Manchester City boss pleased with Emmanuel Adebayor's performance
Manchester City manager Roberto Mancini has declared himself pleased with the performance of Emmanuel Adebayor in the UEFA Europa League stalemate with Serie A side Juventus.
The match, held at Eastlands on Thursday night, ended 1-1 after Vincenzo Iaquinta’s early opener for the visitors was cancelled out by England winger Adam Johnson. However, it was Adebayor’s performance which came under scrutiny.
The Togolese forward has struggled to break into the first team this season, with club captain Carlos Tevez claiming the central striker’s berth for himself. However, former Arsenal forward Adebayor was named in the starting line-up for the clash with the
Italian giants, but failed to score.
Despite Adebayor’s poor performance, Mancini said he was pleased with the striker’s efforts and backed him to become a vital player for City as they push for glory in Europe and the English Premier League.
He told BBC Radio Five Live that: “Emmanuel will be very important. It was his first game after 20 days and I would like Emmanuel to score. For that we need him to score a goal but I’m happy with his performance.”
The manager added that he was content with the performance of his men in the second half, after a lacklustre opening period.
He said that: “We need to do better than we did in the first half, the first twenty minutes. After that I think we played good football I think maybe I think that sometimes we must move the football quicker than in the first half.”
Mancini also revealed that he was delighted with the contribution of Johnson, but admitted that the player has to improve his game.
He said that: “I think Adam is a good player, I think that he tries to improve always, when he must attack and when he must defend. Today he scored a good goal, I think that he did something good, but at the same time I think he can improve always.”
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