Mancini upbeat despite City stumble

Manager admits league champions need to improve in attack.

LONDON: Roberto Mancini insists he has no concerns about Manchester City’s dip in form in front of goal ahead of their decisive Champions League group game against Ajax.

City failed to score in a goalless Premier League draw away to West Ham on Saturday after beating Swansea by just a single goal last time out.

Despite the stalemate, Mancini was adamant he was happy with the current form of his English champions, who are still the only unbeaten side in the Premier League this season and are just two points behind leaders Manchester United.

“When you have so much possession and so many shots you deserve to win and we missed four incredible chances to score,” said Mancini. “When you play well and you are missing incredible chances you can get frustrated. But this is football, when you don’t score, you can’t win.

“We conceded a lot of goals at the start of the season — now we have improved that defensive phase and we need to start to score like we did last year.”

Di Matteo finds a Friend despite Chelsea slip-up

Meanwhile, Chelsea manager Roberto di Matteo revealed he congratulated referee Kevin Friend on his display in Saturday’s draw at Swansea.

All eyes at the Liberty Stadium were on the match official following the controversy involving referee Mark Clattenburg during European champions’ Chelsea’s league defeat by Manchester United last weekend.

Having led through Victor Moses’s first Premier League goal for the Blues, di Matteo’s men passed up the chance to reclaim top spot in the table after Pablo Hernandez’s 88th-minute equaliser earned the Swans a 1-1 draw.

“I’ve got to say the officials were very good,” said di Matteo. “Kevin Friend did very well in the game to keep both teams calm and let the game flow. He didn’t have any influence on the game. I congratulated him after the game because they (the officials) were very good. I didn’t speak to the players before the game about the referee. Generally our team is very good (with officials).

“There has to be something really out of the ordinary for them to react. In general, we are a fair team. Talking about the football is how it’s supposed to be week in, week out. Everyone would like it to be this way, including me.”

Published in The Express Tribune, November 5^th, 2012.