Change Balotelli? That would be impossible! Mancini on the challenges facing Man City
Posted Monday, July 30, 2012 by Dailymail
Manchester City's title-winning manager has sat down to tell Sportsmail about how Mario Balotelli can never be changed, off the field problems and his plans for the year ahead.
What did you make of Mario Balotelli's performance at the European Championships?
I think that he did well in the Euros. I also hope those performances can help him to improve. I think every time he plays well, like he did at the Euros, it's important for him because it can help him with his behaviour. Then he can understand that, if he improves his behaviour, he can be better at his job.
He thrived as a central striker for Italy? Can he get in your team in that role?
With his body and his attitude, I think he can play as a forward or like a winger, so I think he can play in every position. Maybe, for me though, he is better like a first striker. But we have four strikers, and of these four strikers, only Mario can play wide.
Title winner: Roberto Mancini takes a training session in Kuala Lumpur
How do you feel now that you are the Barclays Premier League winning manager? How many times have you watched the last 10 mintues of last season back on TV?
Just one or two times. It was enough to be there in that moment. But we deserved to win the league because, for me, we were the best team.
Manchester United have been saying that they lost the league rather than you winning it...
We were the best team because we played the best football, scored the most goals, conceded the fewest, beat United twice - and dominated them on both occasions. We are very proud of this because we beat a team like United, who are used to winning every year. So for us this is very important. I can understand some people saying we were lucky, not just because we scored twice in the last few minutes against QPR, but because we scored quite a lot of goals in the last three or four minutes. But that was because we wanted this title.
Sir Alex Ferguson still says United are the team to beat...
I agree with him (smiling).
Are you serious?
Yes.
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