Source: Team_Talk
Mancini thanks City fans for support
Roberto Mancini offered his thanks to Manchester City's fans after they sang his name following the much-needed 2-0 victory at West Brom.[LNB] The result, secured by a first-half brace from Mario Balotelli, eased some of the pressure that has been mounting on Mancini by halting City's run of three successive defeats in all competitions.[LNB]Balotelli's afternoon took a turn for the worse in the second period when he was red-carded having tangled with Youssouf Mulumbu - who was also sent off late on for scything down Carlos Tevez.[LNB]Otherwise, though, it was an encouraging day's work for City which left them fourth in the Premier League, five points behind leaders Chelsea and three behind second-placed Manchester United, their opponents at Eastlands in the forthcoming derby on Wednesday.[LNB]The away supporters at the Hawthorns showed their appreciation at the end of the match and Mancini said: "I am very happy with this and I must say thank you to them. It is very important they always support the team."[LNB]Asked if the fans at his previous club Inter Milan had done the same, Mancini smiled as he said: "After we won three Scudetti (titles), yes!"[LNB]If such support for the Italian has not been in great evidence of late, then the frustration of City's recent struggles amongst the playing staff has certainly been more apparent.[LNB]After reports of a half-time spat between James Milner and Yaya Toure during the 3-0 loss to Arsenal on October 24, Vincent Kompany and Emmanuel Adebayor had a heated on-pitch exchange in the 2-1 defeat at Wolves the next weekend.[LNB]On Sunday it was Kompany and Toure who appeared to lose their temper with each other on the field, but Mancini insists he would rather that than the players keep a lid on their problems.[LNB]"I am happy to see this," Mancini said.[LNB]"It is important that we won and it is better that players sometimes argue on the pitch than stay in silence."[LNB]Mancini felt his side's slump in results prior to Sunday's triumph was not a fair reflection of how they have been playing.[LNB]"Clearly, when you have lost two or three games, the atmosphere is not good, but it was important that we continued to work because sometimes you can lose games when you don't deserve to lose," he said.[LNB]"We lost the game in Poland (against Lech Poznan in the Europa League) and it was incredible - we deserved to win, but lost in the last few minutes.[LNB]"Against Arsenal, it was incredible because of the red card (to Dedryck Boyata) after only five minutes.[LNB]"Against Wolves, I think we had five chances to score in the first half hour and then lost the game.[LNB]"Through this, it is important that we have stayed together and in the end we have got what we wanted."[LNB]West Brom boss Roberto Di Matteo admitted City were value for their win.[LNB]"It is fair to say that they were very good and I think we need to give credit to them," Di Matteo said.[LNB]"They never let us settle in to the game, especially in the first half.[LNB]"We tried to press them, but they were good, passing the ball around very quick with one-touch and having good possession.[LNB]"They had some quality players on the pitch so it was difficult for our boys.[LNB]"In the second half we managed to get closer to them and put them a little bit under pressure but it was a bit unfortunate - we hit the post and the crossbar.[LNB]"Maybe if we had got one goal back it would have lifted the whole crowd and ourselves a little more and given us a chance."
