Mancini confident over future

Posted Sunday, April 03, 2011 by PA

Roberto Mancini is not convinced he will be sacked by Manchester City if they fail to finish in the top four.

The Blues ambitious owners laid down a top-four spot as the target for this season, in addition to an end to the club's 35-year trophy drought.

Although there have been a number of setbacks along the way, City remain on course to achieve both objectives.

Mancini's men head into the weekend fixtures in fourth, four points ahead of Tottenham, who have a game in hand and are still to visit Eastlands in what looks like a crucial encounter on May 10.

In addition, City have a mouth-watering FA Cup semi-final with Manchester United at Wembley on April 16 ahead of them.

So, despite his enormous £150million outlay on new players, Mancini feels his contract will be honoured.

"It is very important that we reach our targets but I don't know whether my future is dependent on me finishing in the top four," he said. "I don't think so. I have a three-year contract.

"In any case, we don't want to finish fourth. We want to finish third."

That aspiration took a massive hit when City lost at Chelsea immediately before the international break.

Since then they have lost defensive duo Jerome Boateng and Micah Richards to injury, leaving Mancini in a quandary about who to select at right-back for Sunday's Eastlands showdown with Sunderland as normal choice, Pablo Zabaleta, is visiting his ill father in Argentina.

However, as City's Europa League exit to Dynamo Kiev leaves them to tackle only one game a week for the remainder of the season, Mancini views the current picture as being far healthier than the one his players were slogging through during the depths of winter.

"For two months we played every three days with 14 players," said Mancini. "That is very hard for every team, not just us."

Sunderland midfielder Boudewijn Zenden has warned his team-mates they will have underachieved if they do not secure a top-10 finish this season.

Just a few weeks ago the Black Cats were being considered genuine candidates for European qualification after spending much of the first half of the campaign in and around the top six.

However, their recent slump in form, coupled with the recoveries staged by the likes of Liverpool and Everton, have seen them slip to ninth.

Steve Bruce's men have taken just one point from their last six league games, a tough run which has seen them face Chelsea, Stoke, Tottenham, Everton, Arsenal and Liverpool.

But after the trip to Manchester City, they will end the campaign with seven fixtures against more modest opposition, on paper at least.

Zenden said: "It's all that tight that everything is possible. It's nice to be up there during the season, but we have always said it's more important to be there at the end of the season.

"If you look at a team like Everton, who were struggling at the beginning, and where they are now, even Liverpool for example, it definitely is important where you finish.

"If you have got eight games to go, you have got a lot to play for. But it is time to step up and start picking up the points.

"Obviously, you set your targets. Target one has always been finishing in the top 10 and, if you look at the team we have got, that's definitely something that we should achieve.

"If we don't we have underachieved because last week we only had five or six players left because everyone was gone with the internationals, and that means you have got quality in your squad.

"With that quality comes certain expectations, and one of those is definitely finishing in the top 10. That's what we should still aim for and start picking up the points."

Bruce's injury troubles are gradually receding and Fraizer Campbell and Michael Turner have both been added to the squad after lengthy absences.