Roberto Mancini says his targets are a top-four place
this season and the Premier League title the next. Photograph: Jon
Super/AP
Whatever else happens in the unpredictable environment of
Manchester City Roberto Mancini will surely remain
imperturbable. The club was recommended to him by a previous
manager, Sven-Goran Eriksson, who had a similar imperviousness to
mayhem that might erupt around him. They both have, of course, the
conditioning that comes to those once immersed in Serie A.
"If you have stayed at Inter Milan," the laconic Mancini said,
"pressure is no problem. I stayed at Inter for four years. It is a
record." The dry humour might endear him to a City support who will
not have been charmed by the manner in which his predecessor Mark
Hughes was removed.
Mancini appreciates more than most that a real bond with the
crowd and his employers can only be established with success. He is
slick, too, referring to seven trophies at Internazionale while
omitting to mention that two of them were Italian Super Cup
victories. Evidently, Mancini has an entirely practical approach to
public relations.
That should be of benefit to him at a club where dangers lurk.
"Next year we want to win the Premier League," he said wisely,
although qualification for the Champions League with a fourth-place
finish is the immediate priority. Mancini appreciates the
expectations and never made the mistake of adopting a low-key
tone.
Mancini was droll rather than dull. "It's the same as Milan
except for the weather," he observed while reflecting on local
rivalry. "In Manchester there is City and United. Sir Alex Ferguson
is a big manager who has won a lot of trophies, but we want to beat
him."
The newcomer is bold and experienced enough to believe he can do
so. There was also a diversion into sentimentality in an allusion
to his years as a forward at Sampdoria in which the Cup-Winners'
Cup was won in 1990, with the Serie A title coming a year
later. Mancini was clear that he wants to recreate such a
breakthrough at City as a manager.
The 45-year-old has a talent for playing to the gallery. There
were moments when his projection of absolute confidence led the
Italian astray. In an attempt to emphasise the cultural contrast
ahead, Mancini was asked what he thought about the long throw-ins
to which Stoke City's Rory Delap will subject his defence during
his first game in charge.
The manager wanted to make light of that and observed that Shay
Given could come out and catch them. In a training session with the
new squad he had apparently missed the fact that the goalkeeper
lacks height. All the same, no one can pillory a newcomer and
Mancini can count on good will from a crowd that yearns for him to
thrive.
The Italian is scarcely a naif, all the same. His first Scudetto
at Inter came courtesy of the match-fixing scandal that saw
Juventus relegated but the two that followed were secured on the
field. A parting of the ways ensued because he made little
impression in the Champions League.
The supposed offence that led to his dismissal was his reaction
to being eliminated from that competition by Liverpool in 2008,
when he already assumed that José Mourinho would replace him.
The episode confirmed at least that extreme expectations will
not take him by surprise. Manicini does not seem to shun the
demands imposed on him and envisages converting the so-far
ineffectual record signing into a legend. "Robinho can make history
at Manchester City," said the newcomer.
There is an underlying shrewdness to the declarations. The means
of the people behind the club leave no scope for understatement.
Mancini aligned himself with the grand ambitions but he had time,
too, to let his mind turn back to a spell on Leicester City's
books. It was not a place for affection and he remembered that his
friend the midfielder Robbie Savage had little taste for pasta.
The reminiscences appeal but the challenges to come are harsh.
It was easy to appreciate rumours that state, for example, that a
bid will be made for Juventus's Giorgio Chiellini, who can play at
centre‑half or left-back, but deals will be hard to pull off next
month regardless of the means at his disposal.
He could be obliged to get far more out of men such as Joleon
Lescott and Kolo Touré, bought at considerable expense by Hughes in
the summer, who have utterly failed so far to enhance the back
four. He rightly applauded Craig Bellamy's efforts but it would be
inconceivable to speak of another striker, Emmanuel Adebayor, in
similar terms.
That Stoke fixture is, luckily for Mancini, at home but it will
still subject City to a direct assault that does not suit them.
Hughes has been removed primarily for that lack of resilience.
Mancini was very likable in his appearance before the cameras, but
a dash of harsh practicality will be essential from now on.