Manchester City manager Roberto Mancini challenged his side to go on another unbeaten run after they suffered their first Premier League defeat of the season against Chelsea.
Mario Balotelli scored an early goal, but Raul Meireles equalised and, after Gael Clichy had been sent off, Frank Lampard scored the winner from the penalty spot.
Asked where the team goes from here, Mancini told Sky Sports 1: "We can do nothing. We are at the top. We know it was possible to lose one game. But we hope after tonight we will draw or win [the rest of the games].
"The Chelsea players after the game were really happy to beat us. That shows we are a top team at this moment and that all the teams want to beat us, and this is important for us.
"We worked well up to now and now we should continue.
"I hope that we can go another 14 games without losing."
What do you think? Have your say.
Roberto Mancini challenges Manchester City to fight back after defeat
December 12, 2011
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Correct Bobby....How times have changed !....Now after The way Stretford are Celebrating do we know we are a real threat !.......We are the Future !.
Why not. We have a superb squad and with the monkey off our backs there is no reason why another long unbeaten run won't be achieved. Things conspired against us tonight but we probably lost to our closest rivals for the title this season and it took us going down to 10 men for them to do it. Mind you, we only concede 1 with 10 men...Onwards and upwards
LGHU
Mancini is spot on. Get another run together starting with Arsenal on Sunday.
If we're top at the start of February we've got a MASSIVE chance of winning the title.
excellent 1st 25 mins should have been 2 up defo penalty but mr clatenberg as usual gave us nothing.game would have been over,so 1 defeat doesnt wreck r season we have played all but arsenal away in the top six so well in our own hands.
Spot on! Manager of the Year! Chelski had just won a Cup Final. Another unbeaten run is the way forward. We are down temporarily but not out. To all rags celebrating, be VERY, VERY afraid!
Well between the referee and Lescott, we "handed" Chelsea the 3 points, looked like we would get a draw but such is football.
Juventus remain the only team in Europe not to have lost at this point, well done to them.
Interesting how this time last season Chelsea with the points they had going into the game
were NINE points ahead of the competition, which proves the progress Mancini has made at City and I continue to enjoy the ride..............
Played 15 out of 38, lost 1. By my reckoning, that means we have gone almost 40% of the way through our domestic season before losing a game, with ten men and to a penalty.
Not bad, is it ?
Plus, our football is excellent when we are on song and far more entertaining than most of the other teams.
If we continue to play the way we have been doing, success will come.
Unlucky blues, WE ARE STILL TOP. Time to kick on
CTID
Chelsea commited leg breaking tackles and Clattenberg Issued yellow cards only.
Not a bad performance from City. Should have had a pen and was a harsh sending off...even harder to take when you think Meireles was not sent off for his lunge on Silva. I am sure we will beat Arsenal comfortably.
Clattenberg should be banned from future Blues matches.
What an appalling refereeing display! Did he get anything right?
Still showing we're a bit naive in how rash we were in the challenge tonight (Yaya could of gone too) apart from that a quality showing and should have had the point!
Showed we're still a bit naive in the tightest game so far this campaign, too rash in the challenge with a ref like Clattenburg (Yaya lost discipline a few times and was lucky - off the ball too) but it was a display of character that shows our potential. Barry was class tonight and the Silva decision on a another night...
Mark 'Clatten' burg - a very poor display from this referee. Cannot see a foul 5m in front of him in the Chelsea penalty area BUT can see something 30m away AND over rule his Assistant! Enjoy the Portuguese wine in the Chelsea hospitality suite.
Still a bit naive in the tightest game of the season so far, especially in the challenge (inc Yaya losing some discipline off the ball) and with a ref like Clattenberg. Still we showed character, progress from last season and deserved a point. Barry was class tonight and on a another day Silva would of been awarded that one
Very disappointing loss to a Chelsea team low in confidence an looking nervous early on but poor defense, missed opportunities and, discipline and yet another bad game from Clatenberg (he is not fit to referee important games, he shows no control on the pitch and players get out of control). Let's hope it was just a wake up call.
Fix the leaky defense and better discipline needed. Onwards and upwards.
Clattenberg, as soon as I saw his name , I couldn't believe it,how does he get such an important big game, nearly every game he is involved with there is controversy. Sends off Cliche, 2 worse tackles of the whole game Merelies, tried to put Silva out of the game, and got away with it,Should have been the first to go. then Clattenberg couldn't stop booking people, sick of referees ruining games. Chelsea got out of jail. Not sure why we backed of after the first 15 20 minutes, chelsea were their usual ragged selves, and we let them back in it.Thought Milner had a shocker, and Lescott shoud learn to keep his hands down, gifted them the points.
Well said Bobby!
Forza Mancini
There is no reason we can't go another unbeaten run. It took Chelsea a pen to beat 10 men & they were at home. But I would like to see a new left back brought in in Jan. Not just after the sending off. I've wanted this all season. Plus for all his skill Balotelli is not the right man to be a lone striker. Lastly why is NDJ not being picked. He is a class player & we can't afford to lose him.
good plan, but you need to sort the defence out, roberto. we're not nearly as tight as we were, and i look to both you and the onfield captain to sort things out. it's time for vincent kompany to organise, and to disccipline the back four, as well as to lead by example. he was lucky not to get himself sent off again tonight, quite apart from the stupidity of first clichy and lescott, which cost us so dearly. and even before that, who was covering mereiles run into the box, to equalise? scoring loads is great, but matches like tonight's game are won by not conceding. as indeed is progress in the champions league.
Back in August most City fans would have been happy to take top spot in middle of December including record batterings at Spurs and OT !
We wont be faced with a very dodgy ref for most games so keep it up boys !
Nice to know the 5 teams below have still got to travel to the Etihad - we really are in pole position !!
PS Turning the sound down instead of listening to half-wit , clueless, biased pundits
does make a difference !!!!!!
In 2011 we always had a strong run after a defeat. It will be very welcome now ...
i feared the worse when Clattenburg was named as referee. After the comments by Wilkins on Sky I'm sure Yaya will be closely watched by refs from now on as well. Anybody who watches City knows that Yaya is a bit soft, he goes down too easily for a big man and has always niggled at the opposition. Chelsea were up for this game and City were very naive, dominating the game early on while Chelsea players took it in turns to kick Silva out of the game. When Chelsea played from deep after 25 minutes City kept trying to hoof the ball over the heads of Chelsea's defence and kept giving away possession.
Sounds like Mancini is getting used to reality. There is only one Manchester United: no copycats!