Manchester City boss Roberto Mancini’s row with Liverpool captain Steven Gerrard after Wednesday’s 1-0 Carling Cup semi-final first-leg loss was indicative of his current state; an agitated boss who is beginning to feel the pressure.
The Italian has seen his side suffer back-to-back losses for the first time in his tenure, bowing out of the FA Cup on Sunday, while their Carling Cup final hopes took a major blow after their home defeat to the Reds on Wednesday.
City have stuttered of late in the Premier League too, with a 1-0 loss to Sunderland coming on the back of a 0-0 draw with West Bromwich.
Fortunately for the Sky Blues, their nearest rivals Manchester United haven’t been in the best form either, with successive defeats to Blackburn and Newcastle ensuring they remain three points behind the leaders.
However, the reality for City is in their past five matches they’ve won one, drawn one and lost three. That’s cause for concern. And Mancini is showing he’s a little worried.
The Italian was furious with referee Chris Foy’s decision to send off Vincent Kompany in Sunday’s 3-2 FA Cup loss to United, blaming the defeat on him. Mancini has clearly not put that behind him either (with Kompany’s four-match ban hardly helping), with his touchline tunnel row with Gerrard providing the evidence.
The Mancini-Gerrard row came following Glen Johnson’s two-footed challenge on Joleon Lescott late in Wednesday’s game. The tackle was similar to Kompany’s and Mancini publicly claimed he didn’t know why the referee hadn’t interpreted it that way.
Mancini said: “This tackle was worse. I said something [after the tackle]. It was not for Johnson. It is for the tackle. This tackle was worse than Vinny’s [Kompany’s]. Everyone can see it.”
He added: “Steven Gerrard can say what he wants. I said what I think. That is what I am used to doing. It is not important what Gerrard or the other players have said.”
Gerrard’s response on BBC Sport was: “It was a clear winner of a tackle. But that [Mancini’s reaction] surprises me because he was talking about Wayne Rooney trying to get his player sent off and now he’s trying to get one of ours into trouble. I don’t think that works.”
The Liverpool skipper had a good point and you get the sense Mancini needs to focus on other matters, rather than getting caught up in such trivial arguments.
However, judging from Mancini’s post-game chat with BBC Sport, he’s clearly feeling a tad grumpy. Perhaps he is beginning the feel the strain.
Asked why City performed so sluggishly in the first-half against Liverpool, he said: “After six months this can happen for the first time, but only in the first-half. Second half we had the chances to score, but we didn’t score.”
He added: “In the end we didn’t deserve to lose this game. The result is not right, for me, it was a draw maybe.”
Whatever the case, you fancy Mancini needs to cool down and focus on what counts; getting results on the park again.