ROBERTO MANCINI says his “tough love” treatment of Adam Johnson is designed to turn him into one of the best wingers in the world.
Quote:
City manager Mancini believes he has a father-son relationship with Johnson – a lot of love but a few bust-ups along the way.
The latest came after Manchester City’s Carling Cup win at Molineux in midweek, when Johnson refused to board the team bus after taking exception to Mancini’s TV comments after the game.
Just when he thought he might receive a pat on the back from his manager after scoring one goal and making another in the 5-2 win, the ever-demanding Mancini came out with his usual “must improve” mantra.
Johnson and Mancini have since had clear-the-air talks and the player clearly took heed of his manager’s point.
After coming on as a substitute in the Premier League reunion with Wolves on Saturday, he had a hand in the second goal, scored the third and showed plenty of defensive responsibility after Vincent Kompany had been sent off. Mancini admits he is hard on the 24-year-old Johnson, who was his first buy after taking over as City manager in January 2010, but he says it is for the player’s own good.
“I love Adam but, yes, I am hard on him sometimes,” said father-of-three Mancini.
“It’s like with your children. If you love your children then sometimes you must be hard with them and Adam understands.
“Yes, we had words, but this is normal. I’m happy that he is upset. I’m happy because he can improve.
“If he wasn’t such a good player I wouldn’t waste my time saying what I say to him. I do it because he has everything and I don’t want him stopping at this level. I want him up a level and then a level more.
“For me, a player who has Adam’s quality should be at their best in every minute of every game. I don’t think he should be happy simply because he has scored a goal or made an assist. He has top qualities and should always be at a top level.
“Adam has some characteristics that are different from the other players and for this reason he could become one of the top wingers. In one-on-one situations, he is incredible, every time he gets the ball wide near the box we can score a goal or create a chance. If you have a top winger in your team then you can win a lot of games. But there’s so much more to come from him.
“He can improve every month, every week, every day. If he listens, he can become one of the top wingers in the game.
“I know Fabio Capello, the England manager, shares my opinion of him. We know he is an incredible player, but he should play well in every game, like David Silva.”
Johnson made an immediate impact when he came on, starting the move that led to Aleksandar Kolarov adding to Edin Dzeko’s opener and seemingly putting City in the comfort zone. But Kompany’s red card for pulling back Kevin Doyle and Stephen Hunt’s converted penalty gave spirited Wolves hope of an unlikely point before prodigal son Johnson finally killed them off in added time with a 25-yard shot.
His goal means City have made the best goal-scoring start by any club in a top-flight season for 117 years. They now have 36 from their first 10 games, one more than Everton managed from the first 10 fixtures in 1894-95.
Wolves gave City one of their toughest fights this season, but were undermined by mistakes by goalkeeper Wayne Hennessey for City’s first two goals and Roger Johnson for the third.
After taking only one point from the last 21 available, boss Mick McCarthy said: “People keep saying we are playing well, but I want us taking credit for getting a point or a victory, not for our performances.”
Watching the Wolves game, it was fairly apparent that Johno is listening to Mancini's advise. He was helping out defence far more than I've seen before although that might have been due to Kompany's red card.
Let's hope he starts to show more of that in other games aswell.
And "best goal-scoring start by any club in a top-flight season for 117 years..".
Login
Register
FAQ
Search
