

Full fixtures:

• Nov 6th - Twente Enschede (h)
• Nov 27th - Schalke 04 (a)
• Dec 3rd - PSG (h)
• Dec 18th - Racing Santander (a)