Mancini slams Man City star players’ moaning over tactics gripes

London: Manchester City manager Roberto Mancini has blasted his grumbling star players for complaining over tactical changes during their 3-1 defeat to Ajax in the Champions League.

Mancini minced no words in slamming his players, especially defender Micah Richards, for raising question marks over his tactical changes during the European loss at Amsterdam, saying a good player can adjust in any system of play. Richards had admitted City’s players found it difficult after Mancini switched to three at the back when trailing in Amsterdam, but the Italian hit back and said if any of his players cannot adapt to different formations, they don’t deserve to be at the club. “If you’re a top player, it’s not important what system you use. If you don’t understand, you’re not a top player and you can’t play for a top team,” the Daily Mirror quoted Mancini, as saying. “I don’t want to speak about Micah, because I don’t think it’s important what he said after the game. He was only answering one question. But we work hard every day at tactical situations and all the players know the system,” he added. “When were 2-1 down to Ajax, we didn’t concede [again] because we changed the system - we conceded a third goal because of a stupid mistake in a one against one. When you are losing 2-1 away, the manager should do something from the bench,” he said. Mancini added: “We changed because Ajax were only playing with one striker. If you want to change the game, you have to change something on the pitch. So when we wanted to be more offensive, we had to leave only three defenders back.” Mancini’s men would face Swansea City on Saturday in a Premier League clash at the Etihad Stadium. ANI