Liverpool v Manchester City:AS A rule, successful teams do not throw punches at each other. But as Manchester City near their first FA Cup final for 30 years, you could measure out their season in bust-ups.

Kolo Toure versus Emmanuel Adebayor; James Milner versus Yaya Toure; Mario Balotelli versus everyone. Their goalkeeper Joe Hart does not dispute these confrontations happened but argues most were only publicised because City’s training ground at Carrington is so accessible, compared with London Colney, Cobham or the other Carrington, where Arsenal, Chelsea and Manchester United respectively train.

“It’s quite amusing to open the paper the next day and see how people have totally misread a situation,” Hart said before addressing the Poynton branch of the club’s supporters’ association in Cheshire. “Don’t get me wrong – some of them have happened, and we are men training hard and wanting to win, and sometimes you are going to have to smash someone. After every one of the skirmishes, not one has carried on longer than 25 yards and whoever has been involved will have realised there is no need for it and moved on. If people were hanging around other training grounds, they’d find a lot more interesting things going on . . . Honestly, they (the photographers) are hanging out of trees – and I am not joking.”

Most of the lenses are pointed at the tall, slim, often uncertain figure of Balotelli, the boy Jose Mourinho could not control at Internazionale. “I have a lot of time for Mario,” said Hart. “I think people forget he is 20 years of age and has an awful lot on his plate. People appreciate sometimes he doesn’t handle situations great . . . I think he is learning all the time.”

As their chairman, Khaldoon al-Mubarak, impressed on the squad before the 5-0 rout of Sunderland last week, trophies are expected, too, and the Europa League seemed the most obvious. Balotelli’s chest-high assault on Dynamo Kyiv’s Goran Popov, for which he was dismissed, put paid to that. “We were as disappointed as he was,” said Hart. “Hopefully, he’s going to repay us with some big performances.”

Hart does not have much time for the theory Manchester City are a “work in progress” and that for now Champions League qualification – which victory in tonight’s encounter at Liverpool will go a long way to ensuring – is enough. “No, I don’t see us as a ‘work in progress’. We are gutted at the opportunities we have missed,” he added.

Kenny Dalglish believes City’s wealth has guaranteed added pressure and not instant success for Roberto Mancini. “It’s not Roberto Mancini’s fault City have got wealthy owners and are prepared to spend money,” the Liverpool manager said. “He will be judged on results . . . There is no guarantee of instant success just because he has money at his disposal.”

Guardian Service

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