Although Carlos Tevez and Emmanuel Adebayor scored to leave City trailing fourth-placed Liverpool on goal difference, Johnson claimed man-of-the-match honours.
The former Middlesbrough man unhinged the Bolton defence with his direct running on a night when the rest of the Blues seemed strangely below par.
Added to that ability, Johnson can also pick out a decent cross, which makes him a rare breed indeed in the modern game.
“That is why we bought him,” said Mancini.
“He is a young player who wants to do well. He can play on both the left and the right and he can also play behind the main striker.
“He can continue to grow and I think he can be a very important player for this club.”
Johnson claimed the assist for Tevez’s 19th goal of the season when he was brought down by Paul Robinson on the half hour.
Adebayor sealed victory with a brilliant finish to a pass from another new boy in Patrick Vieira.
At 33, it is felt by many Vieira’s best days are behind him.
Yet the Frenchman bristles at such suggestions and reacted with a curt “am I that old?” when he was asked after the game whether he would need a rest on Wednesday.
Vieira performance
Mancini can see Vieira’s point and thinks the midfielder can follow his own example and play until he is 36.
“I played until I was 36 and I was still playing well,” countered the Italian.
“I won the Scudetto at that age, so I see no reason why Patrick can’t carry on as well.
“First of all I hope he can play another 15 games for us in the league this season because his performances are going to be very important.”
Vieira is also aware he has a big part to play but is determined to send City into the Champions League next season.
“It was my first 90 minutes for quite a long time and we won the game, which was really important after losing at Hull on Saturday.
“There is a long way to go and we need to keep winning games. Our target is the top four and we believe we are strong enough to get there.”
Mancini confirmed Craig Bellamy should be fit for next Tuesday’s visit to Stoke after having his knee assessed by a specialist in London on Monday.
The City boss also played down fears over skipper Kolo Toure, who limped off with a knee injury at the start of the second-half.
Bolton remain precariously placed, just a point above the drop-zone, although Coyle can see grounds for optimism.
“City have a squad that cost over £200million and we made them look ordinary,” he argued.
“If they are honest they will admit they were fortunate.”
What do you think? Have your say.
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Showing comments 1 to 25 and replies | View All
NickCity1 (09/02/2010 at 23:08)
The Insider, CTID. (09/02/2010 at 23:09)
Ahoyskin, Philadelphia, PA USA (09/02/2010 at 23:10)
Kippax Lover, Failswerf, Manchester (09/02/2010 at 23:10)
The only bright spark tonight. Well done son.
fullsac, cleethorpes (09/02/2010 at 23:17)
heart and soul in his game
Harmindah Shah, Upper Ramsbottom (09/02/2010 at 23:21)
Ste , Cheshire (09/02/2010 at 23:27)
However we have got to do better than that at home. Teams are coming to us and thinking they may get something despite us not having lost at home all season.
There are some real areas for concern.
1. Given - Does not command his area and his distribution is shocking yet Mancini seems to like the back pass to him. It cost us a goal against Blackburn and almost cost us another tonight. His complete lack of coming for balls kicked into the box meant that Bolton could almost drop it on the six yard line from free kicks. very dangerous and god help us at Stoke.
2. No pace or creativity in midfield. Surely Ireland will only find the form of last season if he is played in the correct position in central midfield in front of either De Jong and Barry or Barry and Viera.
3. Tevez and Adebayor just dont seem to play well together. Yes they both scored but Tevez who has been our player of the last 8 weeks spent the first half on the left wing and headless chicken Adebayor spent the night running to the wings. Johnson put in some good crosses but there was no one there to meet them. If he wants to play a diamond formation up front then for me it should be Tevez on his own with either Johnson/SWP/Bellamy flanking him to add pace.
4. Distribution from set pieces when defending. We do not need to have ten men back for every corner and free kick. When we do they get in each others way and even then miss short corners through lack of concentration. We should leave two men up front. Tevez and Johnson would have been ideal tonight or SWP when he came on. This straight away means Bolton have to leave 3/4 men back to defend.
It is about winning and we won but in the last 2 home games I have witnessed some worrying signs and the natives at the match were very restless on the concourse at HT.
City Slipper, Manchester (09/02/2010 at 23:34)
I commented on here before this game about Mancini's liking for using the full backs as wing backs and about Tevez not being the same player in this system and partnered with Ade. I see no reason to change my mind after this performance. Zabaleta and Bridge are not good enough to get forward, get crosses in and then get back to defend. It is asking too much of them. Tevez is great up front but looks a shadow of himself out on the left. His body language suggested to me that he wasn't enjoying it either. Johnson is a smashing player and he did well with both feet but I couldn't help thinking that he was more effective on the left. Vieira is too slow and, of course, at home to a poor Bolton side there is no need for three defensive midfielders.
We may not have the best wing backs in our arsenal but we do have some great wingers in SWP, Johnson, Petrov, Bellamy (when fit) so it beggars belief that we don't use them and harness our strengths. As soon as SWP came on and we changed to 4-4-2 with one of the defensive midfielders at left back, we played a much better game and I feel the players looked more comfortable. What worries me is that I was saying that before the game yet Mancini insists on sticking with his over-defensive formation. It isn't working! Yes, we won today and we beat Portsmouth but we lost against Hull and all three performances were poor. If we continue to play like that with that system, we will not have a great run to the end of the season.....and I will die of boredom.
Come on Mancini, we have some good players there, use them properly.
I am not a number (09/02/2010 at 23:41)
Roberto is a great guy with loads of charm, but short on nouse when it comes to the game over here, & I'd be very surprised if he lasts longer than the initial 6 months probation! We got away with it tonight but we did'nt at Hull & thats why it just is'nt good enough!
The Devil's Advocate, M11 born and bred, East Stand Lower 104 (10/02/2010 at 00:03)
True Blue,Galway.Ireland, Galway (10/02/2010 at 00:09)
Razor, cobourg canada (10/02/2010 at 00:26)
ChicagoBlue, USofA (10/02/2010 at 00:28)
De Jong and Vieira looked solid in midfield, with Barry doing a nice job on the left. Seems like Mancini made a slight mistake with the Bridge substitution, as Bolton immediately started to attack down our left, so he had to bring on Sylvinho. SHould have left it as it was and just bring off Johnson for SWP in a straight swap. Then again, maybe he wanted to stretch Bolton with two out and out wingers??
I think "solid, professional, but not as impressive as it might have been" pretty much sums up my feelings. I would take an unimpressive 2-0 win at home for the rest of the season. After all, "winning ugly" is required at some point, as no team can be open and expressive in every game, especially against teams like Bolton, Blackburn, Stoke, Sunderland, etc...
Keep up the good work!
P.S. How about that Adebayor goal?! F me!!! Nice one!
MBLUED, UK (10/02/2010 at 00:49)
“If they are honest they will admit they were fortunate.”
not really the difference was in the quality of johnsons run and adebayors finish- nothing ordinary about those 2 incidents, apart from the defending!!
MBLUED, UK (10/02/2010 at 00:50)
Deano58 (10/02/2010 at 07:41)
Three holding midfielders, although each is excellent in their own way, leaves us lying too deep to mount a counter attack, especially as none are blessed with much pace, and a huge gap between the front two and the defense.
The result is that as soon as we clear it, it comes straight back and no team can withstand constant pressure from a good team for 90 minutes.
At the moment we're like a misfiring Aston Martin; we could be brilliant and sometimes are but there's something not quite right. Hopefully Mancini can sort it out.
bubba, cleethorpes (10/02/2010 at 07:41)
The one and only Grim Reaper, Reddish (10/02/2010 at 07:43)
Eric, Dutch (10/02/2010 at 08:00)
Johnson is a typical wingplayer that you rarely see nowadays. Great crosser of the ball, can play with both feet on left or rightwing, and is not afraid to take on opponents.
City Slipper, Manchester (10/02/2010 at 08:11)
I think this would be a great shame. We know what he is capable of and, if this is true, it will explain recent performances. As I have said on here before, I think Ireland should start alongside De Jong as a centre mid pairing with wingers either side. If you do this, you will see him play like he did last season. Why? Because then he was told to tackle more, get about a bit and only get forward when it was safe to do so. That was his best period. Barry looks jaded and Vieira hasn't got the legs.
I will be very annoyed if we let players like this go to our rivals. We may also be in danger of the same happening to SWP, if the manager continues to overlook him. I would rather the manager left than these two.
Colin Viljoen's Banjo String (10/02/2010 at 08:15)
What happened to the fluidity and free flowing attacking play? Our defence has shored up a bit but we are in disarray everywhere else and are chasing the balls like sunday leaguers.
Mancini will be gone by the end of March - believe me. Aresnal and Chelsea will rip us apart. Far and away our best strenght is our attacking flair so why has he completely nullified it?
Powelly, Northwich (10/02/2010 at 08:22)
bluemoon risin' [not the jizzm jerk imposter pretending to be me!] (10/02/2010 at 08:37)
DarthGorb (10/02/2010 at 08:47)
Paul Power's Tash, Haslingden (10/02/2010 at 08:49)
Good to see a lad out on the pitch that looked excited at the prospect of playing for the Blues.
He was a bright light in another plodding performance by the blues.
Will need to step it up a bit over the next month if we are to nail down that 4th spot.
On another note, we did seem to look a little more solid when Lescott joint Kompany at centre-back.
There is a real bit of competition shaping up at the back and the one player who looks to have nailed down a place is Kompany.