Mancini demands greater Man City focus away from home

Manchester City boss Roberto Mancini is calling for greater focus away from home as they travel to Aston Villa today.

He has called on his men to rediscover that killer instinct as they approach the ­business end of the ­campaign.

Mancini said: “When we go away from home now, the teams we play keep all their players behind the ball and so it is difficult. At the start of the season, it was ­different. Teams gave us more space and we took advantage.

“In the last two months, our ­opponents have approached games differently. That is normal because of the results we were getting. We have lost three games away from home – and we didn’t deserve to lose any of them.

“We played well at Chelsea, Sunderland and Everton but couldn’t score. When that happens, the team has to be more careful to make sure that we take at least a point.”

Mancini added: “We need to show more attention when we play away from home.

“It is impossible to play at 100 per cent for the whole year. There will always be moments during a season when you play well and other times when you have a ­problem.

“I hope that, if we have a good result against Villa, things will change away from home."

“Sometimes we need to be more ­Italian and make sure that, if we can’t win, we don’t lose.”