Mancini backs suspended Toure

Manchester City boss dedicated Saturday’s 1-0 victory over Wigan Athletic to suspended Ivorian defender Kolo Toure.

Toure watched the Eastlands clash from the stands after being provisionally suspended for failing a midweek Football Association drug test.

The 29-year-old could be suspended for up to two years for testing positive to a ‘specified substance’, which he claims was a diet pill used by his wife to lose weight.

Mancini threw his support behind Toure, who he said was feeling ‘not good’ since news of the failed test broke.

“I can say only that Kolo is a fantastic man, first. Second, he is a serious professional player,” Mancini told Sky Sports.

“This victory is also for Kolo. I think it is a bad moment for him but we love him like a man, like a player.”

Wigan goalkeeper Ali Al Habsi was to blame for the Latics’ narrow loss, spilling David Silva’s attempt into his own goal on 38 minutes to gift City three points.

Mancini said fatigue was behind his side’s below-par performance following an FA Cup defeat of Aston Villa on Wednesday.

“I think that in the first half we played well, we had three or four chances to score,” Mancini said.

“Second half we were tired. Maybe it is important now to have one or two days off, the players can recover physically and mentally.”

A proud Wigan boss Roberto Martinez said his bottom-placed side can take belief out of their performance at Manchester City.

“I thought the performance was really, really good,” Martinez said.

“Manchester City will put you under massive pressure and I felt that we coped with their threat really well, especially in the second half.”

“We controlled the tempo of the whole game and that was probably the most pleasing aspect. We had more corners than the home side, more possession, better possession, better chances.”

“At the end we didn’t get anything out of the performance apart from a huge belief. I think the players deserve a lot of credit in the manner they performed and if we carry on with those standards until the end of the season we will get the points.”

“Sometimes, with performances like today, you don’t get the points straight away but you get the points long-term. I am extremely proud of the performance today.”