A BIT of spit and a lot of polish - that's the basis of Roberto Mancini's Blue evolution.

The Italian manager has revitalised the Blues' Premier League campaign since moving into the hot-seat on December 21.

And a man who has worked closely with Mancini since 1999 has pinpointed the attention to detail which he believes makes his close friend a great manager.

Ivan Carminati is officially the Blues' fitness coach - and renowned as one of the best in that field.

But the man from Parma is also an integral part of Mancini's close-knit management team, alongside assistant manager Brian Kidd, coach Fausto Salsano and goalkeeping Massimo Battara.

He says the players' fitness was spot-on when the new regime took over, and that he was soon able to tell Mancini that he could focus on the tactical and technical tweaking he felt was necessary to boost the Blues' fortunes.

"I have an excellent impression of the fitness coach who was here before," said Carminati. "City were already a very strong team who had done some good work. I was very surprised to find this kind of level.

"When I first came to England in 2002 to work with Sven on the national team, we visited City when Kevin Keegan was the coach. Everything has changed 100 per cent since then - not only the ground and training facility, but the whole mentality is now more forward-looking."

Some reports suggested that Mancini had subjected his players to gruelling five-hour training sessions after taking over.

Carminati rubbishes such talk, saying they had one long session on the first day in order to assess the players.

"Extra training wasn't necessary. On the first day we had a double session, but the morning session was very, very light.

"Right from the start, Roberto said we had to start working from the tactical point of view.

"Every day we monitored the players for fitness, but very soon we could tell the manager that there was no problem and he could concentrate on the technical and tactical situation."

Carminati also says that the gap between Italy and England with regard to facilities and approach to training, which he saw in 2002, has now virtually closed.

And he claims that English players, if given the right guidance, are better trainers than their Italian counterparts.

"I am happy that English players are very focused during training on what they are doing," he said.

"They give you 100 per cent, which is a good starting point for a fitness coach.

"With Italian players, if you tell them to run 10 times across the pitch, and turn your head away, they will do nine. The English player would probably do 11!"

But he had a diplomatic memory loss about whether Mancini was the nine-out-of-ten type when he was a player. "I can't remember whether Roberto used to do that or not," he said with a grin.

Carminati trained Mancini when he was a player at Lazio under Sven-Goran Eriksson, and was also fitness conditioner to Eriksson's England teams at the 2002 and 2006 World Cups, and the 2004 European Championships.

When Mancini moved into management, he made Carminati, who had been a third division goalkeeper - "I was a very poor footballer" he says - one of his first signings.

Since then he has become part of the inner circle - he and the other Italians have all left their families back home, and plan to move them to Manchester when the school year ends in the summer.

"We don't have our family here so every day we move together and eat together, and speak a lot about what needs to be done. We are a team," said Carminati.

"Roberto has the final decision, but he is very open-minded. Yesterday we flew back from Italy together, and on the flight we discussed the next game in detail. Everyone gave their impression.

"Roberto knows four eyes see better than two, but in the end he will pick the team. Brian Kidd plays an important role. He knows the Premier League better than us and gives Roberto plenty of advice on opponents, and players."

Carminati believes Mancini has blended his attributes perfectly - he was a dashing striker who played with tremendous flair, but has been imbued from an early age with the idea of pragmatic Italian defending.

"His basic philosophy is to make sure all of his players are happy to play. If you train hard, with a smile, you reach your target more quickly.

"He likes to attack but knows that the starting point is not to concede. On his first day here, he said `We start with the defensive line' and every day he has done a lot of work with the players to get them working as a team. The team must move on the pitch according to the position of the ball - it's very important, because if you're in the right position you reach the ball quicker than the opponent."

Carminati also utilises the latest scientific and technological techniques to monitor players' fitness, and was impressed with what he found at City. The players use saliva hormone tests to keep tabs on their well-being, a new technique which tracks the anabolic and catabolic state of their bodies once a week.

"Every week we take saliva, because that gives you some information, and we put all the information from different tests and monitoring together to find the right answers for the players," said Carminati.

"Football is not a science, but science can add to football - and then at the end you have to score!"