Mancini relieved at end of Tevez saga

Manchester City manager Roberto Mancini admits he is relieved to see Carlos Tevez end his attempts to force his way out of Eastlands.

The Argentina striker handed in a transfer request, which was immediately rejected by the club, a fortnight ago and once the issue became public, it dominated the agenda at Eastlands all last week.

But just hours before City’s 2-1 defeat to Everton on Monday, which saw them miss the opportunity to top the table at Christmas for the first time in 81 years, the club announced that Tevez was staying.

Despite seeing his team’s seven-game unbeaten run brought to an end, Mancini is hopeful that bringing to an end the Tevez distraction can only benefit his team, although he would not discuss the talks that took place with the player on Monday.

He said: “It’s important news, the only good news this evening. It was very important for everyone, the squad, the club, for him.

“It’s important that we finish having to talk about this situation. We’re happy for this.

“I think (the reasons for Tevez’s U-turn) are not important. It’s important that the situation was clear in this moment and everything went in a good way, that’s important.”

Mancini’s team have earned a reputation for being rugged defensively but the Italian believes his team can only challenge for the title if they improve at the back. He was angry with his side’s defending against Everton and added:

“We are frustrated because we had a big chance to go top after 18 games.

“It was a fantastic thing but now we must restart the season.

“We have to understand that we can’t sleep when we play this game. Then maybe we can go to the top in the future.”