ENGLISH FA CUP SEMI-FINALS: Manchester City 1 Manchester Utd 0:punishment of having to treat the victors with complete seriousness in the years ahead. Such a fate is not certain yet and supporters of the losing team still have hope that Manchester City, without a major trophy for 35 years, will revert to absurdist tradition and lose the final to far less formidable opponents.

AS IF the loss of an FA Cup semi-final were not bad enough, Manchester United face the even greater Whatever else is said about the side, they do have, in Roberto Mancini, a manager with no time for frivolity. He required little prompting to identify the dangers of that final. Given the sums spent, the assumption lingers that City ought to be entertainers. That could happen ultimately but only after Mancini has made them secure and formidable.

At the moment they are by far the lowest scorers in the top four of the Premier League. They beat Alex Ferguson’s side but City’s winner required United’s collaboration. The clearance from Edwin van der Sar was weak and Michael Carrick then lost the ball to Yaya Toure. He strode into the area, getting away from Nemanja Vidic before angling home a finish. That moment would have led to quiet satisfaction as well as noisy joy for Mancini.

It was he who bought Toure from Barcelona and then went on to redefine his role. At Camp Nou, he was established as a holding player. Mancini has recast him as an attacking midfielder. At Wembley he put on all-round display that set him apart, even if there was much to admire in the work of David Silva and Adam Johnson.

Mancini may soon tolerate additional flair. “If we win the FA Cup,” he said, “then next season I think we can play for the title because we improve our mentality and we can improve our team.”

This is Mancini’s first full season yet the accusation of underachievement can be made at any moment because of the immense finances at his disposal. He himself sees a lack of consistency, pointing to the five goals conceded over the course of recent games with Chelsea and Liverpool.

On Saturday the efficiency was formidable. United had scored in each of their previous 10 matches, but they were denied at Wembley. They could blame themselves since Dimitar Berbatov was wasteful from close range early in the match and their ascendancy faded fast.

It would be absurd to belittle a team that leads the Premier League and eliminated Chelsea in the Champions League quarter-final, but there is a need to relocate the dynamism that went missing.

It was understandable that Ryan Giggs, 37, should have been rested but no one else could supply comparable influence. That other veteran, Paul Scholes, was no help since he launched one of his poorly judged tackles and was sent off in the 72nd minute after catching Pablo Zabaleta on a thigh.

United may have pined for the suspended Wayne Rooney but City had a disadvantage, too, since Carlos Tevez was sidelined by injury.

Tevez’s replacement, Mario Balotelli, did rather well but he is a turbulent 20-year-old and United’s experienced players should have known better than to react to his provocation at full-time. Rio Ferdinand temporarily ceased to be the thoughtful figure he is and resembled the sort of spoiled individual who is sure to be a bad loser. He and others, however, have opportunities to be happy and triumphant in the Premier League and Champions League.

City are short of that level, yet the potential is apparent. There is a case for scoffing that this is a modest return on vast investment, but Mancini likes to challenge the obsession with the club’s means.

“We didn’t buy Cristiano Ronaldo or (Lionel) Messi,” he said. “We bought young players, good players. All these players need to improve because they are playing their first year in the Premier League.”

Mancini was exaggerating since no one could think of Toure or the excellent Silva as novices, but the manager was entitled to his sense of new beginnings as he has achieved a semi-final victory.

It would be pleasing to see a City with far more verve but the Italian is at least clear in his policy and the centre-half Vincent Kompany was crucial as the side concentrated on containing United.

Guardian Service