Roberto Mancini thought Man City played well in beating Arsenal to progress into the Carling Cup semi-finals on Tuesday night.
Italian boss pleased as side reach semis of Carling Cup
Manchester City boss Roberto Mancini thought his side played well in beating Arsenal to progress into the Carling Cup semi-finals on Tuesday night.
Mancini made 10 changes to the starting line-up which featured at Liverpool on Sunday, with former Gunner Samir Nasri the only player to retain his place.
Nasri was not at his sparkling best against his former club, whose fans booed him relentlessly, while Sergio Aguero came on as a 32nd-minute substitute, replacing Aleksander Kolarov who suffered an injury in the warm-up.
In a game of few clear-cut chances, City won with a slick counter-attacking move when Edin Dzeko first fed Adam Johnson who flicked on for Aguero to slot home with seven minutes remaining.
Good game
Mancini told
Sky Sports: "We had a chance seven minutes from the end and we scored. It was a great goal. A great counter-attack.
"I don't think that Arsenal had a lot of chances, I think we played well.
"It will be better to win here in the Premier League but it is a good feeling because we are into the semi-finals of the competition.
"We have a strong squad - all of the top teams have a good squad and can change eight, nine or 10 players. It is normal for the Carling Cup to change.
"December and January will be crucial months because we play tough games and we play every three days. After January we can talk about whether we can win things or not."
Normal
The City boss thought it was to be expected for Nasri to be booed by the Arsenal faithful.
"That (reaction) is normal, when the supporters loved a player and that player comes back with another team, it is normal.
"Maybe (it affected him). I think that Nasri can play better than tonight."
