City won’t win title this season, says Mancini
The Italian has enjoyed a glorious start to life at Eastlands, winning his first four games in charge, most recently against Blackburn on Monday.
That 4-1 triumph took City into the top four, which was the target handed to former boss Mark Hughes at the start of the season by owner Sheikh Mansour and has now been passed to Mancini.
But, with City only seven points behind leaders Chelsea and only six adrift of local rivals Manchester United, with a game in hand, there has been optimistic talk among the Blues faithful about a serious tilt for top spot and their first championship since 1968.
But Mancini, who last month suggested City could win the title, has now said he does not expect his side is ready to win the league this season.
“To my mind there are three teams who can win the league; Chelsea, United and Arsenal,” he said. “There are other teams who are only just behind so nothing is totally impossible but for me, it is between those three.”
Meanwhile Robinho’s record price-tag will not earn him an automatic place in Mancini’s starting line-up.
Since his £32.5 million (€40m) move from Real Madrid 18 months ago, the Brazilian has enjoyed brief productive spells but largely, his time at Eastlands has been tinged with disappointment, with his work-rate – or lack of it – coming under intense scrutiny.
His relationship with former boss Hughes disintegrated completely and it seemed like an act of retribution when he was dropped for the Welshman’s final game in charge, against Sunderland last month.
But Robinho has started only one game under Mancini, although he did make a brief substitute appearance against Blackburn on Monday as City climbed into the Premier League’s top four. While Mancini has played down his lack of recent outings, and hinted the Samba star will be involved at Everton this evening, it is clear that if Robinho is going to re-establish himself at City now the prospect of a transfer window move to Barcelona has receded, he will have to earn a place rather than expect it to be given.
“How much a player cost is not important,” said Mancini.
“What you pay only matters when you are in the act of buying someone.
“The important thing after that is the player working hard and playing well. Before the game at Middlesbrough, Robinho had a problem with one of his muscles and he didn’t train for two or three days.
“But it is possible he will play tomorrow, although I do feel sorry for the attacking players because I have five or six really good ones and I must decide who is going to be on the bench.”
It seems barely credible that less than four weeks have gone by since Hughes lost his job and chief executive Garry Cook was subjected to a brutal assault over the manner of the dismissal.
Yet Mancini is eager to play down the suggestion that, after four successive wins, he is some sort of miracle worker, insisting there is plenty of improvement ahead of his troops.
He said: “Football can be very strange. Manchester City are a good team. Sometimes we will play well, on other occasions we won’t.
“The main thing is that we show a good mentality all the time.”
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