On the one hand Mark Hughes has defended his players commendably yet again and shielding them from further confidence shattering criticism seems like the astute thing to do.
After all, the defence is looking as fragile as it has done for a long while. It is also proof that Hughes believes his players are beginning to feel the strain of being under the media microscope.
His comments about Match of the Day pundit seem well founded at surface level, for Hansen went over the top didn't he with his comments after City's 3-3 draw with Burnley.
"When you talk defensively, about organisation and communication, position and playing off one another, and as a team, the marks out of 10 are minus six - they were that bad."
'From top class players I just couldn't believe it. It was schoolboy defending. For the third goal, my god, what is going on there?'
I just feel sorry for Wayne Bridge. He was just that bad. You tend to be critical but on this occasion I just felt sorry for him.'
Hughes rather surprisingly replied,
"He understands what it's all about. Pundits on Match of the Day, or whatever, just have an opportunity to nail individuals in the public domain.
"But we're not going to do that because that's not what we're about. We look to analyse our mistakes and make sure, in future, we are better in similar situations.
"We won't single out individual players. That job is done by pundits. I'm sure that their process involves looking at incidents in games, but not taking it as a whole.
"There's a frustration when they don't go into particularly in-depth analysis. I'd question how many games they actually watch live, from the start to the conclusion of games."
On the other hand, the Blues have had to endure a creeping barrage of criticism starting from the takeover last summer and continuing to the present, showing no signs of stopping any time soon.
In fact, just last week Dave Whelan was quoted as saying we would win no silverware this year as we are not strong enough yet.
So why has the Blues' supremo broken his silence now. After all, its not as if he hasn't had the opportunity to due the us being praised in the press everyday for trying to break the top four monopoly.
If he had come out and had a go at Whelan then he would have been perfectly in his rights as Whelan has stuck his nose in our business too many times over the years.
Why not The Mirror's very own canine specialist Stanley Collymore who just this weekend ridiculed the Blues defence at great length and teased Hughes' about Richard Dunne's sale to his beloved Aston Villa.
Why not the despicable excuse for a pundit that is Paul Merson, who has never had a good word to say about City in all his years commentating on us. Just watch the video at the start for confirmation of The Toad at his City hating best.
On Match of the Day itself, you could perhaps make a case for Alan Shearer, the popular England legend, not knowing what he's talking about after his recent stint at Newcastle. After all his analysis is a series of cliches mixed in with deep frowns of the fore head as he struggles to articulate himself.
You could definitely make a case if the comments had come from Mark "I've got no idea' Lawrenson whose only reason for being on the show is that he was friendly with Hansen.
The problem is this time it is Alan Hansen, hands down the best pundit on the team and not exactly a man to tarnish City's reputation over the years.
In 90's he became infamous for his 'you win nothin with youth' comments as Manchester United won the championship with just that and started a dominance than has only just now looked like crumbling.
Since then he's shown that he is an excellent pundit, providing excellent pre-match and post- match analysis and gained a reputation for being the number one in his field- the Premier League.
So while its all good and well protecting your players at the right times, it would be ignorant and idiotic to misread why Hughes has decided to rise to Hansen's comments.
The truth is that the truth hurts more than lies or propaganda and pointing out how to expose our fragile back line is the last thing he needs going into a match with Hansen's favourite team Liverpool especially after five straight draws.
Hughes probably felt that a prime time deconstruction of his defensive frailties was the last thing he needed. For it isn't the calling out of Wayne Bridge or Joleen Lescott that riled him the most but the highlighting of how they are so bad at the minute in front of an audience of tens of millions on TV and The Internet.
That's probably why 'Swede Basher' Collymore has escaped Sparky's wrath as he writes for the Mirror and is a pundit on Channel 5!
One things for sure though, this break couldn't have come at a better time for God's own team as the Blues' Juggernaut is on the verge of careering off the road in spectacular fashion.
Hughes now has the time to put his own back room staff in order and hopefully get his team in the right frame of mind before the game with the Scousers.
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