By IAN GORDON
ROBERTO MANCINI branded his Manchester City stars a bunch of softies as they crashed to a shock defeat at Sunderland.
He blasted his misfits as their unbeaten away record was left in tatters when old boy Adam Johnson’s strike fooled fumbling Joe Hart.
Mancini was furious as the reigning champs slumped SEVEN points behind Manchester United after their rivals’ amazing comeback win over Newcastle in what could be a crucial day in the title battle.
The under-pressure Italian fumed: “We are too soft.
“We are too soft in attack, too soft when we get chances, too soft when we shoot.
“Sometimes we don’t shoot. We want one touch more and that is no good.
“If we had scored with the early chances, the game would have been different.
“When you play against a team like Sunderland, who defend with all players behind the ball, if you get a chance you need to score.”
Black Cats keeper Simon Mignolet made stunning saves to deny Yaya Toure and David Silva while Vincent Kompany hit the bar as City threatened to run riot.
But they were made to pay for the missed chances as Johnson’s 30-yard effort beat Hart at his near post after 53 minutes.
Mignolet pulled off another superb stop from Sergio Aguero though Stephane Sessegnon and James McClean both missed opportunities as Martin O’Neill’s men carved out the best chances.
The defeat was City’s first away from home in the league this season and their third in a row at the Stadium of Light.
But boss Mancini risked being accused of being a bad loser as he branded the Black Cats ‘lucky’.
And he could face an FA rap after ridiculously claiming referee Kevin Friend had eaten too much Christmas dinner for a crucial decision in the run-up to the goal.
Mancini added: “Sunderland are very lucky against us at home.
“You can create every time 15 to 20 chances like this year and last year and you lose the game.
“They are a bogey team for us here. Next year, we won’t come.
“But what happened at Old Trafford is not important to us. We know United are a fantastic team and will probably win every game but the season is long.
“United are better than us now but it can change.
“They are on the top but we have the time to recover. But we need to solve our problem.
“If we do that maybe we can win. Seven points are no problem.”
Mancini was fuming that ref Friend did not give a free-kick for Craig Gardner’s challenge on Pablo Zabaleta in the build-up to Johnson’s winner.
He added: “The referee ate too much for Christmas. He was not in good form.
“That can happen after Christmas when they have a performance like that.
“But Johnson was really clever because we thought he was going to cross. Instead, he shot. He did very well. I do not think Hart was at fault.”
Delighted O’Neill hailed his side’s best display of the season.
The Black Cats have now won three of their last four games to go seven points clear of the drop zone.
O’Neill said: “I am not bothered what Mancini might say. I thought we were terrific.
“He said the same thing last year and the same when we drew 3-3 at their place.
“That was our best performance of the season.
“We got confidence from beating Southampton.
“We knew we would have to defend strongly but we also carved out chances.
“This is a bonus three points for us.”
