The Italian has suffered a rather disappointing season given last year’s dramatic title victory, and the ex-Manchester City defender believes even a Wembley win will not suffice

EXCLUSIVE
By Tom Marshall-Bailey

Former Manchester City defender Danny Mills believes Roberto Mancini may still face the managerial axe this summer even if he can lead the Blues to an FA Cup win on Saturday.

City are heavy favourites going into the final against Wigan, but a poor attempt to retain the title and a European campaign which saw them finish bottom of their group may ultimately cost the Italian his job.

THE FA CUP FINAL MAN CITY VS WIGAN
PLAYERS TO WATCH
YAYA TOURE	JAMES MCCARTHY
Roberto Mancini’s team has not been on fire in front of goal lately – they have scored only five goals in their past five games – but Toure, at his best, can push them to another level. The Wigan midfield, although talented, will struggle to cope with his physicality.	The gifted 22-year-old is the standout player in the Wigan team and, with a host of top clubs rumoured to be interested in his signature, will test himself against the best at Wembley. The stage is set for a career-defining display.
CLICK HERE FOR OUR MATCH PREVIEW

Mills believes the club must ask themselves questions about a lack of progress this season following last season’s title success.

The ex-England right-back told Goal: “It’s been a disappointing season from Manchester City’s point of view, purely in terms of progression.

“The Champions League campaign was disastrous, they finished well behind Manchester United.

“The argument would be that finishing second and winning an FA Cup, for most clubs is more than enough.

“But Manchester City, where they are at the moment, the amount of money they have spent, it’s the fact that they have slipped backwards a little bit this season.”

Mills bemoaned the lack of top-quality signings made last summer by the club in their attempts to stay ahead of the chasing pack, and believes winning the FA Cup would have no bearing on Mancini’s future.

He claimed: “They haven’t just stood still. All those players that were exceptional last year haven’t been quite as good this year and the signings brought in last year simply aren’t good enough.

“They weren’t good enough to improve the first XI, so that would worry me if I was the City board.

“We don’t really know who made those signings, there’s a lot of debate about whether it was Mancini or whether it was the board.

“There’s of course now a new director of football as well, I think it’s going to be a fine line if Manchester City decide to keep Mancini or whether they don’t and I don’t think the FA Cup will make a difference.”

With Manchester United losing long-serving manager Sir Alex Ferguson to retirement this summer and Chelsea set to replace interim manager Rafael Benitez with Jose Mourinho there is an argument that maintaining some stability at Manchester City could aid them next season – but Mills feels other factors may prove telling.

He continued: “I think it’s a difficult one for City, City fans of course love Mancini for winning the FA Cup last time around and then of course taking them on and winning the Premier League and stealing it in the dying seconds.

“It’s one of the greatest moments in football, let alone in Manchester City’s history, and Mancini will rightly go down in blue Manchester history for that.

“But has he done enough to retain his job with everything that’s going on? I’m not so sure that he has.

“There seems to be a lot of factions within that camp. At times results have papered over cracks, it’s never really seemed a happy camp. I think a lot of victories have tended to gloss over that fact.”

Mills admits City will be the team to beat this weekend and cannot see how a Wigan side appearing destined for relegation will deal with the likes of Carlos Tevez and Sergio Aguero in the final.

One player in particular, however, will be the man the Latics have to stop if they are to have any chance, according to Mills.

When quizzed on who would be crucial for City, he said: “For me, it’s Yaya Toure. I was at the semi-final and he was absolutely awesome. He’s so powerful, he’s like Patrick Vieira 10 years on but even better than that.

“The way he picked the ball up and drove forward, against a good Chelsea side, he just knocked players out the way. It was almost man against boys. He was phenomenal.

“I think, on his day, he is one of the most influential players in a team. When he’s fit and when he’s playing at his best, when he’s dynamic, he is a power to be reckoned with and he’s almost unplayable at times.”

Follow Tom Marshall-Bailey on

The 71-year-old’s retirement stunned the footballing world and the Ivorian believes it gives his side the perfect opportunity to wrestle the title back from their city rivals

Manchester City midfielder Yaya Toure believes Sir Alex Ferguson’s decision to retire could prove to be to his side’s gain as the blue side of Manchester look to capitalise and claw back the title from neighbours Manchester United.

City’s disappointing defence of their title this season enabled United to win a 20th league title with relative ease but Toure insists City are ready to pounce next season as United venture into the unknown without their most successful manager.

“United is a great club and Ferguson is a big character at this club,” Toure told reporters. “He has built everything at United and the balance I hope will go to the City side now.

“We will see next year, because there will be a lot of rivalry between Chelsea, Liverpool, Arsenal and United.

“Tottenham are coming through and the Premier League is going to be very, very tough.”

Toure’s City team-mate Pablo Zabaleta shares this view but feels City need to look closer to home if they are launch a title assault next season.

He said: “We need to think about what’s happening at Manchester City now. What’s happening on the other side of the town doesn’t matter to us.

“All I can say about Ferguson is that he was a great manager. He has been very successful with Manchester United and we wish him all the best for the future.”

The FA Cup final on Saturday against Wigan provides City with a golden chance to recover from their failure to retain the league title, and Toure admits he and his fellow team-mates are desperate to secure some form of silverware for the season.

The midfielder added: “We let the Premier League trophy go to United but now we want to win this one.

“But it’s going to be difficult because we can’t think Wigan will let the trophy go, just because of the situation they are in now in the Premier League.

“For us, this will be a very important trophy. It’s is very important to keep winning trophies and that is why I signed a new contract.

“I want to be part of the history of the club. We’ve already started that, we’ve already won some trophies.

“I hope there are going to be more, like the Champions League and the Premier League, like the FA Cup.

“This is the only trophy left this season for us and we know it’s going to be tough this Saturday. Wigan are a good football team with a fantastic manager.

“It’s going to be tough but we’re determined to achieve something for the club and for the fans. For the players it’s very important.”

The midfielder was brought off at the break after an out-of-sorts performance as the visitors played out an uninspiring stalemate at Swansea with Wembley a week away

Manchester City manager  has confirmed Yaya Toure should be fit for the FA Cup final after the midfielder was replaced at half-time in the club’s goalless draw at Swansea on Saturday.

The visitors were second best in the first half and the Italian replaced Toure at the break with what appeared to be a tactical change after a lacklustre opening period from the midfielder.

Mancini, however, confirmed the Ivory Coast international had a problem before the game but believes he should be fit for next Saturday’s Wembley showdown with Wigan.

“Yaya Toure was not good, he had a problem in the warm up and when he came off we missed him,” he told BBC Sport.

“He will be OK for the final though.”

The game had all the markings of an end-of-season fixture where neither side had much to play for, but the City boss was disappointed the likes of Edin Dzeko and David Silva wasted excellent chances to win the game.

“The first half was so-so but we missed five incredible chances to score,” Mancini added.

“We had motivation because we want to get second place.

“Before the FA Cup final we have another important game, we need to win on Tuesday and then we will prepare for Wigan.”

Swansea manager Michael Laudrup, meanwhile, admitted it wasn’t the most high-quality affair at the Liberty Stadium but was disappointed his side had a strong penalty appeal turned down for a foul on Michu by Matija Nastasic.

“We were playing a great team, but the second half was not the best football for both sides,” he told BBC Sport.

“We keep our position of ninth in the table with a game in hand so we are happy with that. Michu was fouled in the first half, it was a huge penalty but we have not had one in the league all season.”

The Cote d’Ivoire midfielder says his former club are “the best team in the world”, and says that he would not think of leaving Manchester City to join los Blancos

Manchester City midfielder Yaya Toure says he has never considered joining Real Madrid due to his ties with former club Barcelona.

Toure had a trophy-laden spell in Spain, playing 74 times for the Spanish giants and winning seven competitions including two Liga titles and the Champions League.

However, when asked whether he would consider a move to their fierce rivals Real Madrid, Toure insists that it was something that had not crossed his mind.

“I’ve never considered going to Madrid because I’ve been a Barca fan for may years,” Toure told RAC1. “Madrid are a great club but it would be very hard to play against Barca.

“Barcelona have always been the most important team to me. They’re an example for hard workers and committed players like Xavi and [Carles] Puyol, but also for the fans. They’re the best team in the world.”

The Spanish giants were rumoured to be interested in Toure’s City team-mate Sergio Aguero recently, and the Ivory Coast international admits that turning down the Camp Nou would be a tough choice to make.

“It’s difficult to say no to Barca,” he added. “You can’t say no to playing with Xavi, [Lionel] Messi and [Gerard] Pique.

“The arrival of [Ferran] Soriano and Txiki [Begiristain] helped a lot. Txiki is a great professional and I’m sure the club will continue to grow with them. Hopefully we can reach Barcelona’s level one day.”

Toure says that despite the Blaugrana facing a “difficult” tie against Bayern Munich in the Champions League, he fancies his former side to progress.

“The game against Bayern will be very difficult, but Barca are always favourites for me,” he continued.

“There are always difficulties in the Champions League, like against Milan, but I believe that Barca’s quality – and Messi’s above all – can decide the game.”

The Manchester City star spoke of his respect for the Frenchman as well as giving his opinion on Barcelona’s upcoming Champions League semi-final clash with Bayern Munich

Manchester City midfielder Yaya Toure has heaped praise on Eric Abidal and Tito Vilanova after their respective battles with illness.

The 29-year-old played at Camp Nou between 2007 and 2010, and had some particularly kind words to say about his former team-mate Abidal, who recently made his return to football following a liver transplant.

“I’m happy for Tito and Abidal. They’re great. Abidal is a fantastic person and what he’s done is very inspiring. He’s an example for all of us,” Toure told Rac1.

Toure also had his say on Barcelona’s upcoming Champions League semi-final first leg clash with Bayern Munich at the Allianz Arena on Tuesday.

He continued: “The game against Bayern will be very difficult, but Barca are always favourites for me. There are always difficulties in the Champions League, like against Milan, but I believe that Barca’s quality – and Messi’s above all – can decide the game.”

Toure made 61 league appearances in his three years with the Blaugrana, scoring eight goals before joining City in 2010.