Roberto Mancini believes 40 days of hard work by striker Mario Balotelli are paying off after the Italy international helped fire his Manchester City side to a 4-1 win over Aston Villa which sent them top of the Barclays Premier League.
Balotelli has produced two stellar performances for Mancini at a time when he has needed them the most.
With Carlos Tevez sidelined while the club deal with his alleged refusal to play against Bayern Munich, eight-goal Sergio Aguero injured and Edin Dzeko struggling to reproduce his early-season form, Mancini has needed goals.
Balotelli has delivered. He was on target in the 4-0 win at Blackburn prior to the international break, and stole the show against Villa, kicking things off with a sumptuous overhead kick before Adam Johnson, Vincent Kompany and James Milner all chipped in.
The win took City two points clear of Manchester United ahead of next weekend's derby at Old Trafford and Mancini, who has had to carefully manage Balotelli, believes his player is finally getting the message.
"I think Mario is always happy. In this moment, after he was on the bench in the last month, he maybe understood," he said.
"He played well, has scored four goals in a row and works for the team. Mario can change in a moment but I am happy because it is now 40, 50 days (when he has) played and worked well.
"He is motivated because he is playing and scoring. It is important moment for him. I think that for a player on the bench with me it is not easy to watch the game and not play in a team playing well and scoring goals."
On the sidelines with Mancini were key playmaker David Silva, who played the last 20 minutes following his exertions with Spain, Owen Hargreaves, who made his Premier League debut for the club late on, and the unused duo of Dzeko and Samir Nasri.
Although they were all replaced by players most other managers would want, City could make a case for being under-strength today.
They started sluggishly, but were sparked into life by Balotelli's goal and dominated from then on, only conceding when Stephen Warnock snuck in to score while marker Micah Richards hobbled off the field.
"I think that we had a problem in the first 10 and 15 minutes because when all the players came back from the international break, it was difficult to start the game," Mancini added.
"After 15 minutes we played very well, Mario scored a fantastic goal and that changed the game.
"I think we have started the season very well. We know this week will be hard because we play against a strong Villa, against Villarreal which is a crucial game for us in the Champions League, and after we have the derby. I think our mind is very busy."
What do you think? Have your say.
Manchester City boss Roberto Mancini hails in-form Mario Balotelli
October 15, 2011
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Roberto needs to keep the wand in a safe place. Super Mario is roaring like a lion.
Great result, great performances, great players, great manager, great fans. Roll on Tuesday!
Mario is pure entertainment! Hitting form just at the right time when we are short of striking options.
Keep it up son...we love you at MCFC
Mario and Vinnie scored from corners today. What strikes me is that whenever Mario plays we score from at least one corner. It isn't always Mario who scores but someone always seems to. I don't know whether anyone has compiled statistics on this, but it seems to happen too often to be coincidence. For years we seemed unable to score from corners - indeed, a corner was a time of utmost danger because we always seemed to send the centre backs forward and then be caught on the break. So, what is Mario doing that makes us so much more dangerous when we have a corner?
Mario makes great runs all though the game, its what he does really well. If we learned to pass to him when he makes the run he would score 50 goal a season.
Mario ran the show for large portions of this game. The penny has dropped and though I am sure we will still see minor abberations, he is now focussed and seems to have grasped what is expected of him in this league. Talent wise there are few more gifted players around, he creates chances for himself and also for others, he runs unselfishly to create space and he will be a major player for this club. My preferred choice up front would be Mario and Kun, shame for Dzeko, but Edin isnt in the same league as young Mario. Talking with some mates about who in their respective teams they would want to have a beers with, I opted for a night out with Mario lol never a dull moment I can imagine! Well done Mario for turning things round and turning in some very impressive displays!
Blackburn ha..Villa..ha..back to reality next weekend Berties. Wait and see council boys..3-0 to the mighty MANCHESTER UNITED. L.U.H.C..........
What a cameo from Merlin!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
In an era of dull as dishwater footballers, Balotelli is a rare species. Ok, not everything he does comes off but when it does it makes you so glad you were there too see it. Some players play in a comfort zone and never take risks. Thank goodness Super Mario isn't one of them.
The best news so far is the number of different goal scorers.
Oh yes.................
The future is shaping up nicely!
A very good performance from Mario and the rest of the team......to be honest I want the title more than anything this season,reasons being it will go a little further in shutting that lot up across the CITY and how they go on about " you haven't won this or that in 30 or so years" etc etc
The FA and Carling Cups will be a bonus thats for sure for me,however I do think we are no way near to winning the Champions League yet....HEAVEN CAN WAIT!
United are playing 'crap' in truth but still manage to scrape some kind of result so for City to win the title I do believe they have to beat United home and away. It can be done but we all know the pitfalls that may arise dont we? ie refereeing decisions.......
right, now for next week. I expect another nervous ref and a lot of decisions to go against us, so lets not be intimidated. They did not play well against Liverpool but expect them to bounce back and they are gonna give us one hell of a game, expect it to be a couldron and lets take the game to them. its gonna be a cracker of a match, bring on the real derby!! City!! City!! City!!! City!! City!!! Lets go for it!!!
In this article Micah hobbled off + in the match report he limped off!!!! Funny but seeing as he had his head split open and was holding it as he left the pitch it makes me wonder if the MEN reporters actually watch the game.
Anyway hopefully Mario is finally getting it and will be the player he is capable of but today Milner was my man of the match.
And to think that only last season we wanted rid of an apparently spoilt Balotelli, a disappointing Milner and a lazy Yaya Toure. We doubted Mr Mancini and his signings, but he clearly knew what he was doing and was loyal to his vision.
We are with you now Roberto! Thank you for giving us our pride back!
Whatever Roberto says......I agree with!
Forza Mancini!
TTFN
Terrific performance by City today. It was even more impressive in view of the players who saw no action and City in a romp over a not-too-bad Villa side.
I agree with the comments made by RM about the performance of Mario who seems to be heading in a very positive direction. I still don't quite understand his apparent lack of excitement when he scores but I put it down to the fact that he wants to be perceived as Mr Cool and that's fine, so be it and let him keep scoring.
I have come to the conclusion that United are having real difficulty coming to terms with this superb City team in the context of their obvious reluctance to consistently identify them as a serious threat to win the title. Their management and senior players still call for Chelsea and without disputing Chelsea as a fine club and a serious threat which they are, I really believe United are in some form of denial when it comes to admitting City are now major contenders at all levels. United have ruled the roost for so long in Manchester so maybe it is understandable that it is indeed hard to accept that the tide is turning and I believe as many do that the blue half of Manchester will dominate and it is no longer a matter of if it is just when.
Wink wink Mario ;)
CTID
Adders, great to see your posts (elsewhere) again: have tried to contact you on the e-mail you kindly gave me weeks ago but it doesn't work. Mine is ...dameroo@yahoo.fr
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=po0dZfS2CDg&feature=player_embedded
Not about the game but about the stewards at city SHOWTEC??
Can some one at the evening news check out why the stwewards are punching city fans.!!! see video..
IF AWAY FANS STAND UP THE CITY FANS STAND UP... So the stewards must give a bit of lee way.. FAILING THAT HET RID OF SHOWTEC AND BRING IN A NEW FIRM!
LEGEND!!!!
the way Mancini is rotating the team,and the way they are performing is just unbelievable.
there will be ups and downs,but there is no doubt we will fight for the title this year.
Mario is awesome!! Simples
Mario for mayor
great win, need to forget the derby we need 3pts mid week
This was a strong performance, against a not too bad Villa side.The big thing is looking at the bench, there is great strength in this squad, and let's face it when you see Silva coming on as sub, how would that make you feel. So many goals coming from all areas of the team. Good to see Milner and Johnson on together, and both scoring, even though Johnson had a quiet game, he still creates chances, and has a great left foot. It all looked good to me.