Time please: Given calls for patience with City

SHAY GIVEN has pleaded for patience as Manchester City desperately bid to stop their season hitting the buffers.

A dismal three days saw them suffer successive 3-1 defeats to Hamburg in the UEFA Cup and then Fulham in the Premier League.

Having slipped six points adrift of West Ham in the battle for seventh spot, City know their most realistic chance of forcing open the door to European football again next season is to mount a successful comeback operation against Martin Jol’s side on Thursday.