‘You can never lose games like today if you want to become a strong team’ – Roberto Mancini unhappy with defeat at Everton

Roberto Mancini – Manchester City (Getty Images)

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Roberto Mancini believes Manchester City are not ready to be called a top team after succumbing to a 2-1 defeat at Everton, despite outplaying their opponents for the first hour of the game.

The Italian was upset by his team’s display in the second half which led to their eventual loss and the result now means that Tottenham can close the gap on them in the chase for fourth place, should they beat Blackpool at White Hart Lane in the evening kick-off.

“We need to improve on our situation. You can never lose games like today if you want to become a strong team,” he told reporters.

“It was close, we had good chances to score in the second half through Yaya Toure and Edin Dzeko. It’s not important to score the goals but that the team win the game.”

Everton equalised through Sylvain Distin early in the second half and Mancini was disappointed that his team were unable to deal with what he perceived to be Everton’s long-ball tactics.

“Everton is a strong team. When they put Tim Cahill and Jermaine Beckford on, we stayed too deep for about 10/15 minutes and they hit long ball after long ball and conceded too much space in the box,” he added.

“We conceded two goals but we played very well.”