By MARTIN BLACKBURN
MANCHESTER CITY boss Roberto Mancini believes he deserves some respect for the job he has done.
The Italian’s position has come under scrutiny in recent weeks, with reports linking ex-Barcelona coach Pep Guardiola to his job.
And it does not get any easier for Mancini, with City’s Champions League hopes on the line at home to Ajax tonight.
They then tackle Tottenham on Sunday as they bid to keep their unbeaten league start intact.
But former Inter Milan boss Mancini insists he is not worried about the reaction from City’s Abu Dhabi owners if they fail.
He points to the three trophies he has already put in the cabinet in less than three years in charge — and is sure there will be more to come.
Mancini bristled when he was asked about links with other clubs and said: “My work is here. I’ve worked for two years and built this team with the chairman and owner.
“We’ve won three trophies in two years. For 35 years we didn’t win anything.
“I don’t understand why you continue to ask me this — why?
“Every year I can have two or three new situations where I can go, but I want to stay here.
“I decided to remain at this club because I’ve worked for three years and worked hard.
“In the future it will be easy because when you have a new team, the hardest work is in the first two years when you’re building a new team.
“I think you should have respect for me. I don’t understand why every time we’re talking about this.”
Mancini also believes this season is far from a write-off — even if City do crash out of the Champions League tonight.
He has been hit by injury problems — only 14 outfield players trained yesterday — while his strikers are not finding the net as regularly this term.
But Mancini added: “We have the same team. In the first couple of months we had seven or eight injured.
“Last year, at this stage in the league, we had scored 36 goals and now we have scored 18 — but we are still only two points behind Manchester United.
“After 10 games I don’t think we have a big problem and now we play this important game against Ajax. We will do everything to win.”
Mancini insists it will be no disgrace if City do not make it to the knockout stages for a second successive year.
To have any chance of qualifying they will need to beat Ajax and Real Madrid at home then go to Borussia Dortmund and take three points in early December.
He added: “Every year in the Champions League there are Real, Barca, Bayern Munich, Milan, Dortmund, Chelsea and United — they all have more experience than us.
“We probably need to work more for this, but sometimes you also need to be lucky with the draw. You have more chance if you have a softer group.
“In these six games we’ll get more experience so maybe we still have a chance of getting to the February stage.
“This season we’re in another tough group with Dortmund, Real and Ajax and have had to work hard. It is possible you can go out.”
City midfielder Gareth Barry admits the Premier League champions have been “found out” to some extent on the biggest stage of all.
He said: “We are finding it tough to put our finger on exactly why it has been tough.
“It is clear we’ve not produced our best against the quality of opposition in the Champions League.
“My reason is that we have not performed to the best of our abilities and we have been found out.”
Mancini said at the weekend his squad was not equipped to go all the way and win the Champions League.
But Barry says there is still a belief City can still make an impact in the competition this term.
He added: “We are going into this game believing we can win — and that we can win the Champions League.
“The manager has experience of winning things, so you have to listen to what he says.
“After the Ajax game, he still gave us the belief that if we win the three games, we can go through.
“As players we believe in that, too. While it is still possible to qualify, that is our aim — starting against Ajax.
“As a group of players we have not been together year after year after year, whereas other clubs have.
“This group of players have been together for two years and maybe you can look into that a bit.
“But we are certainly not using that as the main excuse.”
