Manchester City News 24/7Writer: Jonny Gould 
Date:Monday April 9 2012
Time: 12:46PM
UK time is: 07:50:15
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Mancini should've been decisive over Balotelli
Roberto Mancini's loyalty to Carlos Tevez and Mario Balotelli has cost City dear in the title race,
talkSPORT presenter Jonny Gould argues that Mancini's failure to grasp the nettle of his own miscreant players was the key difference between the two title-chasing campaigns. Mancini's noisy neighbours failed to quell their own disquiet while Fergie and United were as one.
Read his piece here.
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Your Comments
Bandwaggoning ********* and Ferguson arslikhan. Right you are Jonny. City have to select Tevez right now otherwise his adviser will pull "sporting just cause" on the club and he will be able to leave for nothing having been on a 3 month strike. Secondly, Mancini has subbed Balotelli and numerous other City players at half time this season. He is not afraid to make bold decisions. He first signalled that when he double subbed Robinho at Everton. Taggart himself has praised Mancio for his handling of Tevezgate.
"Fergie and United were as one." - What, with Lee Mason?
Johnny Baguette
JB - stop blaming the refs for your lot being 8 points behind us - win your own games and then you win the title - obviously as you are not winning games at the moment, you turn your attention to our games, and while I agree the pen and red card were wrong, you have had reffing decisions go for you when they were in the wrong so don't start the bull**** that refs are all in our pockets as you are getting boring now.....
niteworlok
i have no argument , with us THROWING the title to the rags, as we do not know which Mario is going to turn up, the one that did so well in last years FA Cup final and inthe 'Sick Swan' derby or the one that turned up yesterday, and deserved to get sent off after 10 minutes, we seem to play with a handicap when Mario is named as a starting player till we know which Mario is playing, as good as a player he is there is something wrong inhis make up, whether it was all the press and his 'Shenanigans in the Bedroom'i dont know but yeterday was a must win and we blew it big time, BUT i still cobsider it a successful seasonas we have improved on last years place, and not lost at home this season, and got the most points in our history of the PL, and scored over 100 goals this term, it bodes well for the future and WE WIL WIN THE TITLE NEXT YEAR..... with Mancini in charge........ but the Rags have got some very dubious decisions of late, which may not have been given to other clubs.......
cityman51
i have no argument , with us THROWING the title to the rags, as we do not know which Mario is going to turn up, the one that did so well in last years FA Cup final and inthe 'Sick Swan' derby or the one that turned up yesterday, and deserved to get sent off after 10 minutes, we seem to play with a handicap when Mario is named as a starting player till we know which Mario is playing, as good as a player he is there is something wrong inhis make up, whether it was all the press and his 'Shenanigans in the Bedroom'i dont know but yeterday was a must win and we blew it big time, BUT i still cobsider it a successful seasonas we have improved on last years place, and not lost at home this season, and got the most points in our history of the PL, and scored over 100 goals this term, it bodes well for the future and WE WIL WIN THE TITLE NEXT YEAR..... with Mancini in charge........ but the Rags have got some very dubious decisions of late, which may not have been given to other clubs.......
cityman51
Whilst we still had the title in our reach and threw it away irregardless of referees, ignoring the referees would be wrong. For example, do you deny that the referees handed you potentially 4pts from your last two home games (stonewall penalty denied to Fulham, offside/Young dive/red card/penalty goal against QPR)? UNDOUBTEDLY wrong decisions have at least 2pts extra to your tally (taking into account that a lacklustre United still might have beaten an 11 man QPR) and a possible 4pts in the past two games alone! I'm not even going to get into the mass of decisions across the season like Sunderland's offside goal against us (Sunderland won 1-0), a blatant penalty not given for Silva when we were 1-0 up against Chelsea (lost 2-1), and an NON-offside goal disallowed against West Brom (match finished 0-0)? Meanwhile Rooney is likely to finish the season with no yellow cards... https://p.twimg.com/AqCY5JkCAAA8wTc.jpg - I rest my case.
StuMCFC
Niteworlok. We only have ourselves to blame for nothing keeping up the pace in the title race. That said the favour U*d receive, especially at OT cannot be ignored. It is not just your direct rivals that complain about the injustice, it stretches way beyond that, the majority of football fans can see it, even one or two U*d supporters I know admit it and laugh about it. Your own fans even have a chant about it ffs.
Bluedub
Who TF is Jonny Gould and what does he write with when mommy takes his crayons away? Talksheit presenter? LMAO!
fifthcolumnblue
Yes decisions do seem to go our way at OT, but then so do many other clubs at their home grounds............
niteworlok
I'd agree with that NW, the team playing at home tends to get the 50/50s but it seems like it happens at OT a lot more often than most and it's been that way for years.
Bluedub
Balotelli has been a liability from the start of the season. He has talent as his goal against Sunderland showed but having done very little for the rest of the game.
Tevez must start and we must find some form before the derby. Another 6-1 and who cares about the title, of course that depends on getting a ref not on the rag payroll.
Barney Daniels
Balotelli escapes ban for almost ending Alex Song's career. Still feel decisions not going your way? What a disgrace.
Wyn Mills
He deserved a ban Wyn Mills but don't be such a drama queen.
Bluedub
We've been on the receiving end of our fair share of mangled legs so leave out the drama queen nonsense. You talk about injustice? Wonder if you'd be so nonplussed if the same tackle had been perpetrated on Toure.
Wyn Mills
Toure's on crutches mate following Song's tackle. Koscielny went over the top of the ball in a challenge which he got a yellow for, I'm nonplussed about that. Drama Queen.
Bluedub
Crutches? That's terrible!! Poor bloke. Pity he was clearly unfit and not moving well BEFORE the clash with Song. Having said that he could at least have made an effort to limp off on the right leg.
Wyn Mills
Clearly unfit? What are you talking about? Limp off on the right leg? Wtf?
Bluedub
Bluedub you keep crying your eys out on the United site, screaming about how the FA favours United, well Balotelli getting off with that horror tackle on Song, is an absolute discrace, and yet you call Wyn a drama queen, man you are deluded.. And Wyn is correct, look at the replay again, he is limping the wrong leg.
nordkap
Nordkap, another drama queen, who's crying and screaming? I'm giving my opinion. Yaya is ruled out of the game tomorrow night with a knee injury.
Bluedub
Lol. You're welcome to your opinion. Mine is: Yaya is ruled out of tommorrow's game because the guy was plainly already unfit when he started the match at the Emirates. Go watch the first half again (not just the highlights). Watch Toure during the first 10 minutes and tell me honestly if the guy is running freely. Then watch him apply a cold press to his right knee rather than the left, the one which actually connected with Song's.
Wyn Mills
Wyn, did you never hear of an injury occurring to the standing leg when the impact is on the other leg? Nordkap should have as this is what happened to Alf Inge Haaland when Roy Keane did him and ultimately ended his career.
Bluedub
One other thing Wyn. Yaya took full part in training the day before the game, including all the contact stuff, so where did he pick up this injury that prevented him from running freely?
Bluedub
Bluedub, you can't compare Keane's assault on Haaland with the coming together of knees with Toure and Song. And even then it has never been proven Haaland's crocked left knee was a result of the Keane challenge, especially as Haaland went on to play in matches after that game. as for Yaya not moving freely I call it as I see it. He wasn't moving well after only 8 mins into the match. maybe he tweaked something in warm-up, but in my opinion he looked half-crocked before collliding with Song.
Wyn Mills
Wyn, I didn't compare the two tackles. I was just using that as an example of how an injury can't be sustained to one leg despite the other leg taking the impact. There can be a jarring off the knee, which I suspect happened here. Nevertheless Song's tackle on Yaya was cynical and deserving of a yellow card, which never came. As for Mario, I have voiced my opinion on that in our forum and condemned him for it but to say he could have ended his career is being dramatic mate.
Bluedub
Clumsy, yes. Cynical, no. For cynical see Balotelli. Song stood as much chance of injury as Yaya in that challenge. Do you really think he'd purposefully take the impact on his knee?
Wyn Mills
City were about to go on a counter attack Wyn. Song had found himself upfield and if he didn't stop Yaya it would have left Arsenal vulnerable, he ensured Yaya wasn't getting past him by fouling him, that is cynical and deserving of a yellow card.
Bluedub
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