mancityblues.com

Nigel DeJong is now a respected premiership player, his is a voice worth listening to. In his latest interview it's clear that the Mancini touch has given the midfielder the confidence to publicly announce their designs on the title. Do we worry? are we afraid of failure? Not one single bit.

I freely admit that I wanted Mark Hughes to be given at least a season, but that's history now, as I've been proved wrong and those who assured us he'd be out by January were right.
I still half expect the wheels to come off any moment though, it's in my blood after all these years - how confident can we be of continued success?

Well first of all Mancini has suddenly found strength in depth, what's left of Sven's men have been given their reward of a second chance and have grabbed it, they are like new signings. That, coupled with Hughes' purchases during his tenure as manager and Mancini's obvious ability to get the best from a player means we have a squad of 22 and competition for places is strong. We are well placed in the league and in both cups and when our long-term injured come back and are joined by those on international duty we can effectively field two sides capable of winning. They work hard from the kick-off and all know their job and all give a full ninety minutes.

Under Mancini the players are given the confidence to play their game knowing that even a bare-bones defence have been well drilled and are supporting their efforts. Defending as a unit was one thing Hughes always identified as lacking, well, it's not under Mancini. Hughes complained that he needed to work on individual errors, but never did. Mancini has. He has instilled confidence in a team who were previously hampered by a fear of mistakes. there is a fine line between striking a ball with confidence and having a niggling doubt that you are doing the right thing. It's a psychological edge. Confidence brings luck and success follows.

I think the proof of the pudding is in the eating and I won't be celebrating until we get our hands on a trophy. there's a long way to go yet but we are in better shape than I've seen us for years. My confidence grows with every game and although we face sterner tests than Rovers, even if we lose, I know it will be to a better team on the day, not because we didn't bother to turn up. That's all I've ever asked. ~Clevblue~