Manchester City Football Club News

• Nickname:Sky Blues
• Founded:1887
• Manager:Roberto Mancini

• Ground:City of Manchester Stadium
• Capacity:48,000

Pearce backs struggling stars

17 Oct 2006 - 11:40:46

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Manchester City manager Stuart Pearce has backed several of his misfiring recent buys to eventually come good.

Bernardo Corradi has struggled since his summer switch from Valencia while former Lazio midfielder Ousmane Dabo has only made three appearances for City so far this season.

Injuries have restricted Hatem Trabelsi to just two starts for the club while Georgios Samaras has struggled to adapt to life in the Premiership since his £6million switch from Heerenveen in January.

However, an upbeat Pearce told the Manchester Evening News: "Hatem has still got to get a touch fitter and sharper.

"When you've played all your football in Holland and then you come to the Premiership, whether that be Georgios Samaras or Trabelsi or even someone like Corradi - who has come from European football - they find it a tough league in which to earn a living.

"You come into a dressing room after a game and it's like a battle scene with the injuries. You have to graft for 90 minutes in our league and there's no let-up.

"If you grow up through the system and you're used to that, then it's a lot easier because you know what's coming week-in and week-out, but when you're new to a country and have played just seven or eight games it's not easy to get the pace of the game.

"They will do and they will get better the more matches they play. It's a very tough league physically to be involved in.

"The game tends to go from end to end and there's no respite for anybody especially the way the rules are with the goalkeepers having to launch the ball within six seconds. You have to be a physical animal."