£160k a week, no goals in 2009 and he's tired! Time to try harder, Robinho?

His arrival was meant to be a bold statement of intent by the men from Abu Dhabi that Manchester City had emerged from the shadow of neighbours United and were ready to compete for the world's best players.

• Instead, Robinho’s decline has mirrored that of his new club’s aspirations since he was paraded as a British record £34million signing last summer.
• Early promise has given way to disappointing reality, and just when City’s season and the future of manager Mark Hughes are hanging in the balance, the boy from Brazil appears ready for the beach. Or at least the bench.
• Apparently, Robinho needs a rest. That is why Hughes said he was dropped for the first time against Fulham on Sunday, and possibly why he underperformed once again after coming on as a substitute half-an-hour from the end.
• City fans would be justified in questioning whether a highly trained 25-year-old athlete needs to take a breather in mid-April, just seven months after his debut. So, too, would the club’s Arab owners, who are paying him £160,000 a week to kick a ball.
• No player can perform at the peak of his powers every game, but it will not have escaped their notice that Robinho is hardly busting a gut for the cause and could try harder.
• Then there is the indifferent body language on the pitch, an uneasy relationship with his team-mates and the unauthorised flit back to South America from City’s midseason training camp in Tenerife.
• This is not the behaviour of a player who needs a rest but of one who would rather be somewhere else. Brazil, probably. London, possibly. At Chelsea, the club he wanted to join until City hijacked the deal on transfer deadline day last summer. But Chelsea would not be interested in taking him now, even at half the price.
• Some may argue that Robinho has been resting for several months. He announced his arrival at Eastlands with 12 goals before the turn of the year, but there have been none since – a dramatic drop-off in performance that has coincided with the downturn in City’s fortunes. Taking into account his transfer fee and salary, that works out at more than £3m per goal.
• Heaven knows what true City battlers like Paul Dickov, Andy Morrison, Alan Oakes, Dave Watson and, of course, Bert Trautmann make of it all. It is hard to imagine Robinho playing on with a broken finger, never mind a broken neck.
• Hughes, too, was a player who would run through a brick wall for his team, and there is far more behind his decision to ‘ rest’ Robinho than giving the Brazilian a break.
• He acted as much to stamp his authority on the squad and show that his most expensive player is not indispensable.
• Even sat on the bench, Robinho drew attention to himself. Whispering into the ear of his ever-present companion Elano, the two resembled a couple of conspirators plotting behind Hughes’s back as the fans voiced their frustration at the manager. Neither would shed a tear if Hughes left this summer.
• Hughes realised the disruptive potential of this relationship some time ago, yet Robinho could still be the man to save City’s season. If a 3-1 first-leg deficit can be overturned at home against Hamburg on Thursday, they can reach the semi-finals of the UEFA Cup.
• It could also have the effect of reviving City’s flagging bid for a top-10 league finish and head off speculation over Hughes’s future.
• Despite Robinho’s suspect temperament, the manager knows there is no one with more talent in his squad to help them pull it off. The Brazilian owes City a performance and now is his chance. After all, he has had a rest.