Roberto Mancini: Sunderland Draw Caps off Dismal Month for Italian

Roberto Mancini's home after City's dramatic draw at home to Sunderland must've been reminiscent of a 70's Italian drama scene, with the 47-year-old venting out his frustration after a month that might potentially derail Man City's title challenge. Pizza slices, Italian cigar butts (only the best for Signor Mancini) and empty Marche (Mancini's home region) wine bottles must've lined the Citizens' manager's living room floor as Match of the Day played in the background of his plasma screen TV.

"Mamma Mia," sighed the Italian as a multitude of missed calls and texts from Sheikh Mansour, Mario Balotelli and Carlos Tevez flashed up on his bright blue Motorola phone. 

Flash back a month ago, and Man City were on the back of a successful 2-0 win over Bolton. The win had put the club five points ahead of Man United, who were looking to be stumbling at the time. Mancini, brimming with confidence, had the comfort of a squad in top form and had gotten the club's dissenter, grouchy but lethal Carlos Tevez, returning from his indefinite hiatus. The win at Eastlands had also equalled a record for 19 consecutive home wins, and Balotelli, in top form, had scored his 14th goal of the season. Yep, Man United had no chance with a team like this. 

Then, the tide changed. First came the Europa Cup, with a strong Man City knocked out unexpectedly by Portuguese minnows Lisbon on goal-difference. Although rivals United were also knocked out, the inability for Mancini's million dollar men to win a competition against "mediocre" European opposition dealt a tough blow to the club's Premier League challenge, and a disappointing defeat to newly-promoted Swansea had transpired between the Europa matches (though Brendan Rogers' team do merit credit). 

Being the manager of a team full of clashing egos, as well as the humble wise Italian that he is, Mancini took the heat for the club's failings in Lisbon. 

"I am the manager," he explained.

"It is not the players fault, it is my fault. I made mistakes – the players did everything on the pitch so I'm very proud."

Proud. I don't think the same could've been said of Sheikh Mansour, watching Mancini falter from his palace of infinite oil-paid gold in Abu Dhabi. The injury list began to pile up for the Blues, with captain and defensive powerhouse Kompany, his faulty but never-the-less solid partner Lescott, aging Barry as well as less-important Zabaleta all out injured. But not as if that mattered for City, who went on to beat Chelsea, with a cameo appearance by Carlos Tevez helping the Blues onto a rather a vital win. Things looked OK again for now. 

But as one problem with a striker looked to be solved, another ensued. Mario Balotelli continued to be a cause of tension in the City dressing room, with Mancini already on edge after Balotelli had broken club curfew before the club's victory against Bolton. Visibly angry at the Italian, Mancini was more or less forced to play Balotelli, for the striker was the club's most in-form striker.

Then suddenly, even more pressure loomed over Mancini's head. Sparked by comments by Patrick Viera, a psychological battle with Manchester United had been ignited. Reluctant to get involved in a war of words with the infamous Sir Alex, Mancini refused to speak out against Viera's claims of United being "weak" by recalling veteran Paul Scholes, evoking cries of weakness by many United and City supporters.

A disappointing draw against mid-table Stoke left Mancini even more frustrated, and as a result, the Italian drew in further controversy after he refused to shake Tony Pulis' hand post-match, branding Stoke as "too physical," exclaiming that he was "not happy" with the Potter's display. Visibly unhappy, Mancini sulked, and assistant manager David Platt was sent to do the post-match interview instead.

"It's not a case of Robbie being too angry to talk, but he's not happy at the moment and needs time to calm down," said Platt.

But always resilient and endeavoring, Mancini held his head up high as he entered into the last week of March, and in a fashion that had been a trademark of Man City's month, almost everything went wrong. First came United, and following a lucky win against resilient Fulham, where referee Michael Oliver failed to reward the Cottagers an obvious penalty, the Red Devils retook the lead at the top of the Premiership. United were now title favorites.

Further controversy arose again at the hands of Viera as the Frenchman made further claims that United were getting "preferential treatment" by referees. Violence surely erupted throughout Manchester. Mancini, already annoyed by recent events, later exploded on the training ground with Balotelli after the Italian flew to Italy to congratulate the new Inter coach at his press conference.

Balotelli was forced to train away from the main City squad, but this decision was probably revoked as news that Aguero would be out injured for "a couple weeks" surfaced, leaving Balotelli as the club's only in-form striker. Further adding to the Italian's stress was the fact that Aguero's injury was a result of a "mistake" by City's medical staff.

"Stupid, stupid injury," exclaimed a frustrated Mancini.

Oh dear, and then came Saturday. After just 90 minutes, all of City's problems unravelled further. Under the already intense pressure of a title race, City struggled against an excited Sunderland squad. The team were uncharacteristically unimaginative and soon fell behind 3-1 down. Balotelli, whom Mancini admitted that he "couldn't trust," was the team's only real spark, and as he led the frontline away from the spotlight of Aguero, Balotelli argued with his teammates, exposing a visibly fractured City side.

Naturally, but with the element of luck, Balotelli and Co. would go on to salvage a draw for an emotionally and physically exhausted City side, courtesy of a controversial penalty scored by yours truly and an absolute cracker of a goal from Kolarov. 

Exhausted, Mancini vented his anger on Balotelli despite the Italian scoring two of City's three goals.

“I only had Carlos Tevez on the bench but I thought about subbing Mario after five minutes,” said Mancini. “He didn’t play well. In a game like this, your strikers need to do something different, not just play for the last two or three minutes."

He later added how much the club missed Aguero in such a game, which won't help his relationship with Mario one bit considering the Italian had scored two goals. 

City now lie at the risk of United going five points in front, meaning that even if City do defeat United in the inevitable Manchester derby, Sir Alex Ferguson's men can still easily win the title, especially considering that they have the easier run in, playing only bottom-six opponents in their next four matches. 

Mancini looked exhausted even during the match, as he sat alone on the City bench watching his team put on a frustratingly dull performance. The 47-year-old has aged, understandably over the season; more so this month, however. Dreading that call from his rich, Emirati employers, Mancini put on a brave face in the post-match conference.

“I think after this maybe (City’s) confidence will go down, but only for this afternoon. United will probably draw on Monday, I don’t know why but they will, then we are only three points behind," he said optimistically.

But there was no hiding the dread in Mancini's mood as his tone changed one more suited to hopeless remorse, “It is hard but after Monday, we have another seven games.  We need United to make some mistakes in those last games. Maybe United will have difficult moments."

Maybe, Roberto, just maybe. But as Mancini finally lay down in his soft, fluffy Italian-made bed and drifted off into relaxed sleep with the sound of Pavarotti in the background, one thing is assured: He won't give up; not now. Mancini will need his rest; seven grueling games remain.