Mancini refuses to concede title to United

Manchester City boss Roberto Mancini insists his team can still retain its Premier League title despite falling nine points behind Manchester United.

City was held 2-2 by Liverpool at the Etihad Stadium on Sunday, wasting the opportunity to reduce the deficit at the top of the table to seven points in the wake of United's 1-0 victory at Fulham 24.

Ultimately, after goals from Liverpool's Daniel Sturridge and Steven Gerrard, City, which had led through Edin Dzeko, required a spectacular individual effort from Sergio Aguero 12 minutes from time to collect a point.

But despite the mounting odds, Mancini remained defiant, citing last season when City won the league so memorably by recovering an eight-point disadvantage over the final six games.

"The championship is not over, absolutely not, because of last season and also two years ago," said Mancini. "Chelsea were nine points behind and they were only two points behind when they went to United in the final week.

"I don't think it is finished. There is room for mistakes. I think we probably need to win all of our games, but that can happen sometimes.

"I'm disappointed because we didn't play well. Liverpool played a better first half. Today we didn't play well. The last month we played well in all the games. Today we were so nervous, I don't know why.

"I think that, like last year, we recovered eight points in six games. I don't know why this cannot happen this year. The season is long, three months to go, and United have to play FA Cup and Champions League. We are confident."

Despite the fact Dzeko and Aguero both scored goals - the latter one of genius - Mancini was critical of his strike force.

"Very few players could have scored that," said Mancini of the equalizer.

"It was a fantastic goal. But Sergio and Edin should play better. Today we didn't play well."

City received some inadvertent good news on the day of the game, however, when it learned that it will soon be rejoined by influential midfield player Yaya Toure after his country, the Cote d'Ivoire, was knocked out of the African Cup of Nations at the quarterfinal stage by Nigeria.

(China Daily 02/05/2013 page24)