Mancini unfazed by criticism

Manchester City boss Roberto Mancini
has hit back at question marks raised
over his tactical decisions.
The Italian's decision to switch
formation drew criticism after the
English champions plummeted to the
foot of their Champions League group
with a 3-1 defeat in Amsterdam on
Wednesday.
City defender Micah Richards claimed
in the aftermath that the players were
confused having been asked to change
to a back three during the game,
stating it was "not something that
we've worked on a lot" and that "the
players prefer a 4-4-2."
But Mancini said: "If you are a top
player, it's not important which system
you use. If you don't understand, you
can't play for a top team.
"I don't want to speak about Micah
because I don't think he said this. He
answered questions. It's not
important. I understand you should
write about this, but for me it's not
important what Micah said after the
game.
"We work every day and all the players
know the system. When you are on the
bench and 2-1 away, the manager
should do something from the bench.
We wanted to play more offensively
and we conceded a third because of a
mistake."