Mancini demands City focus ahead of Birmingham clash

Roberto Mancini has urged his Manchester City players to maintain their focus when Birmingham City visit on Sunday in order to boost the club’s chances of securing Champions League qualification for the first time.

Mancini’s players could be forgiven for feeling slightly distracted in the wake of last weekend’s six-goal thumping of Burnley, which was hardly taxing considering the manner of the capitulation of Brian Laws’s side.

City also have the prospect of another derby clash with Manchester United looming and with it the opportunity to gain revenge for the last-gasp league defeat and League Cup semi-final loss to Sir Alex Ferguson’s men earlier this season.

Mancini, however, insists he wants his squad to forget about such distractions and set their minds on the challenge of overcoming Alex McLeish’s men to maintain their hold on fourth place ahead of Tottenham, Liverpool and Aston Villa.

Mancini, who will be without injured trio Joleon Lescott, Wayne Bridge and Stephen Ireland, knows Birmingham will provide his side with a stern test,

“The performance at Burnley last week is in the past,” insisted Mancini.

“It’s finished. We played very well, but all I am interested in is the next game, which is Birmingham. Now we must focus on only this game. That’s the most important thing and then after this we will focus on Manchester United.

“Our focus must be 200 percent on winning. Birmingham are a strong team. They defend very well and have a good manager, so we know this will be a difficult game.

“I’ve watched them four or five times this season and I know we will need to be at our best and play very well to beat them.

“This is a most important game. We have four games at home out of the last six and we need the supporters right behind us.

“We must play to win. We need to show great concentration between now and the end of the season. What happened last week is in the past. This is a new game and we must focus on that.”

Birmingham goalkeeper Joe Hart will be ineligible due to the terms of his loan move from City, which means McLeish will hand a recall to Maik Taylor.

McLeish is keen to sign Hart on a permanent basis this summer and is running out of patience with City, yet Mancini is adamant Hart’s future will not be decided until he holds talks with the player at the end of the season.

In the meantime, Northern Ireland international Taylor will get a rare chance to shine and McLeish said: “Maik has been a real lesson to a lot of other players in the game who maybe don’t start as much and they have to be professional.

“He has helped on the training ground and been very supportive. He has played reserve team games to keep in shape and he has even carried on playing for his country and kept a clean sheet in an international game.

“So I don’t have too many worries about him. I know City have hit some form and scored a few goals, but I am hoping that my defenders do their bit to help Maik out.”