British arrogance affects foreign stars - Pearce

Manchester City manager Stuart Pearce has hit out at the "arrogant" British attitude which demands instant success from foreign imports.

After 12 matches without a goal following his summer move from Valencia, Italian striker Bernardo Corradi finally found the net in Saturday’s win over Fulham.

The 30-year-old has had plenty of critics since arriving in England, with many City fans openly declaring Pearce had wasted £1m (€1.48m) on the former international forward.

Yet Pearce always remained optimistic Corradi would eventually come good and believes often, players moving to the Premiership from foreign shores are not given enough time to complete the settling-in process.

“There is an arrogance with the British way that the rest of the world fits in with us and whenever the rest of the world come to our shores they’ve got to fit in straight away,” he told the club’s website, www.mcfc.co.uk.

“It doesn’t always work like that on a cultural or a football basis.

“Let’s be honest, how many English players do you see playing abroad? Historically, how many have gone abroad and not made it? That is something you’ve got to look at.”

Pearce had to convince Corradi to leave Italy a second time after his year in Spain backfired.

While the striker has been visited frequently by his family during his four months in England, the City chief insists it cannot be ignored he lacks the same support network as his home-based counterparts.

“We had to convince Bernardo to come and play in England because he had a tough time in Spain and last year was back in Italy with his family and the people he knows,” said Pearce.

“From my point of view, if I have a bad day at the office, it is very comforting to go home and see my wife and family who don’t judge me for being a football manager or a football player.

“It is nice to go back to reality in this mad world that we call football. But Bernardo is over here, he has no wife at home. Football is his life.

“If his family come over to help and give support – brilliant – but things like that do get lost at times.”

Corradi is expected to keep his place for Saturday’s trip to Liverpool as City look to build on successive home wins by ending their miserable run of away results which has seen them pick up just a single point from six outings all season.

“Bernardo would have liked to have had more of an impact during his time at Manchester City but he is desperate to be successful at this football club,” said Pearce.

“A few Italians players have come to England and been good, others haven’t. It would give him great pleasure to be one of the better ones.”