Roberto Mancini has claimed that players who are unable to adapt to his tactical alterations "cannot play for a top team" after issuing a robust defence of his methods as Manchester City manager in the face of simmering dressing-room discontent.
Roberto Mancini has claimed that players who are unable to adapt to his tactical alterations "cannot play for a top team" after issuing a robust defence of his methods as Manchester City manager in the face of simmering dressing-room discontent.
Mancini, whose team will attempt to bounce back from Wednesday's Champions League defeat against Ajax with a positive result at home to Swansea this evening, endured claims by full-back Micah Richards that the City players were uncomfortable with changes to the defensive formation in Amsterdam and that the defenders preferred to operate a 4-4-2 system.
With City chasing the game after going 2-1 behind against the Dutch champions, Mancini's attempts to boost his team's attacking output by switching to a three-man defence merely created confusion among his defenders rather than pose a greater threat to Ajax's goal.
Richards' remarks highlighted the growing sense of disillusionment among senior players, but Mancini has responded by insisting that every member of his City squad should be versatile enough to embrace tactical changes during a game.
"If you are a top player, it's not important what system you use," Mancini said. "If you don't understand [the system], you're not a top player and you can't play for a top team. It's not important what Micah said after the game because we work hard every day at tactical situations and all the players know the system. Maybe Micah doesn't know this because it was the first [Champions League] game for him as he has been out for 21/2 months. He has probably worked less than other players, but maybe next time we play this system, Micah can stay on the bench and we will use another player until Micah knows the system well."
Clearly irked by Richards' claims that the players were unfamiliar with the three-man defensive system, Mancini added that City have enjoyed success when using the formation in the past.
"Good players should be able to play any system and, with this system we beat Chelsea 3-2 in the Community Shield," Mancini said. "Also with this system we recovered with 10 men against Manchester United to go from 3-0 down to 3-2 and we had the chance to get a draw.
"With this system we change the result every time and we didn't concede [against Ajax] because we changed the system. We conceded a third goal because we did a stupid mistake, one against one, not because we changed the system. When you are losing 2-1 away, the manager should do something from the bench. If you want to change the game, you have to change something on the pitch.
"When we want to be more offensive, we leave only three defenders back, but I repeat, we have played this system a minimum of 50 times last year and it's not a new system."
Regardless of the defensive formation operated by City this season, whether it has been four or three at the back, the champions have still managed to register just one clean sheet in all competitions. In 13 games to date, Mancini has selected 10 different defensive line-ups, but he admitted that, despite the tinkering, he has yet to settle on his best defence.
"At this moment, we don't have a 'best' defence," Mancini said. "For two years, we were the best defence in the Premier League, but at the moment we aren't playing very well.
"Maybe we aren't 100 per cent and for this reason we have to work, but I don't think we've finished our job because we won a championship last year.
"We have to work more. It's not easy to win the Barclays Premier League, but this can happen. The problem is to stay on the top for a long time and, for this, you need to work more than last year. We need to work hard and improve, but if someone needs to take the responsibility for that, I am that man."
Despite Mancini's cool relationship with his players, he insisted there were no issues with communication and feedback from his squad.
He said: "Every manager has his own system and mentality, but the players can talk to me about anything. I think that when you play an important game and you lose, you are disappointed, but if we are like this after one defeat, then we are really weak.
"I don't think that we are, though. I think we're strong enough for this."
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