Manchester City assistant boss Mark Bowen has called for patience as Roque Santa Cruz finds his feet again at Premier League level. The Paraguayan had enough class to score his first City goal, and pick up the man of the match award, against Scunthorpe in the Carling Cup last week, but he was clearly struggling at Birmingham on Sunday, reports the Manchester Evening News.
Bowen believes that Sunday's performance was a delayed reaction to making his first start in a game for eight months.
"He did ever so well in the Carling Cup game and got man of the match.
"But football is always the same. Just when you think you have come through it and are 100 per cent, the weekend reminded us that this was his first league start in maybe five or six months of football.
"Plus he took a blow to his ankle which blew up like a balloon. He wanted to play on, but we could see the knock was holding him back.
"He will come on, and the more football he plays and the more training he gets, the more you will see the player we know that he is."
