Source: Team_Talk
Platt defends under-fire Mancini
Manchester City assistant manager David Platt has launched a passionate defence of under-fire Eastlands boss Roberto Mancini.[LNB] The Italian has come in for criticism for being too negative after successive goalless draws against Manchester United and Birmingham.[LNB]Home fans reacted by chanting "What is going on" when Mancini opted to replace Carlos Tevez with Gareth Barry towards the end of City's latest stalemate.[LNB]It seemed an unfathomable move given £18million Brazilian striker Jo was also on the bench at the time.[LNB]Yet Platt is quick to reject any notion of Mancini being a defensive coach.[LNB]"It is wrong for people to level at the gaffer that he is a defensive coach," said Platt. "He isn't, in any way, shape or form.[LNB]"It is too easy to look at it and say you have taken a striker off and put a midfield player on. It isn't a computer game.[LNB]"We more or less camped out in the Birmingham half for the majority of the second half.[LNB]"But people felt because we were playing Birmingham it was three points guaranteed. It is never that in the Premier League."[LNB]Platt also revealed Tevez, who has opted to remain in Manchester rather than head off to Doha for Argentina's high-profile friendly with Brazil, is still troubled by the injury that saw him fly home for treatment earlier this month.[LNB]"Carlos has a dead leg," he said. "What happens when he plays is that it loosens off but unfortunately, it comes back again.[LNB]"The last 10 or 15 minutes of any game, when you have expended as much energy as he did in midweek, become very dangerous.[LNB]"The one thing we didn't want to happen was for Carlos to pull a muscle and be out for three or four weeks."
