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Mancini defends Hart after Keane claims City's goalkeeper can be 'cocky'

ROBERTO MANCINI has defended Joe Hart against Roy Keane’s accusation that the Manchester City goalkeeper can be “cocky…

JAMIE JACKSON
Sat Oct 20 2012 - 01:00

ROBERTO MANCINI has defended Joe Hart against Roy Keane’s accusation that the Manchester City goalkeeper can be “cocky”.

Keane, the former Manchester United and Republic of Ireland captain, made the claim before Hart’s mistake that allowed Poland’s equaliser during England’s 1-1 draw in the week’s World Cup qualifier.

Mancini said: “Every keeper is like this. It is important because it’s different to another position. If you want to be a keeper, you should be cocky. Joe is a good guy, he works very hard, he wants to improve. Last week [Wayne] Rooney said on Twitter that Joe is the best keeper in the world but today he is cocky. It is my opinion that Joe is the best keeper in England and one of the best in Europe. Sometimes a keeper can do a mistake but this is normal.”

Keane had told ITV: “There’s a fine line between confident and cocky and I think he’s been a little bit too cocky this year. He just relaxes a little bit and takes his eye off the ball . . . and he needs a bit more competition around him.”

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But asked if confidence can be confused with cockiness, Mancini said: “If you want to be a good keeper, you should be cocky sometimes. Joe is strong enough for this. He knows he is one of the best but he wants to continue to work.

“If you want to be one of the best you have to work hard all the time. Anyone can make a mistake. It is impossible to be perfect.”

Mancini laughed off claims that Yaya Toure may leave to seek a new challenge. “Every day we have a new challenge here because in two and a half years we won the FA Cup, the Premier League and the Community Shield. Now we need to win another cup, another Premier League. We need to work more for this challenge.

“Yaya thinks that, like me, like the other players. No, absolutely [I have no doubts],” said Mancini, who has not spoken with Toure about participating in January’s African Cup of Nations. “Probably we speak in the next week. I hope Yaya stays here.”

Mancini also suggested City’s game should have been put back 24 hours due to England’s midweek game in Poland being delayed. “I think that sometimes in this situation we can move our game from Saturday to Sunday.”