Mancini must shape a squad ready for Europe

11 May 2011 15:30
Roberto Mancini knows the hard work has only just begun for Manchester City despite delivering on the pre-season demand of the Blues owners. Having been told by Sheikh Mansour only the top four would do, City achieved their objective with two games to spare thanks to Peter Crouch's own goal at Eastlands on Tuesday night. It could get even better for City as well, with Saturday's FA Cup final with Stoke to look forward to, in addition to hunting down Arsenal for third spot in the Barclays Premier League. The latter quest could be crucial for Mancini. It would mean City qualifying automatically for the group phase, rather than facing a potentially hazardous two-legged qualifying tie. But the Italian is already aware of the dangers that lie ahead. He saw it first hand in a Tottenham team that ultimately found it impossible to cope with combining domestic demands with those of Europe's elite and he intends to give a good deal of thought to how to counter the problems. "I don't know how many players I will need at this moment," said Mancini. "When you play in the Champions League and want to try and win the title, you need many players. It is very hard without that. Tottenham had a problem this year and they had 26 or 27 good players."

Source: PA