Manchester City manager Roberto Mancini claims he can’t fill the subs’ bench against Manchester United – despite having a squad worth £333million.
Mancini was dealt a bitter blow on Thursday when Ivory Coast blocked his attempts to hang onto Kolo and Yaya Toure so they could play in the FA Cup third round showdown before flying off on African Cup of Nations duty.
The Italian - whose side thrashed United 6-1 at Old Trafford in the league just 11 weeks ago - now says he feels hard-up when he looks at his thin squad.
“For Sunday, we have 17 players and I don’t think we will have 18 to fill the bench," said Mancini, who reckons Africa's version of the European Championship could wreck City’s title hopes.
“Gareth Barry is suspended, Mario Balotelli injured his ankle in training the day before we played Sunderland and I don’t think he can play - he hasn’t trained for four or five days.
“Samir Nasri [who had flu] is better, but I don’t know about him. And we are losing Yaya and Kolo.”
But Mancini also vowed that City, as FA Cup holders, will not do anything to show disrespect to the competition.
He added: “The FA Cup is important for us because we won it last year and we want to go to the final again.
“But derbies are always difficult and at this moment maybe even more so because United will be very angry after two defeats.
“They are always very strong after a defeat, and for this reason it will be a very tough game.”
By David McDonnell
Mancini was dealt a bitter blow on Thursday when Ivory Coast blocked his attempts to hang onto Kolo and Yaya Toure so they could play in the FA Cup third round showdown before flying off on African Cup of Nations duty.
The Italian - whose side thrashed United 6-1 at Old Trafford in the league just 11 weeks ago - now says he feels hard-up when he looks at his thin squad.
“For Sunday, we have 17 players and I don’t think we will have 18 to fill the bench," said Mancini, who reckons Africa's version of the European Championship could wreck City’s title hopes.
“Gareth Barry is suspended, Mario Balotelli injured his ankle in training the day before we played Sunderland and I don’t think he can play - he hasn’t trained for four or five days.
“Samir Nasri [who had flu] is better, but I don’t know about him. And we are losing Yaya and Kolo.”
But Mancini also vowed that City, as FA Cup holders, will not do anything to show disrespect to the competition.
He added: “The FA Cup is important for us because we won it last year and we want to go to the final again.
“But derbies are always difficult and at this moment maybe even more so because United will be very angry after two defeats.
“They are always very strong after a defeat, and for this reason it will be a very tough game.”
By David McDonnell
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