Roberto Mancini today defended his tactical changes against Ajax following Micah Richards’s admission that Manchester City’s players were uncomfortable playing with three centre-backs.
Mancini was criticised for switching from 4-4-2 to 3-5-2 during Wednesday’s defeat as City tried to rescue their hopes of qualifying for the Champions League knockout stages.
Richards claimed some of the City squad were unfamiliar with the formation but Mancini said: “If you are a top player it is not important what system you use. If you don’t understand a system like that, you cannot play for a top team.
“We conceded the third goal because we made a stupid mistake, not because we changed the system. What Micah said is not important. He answered a question. I understand people want to write about it but to me it doesn’t matter.
“Maybe Micah doesn’t know because it was his first game for two-and-a-half months.”
Spain international David Silva has failed to recover from a hamstring injury and will miss tomorrow’s Premier League visit of Swansea.
Pablo Zabaleta, Maicon, Javi Garcia and Jack Rodwell are also missing.
