Man City plans to get more from Robinho

Manchester City manager Mark Hughes is determined to surround Robinho with enough world-class talent to help the Brazil star shine more regularly next season.

Robinho has often been criticised for failing to live up to his club record 32.75 million pounds price tag since his shock move from Real Madrid in August.

But, despite questions about his appetite for the more mundane fixtures in the Premier League, Robinho is still in contention to end as the division’s top scorer.

The forward is finishing the campaign with a real flourish and took his tally to 15 goals for the season in the 3-1 win over Blackburn on Saturday that kept City in the hunt for a Europa League place.

Hughes concedes that his star player has not always lived up to his billing but feels Robinho can improve even further next season.

He said: “Robbie’s an easy target. He’s a high profile player and he’s got a price tag that people will highlight and it’s understandable and predictable.

“On occasions he’s disappointed but he’s not the only one and on occasions we’ve all disappointed ourselves and our fans.

“But he’s an outstanding talent and he played well again against Blackburn and scored an outstanding goal.

“We’re delighted that he’s here and the key is to bring more players that will enable us to grow as a team and enable Robbie to shine as brightly, if not more so, next year.”

Hughes accepts that his side have been inconsistent during the current campaign but feels that they will benefit from their struggles.

He added: “People can see that we’re a good side when we’re in full flow and we can produce good football.

“We’ll try to add quality in the summer and if we can do that we’ll build on what we’ve done this year.

“If you look at the make-up of our team going into most Premier League games, invariably we lack Premier League experience by virtue of the fact that players have come in from other leagues and players will benefit from the events of this year and have a better understanding of what the Premier League is all about.”

City enjoyed a comfortable three-goal lead at half-time thanks to goals from Felipe Caicedo and Robinho and Elano’s penalty.

Blackburn pulled one back when Shay Given saved El-Hadji Diouf’s penalty and Keith Andrews tapped in the follow-up.

Rovers are still not guaranteed Premier League safety and remain six points above the relegation zone with three matches left.

Blackburn manager Sam Allardyce is confident that Benni McCarthy and Chris Samba will both be fit for next Saturday’s crucial home game against Portsmouth.

South Africa forward McCarthy came off at half-time with a foot injury and Samba was substituted with a similar problem midway through the second half at Eastlands.

One more win is likely to be enough to take Rovers to safety and Allardyce is hoping the duo will be available for the run-in.

“Benni could have played on but he kicked the bottom of somebody’s boot after a few minutes and at 3-0 down, we decided not to risk him.

“Chris Samba complained about his foot being sore and we just wanted to make sure they were fit for next week.

“The situation we’re in with our injuries is a concern but we’ve got next week to get everybody fit and hopefully get the three points that we’re looking for.

“We’re just hoping we can get everybody fit for the game next week. It’s about us doing what we need to do and there are games of football that need to be won.

“We want to control our own destiny by winning games and not rushing to the television and hoping that other teams have slipped up as well. We want to make sure we do that next week and if we get three points it’ll be in the bag.”