Balotelli could see bench time, admits Mancini

Manchester City manager Roberto Mancini concedes he may have to leave temperamental striker Mario Balotelli on the bench in future.

The volatile Italian was sent off against Liverpool in their Premier League clash at Anfield last Sunday after just 18 minutes as he picked up two bookings, and Mancini admits he perhaps should have brought on Edin Dzeko instead.

“If Mario is on the bench now, it’s probably better that I put on another of our strikers,” Mancini said.

“Against Liverpool I had Edin and Mario on the bench. At the time I thought (opting for) Mario was good, because we wanted to win and only had one striker on the pitch.”

“Maybe if I had put Edin on, we would have kept 11 players on the pitch. This wouldn’t have happened with him.”

“It’s important Mario understands that we need him as a player on the pitch.”

“I’ve told you many times that Mario has improved, but he can still do these things at any moment.”

“A defender can always make a mistake and get a yellow card. But Mario is a striker and gets too many yellow cards.”

“I played for 20 years and I only had one red card and was booked three times, but Mario has had three since he joined us.”

“When I was playing, I put pressure on the referee every game. If Mario is clever he can stay on the pitch and help his team-mates by putting pressure on the referee – a top player works like this.”

“But Mario is too young at the moment to do this. He’s improved a lot and has been an important player for us, but I want him to continue to improve.”

Mancini has also claimed that the Liverpool players were to blame for Balotelli being shown the red card, and says his striker must wisen up to provocative tactics from opponents.

“I think that there are some players who think like this,” he said.

“So Mario should pay attention and be clever. I can’t do anything because only he is on the pitch. He should pay attention only about the football.”

“I think he made a mistake for the first booking against Liverpool. For this reason he should pay attention and not take any risks.”

Manchester City play Bayern Munich on Wednesday in what has become a must-win Champions League game, and Mancini admits it is a crucial time in the club’s season.

“Now we are starting an important month or two months, because we will play a hard game every three days,” said Mancini.

“It’s impossible to win everything but we will try because (in) every game you want to win, but this is not always possible.”

“If in the end we can win the Premier League, for us it will be an incredible moment.”

“But from now to the end we have 25 games and I think it’s difficult to say at this moment if we can win the title.”

“Five points is a good gap but the season is long and in two or three games things can change. For this reason I think December and January will be key months.”

“We have a good mentality now and we always play to win away and at home. Sometimes there will be mistakes, but this is normal.”

“I think that in two years’ time we can be in the top four teams in the world.”