Source: Daily_Mail
Manchester City star Robinho is a problem ... so what will you do about him, Roberto Mancini?
Roberto Mancini is probably already discovering that being the Manchester City manager should come with a health warning.[LNB]IAN LADYMAN pinpoints the five critical issues the new Eastlands boss must address unless he wants to go the same way as Mark Hughes at the end of the season ...[LNB]1: GET ROBINHO ONSIDE ... OR GET HIM OUTHe cost City £32.5million and his wages of £160,000 a week are bettered only by those raked in by Emmanuel Adebayor.[LNB]But Robinho wouldn't play for Mark Hughes and is the player at Eastlands who has the most to prove.[LNB]ProZone statistics once revealed how Robinho sprinted for just 38 metres during a whole game at Chelsea last season and Hughes would gladly have sold him last summer had he not been aware of how dimly such a move would have been viewed in Abu Dhabi.[LNB] Mercurial: Manchester City star Robinho[LNB]After Robinho saw his friend and fellow agitator Elano move to Turkey in the summer, there were signs earlier this campaign that he may be about to come onside. His attitude in training and around the club was better.[LNB]But we know the Brazil star simply must be the centre of his manager's world. If he senses he is not appreciated, his mood turns sour, as it did when he realised CraigBellamy was to be Hughes's pick down the left this season.[LNB]In recent weeks, Robinho has been angling for a move to Barcelona. Nevertheless, he was signed by the owners and they would like to see him in the team.[LNB]He is also hugely popular - for some unknown reason with the City fan base.[LNB]Over to you, Roberto Mancini[LNB]2: SORT OUT THE DEFENCEPonderous: Kolo Toure[LNB]City have attracted 45,000-plus crowds to Eastlands on a regular basis this season and no wonder. Nobody could ever complain it was boring.[LNB]Saturday's 4-3 win over Sunderland perhaps summed up the way City have played this season. Under Hughes they would always score goals but they would always concede, too, and one thing we know is that teams are never successful if they are not capable at the back.[LNB]Fingers can always be pointed at the coaching staff, of course. Under Hughes and his assistant Mark Bowen, City spent days on man-to-man marking drills at Carrington, only to see their team go out and ship goals regularly from set-pieces.[LNB]One problem Mancini will face concerns the defensive personnel. Micah Richards has not progressed at all and is still the athletic but tactically naive defender he was three years ago.[LNB]Elsewhere, captain Kolo Toure has shown everybody why Arsene Wenger was so happy to let him leave Arsenal in the summer. The ponderous 28-year-old looks as though his best days are behind him.[LNB]So Mancini has two problems here. Some of the players he has in defence are notgood enough while others seem short on organisation.[LNB]He may need his cheque book and his coaching manual to solve this one.[LNB]3: IDENTIFY WHICH PLAYERS CAN BE TRUSTEDA football dressing room is a vipers' nest at the best of times, but never more so than after a manager has been sacked.[LNB]It is always the same. Some players - usually those out of the team - will smile to themselves. Others - usually players the departing coach bought - will go home and ponder a change of scenery.[LNB]But there are also the steady types, the ones who will not be swayed by emotion,whether it be rage or celebration.[LNB] Angry: Craig Bellamy isn't happy with the way City treated Mark Hughes[LNB]Even football has its pragmatists and this is why Mancini will quickly need to get into the heads of Shay Given, Nigel de Jong, Steven Ireland, Gareth Barry, Shaun Wright-Phillips and Pablo Zabaleta.[LNB]These are the players he needs if he is to get his squad mentally ready for a run ofwinnable games over the coming weeks.[LNB]Every manager needs a core of players that he can rely on. Once he has that thenthe mavericks such as Bellamy and Carlos Tevez can work in and around that group.[LNB]Bellamy - if Mancini can drag him onside - will be invaluable in the long term. But the Welshman is still hurting at what he sees as a betrayal of his friend and mentor Hughes.[LNB]Mancini may have to wait a while for that particular fire to burn itself out.[LNB]4: MARWOOD AND COOK - FRIENDS OR FOES?City's most important Manchester-based executives have been painted as the bad guys as the football world digested the regrettable manner of Hughes's sacking.[LNB]The two men have not done much for the image of the club in the way in which they pursued potential replacements Guus Hiddink and Jose Mourinho while Hughes was still in a job.[LNB]None of this will worry Mancini terribly. He has been around long enough to know how the football world works.[LNB] Controversial: Garry Cook [LNB]However, what he will have to work out is whether he can trust them. Hughes initially enjoyed a good relationship with executive chairman Cook but things were never the same once the former Nike man employed Marwood as his side-kick.[LNB]Hughes was never happy with that arrangement. He felt they were merely waiting for him to make mistakes - and now it is Mancini's turn to make a decision quickly about whether he can work with the pair.[LNB]Cook has never struck anyone as a guy with poor intentions. He has, however, too often come across as naive and that can be just as damaging.[LNB]According to those who know him, Mancini is a straightforward, no-nonsense chap.[LNB]His early conversations with Cook, a man who has been compared to David Brent from The Office, are critical to the direction of the club and the manager's long-term prospects there.[LNB]5: DECIDE HOW TO DEPLOY BRIAN KIDDAsk any manager what they want when they start work at a new club and they will quickly tell you that they need a clean slate, the freedom to make their own decisions and appoint their own people.[LNB]Hughes was given such a wish and maybe City think that was a mistake because when Mancini arrived for training yesterday he found Brian Kidd waiting for him.[LNB]Kidd, of course, is respected and admired in football and particularly in Manchester - where he played for both clubs.[LNB] New assistant: Brian Kidd was unveiled alongside Roberto Mancini at Manchester City on Monday[LNB]However, in effectively foisting him on Mancini as his assistant, the City board have asked the Italian to work closely with a man who doesn't know him.[LNB]It can work, of course. At Arsenal, Wenger and Pat Rice have been together for 13 years and have enjoyed enormous success.[LNB]But it is known that Mancini is already unsure about the arrangement at Eastlands and it is something he must get to grips with very early if he is to make a success of his time there.[LNB] Roberto Mancini Sheiks on it: New Manchester City boss met billionaire Arab owner weeks before Mark Hughes was sackedThe Italian Jobs: Manchester City boss Roberto Mancini follows Serie A's finest into a Premier League hotseat... but how did the others fare?What a Cook-up! Bumbling Manchester City chief Garry fluffs lines againMeet Roberto Mancini's team: Who's who in Manchester City's new boot room? MANCHESTER CITY FC
