Advertisement
Roberto Mancini after Ajax scored their second. Mike Egerton/EMPICS Sport

Roberto Mancini: Ajax defeat was my fault

‘I didn’t prepare the players well for this game. I take the fault for this defeat.’ the Italian said.

MANCHESTER CITY MANAGER Roberto Mancini has taken the blame for his team’s 3-1 loss to Ajax in the Champions League last night.

The English champions took the lead against the run of play in the first half at the Amsterdam Arena through Samir Nasri, but were brought back to level terms on the stroke of half-time by Siem de Jong’s goal.

Mancini decided to switch to a 3-5-2 formation early in the second half following Niklas Moisander’s headed goal, but City conceded again 11 minutes later through Christian Eriksen’s deflected shot.

“I think that (Ajax) played better than us,” Mancini told Sky Sports. ”They played better football. Probably it’s my fault. I didn’t prepare the players well for this game. I take the fault for this defeat.

“I (prepared) one way, it was different. For this reason (we lost). (We didn’t underestimate Ajax), but when you prepare a game, you think it could be one way, but it’s a different game.

“I think that we had more chances to score, and in Champions League you need to score, when you don’t play well. After Dortmund, I said (I knew what was wrong), but also we had a lot of players injured, but it’s my fault and I take all this.”

However, Mancini rejected the suggestion his tactical approach was to blame for the defeat, stating that his only ploy is to “run and score”.

“We changed for five minutes when we wanted to have one player in the hole,” he said. ”We changed only for five minutes, but on the pitch we are always 11 players.

“Before we conceded two goals. I don’t think this is important. Three, four, five, six, seven. If someone wants to make this excuse, OK, but this is not important. When you play you should be strong: the tactic is one – run and score.”

Mancini went on to concede City now face an uphill battle to qualify for the competition’s knock-out stages.

“I think that it is difficult (to qualify), very difficult,” he said. ”There are one team with seven (points), one with six, one with three. It should be a marathon like last year.

Sunderland to employ McClean’s mate to help Ireland winger ‘settle down’

Close
Comments
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Andrew Horan
    Favourite Andrew Horan
    Report
    Jan 5th 2017, 10:45 PM

    Tommy Walsh out of retirement :)

    36
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Ger Ryan
    Favourite Ger Ryan
    Report
    Jan 5th 2017, 11:11 PM

    Eddie Brennan was a lucky man to keep that gig after the Leinster U21 championship last year.

    27
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Daniel O'Donnell
    Favourite Daniel O'Donnell
    Report
    Jan 6th 2017, 12:01 AM

    You can’t base U21 expectations off previous senior success. The majority if not all players have never had anything to do with senior level and there may be a so called “bad year” where the players in the age bracket for U21 simply aren’t good enough

    31
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Chicken George
    Favourite Chicken George
    Report
    Jan 6th 2017, 1:13 AM

    There’s “simply not good enough” then there’s getting knocked out by Westmeath with players that won the Leinster minor 3 years previously. (Incidentally, Westmeath were beaten by Meath in that championship).

    20
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Ak Scouser
    Favourite Ak Scouser
    Report
    Jan 6th 2017, 1:05 AM

    Jaysus Daniel….. Fair play, you’re not just a singer !

    12
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Shay Lawlor
    Favourite Shay Lawlor
    Report
    Jan 6th 2017, 8:20 AM

    Patrick Curran was the free taker not Peter Hogan.

    4
Submit a report
Please help us understand how this comment violates our community guidelines.
Thank you for the feedback
Your feedback has been sent to our team for review.