Mancini’s City still in decent shape despite defeat

Everybody was talking about Saturday’s game with Everton being Roberto Mancini’s first real test as Manchester City boss. It proved too tough a test as Everton outplayed their North West rivals and won 2-0 at a heaving Goodison Park.

Form

City have been in superb form since the Italian took over. In fact City had won four out of four games under the former Inter boss.

The last four victories were against sides that City should beating if they want to be in the top six, never mind the top four. Those victories might have been expected but in previous months they had drew games against similar opponents.

Unfortunate

However the defeat at Goodison is the wake-up call that City may need. They were unfortunate to meet an Everton side on the up and Goodison Park is never an easy ground to win at. Everton are a top six side when everybody is fit and are now seven matches unbeaten.

Difference

The difference between the two teams was Everton were first to every loose ball. City seemed like they went out expecting to win and waiting for something to happen instead of making things happen themselves. Everton players worked hard for each other and covered their teammates back when they lost the ball, whereas City played like a collection of individuals.

I haven’t seen every game they have played under Mancini, but from what I have seen City have played well and maybe this was just a slight blip on the road to success for Mancini and co.

Uninterested

One man who is not helping team unity at City and that seems to be completely uninterested at times is Brazilian striker Robinho. He came on as a substitute today and hardly touched the ball. He spent more time arguing with the referee than actually playing. He suffered the ultimate insult of being a substitute who was substituted.

Mancini says the former Real Madrid ace is still wanted at the club, but if I was Mancini I’d sell the 25 year-old as quickly as possible. European champions Barcelona are believed to be interested in acquiring his services. Personally I’d have him on the next Easy Jet plane from Manchester to Barcelona but I’m not City manager (thankfully for City fans).

Robinho only ever plays well at Eastlands. He has undoubted talent but he shows that talent on far too few occasions. City on away trips might as well have the Invisible Man up front at times, as the Brazilian tends to disappear that badly away from Eastlands.

Impressed

I wrote an article a few weeks ago on how I didn’t think Roberto Mancini would be Manchester City’s manager for the long run. My opinion of the scarf wearing Italian has changed a lot in his short reign.

It’s not so much the victories that’s impressed but the manner in which the Italian conducts himself. Nobody seems to have a bad word to say about him and that’s very rare in the world of football management. He was also graceful in defeat as he admitted that Everton played better than his side and deserved their victory.

Mancini is a man who is not afraid to make difficult decisions, like the one which saw the woeful Robinho substituted. He doesn’t seem to respect reputations and that’s a good quality to have for a Premier League manager.

The City careers of the likes of Javier Garrido and Benjani have been resurrected after previously being frozen out by previous manager Mark Hughes. The decision has been an inspired one as both players seem to have been given a new lease of life because of Mancini’s prescence.

Champions League

If City can overcome the blip of defeat at Everton and return to their previous form, then they have an outstanding chance of making the Champions League spots, even if they don’t open their cheque book again. However talk of a title challenge is a bit wide of the mark, as it’s far too early for Roberto Mancini’s men to be considered genuine title contenders.