Manchester City v Liverpool:ROBERTO MANCINI has described the red card that will banish Vincent Kompany from Manchester City's next four matches, and leave them relying on the inexperienced Stefan Savic throughout the rest of January, as the worst decision he has encountered in 30 years in football.
The English Football Association’s decision to reject City’s appeal means Kompany’s suspension, having been sent off twice this season, begins with the first leg of the League Cup semi-final against Liverpool tonight, when the home side may also be without David Silva.
Mancini’s press conference, shortly before the FA announced its verdict, was noticeable for his complete refusal to entertain the idea of the referee Chris Foy’s decision, 12 minutes into Sunday’s FA Cup defeat against Manchester United, being upheld. “In 30 years I have never seen a sending off for a tackle like this,” he said. “I can’t understand it. Vinnie took the ball; he did nothing.
“I also watched one game last week when three or four players did tackles worse than Vinnie’s and with the same referee, and he did nothing, no yellow card – nothing.”
In truth, Kompany’s chances of a reprieve were always remote on the basis that he left the floor with both feet as he challenged Nani, and modern-day referees will almost always construe that as reckless.
He will miss both legs of the Liverpool tie, as well as the league games against Wigan Athletic and Tottenham Hotspur, at a time when City are already missing Kolo Toure because of the African Cup of Nations.
One option is for Micah Richards to move across from the right side of defence to partner Joleon Lescott in the centre, with Pablo Zabaleta coming in at full-back, but the early indications are that Mancini will entrust Savic, the Montenegro international who turned 21 on Sunday and has been restricted to six starts since signing from Partizan Belgrade for €8.5 million last summer.
There are no plans to recall Dedryck Boyata from Bolton and City are trying to sell Nedum Onuoha.
Silva is struggling because of a long-standing ankle issue. Mario Balotelli and Edin Dzeko may both be involved after missing the United tie. However, the absence of Kompany is a considerable loss and, though Mancini initially claimed he had been joking when he said Wayne Rooney had made Foy’s decision for him, there was clear irritation in his voice as he reflected on the striker running to the referee to demand a red card.
“He did this [brandishing a card]. But it was not dangerous. If it had been dangerous Nani would have said something to the referee – and he said nothing.”
Mancini had also shown an imaginary card on the touchline after Martin Skrtel gave away a penalty in the 3-0 defeat of Liverpool at the Etihad Stadium last week.
“All the people say: ‘Apologise, apologise because in England we don’t do this’. So I apologised.
“But it felt normal for me because five minutes before there was a red card for Gareth Barry and it was for nothing. I don’t know. It is strange in England: the referees make incredible decisions sometimes. They send off players for nothing. This is strange, and I don’t understand.”
Mancini went on to say the League Cup was “not important”, speaking with a bluntness that may not appeal to the Football League or the competition sponsors.
However, he added: “We are in the semi-final and when you are there you want to win. It is another trophy and if we win this it is going to be important for the last three months of the season.”
Mancini also defended his call for further investment in his squad. “All the people think we have a lot of players,” said Mancini. “But we have 19, plus keepers. It is not a big squad.
“If we are unlucky and we have three or four players injured, like at this moment, we can have a problem. The club knows this.”
The spectre of Uefa’s Financial Fair Play regulations being invoked means Mancini may have to sell before he can bring anyone else in.
Yet the Italian claims there has, so far, been no movement on the potential departures of Onuoha and Wayne Bridge, who is likely to be on the radar of new QPR boss Mark Hughes. And, whilst Carlos Tevez is now being courted by Inter Milan as well as AC, at present there is no deal.
It all adds to Mancini’s sense of frustration, in a period he always felt would be pivotal to his side’s chances of landing some silverware.
“I said four weeks ago that December and January would be crucial months,” he said.
“Until three weeks ago we didn’t have any injuries. Now, we have a problem. We have players injured and others who went to the African Nations Cup at a crucial moment.
“I am not happy about this but we can’t do anything about it. If we don’t get the players back we will play with the young players.
“If we don’t have a central defender we will play with (Karim) Rekik.” Even with Kompany missing, Rekik will not be required to start.
Liverpool manager Kenny Dalglish is likely to revert to his strongest line-up.
Captain Steven Gerrard is in line to start having played 90 minutes in the FA Cup win over Oldham on Friday while Craig Bellamy could also be in contention for a place in the XI against his former side.
Dalglish also has to decide whether to recall Andy Carroll, who scored as a late substitute against the League One club.
Guardian Service
