SOCCER NEWS:ROBERTO MANCINI, the new Manchester City manager, is likely to recall Robinho when he takes charge of his first game against Stoke City on St Stephen's Day.
The Brazilian was dropped in Mark Hughes’s final match, the 4-3 defeat of Sunderland last weekend, but Mancini has spoken of him “writing the history” of the club and wants to start again with the most expensive player in English football.
Mancini may need all his powers of persuasion considering Robinho and his representatives have made it an open secret he wants to leave City, preferably in the January transfer window or, failing that, at the end of the season.
The hope behind the scenes is the change in manager may reinvigorate the former Real Madrid player, whose relationship with Hughes was epitomised by the manner in which he walked straight down the tunnel after being substituted in the 3-0 defeat at Tottenham last week that accelerated the manager’s departure.
The issue for Mancini is whether to bring in Robinho on the left at the expense of Craig Bellamy. Another option is to start Bellamy in place of Shaun Wright-Phillips on the right.
But it is in defence where Mancini will inevitably feel his more serious problems lie.
A study of City’s recent fixtures will tell the former Internazionale coach they have kept only one clean sheet in the league since August and conceded three goals in each of their last three matches. Joleon Lescott’s knee injury will keep him out for another month and, with Nedum Onuoha again on the casualty list and Micah Richards suffering from a knee problem, Mancini has paired Kolo Toure alongside Vincent Kompany during his first practice sessions.
Most of the training yesterday was conducted by Brian Kidd, the new assistant manager, and the players were asked to stay behind at the end to work on defending corners. Mancini suspects the team is weak at set-pieces and he intervened to talk to the defenders about how to stay with attackers.
The sold-out signs are already up at the City of Manchester Stadium although neither the club’s owner, Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed al-Nahyan, nor the chairman, Khaldoon al-Mubarak, will be there as the controversy continues over the manner in which they started plotting behind Hughes’s back to look for possible replacements as long ago as last summer.
The chain of events leading to Hughes’s sacking has killed in an instant the claims from Abu Dhabi that they wanted to be seen acting in a different, more honourable way than others in the football world, and led to condemnation of Garry Cook, the chief executive.
Cook, however, continued to protest his innocence yesterday and drew Liverpool into his argument by referring to the time two years ago when they were caught speaking to Jurgen Klinsmann behind Rafael Benitez’s back.
“It is naive to think clubs are not looking at their options,” Cook said. “Do we think Liverpool just talked to Klinsmann? I am sure they also spoke to others, and I have no doubt Roberto Mancini was one of them.”
City, he admitted, had looked at the availability of Klinsmann, Arsene Wenger, Jose Mourinho and Guus Hiddink, though Cook stressed he had “never met any of them”, with intermediaries used instead. “Any club looking at their managerial options would draw up a list, and a club like ours would look at the best in the world, so why wouldn’t all the names mentioned, if they are indeed the best in the world, be on our list?
“But it is totally unrealistic to think we could sign Arsene Wenger, for example. He is far too loyal (to Arsenal). We are also fully aware Guus Hiddink has made it known that in three years’ time he doesn’t want to be in coaching, so it’s a process of fact-finding.”
- Guardian Service
