Manchester City boss Mark Hughes says their 1-1 draw at Liverpool should go a long way to silencing the doubters.

"People, I think, expected us to be challenging almost immediately but that was an impossibility," said Hughes.

"We are trying to impose a new culture right through the club and if you look at all the teams in and around the top six or seven they have been together for a substantial amount of time and we are still very early in our development.

"We recognise that but maybe some people don't, or don't want to recognise it. They don't want to give us any credit and we understand that there are people out there who don't particularly want us to be successful in the future. We have to live with that and work with it in the short term because on occasions we will disappoint ourselves and our fans.

"I think we saw on Sunday that we have the makings of a good team. We have just got to be strong and take any valid criticism that comes our way in our stride. All the other rubbish that is written or broadcast we can ignore.

"Maybe in the past, and certainly earlier this season there was this feeling of `that's just City', and we are working hard to change that mentality. I keep saying it but it is still very early in that process. We have guys still integrating into the squad who have only been here a very short time but we saw at Anfield on Sunday that they are starting to understand what needs to be done to win Premier League games on the road.

"They all worked really hard for each other which I was particularly pleased about. It was a big ask to go to Anfield when we had worked so hard in appalling conditions in Denmark on the Thursday and then had the travelling to take into consideration. Liverpool had been off for the best part of a fortnight but we looked just as strong at the end.

"Each and every player put in a stint at Anfield and that is a good sign that the team is gelling and we have to keep moving in that direction."