Mancini fumes at Friend as Hart gifts win to Sunderland

Roberto Mancini, an unlikely source for the injection of farce, even in panto season, suggested the officials had enjoyed their Christmas Day celebrations rather too much in mitigation of a defeat that leaves his side seven points shy of the Premier League summit.

Talking turkey, crying fowl, call it what you will from the Manchester City manager. However, it was his goalkeeper, Joe Hart who on the evidence of his unwanted role in the only goal looked to have over-indulged when it came to that extra mince pie, or second helping of game bird to dull his reactions.

“The referee ate too much for Christmas,” Mancini insisted of Kevin Friend and his assistants for having the temerity to ignore what the Italian saw as a clear foul by Craig Gardner on Pablo Zabaleta in the build-up to Adam Johnson’s winning strike, eight minutes into the second half.

Mancini had further criticism for Friend, not Hart, who was exposed at his near post by his former City team-mate’s far from thunderous effort which squirmed under the goalkeeper’s outstretched left hand to barely touch the back of the net after crossing the line. “He was not in good form. But that can happen after Christmas when they have a performance like that.”

Johnson, who in August ended a roller-coaster two-and-a-half year spell at the City of Manchester Stadium that saw him harvest a league title winner’s medal but make only 39 league starts, a figure he is already almost halfway to reaching under Martin O’Neill, who is finally starting to see a return on the £10m invested in securing the services of the sporadically impressive 25-year-old.

Mancini added: “Johnson was really clever because we all thought he was going to cross. Instead, he shot, he did very well. I don’t think Hart was at fault.”

The manager didn’t spare his side from criticism, however, as they fell further behind Manchester United in the wake of a third consecutive defeat in this corner of the North-East, in the process losing their eight-month unbeaten away league record. He added: “We didn’t score and that’s our problem.

“Whenever we had chances, we were too soft. We were too soft in attack, too soft when we shot. Sometimes we didn’t shoot when we should have. We wanted one touch more and that’s no good.

“When you play against a team like Sunderland, who defend with all their players behind the ball, if you get a chance, then you need to score. We needed to score, because if we scored with one of the early chances, the game would have been different. We did enough to win the game and Sunderland were lucky against us.

“What happened at Old Trafford is not important to us. We know United are a fantastic team and will probably win every game but the season is long. United are better than us at present, but it can change. They are on top but we have the time to recover. Seven points isn’t a problem.”

City should have been out of sight by the interval, with Vincent Kompany heading against the bar and goalkeeper Simon Mignolet saving well from Yaya Toure, David Silva and Sergio Aguero either side of the break.

It allowed Sunderland to maintain a foothold, and in the end, they should have embellished the lead given them by Johnson’s third goal of the season, an effort the midfielder failed to see to make its way almost apologetically into the net, having turned round thinking his shot would be easily saved by Hart, who had showed the more positive side of his game with a stunning early stop from Steven Fletcher.

Martin O’Neill, who lost stand-in skipper John O’Shea to illness shortly before kick-off, insisted: “We played really well against a terrific side and the confidence is coming back.”

Stephane Sessegnon had two good opportunities to double the advantage, and substitute Fraizer Campbell should have settled it late on as City increasingly looked like a side bereft of ideas as the contest wore on.

“They are a bit of a bogey team for us here, maybe next year, we won’t come,” Mancini added, with another attempt at deadpan humour.

Sunderland will hope that Hart returns soon, and if it happens to be this time next year, that he’s indulged on an extra mince pie or two into the bargain.

SUNDERLAND (4-4-2): Mignolet 8; Gardner 7, Cuellar 7, Kilgallon 7, Rose 7 (Bardsley 89, 6); Johnson 8, Larsson 6 (Campbell 79, 6), Colback 7, McClean 7; Sessegnon 7, Fletcher 7. Not used: Westwood, Wickham, McFadden, Vaughan, Bramble.

MANCHESTER CITY (4-4-2): Hart 5; K Toure 6 (Barry 87, 5), Kompany 5, Nastasic 5, Zabaleta 5; Milner 5, Y Toure 6, Garcia 5 (Lescott 89, 5), Silva 5; Tevez 6 (Dzeko 73, 5), Aguero 7. Not used: Pantilimon, Rekik, Pazak, Sinclair.

Referee: K Friend 6.