Roberto Mancini: The Man in Manchester

Roberto Mancini is quickly becoming the biggest man in Manchester after guiding his City team to a fourth consecutive victory.

When Mancini was appointed as the new manager of Man City after Mark Hughes' unceremonious sacking, there was an air of disappointment in Manchester.

Much of the Blue half of the city felt that the club management was being too harsh on Hughes, as they had not offered the Welshman enough time.

Hughes admitted he had no idea of the sack coming his way, and this further distanced the fans from the club.

So it would be appropriate to say that Mancini really found himself in a raging hot seat at the Eastlands as he took over.

There was no room for the Italian to err, as he knew the fans and the English media would eat him alive if he slipped.

Yet the man showed no signs of fear and four games on finds his team in the top four, six points away from their city rivals with a game in hand.

The Astute Tactician

The most obvious change at City since Mancini has arrived has been the vastly improved defensive department.

The same defense that had conceded nine times in Hughes' last three games has let in only one goal in their last four encounters.

It may be argued that the clean sheets were maintained against not the most prolific teams, but that shouldn't diminish the achievement in any way.

The other difference in Manchester has been the new opportunities being offered to all players.

Martin Petrov, Javier Garrido, and Benjani were almost frozen out of the squad by Hughes but have all won Mancini's favor.

Patrick Vieira's signing will only add to the competition for a first team place and should spur the players to continue impressing their manager.

City has suddenly started looking like genuine contenders on all fronts and not just an assembly of big names.

A Chance to Advance

A quick look at the fixture list will reveal that City do not tackle any of their major opposition until mid-February.

This will thus be a crucial time for the Sky Blues to advance further up in the standings as their rivals have a few tough games coming up.

Arsenal, who are four points above City, have a really tough set of games coming up from the end of this month.

This might prove crucial for Mancini's men to close the gap between themselves and the top three even further.

What makes the team's success sweeter is that things aren't quite as rosy on the other side of the city.

United's terrible run of form has seen them dumped out of the FA Cup and relinquish the chance to take over the lead in the league.

Sir Alex Ferguson has real problems on his hand with his rather long injury list and the loss of form of some of his stars.

All eyes in the country, and certainly those in Manchester, will now be fixated on the Jan. 19 league cup derby between City and United.

If Mancini, who has won several league cups in Italy before, can guide his team past United, he will surely become the bigger man in Manchester.