Former Manchester City defender Colin Hendry says Roberto Mancini needs to make the signing of a world class centre-half a priority for next month.

Hendry won the Premier League title with Blackburn and knows better than most what it takes to succeed at this level.

The Scot told the Manchester Evening News: "City just are not consistent enough. Teams who intend to challenge cannot afford to concede three goals at home as City did on Saturday.

"I honestly thought City would have given Mark Hughes at least a season but not so.

"The thing with City is that they clearly want success today not tomorrow but that just doesn't happen and now they've turned to Mancini.

"City are still very much in transition. When you bring in so many players you have to allow time for things to gel. If you plan to win the title, you cannot realistically afford to lose more than six games a season. There's little room for error at this level.

"From what I've seen, City look disorganised at the back and this needs to be addressed. Shay Given has been a great buy, he's a quality keeper. I first saw signs of his ability when he was a young kid coming through at Blackburn with us.

"Mancini must somehow try and find greater consistency from somewhere. He'll have his own ideas and he will be used to working with foreign players. I'm sure the players will adapt.

"Mancini has been out of the game for quite a while but he will have done his work and his record is good."