Roberto Mancini is aiming to shuffle his pack with one eye on Saturday’s game against Chelsea, and that includes resting Joe Hart, who he plumped for as his first-choice goalkeeper at the start of the season.
“Shay will play if he is available,” Mancini announced at his press conference on Tuesday morning, “but on Monday he had a problem with his toe. If he looks better today then he plays tomorrow.”
Another player yet to feature this season is Jerome Boateng, but the German World Cup star will sit it out at the Hawthorns as he continues his recovery from a knee injury.
Mancini added, “Boateng is OK, but he needs a week or 10 days work because he has not had any preparation since his injury in August.
“We have a lot of problems at the moment with players injured, we will have to change five or six players tomorrow. It might even be seven, it is impossible that the same players can then play the next game against Chelsea. It’s a 12.45 kick off, and they would not have the time to recover.
“The injured players are the same ones as for the last game. We will have to make changes, but we will be trying to win.”
The boss is aware that his selection juggling act may not keep all the players happy, but he is adamant that any player that gets left out has the perfect opportunity to show the Manager that he’s wrong.
“It’s impossible to keep all players happy,” he adds, “this is normal at any club. You will have 11 happy players and the rest unhappy, but this is as it should be - any player who is happy not to be playing is crazy! It’s important they are not happy with the situation and that they continue to work, because I can change my mind.”
