Tag: manchester city

Milner on Premiership run

“Carlos is playing for Manchester City and playing well. He got a great hat-trick and Sergio (Aguero) was fantastic.”

“There were a number of great performances at the weekend so it’s pointless thinking about what might have been.”

“We’re lucky to have a player like Carlos Tevez playing the way he is and hopefully we get a few more hat-tricks out of him between now and the end of the season.”

“We’ll just keep doing what we’ve done all year and concentrate on our business. We’ve got tough games left and we’ll try and win the rest of those and see where that takes us.”

“Manchester United are obviously a top side. They’ve got that experience of winning trophies and been there year upon year.”

“We’ve performed well; we’ve had a great result at the weekend. All we can do is concentrate on our business and if that’s good enough then great, and if not we’ll learn from our mistakes that we’ve made this year and try and go again next year.”

Mancini on Balotelli

On question if the club plan to sell Mario at the end of the season, Roberto said: “Probably but I don’t know, it depends because Balotelli is a fantastic player.  We want 11 players but with Mario on the pitch every time we play we risk him being sent off. We have six games and he will not play in the next six games.”

“I love him like a guy, I love him like a player, I know him, he’s not a bad guy, he’s a fantastic player but in this moment I am very sorry for him because he continues to lose his talent and his quality.”

“I hope he understands that he is in a bad way for his future and he can change. If Mario continues like this I probably agree but I hope always that he can change his behaviour.”

“Mario is young, he is 22 and I understand that when you are young you can make some mistakes. There are a lot of people who make mistakes. I hope for him, not for me, that he can change.”

“It’s clear he created a big problem but he has scored a lot of important goals. Mario is Mario when he does a mistake because he is young and doesn’t understand but it’s also Mario when he scores two goals when we won 6-1 (against Manchester UTD). It’s Mario when he scores a penalty in the last second against Tottenham.”

Roberto Mancini about his future

Roberto Mancini is under pressure, as he was expected to win Premiership this season. This is what he said about this:

“My relationship with Khaldoon is fantastic. If he sacked me at the end of the season or next year, I would say that every manager who works with Khaldoon is very lucky. He is a really good man. This doesn’t change my opinion about him or the club.”

“But I don’t have this problem because I will continue in my job. I’m sure that this club has arrived at the top. With two or three more players after this year, this club will start to win, and when it starts to win it will win two or three titles every year. Now it has arrived.”

“I’ve been in this world for a long time and I know you can lose this job. But it’s important to me that the squad have improved a lot over the last two years. We are progressing. I don’t decide this. I do the best for my job and after I don’t decide this situation.”

“I have a one-year contract. I started this job two and a half years ago and since that moment we have improved a lot as a team, players and a club. This is important when you have a new team.”

“But I know football very well and I left Internazionale after seven trophies with a four-year contract to the end.”

“In football anything can happen in any moment. This championship can change in one week. The same regarding my future. When you choose this job you know that anything can happen in any moment.”

“I don’t have a problem with that because when you work hard for your job and improve your team, that’s important.”

“We should think that we can still win the title. There are seven games to the end with one derby to play at home. I think we can win this title. It’s important that we get the maximum points we can. Last year we got 71 points and now we’ve got 71 with seven games left.”

Silva on contract extension

It has been written in newspapers that he could switch with Gonzalo Higuain, that he could join Real Madrid this summer, here is what he said on his contract extension:

“I know City want to speak to my agents at the end of the season for a new contract, but I am relaxed. I have two years still left and I am happy here. I have progressed as a player since leaving Valencia and I am fighting to win titles. That was my aim when I left La Liga.”

“I am not performing as well as I was in the first part of the season, but that’s normal. It’s very difficult to stay at the same level for so long, but I am ready to help the team in the battles that lie ahead.”

Rumours that Mancini could be fired if he doesn’t win Premiership: “Mancini under pressure? What about the players? City demand the maximum and up until now we haven’t won anything this year. Not being champions would be a great disappointment after having it so close, but we are going to fight until the end.”

About Tevez: “Tevez is a great player and nobody doubts that. I will not get into his conflict with the manager, but from a sporting point of view he is a footballer who brings so much on the field of play.”

About Balotelli: “Mario is Mario. He is capable of turning a game with one piece of genius and then losing his nerve, but that’s him. For me he is a footballer I prefer to have on my team than on the other team because he is capable of breaking down the opposition at any moment.”

Mancini: I would punch Balotelli

“I can understand it. I told him, ‘If you played with me, 10 years ago, I give to you every day one punch in your head!'”

“I think in every big game he played very well. I think his problem is his concentration but I work with him every day.”

“I speak with him – not every day because if not I need a psychologist – but every two days I speak with him. He doesn’t lose his quality.”

“Mario, as a player, can be one of the top in Europe. I don’t want him to lose his talent.”

“I can understand if the other players get annoyed with Mario. I spoke with the players when Mario arrived two years ago and told them, ‘Mario is a young player, he has a fantastic talent but he is young and he can make mistakes sometimes.'”

“It’s not true I treat him differently – I left Mario on the bench for five or six games at the start of the season because his behaviour wasn’t good.”

“He has also paid a lot of money in fines for his behaviour. He has paid heavily for his mistakes.”

“The other players should concentrate only on playing. It’s my job to manage him, not theirs. When you have a player like Mario, you should not say bad things about him because he is your team-mate.”

“It’s better to say what you think face-to-face. I want to help him, but I also get disappointed with him.”