UK: SOCCER/FOOTBALL: Roberto Mancini, coach of English Premier League champions Manchester City, is frustrated by the club's failure to sign any new players so far in the close season

Record ID: 734060

  • Title: UK: SOCCER/FOOTBALL: Roberto Mancini, coach of English Premier League champions Manchester City, is frustrated by the club's failure to sign any new players so far in the close season
  • Date: 10th August 2012
  • Summary: MANCHESTER, ENGLAND, UNITED KINGDOM (AUGUST 10, 2012) (REUTERS) EXTERIOR MANCHESTER CITY'S CARRINGTON TRAINING GROUND MANCHESTER CITY COACH ROBERTO MANCINI WALKS INTO NEWS CONFERENCE ROOM MAN CITY CREST (SOUNDBITE) (English) MANCHESTER CITY COACH ROBERTO MANCINI, REFUSING TO TALK ABOUT THE FRUSTRATION OF NO POTENTIAL NEW SIGNINGS, SAYING: "I said to you that to you this
  • Embargoed: 25th August 2012 13:00
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  • Location: United Kingdom
  • Country: United Kingdom
  • Topics: Sports
  • Reuters ID: LVA3036XFFA917P50C0VJVX08G9P
  • Story Text: Manchester City soccer coach Roberto Mancini could barely conceal his frustration at the club's failure to make any pre-season signings when he spoke to the media on Friday (August 10) ahead of their pre-season Community Shield match against Chelsea on Sunday (August 12).
    City, who pipped local rivals United to the English Premier League title on a dramatic final day of the season last May, have not signed any new players to strengthen their bid for the Champions League and to retain their Premier League title.
    City's player deals are handled by Sporting Director Brian Marwood, and Mancini, when asked about the importance of Sunday's match, a warm-up for the Premier League season which begins the following weekend, and the importance of having new players, gave a somewhat frustrated reply.

    "I said to you that to you this question is important today but we have an important game and for me the game is more important, the others things you need to talk to our Sporting Director not to me because I don't know what I should say at this moment because after three or four months, I don't know," said Mancini, speaking at the club's training ground in Manchester.
    The match, being played at Aston Villa's ground with Wembley unavailable because of the Olympics, pitches City against the new European champions Chelsea. Although there is only prestige at stake at Villa Park, he said the match was important.

    "If in the end of this season we win the Premiership, then perhaps it is better we lose against Chelsea, but I think it is important to try to win as we have not won this cup for a long time and it will be important to start the season with a victory but we know it will not be easy because Chelsea are a strong team and won the Champions League, they bought four or five good players so I think it will be a difficult game," he said.
    Mancini feels that he needs a strong squad to make an assault on the Champions League which Chelsea won for the first time in May, beating Bayern Munich in the final a penalty shoot-out after a 1-1 draw. Many observers felt that Chelsea had been fortunate to win the Champions League after earlier close wins over Napoli and Barcelona, but Mancini felt that they had deserved their success following near misses in previous seasons, most notably a penalty shoot-out final defeat to Manchester United in 2008.

    "It is important you have a good team (in the Champions League) because you play against the best teams in the world but after you should also be lucky when you arrive in the quarter-finals. For this reason, maybe Chelsea deserved to win the Champions League four or five years ago but they won last year. Not because they did not deserve it because they have a good team, but for this reason the Champions League is strange."
    As well as no new signings, Mancini already has injury problems with two of his players. England internationals Micah Richards and Gareth Barry, who was forced to pull out of Euro 2012 with an abdominal injury, will both miss Sunday's game.

    "Richards will miss only this game because I think he only has a small problem with his ankle, but Gareth Barry I don't know because he had this problem before the Europeans and he continues to have this problem. I hope maybe in three or four weeks or one month we can recover Gareth but I don't know at this moment."
    City open their Premier League season at home to promoted Southampton on August 19.
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