Peter Crouch pounced in the 82nd minute to shatter Blues’ hopes of playing with Europe’s elite next season, and while disappointed the Manager insisted that City will build on the progress made this season.
“I’m disappointed,” he admitted, “but I am also proud because of the job we have done and we have had a good season. We could have got the fourth position, we had the chances but football can be strange.
In two or three games we have been very, very unlucky, we could have scored in the first half and that would have changed the game, but we must accept it.
...Boss on defeat to Spurs
“City finished 10th last year, this year we could be fifth and we’re in the Europa League. If we work well in the market and in pre-season we could do something special. I want to thank all the supporters as well, they were fantastic, and thank you to the players, they gave me 200%.”
“Spurs are a good side, and in the second half when we attacked we left a lot of space for them to counter-attack. I still think we were better than Tottenham, in the first half they played the long ball for Crouch many times, and we tried to play football but they played us well.”
So with eyes on next season, Mancini has pledged to improve his own and the team’s performance despite the narrow margin between the sides competing for the Champions League.
He added: “I’m disappointed for myself, I want to work harder because I want to improve with the team. When you don’t hit your targets, you must think why that happened. To get fourth, we must work more next season.”
