Mancini moans at ‘soft touch’ rivals

ROBERTO MANCINI says too many sides have rolled over for Manchester United this season.

Runaway league leaders United are a whopping 15 points ahead of Manchester City going into tonight’s derby at Old Trafford.
If that was not enough, they are on course to beat Chelsea’s record points tally of 95 — and could still finish with 101.
But City boss Mancini reckons their big rivals are helped by opponents lining up against them gripped by fear and expecting to get beaten.
Mancini said: “No one plays well against United because they only play with fear.
“Every team that plays United plays very soft because they think ‘This game is difficult, we can’t beat them’.
“I’m not saying these teams don’t give 100 per cent but their mentality is poor. They think they can do nothing but, if you play with the right mentality, you can beat anyone.
“If you play strong against United, you can beat them just like they can beat us.”
While City have won two trophies in two seasons, Mancini believes United benefit from the fear factor because of their sustained period of dominance.
He added: “We are young as a team and don’t have the same importance as United right now.
“I think we need to improve as a team but, for this, we need more years.
“We can’t do it in two years but if we improve for 10 years — and win every year — it’ll probably be the same for us.”
No matter what the result tonight, City know they have blown their chance of retaining their title.
But Mancini reckons finishing second and winning the FA Cup would still represent a good season.
He said: “Yeah, maybe you can’t win every year.
“Last year United didn’t win anything apart from the Community Shield but they continue to improve their team. This can happen.
“I’m 100 per cent sure if we’d got the players we wanted last summer we could’ve won another title and reached the Champions League quarter-finals.”

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We would have won the Prem if I'd got my players

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ROBERTO MANCINI insists Man City would have retained title if club had signed the players he wanted

Mancini insists last season’s 6-1 triumph at Old Trafford will not figure in his team-talk tonight but says his players should take confidence this time around.
He said: “We can talk about the 6-1 for another 200 years but it’s impossible to get that result again.
“We know we can beat them, though, as they are not better than us — but they deserve to win the title.