Is Elano the problem ?

City have been putting some miserable performances lately and who was the first in line to blamed for that? Who else, Mark Hughes! After being reassured by the wealthy owner his job is safe for now, under-pressure manager is determined to find the problem and kick it out. He seems to be on the right track…

Many teams would love to have two or three top Brazilians in their squad, but it seems Hughes is having second thoughts about his Samba stars Jo, Robinho and especially Elano. The trio cost Manchester City a hell of a lot of money and they would surely regret it after January transfer window. £19million-paid Jo has been terrible ever since he arrived failing to repay the money spent, Robinho’s performances are erratic, it is clear the lad is here only because of the money, but Elano has a bigger problem – attitude!

It is true…they have fabulous skills, they dribble, they shoot like mad and it is always a joy to watch them play, but when it comes to discipline it seems that Brazilians can’t deal with it properly. A number of them have always had issues with the club’s management and Elano is not the first nor the last. It is too bad though, since he could’ve definitely become something great with the Citizens. After Elano’s awful showing in UEFA Cup defeat to Racing Santander on Thursday, Hughes has had it, and dropped his playmaker from Sunday game his team lost 2-1 to West Brom, leaving City three points adrift of safety.

Elano went on trying to stir up the trouble among his Brazilian teammates trying to make Hughes look guilty of the recent set-back and trying to get him sacked. Who’d say that this nice-looking, always-smiling guy has got that kind of a temper in him. Elano has made a number of insults towards Hughes earlier on this season accusing him of club’s downfall and the last one in a row happened on the flight to and from Spain for their trip to already mentioned UEFA Cup fixture. While his teammates all looked smart wearing their club’s suits and ties, he was the only one wearing his shirt hanging out over his trousers looking completely disinterested. After several accidental situations, messing up the dressing atmosphere and discipline problems, Hughes will look to get Elano on the move out. Still, by doing so, he will risk another one since Elano’s “brother”, Robinho, will not be very happy about it.

Elano has reportedly already had the same situation with his former manager while playing for Shakthar. Lucescu, who had even warned City about this boy, accused Elano of trying to get him sacked by uniting Brazilian stars against him as his way of getting back at him for dropping him in one game. Does it ring a bell? We all know Brazilians are temperamental, but Elano seems to have a real problem with sitting on the bench. Perhaps the chairs are not comfortable … I don’t know. When you are playing below par, keep your head down mate, accept it, respect manager’s call and do your best to improve your game. Don’t go around people’s back dissing them.

Looks like the “Braziliant” era will come to its bitter end sooner than expected…

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