Mancini to talk with Balotelli

Manchester City manager Roberto Mancini will fine Mario Balotelli if allegations of the Italian striker being out late on Friday morning are true.

The build-up to City’s game against Bolton, which the league leaders comfortably won 2-0, was dominated by reports that Balotelli had once again broken a curfew and stayed out in nightclubs until 2.45am less than 48 hours before the game.

Despite this revelation Balotelli started and scored the team’s second goal, though he could have had many more had his finishing been better.

Mancini even joked to reporters: “Mario played well, he had a lot of chances and maybe next time he goes to sleep earlier he can score three or four goals.”

Mancini said he would be talking to the troubled striker on Sunday to ascertain the facts. If the reports are found to be accurate the Italian can expect a hefty fine.

“I don’t know if it’s true (if Mario Balotelli was out until late Thursday night as reported) as I only heard about this at the stadium today and we prepared for this game with Mario in mind in the week but tomorrow I will speak with him,” he told reporters.

“Tomorrow I will speak to him because I am really disappointed if it is true. Not only for me but also for the squad and for him.”

“He is a professional player who can stay out of the house two days before a game until 2am and if it’s true we will fine him the maximum we can.”

Meanwhile, manager Owen Coyle is remaining upbeat despite Bolton being rooted in the relegation places.

The Trotters remain one place above rock-bottom Wigan Athletic courtesy of goal difference after being outclassed 2-0 by Manchester City, but Coyle felt his team put in a good enough account of themselves to suggest they can survive relegation.

“We don’t need to feel sorry for ourselves,” he told reporters.

“The pleasing thing for me is that we were prepared to come and stand toe-to-toe at times and create our own chances, which we did particularly in the first half.”

“In terms of tough games in the Barclays Premier League they certainly don’t come any tougher than coming to Manchester City.”

The Bolton boss paid tribute to City and England goalkeeper Joe Hart, who foiled his side’s chances of getting back into the game when they briefly threatened to equalise at the end of the first half.

“Joe Hart is a world class goalkeeper and you can see that from the save he made from young Ryo Miyaichi – when you see it back it’s an unbelievable save another great stop from David N’Gog so we had a few chances of our own,” he said.

“Everybody wrote us off, but we competed and at 1-0 and we were well in the game so we’re disappointed to lose.”

Coyle feels his team can turn the corner sooner rather than later, following a tough run of fixtures that has seen them pitted against the Premier League’s elite in recent weeks.

“I stressed this to a lot of people prior to Christmas – that when we’ve got through the Manchester City game we will have played five of the top six in the country twice now,” he said.

“So out of the five clubs in area of the league we’ve certainly had the tougher of the fixtures so what we must do now is take the positives from today and we capitalise on the games in front of us.”