Hardline Mancini in Christmas crackdown at Manchester City
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Hardline manager Roberto Mancini in Christmas crackdown at Manchester City
Unveiling: Roberto Mancini, chief executive Garry Cook and Brian Kidd
Roberto Mancini has imposed a strict disciplinarian regime at Manchester City with some players fearful of burnout after being ordered to do nine hours of training in the new manager’s first two days in charge.
The Italian has wasted no time putting his players through their paces, effectively cancelling Christmas as he works frantically on tactics before his first game in charge at home to Stoke City in the Barclays Premier League on Boxing Day.
City’s players did double sessions totalling 4½ hours on Monday and again yesterday as Mancini took a close look at the squad he has inherited from Mark Hughes, who was sacked on Saturday night after 18 months at the club.
They will undergo intensive training again today and tomorrow with a less gruelling session on Christmas Day. The players will then report to the team hotel in Manchester at 8pm later that day.
Given the tight schedule of matches over the festive period, clubs often prefer light training sessions of one to two hours a day. It is also common for clubs playing at home on Boxing Day to allow players to spend Christmas Day evening with their families — rather than stay at the team hotel — after morning training.
The City squad appreciate that Mancini has little time to impose his ideas. His determination to get straight to work has been viewed as an encouraging sign, but some players are understood to be concerned that such rigorous training sessions may be counter-productive before two games in three days.
After Stoke, City play Wolverhampton Wanderers at Molineux on Monday and face a total of six matches in 25 days, including the two-legged Carling Cup semi-final against Manchester United.
Another problem is that, with none of Hughes’s close-knit backroom staff still at the club, the briefings Mancini has been given on players are not as detailed or extensive as Mark Bowen, Eddie Niedzwiecki or Kevin Hitchcock would have been able to deliver.
Brian Marwood, the football administrator and former Arsenal and England midfield player, can be consulted, but Brian Kidd, the Italian’s assistant, joined City only 2½ months ago and was on the periphery of the first team.
Some players who had significant roles to play under Hughes were thought to have been reduced to the fringes on Monday as the former Inter Milan coach worked on specific systems, raising concerns that he might have preconceived ideas about how and who he wanted to play.
There is an acceptance, though, that Mancini’s overriding concern at this moment is to ensure that City beat Stoke and Wolves and that the time to assess the strengths and weaknesses of the squad will come later.
City’s players were asked to report at 8.45am yesterday and are understood to have trained from around 10am to 12.30pm and again from 2pm to 4pm. They must report at 10.30am on Christmas Day for a 1½-hour training session.
There has been speculation that those players who were supportive of Hughes are considering their futures, but most are prepared to give Mancini the benefit of the doubt.
Craig Bellamy threatened to quit in the wake of Hughes’s sacking after the 4-3 win at home to Sunderland, but while he is thought to have softened his stance, it is unclear what the future holds for him.
The Wales forward’s dismay at the treatment of Hughes is offset by the realisation that his career may not be better served by a move, and that City are still likely to represent his best chance of a trophy.