Sometimes a win just isn't enough

Mancini finds lots to complain about after Man City beats Queens Park, 3-1

Manchester City manager Roberto Mancini was far from happy despite seeing the English champion mark his 100th Premier League match in charge with a 3-1 win at home to Queens Park Rangers on Saturday.

Goals from Yaya Toure, Edin Dzeko and Carlos Tevez at Eastlands saw City remains unbeaten so far in the defense of its title.

But when Bobby Zamora equalized for the west London club it created an air of anxiety around Eastlands, although it did not take long for Dzeko to head City back in front, adding to Yaya Toure's opener, before an injury-time deflected effort from Tevez sealed victory.

"We have one problem at the moment, when we have a chance to score we don't score and after this the game can change," said Mancini.

"We had this problem in our first game. We had a problem against Liverpool, it is a problem and when you have a chance to score you should score.

"I think the problem could be we didn't work with our players in pre-season, some players started their preseason very late.

"At halftime, I said it's important we can't concede a goal every game - this is one of our problems - and when we get a chance we should score."

But City's first-team coach David Platt insisted it was just a matter of time before the club found the form that enabled it to be crowned champion of England for the first time in 44 years last season.

"We're not quite at the levels we were last season at this moment," said former England midfielder Platt.

"This time last season, we were blowing teams away and keeping clean sheets.

"It's not that we're not playing well, it is that we're not playing as well as we did at the start of last season when we were blowing teams away. There is an expectancy from ourselves, an expectancy from supporters.

"But we can look at the video of the game, watch it in its entirety, a lot more positively when we have won the game. The be-all and end-all is we stand here unbeaten with seven points out of nine and we know we can improve. When you look at the players' names written down, you sleep easy every night because they are good players."

Platt believes key personnel are still searching for early season fitness, something he hopes will improve over the coming 10-day international break, and he also had good news concerning forward Mario Balotelli, who is undergoing eye surgery this week to help cure persistent conjunctivitis.

"I think he's okay, it's just a normal procedure," said Platt. "He'll have an operation in the next couple of days and it's minor. We're not quite there yet in terms of fitness. After the international break, Gareth Barry will have had another two weeks (training), Sergio Aguero will be there or thereabouts, David Silva will have had another two weeks after playing in the Euros, plus we have the new faces who have come in as well."

(China Daily 09/03/2012 page23)