Despite create a lot of chances in the first half the visitors could not break the deadlock, but Joleon Lescott popped up with the winning goal on the hour mark for Mancini’s men.

The Italian coach hails his team’s efforts in what he felt was a difficult fixture.

“This evening it was a difficult game. We knew this before the game and I think the guys played fantastic football,” he told Sky Sports in the aftermath of the victory.

“It is normal [to be patient] because we had a lot of chances to score first half, second half and it was a difficult game as all teams defend very well and we had to be patient.

I think Joleon played a fantastic game, but not only Joleon or Gareth Barry; I think first half we played fantastic football and we were missing only a goal.

“Second half we scored one goal, but we have other chances and all the players played very well,” he praised.

Joe Hart kept the visitors in contention with an excellent display, and Mancini feels the England stopper can become one of the world’s best.

” I don’t think he is ne of the best in the world because he is young and there are other keepers with more experience.

“I think he is one of the best, but he needs to improve because he is young. He has many years in front [of him], but he could become one of the top keepers,” the tactician concluded.

The win puts City back on top spot, two points clear of cross-town rivals Manchester United.

By Gareth McKnight

It is a mystery at how much players are built up before they have even kicked a ball in the Premier League and here is a look at the top ten footballing mysteries that have occurred in the Premier League over the past 20 years.

Click on Mido to unveil the top 10 football mysteries

The Premier League has always been a mixed bag of players and I always welcome witnessing a mismatch on the field whether it is Ramon Vega looking to mark Dennis Bergkamp; Tony Hibbert attempting to shackle Cristiano Ronaldo, or simply Gregorsz Rasiak attempting to take on any Premier League defence; the bad will always play a major part in adding to the excitement of the league.

This current Premier League season has been no different and this is the FIRST PART in my look of  who I consider to be arguably the worst players plying their trade at present:

Click on Stefan Savic to unveil the top 10

The players now call the shots at football clubs and are controlling the contract situations, while parasite agents tout their client out from club to club in order to get a new club or bigger deal. I’m sure this wasn’t Bosman’s intention when he first set out in the courts to fight his right to freedom, but the subsequent change in EU Law has created the beast we are not witnessing now.

A staggering 109 players who were registered for Premier League football are out of contract at the end of this season resulting in many clubs looking to either move them on in the summer or risk making a loss in May. There will be plenty of chances to earn a new contract for the future Bosman players, but having now let their contracts run down to just over six months remaining, perhaps the clubs are eager to get rid of them.

The list of out-of-contract players is not just packed with squad players and bit-part first team members, but star internationals that have brought a lot to the Premier League in the past five years or so.

At the end of last season there was not a huge rush to snap up free signings from the Premier League as there was very little to choose from. Hargreaves, Ba and McFadden were about as glamorous as it got last May but this year a team could be built solely from free signings that could well finish in the top half of the league. A club could spend their whole transfer budget on wages for these players and have a better side than most in the Premier League next season.

Click on Tomas Rosicky to unveil the Bosman XI for 2012

Elsewhere in the news Mancini set to hand Carlos Tevez a lifeline; Bernstein claims the England job is an attractive position, while the HMRC are determined to clean up the game and expose the murky financial side within football.

Sir Alex Ferguson has caused Luis Suarez a disgrace and believes his actions prior to the game at Old Trafford could have incited a riot – Guardian

FA Chairman David Bernstein has claimed that the England job is an attractive proposal and that ‘serious’ managers will be keen to take up the opportunity if it was presented to them – Guardian

Roberto Mancini has suggested that Carlos Tevez still has a role to play at the Etihad Stadium and could feature for City between now and the end of the season – Guardian

The HMRC will not be deterred in their quest to clean the game up and exposed the murky financial side within football – Independent

Roy Hodgson remained coy over his own personal ambitions to take over the England national job – Independent

Kenny Dalglish has implied that media scrutiny has played its part in the ongoing tensions between the two football clubs – Sky Sports

Wayne Rooney has thrown his hat in the ring for the vacant England Captaincy. The United striker will welcome the opportunity and believes he will thrive on it – Daily Mail

Andre Villas-Boas bemoaned Chelsea’s defeat and claimed it was arguably their worst performance of the season – Daily Mail

Tottenham will line up move for Jurgen Klinsmann to replace Harry Redknapp, should he wish to take the reins of England – Mirror

Nicolas Gaitan has put both Manchester clubs on alert by suggesting that he may be leaving Benfica at the end of the season – Metro

Everton have joined Liverpool in the transfer race for Anderlecht striker Dieumerci Mbokani – Metro

Aston Villa boss Alex McLeish has revealed that he has funds for a big signing, amid reports that the Scot has been told to tighten the belt of the club coffers – Mirror

So whether it’s team mates coming to blows, the paparazzi snapping players boozing it up or just stupid and bizarre actions, they make it onto the list. What didn’t make it was the England WAGS from the 2006 World Cup, they reportedly distracted the players during the tournament and although it wasn’t the players misbehaving themselves, they nearly made it into the top ten. Also, quite a few people recommended Cristiano Ronaldo photographed in speedo’s as a criminal activity, but again it failed to make the ten below…..

Click on Gazza below to see the Top TEN!

Compiled by Matt Freebody

Kenny Dalglish excused the treatment of Evra as fine – after all, he was regularly booed as a player, so what’s the difference?

Really it’s about time managers stopped the siege mentality and stopped defending their club’s every action. By defending the club this usually means the players’ actions and the fans’ actions. It seems obvious they won’t criticise the owners- that wouldn’t be a good career move, as Alex Ferguson knows well enough.

When considering  examples of when defending your club goes too far, Dalglish’s conduct over Suarez is  an obvious choice.

Despite Liverpool’s anger over proceedings, surely everyone realised it was time to move on once Suarez returned to action. But not Dalglish, who had to mention the injustice of it all once more in a press conference. The problem with Dalglish is that he is a fan of the club he manages – it runs through his blood, and which of us is happy with criticising the actions of our club when the club is under attack? No, we adopt a siege mentality, and back our team to the hilt.

It seems clear that managers are loath to criticise fans, whatever they do. Even Steve Kean can’t bring himself to do it much. Fans could throw bags of faeces onto the pitch and the manager would probably claim it was a protest at national toilet facilities. Burn down the souvenir store? That’s a term of endearment in Dundee. Now it seems that just being related to the alleged victim of a racial insult is now a crime, and thus appropriate for a “lively” reception from opposition fans. Needless to say, Andre Villas-Boas passed off Rio Ferdinand‘s treatment as normal.

Villas-Boas said: “You don’t expect opposing fans to cheer your players.” He added: “This is a normal situation in the Premier League.” To be fair to Villas-Boas though he did admit such actions were wrong, which was good to hear.
“You have to condemn it when there is discriminatory, aggressive behaviour.”

Managers are loathe to criticise their players either, not surprising considering what delicate souls they tend to be. Hence, managers will regularly critics the actions of opposition players whilst defending identical actions of their own (if they saw it), no doubt adding that the other team’s player was looking for it, and got his player sent off.

Managers rely on the support of the fans of course, so won’t be keen to get on their wrong side. But do they not realise that they may gain more respect from many of their fans of they were honest? Plenty of Chelsea fans would have been disappointed by the booing of Rio Ferdinand, in the same way that many Liverpool fans found the booing of Evra distasteful. Wouldn’t they appreciate their manager saying so?

Part of the problem is, as we saw with Suarez, is that the fans’ behaviour is often shaped by the actions of their club’s hierarchy. This may only make matters worse. And with the modern phenomena of social media, fans have a gateway to the players, to continue their odious behaviour. Thus only yesterday, Manchester City‘s Micah Richards deleted his Twitter account, having finally had enough of racial abuse on the social network. This is a problem that clearly hasn’t gone away as we had hoped. Away from the experiences of Richards and back to Suarez (who it must be reiterated was never accused of being racist), I accept that Liverpool football club and their fans could not accept a ban based not on proof but merely probability, and that they feel aggrieved, and I realise they cannot predict the consequence of all of their actions, but they should realise that keeping the issue bubbling under the surface is only making matters worse, and brings the worst out in a minority of fans. Sometimes you have to accept your fate, and move on.

And as Manchester United and Liverpool go into battle once more, another problem is that of obscene chants, which also begs the question – could clubs do more? If managers spoke out about Munich, Hillsborough or various other songs, could it make a difference? I know clubs have made moves behind the scenes to try and improve matters, but could a more up-front policy bear dividends? Or would they continue nevertheless?

Of course when it comes to criticising their own, not all managers bite their lip. As the pressure tells on Arsene Wenger, he has turned recently on some of the most vociferous fans. The likes of Mick McCarthy too have criticised supporters. I’m all for it. Us fans are generally idiots, happy to dole it out before acting shocked should we get it back, be it off a player or a manager with nothing to lose. But lose the suppor tof the fans, and your days as a manager are numbered. It’s no wonder most managers keep their thoughts to themselves. They’d probably have plenty to say if they could.

As a nation, we think ourselves superior to much of the world in many respects – a progressive, multicultural, well-mannered country that shakes its head and expresses horror at the action of fans and clubs in other countries, where for example the incidents of racism are as common as a swallow dive in the penalty area. Recent events show we aren’t there yet – we still have our problems, be it racism, common abuse, or just acting with decorum and in the right way. Those that represent our clubs have got a duty to help stop those that act appallingly, and occasionally that must involve criticising your own. We’d all be better off for it.

But then comes that controversial, ugly side of football; like a late, late substitution by the opposition you hoped wouldn’t make an appearance, but diving is all too common and certainly takes away from the integrity of the game. In fact, the very mention of integrity in the modern game has become laughable, but that is the situation we’ve come to accept.

Far too many regular divers and conmen line-up for Premer League clubs each week. And it’s not necessarily the fact that you want to get rid of them as players, but rather highlight and eradicate the persistent diving to win one over on the other team. Common, ugly, and with no rightful place in the game.

Click on Didier Drogba to unveil the top 10

A – is for AC Milan. Appeared on TV whilst in the employment of bitter rivals Inter wearing an AC shirt.

B – is for Bibotelli. We’ve all seen the video of him failing to put on his bib during a pre-match warm up. Twice.

C – is for Christmas Eve. Went into the Tudor Pub in Manchester and put £1000 behind the bar for the locals to enjoy. He then turned up to midnight mass and stuck another £250 in the donations pot.

D – is for Darts. And especially throwing them at youth team players. It was his idea of a ‘prank.’

E – is for Exaggeration. There are so many rumours flying around about Balotelli that you could literally make up anything. It has been suggested the Italian employs an agent to spread such information to get good publicity. The latest to do the rounds was that Mario paid for 100 homeless people to stay at the Hilton over Christmas.

F – is for Fireworks. Has a fondness for the flashy sticks of explosive. Especially when they’re let off in his bathroom.

G – is for Grass. Suffered an apparent allergic reaction during a match against Dynamo Kiev.

H – is for Homeless. Won a shedload in a casino during a night out with Chris Samba, only to give a tramp outside a cool grand.

I – is for Impoundings. His Maserati has currently attracted 27 impoundings since his move to Manchester that has resulted in fines of £10,000. Also parked across City’s training ground entrance and blocked out the staff.

J – is for John Lewis. Needed to buy an iron, mop and hoover for his Mum. Came back with a giant trampoline, Scalextric, two Vespa scooters amongst other things.

K – is for Killing Time. When selected as a substitute for Italy’s game against the Faroe Islands, Balotelli decided to pass the time by playing his iPad on the bench. Italian boss Cesare Prandelli was reportedly not impressed.

L – is for Ladotelli. Apparently visits clubs with friends and gets said friends to say to the girls, ‘Balotelli will see you now.’

M – is for Mafia. Was once given a tour of Naples by Mafia bosses. Questioned after by police for apparent links. Mario claims not to have known they were gangsters.

N – is for National Shirt. Mario turned out for Italy in a friendly against Uruguay but appeared for the second half wearing the old Italian shirt despite sporting the new kit in the first half. He doesn’t have much luck with tops.

O – is for Over Confidence. The one downside to Balotelli. He rather loves himself, something that comes across in a rather arrogant manner as displayed by his pre-season backheel against LA Galaxy.

P – is for Prison. Him and brother Enoch were stopped after trespassing in a Women’s Prison in Brescia. Mario said he was ‘curious.’

Q – is for Quad Bike. Designed his own racing track for his back garden.

R – is for Rooney. Spotted the prostitute Mr Rooney once had his way with in an Italian restaurant where he proceeded to chant ‘Rooney, Rooney’ at her.

S – is for Swearing. After City’s FA Cup victory, Balotelli said live on air to the BBC ‘I’ve been s**t this season. Can I say that?’ No Mario, no you can’t.

T – is for Truancy. When a young admirer asked for an autograph, Balotelli questioned why he wasn’t in school. Upon hearing the young lad was the victim of bullying, he promptly drive to the school and resolved the issue with the Head Teacher.

U – is for Unbelievably Rich. Balotelli was stopped by police in Manchester with £25,000 on his passenger seat. His reasoning? ‘Because I can.’

V – is for Violence. Balotelli is often known as a hot head on the field, but clashes with teammates have been frequent since his move from Inter. Had a recent dust up with Micah Richards, not to mention previous scraps with Jerome Boateng, Vincent Kompany and Aleksandar Kolarov.

W – is for Why Always Me. The infamous T-Shirt celebration after scoring against rivals Man Utd.

X – is for X Rated Magazines. Mario was once rumbled flicking through the saucy stuff on the top shelf of a newsagents.

Y – is for Young Player. Mario was at his humblest when accepting the award for Best Young Player in Europe. When asked about runner up Jack Wilshere, he replied:“What’s his name? Wil … ? No, I don’t know him, but the next time I play against Arsenal I will keep a close eye on him…Perhaps I can show him the Golden Boy trophy and remind him that I won it.”

Z – is for Zealous. After City’s astonishing 6-1 win over rivals United in which Balotelli played a key part, the striker drove round Manchester high-fiving anyone he saw sporting a City shirt, being the excitable young character he is.

Read more of my articles at The CoinToss

Elsewhere in the news Sir Alex Ferguson questions why Liverpool did not appeal the Suarez ban; Arsene Wenger hits out at the rumours regarding Van Persie, while Andre Villas-Boas believes that referees should be made to pay for their errors.

Harry Redknapp claims he is unfazed with the aggro the England job brings with it. The Tottenham manager is the favourite to take the job from Fabio Capello and is fully aware of what the job entails – Guardian

Sir Alex Ferguson has questioned why Liverpool didn’t look to appeal Luis Suarez’s ban if they believed he was innocent of the charges – Guardian

Thierry Henry will return to New York next week after Arsenal failed to extend his loan period at the football club – Guardian

Andre Villas-Boas believes that referees should be made to pay for their errors during games. The Chelsea boss was speaking in light of Howard Webb’s dubious penalty at Stamford Bridge that allowed United back into the contest – Daily Telegraph

Kenny Dalglish believes that the FA should look to Sir Alex Ferguson to take over the reins of the England job vacated by Fabio Capello – Daily Telegraph

Arsene Wenger has hit out of stories coming out of Spain that Real Madrid are preparing a bid for Robin van Persie. The Arsenal boss says the Spanish press like to invent stories and this is another one of those made up ones – Independent

Micah Richards has closed down his twitter account after suffering racist abuse from rival supporters – Daily Mail

Tottenham and Arsenal are set for a transfer battle for the services of Ajax defender, Jan Vertonghen – Metro

Martin O’Neill has revealed that he doesn’t see eye to eye with his opposite number at the Stadium of Light this afternoon. The Sunderland boss says that Wenger has never taken up an offer of a post match drink and isn’t expecting that to change today - Sun