Roberto Mancini admitted that he did not know what sort of commitment to expect from Carlos Tevez beyond the summer after his hat-trick in Manchester City's FA Cup victory over Barnsley.
The striker was in inspired form as City crushed their Championship opponents 5-0 to book a place in the semi-finals, with Aleksandar Kolarov and David Silva also among the goals.
His long-term future remains the subject of speculation as his contract expires in 2014 and he has previously expressed a desire to return to Argentina, but Mancini is focused on what he can do for City for the remainder of this term.
"Now it is important that Carlos continues to score because we need his goals until the end of the season," said Mancini.
"After that I don't know what commitment (there will be) in the summer. Carlos has another year contract. It depends on him.
"At the moment we can say nothing. Our focus should be only on the last two months.
"Carlos has said many times that he wants to come back to Argentina and it depends on him for this, but now we don't think about this situation."
Mancini took Tevez off with 14 minutes remaining and the pair exchanged words on the touchline, but the manager insists there was no quarrel.
He was delighted with Tevez's performance and was just disappointed that fellow forward Edin Dzeko was unable to get on the score sheet.
"I asked him if he had a problem in his hamstring and he said no. That was it," said Mancini.
"I'm very sorry for Edin because it was very important in this game that both strikers scored a goal but sometimes that isn't possible. But three goals is good for Carlos."
Tevez started despite being arrested on Thursday night on suspicion of driving whilst disqualified, but there were no signs of anxiety in his performance.
Mancini joked: "I don't know about this, but if it has this effect on him I hope the police can stop him every day."
Both sides gave their all in poor conditions at Victoria Park without finding a route to goal.
The point sees the Glovers drop to fifth in League One, while Pools are now six short of safety in the relegation zone.
Pools have now lost only once in nine, but have suffered two frustrating 0-0 draws at home in the last week to leave them six points adrift of Scunthorpe, the team directly above the drop zone.
"There's frustration from the outcome," said boss John Hughes. "But we were up against a good side, at this stage of the season we need three points.
"What they have achieved since Christmas has been commendable. Anyone watching can see there is a fight to it, if we are going down, go down having a fight.
"The teams we are chasing have all lost - it might be two dropped, it might be one towards safety. If it goes to the end of the season and the last game, so be it. Bring it on."
Pools had a late chance to win it when substitute Antony Sweeney was played in on goal, but he pushed his shot too close to Glovers goalkeeper Marek Stech.
Hughes added: "Keep that back door shut and you have a chance. We had the best chance of the second half after keeping that back door shut.
"We kept a clean sheet and it's spirited. Who knows, we may win the next three games and all is well."
Both sides gave their all in poor conditions at Victoria Park without finding a route to goal.
The point sees the Glovers drop to fifth in League One, while Pools are now six short of safety in the relegation zone.
Glovers' striker Paddy Madden went closest for the visitors, his 35th-minute snap-shot crashing off the underside of the crossbar and bouncing to safety.
After his side's first goalless draw since March last year, Johnson said: "It's a rare 0-0 draw for us. Both teams have a lot to play for and maybe this point will look ok later in the season.
"Let's not hope we look back at is as two dropped. Hartlepool are in decent form and they were trying to win the game as well, I was just disappointed we didn't find that killer ball.
"It's a long way for a 0-0 draw. It's a better result for us with the way other results went and we are still very much in the mix."
Johnson added: "It's seven hours on the way back, and we're not going home happy, but I go over the game in my head.
"Our opportunities weren't easy ones and in the final third, we couldn't quite find that bit more to give our strikers an opportunity to slip it.
"On the day we just couldn't get the quality to set the teams apart."
