Manchester City manager Roberto Mancini confident of riding out storm
Roberto Mancini has said he is not unduly concerned by Manchester City’s recent poor run of form and claimed that his side will win the Premier League if they emerge from their difficult patch.
Mancini was highly critical of his players after Tuesday’s 1-0 defeat to Everton, but said that there was no pressure on them as they prepare to take on Fulham at the Etihad Stadium in Saturday’s evening kick-off.
“We knew we would have a difficult moment in January, losing players to the Africa Cup of Nations, and I said that if we are still top after January, we will win the title,” Mancini said. “We don’t have any reason to have pressure.”
Despite winning just five of their last 12 games in all competitions, City are still lead Manchester United on goal difference, and have brought in Chilean midfielder David Pizarro on loan from Roma to bolster their midfield options. The 32 year-old could make his debut on Saturday.
Pizarro, a deep-lying playmaker who can also orchestrate the midfield from further forward, played under Mancini at Inter Milan when they won Serie A in 2006, and said Mancini’s experience of title run-ins would prove invaluable in getting City across the line this season.
“He has belief and leadership,” Pizarro said. “Inter didn’t win things, then Mancini changed things, and Inter went on to win things. His personality, his strength in leading important players in the Italian League and in Europe give him experience in an important context for Manchester City.”
The diminutive Pizarro is aware that he will not be given as much time to display his wide range of passing in England as he was allowed in Serie A.
“I know the league in England is going to be different to Italy,” he said. “But I have a lot of experience at the highest level and whilst I know I need to adapt very quickly, I am confident I can.”
“I know the player, and he could be useful for us,” Mancini said. “He can play in Yaya [Touré]’s position or [Gareth] Barry’s.”
Mancini also left the door open for Carlos Tévez to return to the City team this season if the striker proves his fitness and apologises to his team-mates for his behaviour.
“He must apologise, and he knows this,” Mancini said. “I told him this when I visited his house a week after Munich. He is not an option at the moment but it is possible in the future if he comes back. I hope he has been training in the last three months to help his condition. If he comes back, and he is fit, it is possible.”
Pizarro has been named in City’s 25-man squad for the knockout stages of the Europa League. Tévez has not, and nor has Owen Hargreaves, although Mancini said he was still hopeful that the injury-plagued former England midfielder could still feature this season.
“Like any player who hasn’t played for two years, when they start to train, every day there is a problem,” Mancini said. “I hope eventually he is able to play all the time. He will try to play this season.”
Is David Pizarro last piece in the Manchester City jigsaw?
Loan star can make a big impact in run-in
Massacro! David Pizarro said yesterday, recalling the humbling he experienced when he last went toe to toe with Manchester United, as he will for the next four months with Roberto Mancini at Manchester City. The occasion was the 2008 Champions League quarter-final, when Pizarro's Roma were a temporary impediment to what would be United's triumphant campaign and though Pizarro left Stadio Olimpico that night with some fairly trenchant views about Cristiano Ronaldo's showboating – "there is no doubt that he has quality but it is also true that he has a big head" – time has left him to conclude that there was simply a difference in class. "Molto bene Ronaldo," he remembered. "I could only see the back of his shirt. United went over the top that night. It was a massacre."
This time Pizarro is with the club who are ahead of United, though only on goal difference, and for those who wonder why Mancini has added another diminutive midfielder – to go with "El Kun" Aguero, City now possess the player known universally as "El Peq" because he is precisely as "pequeno" as David Silva – the answer lies in the experience which he and his new manager once shared of an almost unique type of pressure.
It was the 2005/06 season and Internazionale's wait for a Serie A title had stretched to 16 years when Mancini bought Pizarro from Udinese. Mancini's vivid recollection yesterday of the intense scrutiny that season brought – "every game is scrutinised in detail and all the journalists, all the newspapers, say the manager made this mistake, and that mistake, every game, every game ... so different from here" – led the Italian to suggest that City is a cinch, by comparison. Pizarro recalled Mancini's grace under pressure – the quality he seemed most emphatic about was "the ability to lead a group with a lot of personality". The 32-year-old described the Italian's balancing act of stabilising a club whose squad is in flux, in a way which reminded you how similar Mancini's previous and present jobs really are.
That single season at San Siro was not without its challenges for the Chilean, who spent a fair bit of it on the bench because Juan Sebastian Veron was competing for the same role, and regular football is not a guarantee at the Etihad, either. Though Pizarro in his pomp at Roma was a quick, deeply talented instigator of play, there is a feeling in Italy that he has lost some of his composure and strength over the past two years. He had become something of a forgotten man in Rome; a mere mortal in the Eternal City. That has made for some stormy relations between him and Roma's manager Claudio Ranieri – "oof!" one Italian observer said as he made this observation yesterday – and Pizarro was destined for Juventus before Mancini made a move which the midfielder clearly wasn't expecting. "It was a surprise for me as well because it was done pretty quickly and I had different ideas about changing countries," he said. "I had already quite advance agreement with Juventus but when they told me about Manchester's City's concrete interest I liked this more."
Mancini has a track record of causing frustration to veteran signings. Patrick Vieira felt he was fit enough to have played far more than he ever did, after making his own move from Internazionale, aged 33. But there won't be fireworks here. Pizarro's relationship with Mancini prevents it, as much as the player's retiring personality. Pizarro has maintained so studiously low a profile in Italy that his campaigning work to recognise the courage of the 33 miners trapped in Chile's San Jose mine in 2010 took everyone by surprise.
He has something to prove though and when he gets his chance he will be expected to dictate play, from deep, in the same way that Andrea Pirlo, now at Juventus, always has, despite often being the deepest midfielder in the side he has played for. The concept of the playmaker operating behind a more industrious and obviously defensive midfielder is more common to Italy audiences than English. "[Pizarro] can play in Yaya [Touré]'s position or Gareth [Barry]'s position," said Mancini, whose lack of creativity from deep harmed City in their Champions League campaign. A new Nigel de Jong this player is obviously not. "The referees tend to see the game differently. They don't whistle a lot so I know it will be 90 minutes full on," he said.
The man for whom Pizarro's arrival seems the most gloomy portent is Owen Hargreaves, who had been expected to feature for City by now. Instead, Mancini's reflections yesterday offered fresh doubt as to whether he will ever make it back into the game after effectively two years out. "When we took Owen on it was a gamble because he had not played for two years," Mancini said. "We thought if he would be fit in two or three months, we could have an experienced player. But I can understand that for a player who does not play for two years, when you start to train every day, sometimes you can have a problem in your knee and your hamstring. Owen has these problems at this moment. I hope he can come back to play. I don't know this because I'm not in his mind but I hope for him."
Pizarro is ready to seize the advantage, hinting that the six-month free loan is one he would be happy to see made permanent. "I have already been in this situation before. When I went on loan from Inter to Roma, I stayed in Rome for six years afterwards so..." And he clearly fancies a form of vengeance for that 2-0 defeat in Rome three years ago. "Manchester United are a very strong team and we will try to win the league against them even though they seem to be more used to doing that than Manchester City," he said.
PIKE BOLLOX
Man City fans probably know all about Natalie Pike, but for everyone else we'd like to introduce arguably the best signing the Etihad has ever seen.
She might not have Aguero's goal scoring ability, or Silva's incredible eye for a pass but Man City's sexiest season ticket holder can these days be spotted presenting the club's match day TV coverage.
Even though Natalie has now retired from glamour modelling, she used to be a lad's mag favourite which will make perfect sense once you've seen these fantastic photos courtesy of our friends at Nuts.co.uk.
You can see just how passionate Natalie is about Man City in this tunnel footage from their January victory at home to Spurs - she's the one in blue jumping around like a lunatic… http://youtu.be/a36NTo2LmuQ
[spoiler]
[/spoiler]OTHER BOLLOX
Barcelona have had Tottenham's Gareth Bale watched a total of seven times this season and are thought to be planning a summer player-plus-cash offer for the Wales midfielder. Daily Mirror
Bale has been a key part of Tottenham's fine season
Aston Villa striker Darren Bent insists he is happy at Villa Park and that talk of a move to Liverpool is "laughable". talkShyte
Everton defender Jonny Heitinga is wanted by Spartak Moscow, according to Russian newspaper Sovietsky Sports. talkShyte
Brazil international midfielder Ganso, reportedly a target for Tottenham, says he is happy to stay with Santos. Goal.com
Liverpool are considering moves for Atletico Madrid defenders Diego Godin and Alvaro Dominguez according to reports on a Spanish radio station. Inside Futbol
England coach Fabio Capello is thought to be furious with the Football Association's decision to take the England captaincy from John Terry and checked his contract to see if he was able to veto the move. Daily Mirror
Manchester United's 38-year-old midfielder Ryan Giggs is set to agree a new one-year contract at Old Trafford. Manchester Evening News
Liverpool boss Kenny Dalglish says Luis Suarez will not be guaranteed his place back in the team when his eight-match suspension ends next week. Daily Star
Stoke boss Tony Pulis says the staging of his team's FA Cup tie at Crawley at midday on 19 February will jeopardise their Europa League campaign, with matches against Valencia on the Thursday either side. "They could have given us an afternoon slot instead of one so early in the day," he says. Stoke Sentinel
Returning Everton midfielder Steven Pienaar says going back to Goodison Park feels like going home. Liverpool Echo
Sunderland boss Martin O'Neill will consult the club's medical staff before deciding whether to select striker Fraizer Campbell for his third game in six days. Newcastle Chronicle
Swansea are awaiting reports on Ferrie Bodde's knee injury, amid fears that it may force the Dutch midfielder, 29, to retire.
South Wales Evening Post
