Manchester City boss Roberto Mancini was full of praise for his side after their 3-1 win over Newcastle United, but admitted they can still improve.
City boss happy to get three points
Manchester City boss Roberto Mancini was full of praise for his side after their 3-1 win over Newcastle United.
However, he admitted they had a little bit of luck and if they want victory over Napoli in the Champions League next week they will need to improve.
A Mario Balotelli penalty and Micah Richards effort put City 2-0 up at the break, before another spot-kick from Sergio Aguero sealed the win.
Dan Gosling pulled back a consolation for Newcastle, but City were not to be denied as they maintained their 100 per cent home record.
"Today was a really difficult match because Newcastle is a strong team and they played really well, and also the first match after the international break is always difficult," said Mancini.
"Before the game, I told the guys that this game would be hard because they are a good team with good players and playing very well and if we wanted to win we would need to play well, and we did.
"We had lots of possession and scored three goals, but we were also a bit lucky.
"There will be some days like today when teams will close us down but we showed we can change things.
"The season is long and we will go through some difficult times so getting the win is important."
Warning
Mancini, though, did admit that the level of performance would have to be upped ahead of their crucial European tie at Napoli.
"If we want to win in Naples, we will need to play better than this afternoon," he warned.
City went into the game with some big names on the bench including David Silva, but the Italian insisted the changes had to be made.
"Some players needed rest, David came back from Costa Rica on Thursday, same with Gareth (Barry) after he played two games - so we needed to rest players," he said.
Mancini also played down talk that his City side could go the league campaign unbeaten.
"I hope we can continue this form, but I think in 28 [sic, 26 games left in league season] games we have there will be a time we will lose a game but I am happy for the players and we are playing very well, because we have very good players."
The City boss also continued to heap praise on his Italian striker Mario Balotelli.
"Mario is a very important player, all the work is down to him. I am trying to help him not waste his talent," he said.
"He is becoming better and better, and I want him to make sure he can become the player he can be."
