Delusional Manchester City manager Roberto Mancini believes he is under no pressure at Eastlands despite his side producing another toothless display against Birmingham as they failed to close the gap on league leaders Chelsea (2/5 Premier League outright).
Saturday’s goalless draw with the Blues was the third home game on the bounce that City have failed to score in, and the home faithful let their dissatisfaction be known as a chorus of boos rang out at full time.
City fans and football supporters in general have been stunned by the negativity of Mancini’s tactics this season, with Saturday’s result following on from the deadly dull Manchester derby on Wednesday night.
While City had a good go at Birmingham many inside Eastlands were left stupefied when, with minutes to go, Mancini took off the team’s top scorer Carlos Tevez and replaced him with a defensive midfielder in Gareth Barry.
After the game Mancini was forced to defend his tactics before being asked whether he thought his job might be on the line should results not start to improve quickly.
“I am frustrated because I wanted to win this game. I don’t want to draw or lose a game,” Mancini snapped.
“What pressure? For what? You continue to say that I am under pressure. I am not under pressure.”
Saturday’s result leaves City six points off Chelsea and that gap could increase to nine points should the Blues beat Sunderland.
City’s price has now drifted to 16/1 to win the league and while you would be wise to avoid that market it would still be a brave man who goes against them achieving their aim for the season – which is a top four finish and a spot in the Champions League (City 2/5 top four finish).
Another man who has come under increasing pressure after Saturday is Liverpool’s Roy Hodgson. He watched his side put in a pitiful display against Stoke as they lost 2-0 at the Britannia Stadium.
After such a good display against Chelsea last Sunday hopes were high that the Reds had got their season back on track.
However, it was back to the bad old days for Liverpool as goals from Ricardo Fuller and Kenwyne Jones left the Reds eight points off the top four and in fact closer to the relegation zone than the Champions League places.
Hodgson’s bad night was compounded by Liverpool fans singing the name of Kenny Dalglish and it looks as though the former Fulham boss could be out on his backside should results not improve.
“I think we are trying to do the best job we can in the circumstances and I don’t know that that type of singing helps anyone,” said Hodgson.
“But I didn’t hear it and I am sure there are lots of fans who sympathise with us and what we are trying to do.”
Liverpool’s prospects for the rest of the season seem to be as tough to predict as the lottery numbers but while they are eight points off fourth place you wouldn’t back against them making a charge towards the upper echelons of the Premier League (Liverpool 10/11 top six finish).
While Hodgson refused to criticise his team after their poor performance Manchester United boss Sir Alex Ferguson had no such problems, claiming his side “were all over the place” in their 2-2 draw with Aston Villa.
United came from two down with ten minutes to go to snatch a point but could have been dead and buried had Villa taken their chances, the home side hitting the post twice and the bar once in the second half.
Ferguson admitted after the game his side were lucky they weren’t’ further behind but was happy that they managed to rescue a point after such a disjointed display.
“We could have lost six goals in the second half. They hit the woodwork three times and Albrighton missed two great chances.
“We were all over the place.
“To be 2-0 down with 10 minutes to go you have to be pleased with that. With another five minutes we would have won the match, there was no doubt about that, but we waited too long to get there.”
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