please log in to view this image please log in to view this image Manchester City boss Roberto Mancini says Carlos Tevez can play a crucial part in their Premier League title pursuit after six months out. Tevez has been a virtual outcast since he allegedly refused to play in the Champions League loss at Bayern Munich. But he set up Samir Nasri's winner in the 2-1 win over Chelsea to reduce Manchester United's lead to a point. "In 10 days or two weeks Carlos will be fitter and in better form and it will be important for us," said Mancini. "He is maybe not 100% but he knows football and it was an important, incredible assist for Samir's goal. "When he plays he knows where he should take the ball. He is an important player but he maybe needs another two or three weeks. "I spoke to Carlos after the game and he was happy, like the other players, but I have been speaking to him every day for the last month and it is normal." The Argentine came on as a substitute after Gary Cahill's deflected shot put Chelsea ahead, superbly creating Nasri's winner five minutes from time after Sergio Aguero had equalised from the penalty spot. And Mancini believes City's show of character in making the comeback could also be vital in the title run-in "We had the desire and we wanted to win," the Italian manager told BBC Sport. "The guys were fantastic because they wanted to win until the last second. "Tonight we took three points but not only three points, more than three points. "It was an really important goal for us. I think that after tonight something changed inside us. "We have nine games to go and we have a very difficult game on Saturday against Stoke, but this game might not only be important for the three points but for what happens after this victory." Mancini removed Mario Balotelli at half-time, replacing him with Gareth Barry, and was blunt about the reasons behind the decision, explaining: "I did not like how he played. It was a tactical substitution." Post match video from RM & SN here - http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/17463880
Father Jack Can I still put a cross thread Citeh v Stok (pre match) for Saturday's game on here? Still on topic, do you think Tevez might start the Stoke game! Best of luck AFTER Saturday of course.
The thing is that tevez was yoru star man last year. To lose him whilst not adding THAT much in the summer has hurt you. The title would be yours if you had tevez. He is sooooo far ahead of ballo and edin who are both average compared to tevez
Like I've said in other threads we may as well make use of him, let him help us win some games and at the same time his transfer value may go up so we can get more for him in the summer. Everybody wins.
I have just said exactly that in another thread we have missed Tevez badly and if he and Aguero had played together all season we would be in a far better position than we are now, Balotelli is beginning to piss me off with his lack of effort and sulks and Dzeko has proved several times lately he is not up to the job.
Cross board threads have been put on hold while Mick sorts out the moderation problems, feel free to start one on your forum and put a link to it here.
You obviously didn't see the effort he put in in his first game back for us last week and the through ball he played to Nasri for the winning goal, feel free to reply when you know what you are talking about.
You've been on the DRINK! Jack.A nice through ball I'll grant you,yes I watched the game.But I can't help feeling that he has destabilised your team.What other explanation for your loss of form at such a crucial point? Jumping Jack Balotelli?
[video=youtube;RFLp85Lwx5o]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RFLp85Lwx5o[/video] Does Paddy need to refresh himself on the meaning of the word 'desperate' ?
If you watched the game you would have to agree we played better from the moment he came on and will continue to do so a the season and his fitness progresses. The loss of form is down to a few things, some shocking decisions by RM, Yaya and Colo leaving to play in the African Cup of Nations did us no favours, Dzeko and Balotelli have been awful, Silva seems to be going through a bad spell and we miss Kompany at the back, having said that the defence did well against Stoke and no one could have defended Crouches brilliant strike. I feel if Tevez had not have gone golfing and had played as well as he did last season we would be several points clear of United instead of where we are today.
