The Blues can move to within a point of securing Champions League football if they win at Everton, when they will again be without their 21-goal top scorer.
But after three victories on the trot since losing their skipper to a hamstring tear, Mancini feels the Blues have taken a big step forward in coping when one of their top players is not available.
“If we want to improve as a team and keep on winning then you have to play without important players like Carlos, Yaya Toure, or David Silva,” he said. “It’s important but also important you improve as a team.
“Carlos is an important player for us and has scored more than 20 goals this year.
“Without him we are missing a fantastic striker who scores a lot of goals, but we have built a team this year.
“We have bought a lot of good players. When we are missing one or two important players we have a team, we always have a team.
“United played eight or nine different players against Schalke from the side that will play against Chelsea.
“If you want to win you want to win like this. When you can make these changes you can still also play to win, like them.”
Are City as strong without Carlos Tevez? Have your say. Tweet
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if that poor poor german team schalke can get to the semi of the ucl imagine how far we could go next season if or when we qualify they were an embarresment how can u lose 4-1 to a team with evans , gibson, oshea, anderson in it surely they should be banned from european football for 10 years for this ... we have nothing to fear my blue friends i believe we are 3 top players ( a winger, centre half, creative midfielder) from being the best team in this country and if utd can get into u ucl final well we all know were as good if not better on our day as them lot .
Let's prove it tomorrow please Roberto.
Are City as strong without Carlos Tevez? No because Balotelli is mostly on the fringes of the games and Dzeko is not yet up to speed with the PL. We play a different way without Carlos who when he plays is the main focus of our attacking play.
Are City as strong without Carlos Tevez?
No, but they soon will be.
More EPL experience for Dzeko and Balotelli and we are going to have as much strength and diversity up front as we do in defense.
Stronger, i'd say
I think if Carlos is fit then he should play, he gives us better options going forward. IMHO.
Is this just RM readying us for losing Tev in the summer? I think so, but he is right that we need a team and not just one or two star individuals to become a major force in world football.
"Iconic", Mr Brennan, really?
He's certainly been "important" as Roberto correctly states - but iconic? No, I think not.
I think we have now proved to the "City is a one man team" brigade that we are more than capable of winning without Tev, but he is still vital to our team, and it will always be an advantage for us if he plays, however we can still win the F.A cup if he is'nt fit and show all the doubters out there that we are NOT a one man club.
I think the comment about manu (if we can get over simply 'hating united') is a good one. The Stretford team did quite well in a CL semi final (albeit against a weak side) with nine changes from the first leg. They still had Scholes, Nani, Valencia but their back four looked fairly feeble. Nonetheless they played well and won easily. What kind of side would we have with nine changes from the team that played against the Hammers? Given Richards Boyata (if fit Boateng) Milner Dzeko SWP more....?? didnt start against Hammers.
I think we ought to play Dzeko against Everton because they are the kind of side that will be ruthless with Balo.
Right now it is, in my opinion, a very close call as to whether City would be stronger without Carlos Tevez. I am happy for Roberto Mancini to take the decision as to whether, if Carlos is fit for the Spurs game, he should be in the starting eleven, be on the bench or even not be in the squad. [If I was forced to bet on which is most likely, I would opt for his being on the bench.]
The decision is not clear-cut because Carlos himself has been out-of-form; he has not been the same player since his December transfer request and has only scored one goal from open play since mid-February. Moreover, even ardent Carlos fans admit that he is a selfish player. On the other hand, neither Edin Dzeko nor Mario Balotelli has exactly been prolific.
As an outsider - like other MEN readers! - my difficulty is assessing how to weight the importance of team spirit against other factors. The team spirit, under the captaincy of Vincent Kompany, has clearly been superb during and after the last three games. Roberto is clearly in a much better position than any of us to assess the risks of disrupting a winning team. In this context, the performance tomorrow against Everton can be extremely important: in particular, a win would not just bring 3 points (and relieve much of the pressure on Tuesday) but also make it even riskier to disrupt a winning team / strategy.
Are City as strong without Carlos Tevez? Have your say - No. But even with no Carlos we are far stronger than we were just a few weeks ago.
We all knew with the number of players coming in, it would take a while to become a team. Thats happened now. They've gelled. You can see the players believe in each other, even Balotelli has been smiling and joking with the team. It's no coincidence thats happened with Carlos being out the side and Vinnie becoming captain. With Carlos, the sides dynamo out out, someone had to take responsibility and lead. Vinnie stepped up but many other players have too. The side has a real spine now. Hart, Lescott, Zab, De-Jong and Ya-ya are all playing the best they have all season and could all be captain. This has rubbed off on Silva who just runs the game.
All we really need now is another one like him for teams who park the bus. As many will against us next season. The platform is there we just need a few more goals, to be challenging for everything. If RM can get the right man, it could be like watching the team in the days of Ali B and Berkovic, only at the top top level. The future is bright blue.
Go all out for the win please tomorrow RM. Then we can simply chisel out a draw on Tuesday to put this to bed.
A week tomorrow comrades, a week tomorrow !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Sadly,niether Mario or Edin are . anywhere near good enough to trouble Stoke or indeed most Premiership defences. Mario is a red card waiting to happen and Edin looks
pure non- league material. Unless Tevez is 100% forget him. The truth is that we always needed a Tevez backup but Mancini/Marwood made massive errors bringing in Mario and Edin which now leaves us without a real goal threat.
Stoke have today been given an extra 2,300 tickets more than we have, what's going on?
that may be so robbo but we still win more games with him than without !
The M.E.N. has twisted Mancini's words here. Saying that City have learned to win without Carlos Tevez isn't quite the same as saying "we will win without him." The first describes what's been happening, the second predicts the future and implies something (Tevez leaving) which the M.E.N. is reading into it and probably hoping for. City wouldn't be where they are without Tevez's goals and all-round energy and if they are to mount a serious challenge for the title and in Europe next season they need Carlos Tevez - not as captain, though, that should be Kompany's job.
We'll win. With or without him.
There's a song in that.
Hoping that the Lionel Richie,dancing on the ceiling gets another airing.go on Lionel Messi!!!
It seems to me that Silva has flourished the last 3 games given the extra freedom he has without Tevez in the team. We know Tevez likes to drop deep to receive the ball, the same space that Silva likes to occupy,i'm not saying they cant play in the same team, but having Silva able to come more central and dictate the game has meant we are now getting more runners from deep, the likes of Yaya,Barry,Milner and the 2 full-backs, these late runs are what causes teams problems as invariably the player running through doesnt get tracked (Zaba for the 2nd goal against West Ham) we seem to have become less one dimensionable with Tevez out of the team (tatctic being to get the ball to Tevez who usually takes on a shot) where the last 3 games we have become a team with different angles of attack. Tevez is our talisman,and without his goals we would not be where we are now. Has Tevez being out of the team weakened us the last 3 games? well results would say not, and the oppurtunity to have a "plan B" has strengthened the resolve of the team by proving they can win big games without him. Whether Tevez is part of the bright blue future(and I for 1 would like that to be the case) e are proving that we are more than capable of winning games with or without him!
duno.....
Bit of a misleading headline, as I see it he isn't saying WE WILL WIN with or without Tevez, he's just stressing that it's important for the team to still be able to play for the win when key players aren't available.
I think we are a very good team now either way - fact is we are obviously different depending on personal, any team would be........In my opinion we are STILL getting better with every game and will continue to do so next season as well with or without King Carlos - as long as Mancini is allowed to build on the foundations he has put in place that is.............
Tevez is a fantastic player and he gives so much on the pitch that i would always start with him when fit - however we have won 3 in a row without him and they have been three matches with big pressure to get results which is proof Mancini has developed a winning edge within this squad. A spine of Hart, Kompany, De-Jong, Silva and Tevez is as good as any in the world............
City could afford to get beat by spurs and send out players that are well rested for the fa cup final,I would be happy with a point against spurs.
Revenge on the Toffees here is hoping we give them a good pasting.