Rob will assume the position around 3.30pm. In the meantime, why not have a look at the book wot GU's Scott Murray and Rowan Walker wrote. It really is rather good.

After Tuesday's, a-hem, triumph, today's MBM will include the return of the sequence-based quiz that nobody is talking about.

Here's question one. To win an exhilarating and thoroughly misplaced surge of pride, all you have to do is name the missing team in this sequence, and explain why: France, Brazil, Romania, Mexico, XXX, Ireland, Switzerland.

Links to pass the time This contains some of the best goals you've never seen, this remains a thing of perverse beauty, this is a glorious resource that allows you find the league table at any point of any season (in that 1981-82 season, for example, Liverpool were 11th on New Year's Day and won the mother). And this is me upon hearing I'd be doing this game.

Preamble Hello. Mark Hughes might soon know how Pete Best feels. Or Scarlett Johansson's first boyfriend. Or Benjamin Mitchell, the man who first played loveable lummox Brad Willis on Neighbours before the role went to the sublimely gifted Scott Michaelson. Like those men, Hughes was given the keys to the kingdom without realising it, and now that he knows what they are it might be too late.

Manchester City's new owner insists that all is well, but votes of confidence aren't worth the paper they're written on. Like cries of wolf, an alcoholic promising that this is their last bender, or that weird thing you keep seeing in the mirror, you just can't take them seriously.

The facts are these: City are two points off the bottom and have lost six of their nine league games since buying Robinho. He has done okay, at home at least (he's yet to score from open play away from home), but no more. With the possible exception of the SilverTag, City are the most expensive shower in the world. The tightness of the league has cut other managers, like Gary Megson and Joke Kinnear, some slack, but City aren't playing by the same rules as everyone else any more. If this continues into next month - and City's next three games are at home to Arsenal and Manchester United and then away to Fulham, who have won five out of seven at Craven Cottage - do you really think they are going to give Hughes £200m to play with in January?

So it's a very big game for Manchester City, as it is for Hull City. They have, inevitably, regressed towards the mean after that remarkable start, losing three games in a row. The trouble is that, because the table is so congested, they are only seven points off the relegation places. Newly promoted sides often go into freefall at some stage, so it's important that Hull continue to pick up points here and there to drip-drip-drip them closer to the magic 40 mark. I reckon they'll get one today in a 1-1 draw.

Hull City (4-3-1-2) Myhill; McShane, Turner, Zayatte, Ricketts; Boateng, Ashbee, Marney; Geovanni; Cousin, King.
Subs: Duke, Doyle, Barmby, Garcia, Halmosi, Folan, Giannakopoulos.

Manchester City (4-1-4-1) Hart; Zabaleta, Richards, Ben-Haim, Garrido; Kompany; Vassell, Wright-Phillips, Ireland, Robinho; Benjani.
Subs: Schmeichel, Onuoha, Michael Ball, Hamann, Elano, Jo, Evans.

Entirely unrelated incidents which in no way have anything to do with each other

1. Mark Hughes goes to Abu Dhabi to meet the club's new owners.
2. Robinho is named as City's captain in the next game.

Okay, Richard Dunne is suspended, but still. "Does he speak English?" asks Sky's Geoff Shreeves. Mark Hughes's reply - which basically amounted to "a bit", only he used about 40 words - wasn't the most convincing.

Anyone out there? Any answers to question one in the hot GU quiz that nobody is talking about? All you have to do is name the missing team in this sequence: France, Brazil, Romania, Mexico, XXX, Ireland, Switzerland.

1 min We've kicked off a few minutes late because Joe Hart had to change his top, which was too similar to Hull's. City, in sky blue, kick off from left to right.

2 min "The missing team in the sequence is ... Scotland," says Alex Mackenzie, showing endearing insouciance in the face of a thoroughly wrong answer.

3 min Bald Sky commentator Alan Parry is in particularly gruesome form today, referring in patronising terms to the Brazilian aspect of this game at every single opportunity, not least when Robinho storms up to take a free-kick from 35 yards... and punts it miles wide. A thoroughly witless start on and off the field.

4 min "Re the XXX in the sequence, is it USA or UAE?" asks Gary Naylor. "It's unlikely to be DDR after all." Very good. No. Sorry, I should stress that there are more than three letters in the answer.

6 min I'd like to tell you something happened. I'd like to produce some crisp, Woolnoughian prose about sumptuous one-touch play, about spine-tingling football, about a dreamy winter sunset and a melancholy maiden with a solitary tear dribbling poignantly down her rosy cheek. I'd like to do a lot of things.

8 min This quiz is going well again.

9 min Hull are happy to play almost like the away side, soaking up pressure and hitting on the break.

10 min Ricketts' cross from the left is laid off beautifully by Marney for the onrushing Ashbee, but he makes a Horlicks of his sidefooted attempt from the edge of the box.

11 min Ben-Haim, who looks a fair unit these days, is booked for a cynical trip on the marauding Geovanni. No argument there, although Mark Hughes will probably have one.

Niall Mullen plumbs new depths of knowledge-based deviancy "Is it England? The first team to exit the world cup on penalties in each of the World Cups since 82." Correct.

Here's question two, which is much easier: Martin Peters, Kevin Mabbutt, X, Ronaldo.

GOAL! Hull City 1-0 Man City (Cousin 13) You couldn't script this farce. Richards played a ball across the edge of his own box to Ben-Haim, who attempted the most ridiculous, half-arsed pass back to Joe Hart. It was never in any danger of getting there, and Cousin nipped in to flick it coolly under Hart. Fair play to Cousin, who did the hard yards by harrying the defenders and got his reward, but it's a preposterous howler from Ben-Haim.

14 min City can't kick off yet, because Joe Hart is getting treatment on his left foot. Mark Hughes has the look of a man who has just realised that not even he can blame the referee/conditions/fate for that fiasco.

15 min Oh, City.

19 min Joe Hart plunges to take a cross and then, wincing, throws the ball straight out of play before hobbling off. Kasper Schmeichel will replace him.

20 min These really are 70 of the most massive minutes in the career of Mark Hughes.

21 min Ben Smith, with the aid of google, correctly identifies the answer to question two as Dennis Bailey: they are the only four opposition players to score a hat-trick at Old Trafford.

So here's question three: Nicol, McMahon, Rush, xxx, Beardsley, Aldridge, Barnes, Hysen, Nicol.

22 min City can't get any kind of rhythm going, although in their defence all these stoppages haven't helped.

23 min Stop. Start. Stop. Start. Stop. Start. Stop. Start. It all suits Hull very nicely, and in fairness they have defended excellently, particularly this impressive Zayatte fellow.

25 min McShane is booked for ploughing through Garrido on the halfway line. Garrido looked like he'd misjudged the pass, which invited McShane into the challenge, thinking he could get the ball. He couldn't, and fully deserved a yellow after sending Garrido up in the air like a freshly released balloon.

27 min This is so, so poor, like having to listen to two simple folk (let's call them Smyth and Lutz) arguing over something when both have the wrong answer.

29 min "As a Palace fan I knew straight away what the sequence referred to," says Ian Bezodis, "but I have to confess to googling to find out that the answer was Gary Gillespie." It being the list of scorers in Liverpool's 9-0 win over Palace in September 1989. "To redress the balance, can I suggest another sequence from later that season? Bright, O'Reilly, xxxxx, Pardew." It is indeed Andy Gray, scorer of Palace's third goal in that wonderful semi-final revenge win over Liverpool later that season.

30 min Okay, here's question four. It's quite easy: Vizek, XXX, Kana Biyik, Etcheverry, Nankov, Alpay, Avery John.

32 min Half chance for Cousin. A cross was whipped in from the left, and Cousin's flicked header, on the stretch, went across the goal and away. Had he missed it, the late-arriving Dean Marney might have had a better chance. Hull certainly couldn't be said to be dominating the game, but they are definitely the ones creating the better situations.

35 min Boaz Myhill touches the ball.

GOAL! Hull 1-1 Man City (Ireland 37) You couldn't script this farce part two: Robinho plays an aimless pass down the middle; it's going straight through to Myhill, but for some reason Zayatte collects it in front of his keeper and then overruns it straight into the path of Ireland, who taps it into an open goal from eight yards. That's truly one of the most shambolic pieces of defending you'll ever see.

39 min I wonder whether, one day in the future, that piece of play from Zayatte might be up there with Kevin Brock's backpass and Mark Robins' goal at the City Ground. It really could be that significant.

40 min "Ray Wilkins - first player to be sent off in the 1986 World Cup," says Stephen Carleton, before high-fiving fresh air in flamboyant fashion and chanting "you da man" into his mirror. The others were the first players to be sent off in other World Cups, going back to 1982.

43 min Goals, like punches in the face, invariably change the mood, and now Manchester City are playing with something resembling purpose. Robinho turns McShane stylishly on the edge of the box and then thwangs a half-volley off the arm of Turner. He's devastated that Phil Dowd doesn't give a penalty, but Turner was only a few yards away and that would have been seriously harsh.

44 min Okay, here's question five: Albania, Czechoslovakia, Turkey, Turkey, XXX, Poland, China, Scotland, Moldova, Moldova.

GOAL! Hull City 1-2 Manchester City (Ireland 45) This is a delicious goal. Garrido gets free down the left - that's the weakness in Hull's narrow system - and screws a ball back to the unmarked Ireland on the edge of the box. His first touch spins it a couple of yards up in the air and, as it bounces, he places a sumptuous, curling half-volley into the far corner. That goal was so classy it could have been played by Joanna Lumley, and Myhill had no chance. It's the sort of goal Matt Le Tissier might have scored, and praise doesn't come much higher round these parts. I knew I wore my Superman Y-fronts for a reason today.

45 min Four minutes of added time.

Half time: Hull City 1-2 Manchester City A staggeringly poor half, illuminated by one brilliant goal and two that will make you laugh more than the entire season five of Peep Show. See you in 15 minutes.

Anyone? Okay, here's question five again: Albania, Czechoslovakia, Turkey, Turkey, XXX, Poland, China, Scotland, Moldova, Moldova. Come on: it's fun (sic)!

46 min Hull kick off from left to right.

47 min City start the half with a good spell of pressure, including a couple of corners. It comes to nothing.

48 min King scrunches a cross over from the right and Geovanni leans into a wonderful acrobatic scissor-kick that dipped perfectly, but only after it had flown a few yards over the bar. Great effort though.

49 min King, given far too much space on the right side of the box, controls a raking crossfield pass from Ricketts but then doesn't quite get hold of his crossshot. Schmeichel plunges to his right to make a rudimentary save.

50 min "England?" offers Adam Simpson. "Unofficial world champions list?" With Moldova and China in the list? Fraid not.

52 min "The answer is Turkey again," says Steve Betterley, confidently and correctly. "It refers to goals scored by Paul Gascoigne for England."

53 min Okay, last one: XXX, John Williams, Lee Chapman, Nigel Pearson, Gavin Johnson, Steve Bould, Mark Bright, Kevin Campbell, Stuart Ripley, Barry Horne.

54 min Hull have earned seven points after going behind this season, so there's no panic yet, but for now City are keeping them at arms' length in a second half that is every bit as compelling as the first.

59 min Hull, sad to say, look very, very ordinary. They're fourth favourites with most bookies to go down, despite being sixth, and you can see why.

GOAL! Hull City 2-2 Man City (Geovanni 61) Richards is penalised for shoving King 25 yards from goal, and Geovanni's free-kick takes an enormous deflection off Kompany's shoulder to wrong-foot Schmeichel. Andy Gray is criticising Kompany for turning his back on the free-kick, rather than trying to head it away, and he might have a point. Mark Hughes will complain about the free-kick, because that is what he does, but to me it was a foul: Richards put both hands on King's back and shoved him. It's soft, but it's a foul.

62 min The impressive Ricketts charges down the left and clips in a really good, pacy cross to Cousin, whose flashing header is straight at Schmeichel. Either side and that was probably in.

64 min Hull are flying now, and Geovanni scuffs one across goal and wide from 20 yards after an excellent counter-attack.

66 min Hull were about to bring on Halmosi before the goal, but that has been shelved for the time being.

69 min "A sad indictment of the emptiness of my life, but the answer to this one is Brian Deane as it's the opening scorers in the first week of Premier League matches in 1992," says Steve Betteley. "Spurs and Southampton drew 0-0. Any lives going spare at GU Towers?" If there are, I'm 14th on the waiting list. Bloody hell, I didn't think anybody would get that.

70 min City miss a massive chance. Ireland, a class above everyone on the pitch, played a quick-witted pass to the left for Robinho. He drove into the box and cracked it across the face of goal; that was blocked and it broke loose to Vassell eight yards out. He whacked fresh air past Myhill and into the top corner, but missed the ball completely. That man played for England in the quarter-final of two major competitions.

72 min It's anyone's game now, and it's sufficiently ragged to justify the perception that there will be a fifth goal. Cousin, Ireland, Ireland, Geovanni, ???.

76 min A substitution for both sides. Hull replace Daniel Cousin with Nick Barmby; Manchester replace Benjani with Jo.

78 min We forget how young Ireland is, partly because he looks about 64. But he's only 22 and is developing into a serious player.

81 min It's scrappy, but the tide is slowly turning Manchester City's way.

82 min Ashbee is needlessly brought down by Richards on the right-hand side of the D. Geovanni's first free-kick hits Wright-Phillips, who had charged before the kick was taken: so he's booked and it's a retake. This time Ireland charges before it's kicked and blocks it, so he's booked and it's a third free-kick. That time it hits the wall and goes for a corner. Nobody is booked, even though Darius Vassell did charge out from the wall before the kick was taken. What a farce.

85 min Hull substitution: Boateng off, Halmosi on.

87 min Stephen Ireland may only be 22, but look at this picture of him in his car," says William Mager.

88 min Marney is rightly booked for a sliding foul on Robinho just past the halfway line.

90 min Darius Vassell misses a great chance. Garrido launched a hanging crossfield punt that Ireland won really well in the air on the edge of the box. He nodded it down for Vassell, who broke away from Zayatte but then struck it straight at Myhill as the ball sat up. It's a good save, because he was out like a shot, but Vassell shouldn't have given him a chance.

90+1 min There will be four minutes of added time.

Full time: Hull City 2-2 Manchester City The end of a thoroughly ramshackle game, which ebbed and flowed and contained two priceless defensive errors and one gem of a goal from the excellent Stephen Ireland. Both sides end a run of three straight league defeats and will probably be fairly happy as a consequence. Bye.