I just thought I'd post this from the Telegraph. After reading the headline it looked like it was going to be a Mancini bashing but when you read the article it's quite unbiased and thoroughly decent read.
Manchester City v Manchester United: Roberto Mancini accuses United's Ashley Young ahead of derby
Roberto Mancini responded to Sir Alex Ferguson’s insistence that Manchester City benefit from generous penalty decisions on Friday by accusing Manchester United winger Ashley Young of “swimming” to win spot-kicks last season.
Ferguson said on Friday that Manchester City had become more than just noisy neighbours. “They are screaming now,” he said, before launching into his latest pre-derby mind game.
Having claimed - incorrectly - that City had been awarded 21 penalties “in the last year”, Ferguson appeared to shift the spotlight on to Martin Atkinson, the referee for Sunday's Manchester derby at the Etihad Stadium, by placing a sharp focus on the number of penalties awarded to Mancini’s team.
“The late penalty kicks they get,” Ferguson said. “Twenty-one in the last year isn’t it? Something like that. If we were to get that number of penalty kicks there would have been an inquiry in the House of Commons and protests.”
According to information supplied by the Premier League’s statisticians, Opta, however, United and City have both been awarded 21 penalties since the start of the 2010-11 season.
No club have won more penalties than the Mancunian rivals, with Chelsea the next on the list with 16 penalties over the same period.
Intriguingly, 20 of City’s 21 penalties have come at the Etihad Stadium, while, in contrast, United have been awarded eight of their 21 away from Old Trafford. However, with United being handed penalties against Queens Park Rangers and Aston Villa last season following alleged dives by Young, Mancini hit back at Ferguson by suggesting that his team also benefits from favourable decisions by officials.
“I remember very well last year when Young was swimming,” Mancini said, while mimicking a swimmer doing breaststroke. “It was four or five times in the last 10 games and no one said nothing. This can happen probably. Fergie is clever for this. I think in the last 15 years, some penalties for them - not a lot, but two or three - have been [debatable].”
This season, United have been awarded five penalties in the Premier League, against City’s four, while Ferguson’s team topped the charts last season with 11 penalties, three more than City. Atkinson, Sunday’s referee, has awarded four penalties in 12 games this season, one fewer than Phil Dowd.
Having beaten United to the title last season, City and Mancini can now fight their verbal battles with Ferguson on an even footing and the City manager insists that his team are no longer affected by the fear factor in derby games.
“We changed this last season,” Mancini said. “But at the same time, they are better than us in this moment.
“I believe this because they have a strong mentality, they can play in two strong competitions like the Premier League and Champions League and we probably don’t have this strength at this moment. We need to work for this. But United v City is a different game now. Maybe two or three years ago, we were fearful of United, but now that has changed.”
City’s goalscoring feats last season ultimately proved the key to the club winning the title on goal difference, yet Mancini believes that his forwards must improve their output to keep the club on course to retain the title.
Collectively, City’s four forwards have scored just one fewer than United’s quartet, but Mancini insists they must do more.
“United have scored 10 more goals than us, so our season depends on our strikers,” Mancini said. “If we start to score like last year we will have a big chance.
“We have four strikers who scored a lot of goals last season and we just need to work.
“It’s always the case that you can have one striker in a difficult moment in the season, but usually, when you have four strikers and two or three of them are not scoring, one is. But at the moment we have four strikers who can’t score. This can change maybe on Sunday and after it will be OK. But we need to work more.”
United travel to City aiming to become the first visitors to claim all three points since Everton in December 2010, but they will be without injured midfielders Shinji Kagawa, Anderson, Nani and Antonio Valencia.
Captain Nemanja Vidic has been publicly ruled out by Ferguson, despite returning to training two weeks ago following knee surgery.
“I know we have got a few injuries but we have a big, strong squad of players,” Ferguson said. “There are plenty of options there.
“Derby games are notorious for surprises and City have not lost at home for two years, so we know it’s going to be difficult, but we’re capable of beating anyone, as we have proved time and again.”
The mancityfans.net football forum
The BEST FORUM in all the land and all the world
