Roque Santa Cruz claims Roberto Mancini has made a quick impression
at Manchester City, but admits Mark Hughes' sacking angered some
players.
The Italian was appointed after Saturday's 4-3 victory over
Sunderland and wasted no time in his attempts to sure up City's
leaky defence.
The squad was ordered to take double training on Tuesday,
despite the icy conditions, and Santa Cruz is hoping for instant
results when Stoke travel to Eastlands on Boxing Day.
He told the Daily Mirror: "In the first day he was shaping
the team a little and giving us ideas of what he expected from us.
"He knows exactly what he has to do. There is a lot of work
to do tactically and I think he will do it.
"We were working very well on reshaping the team, which is
one of the things we need to do to get the right balance
defensively.
"We will have a double session on Tuesday and for sure he
will get ideas and tell the team what he expects from us.
"He wants us to close people down. He wants us to be solid
and tight and to make it very hard for the other team to play
between the lines. And then once we get the ball, to play it wide.
"We have a lot of defensive work to do and then we will have
time to address other things which have been causing problems to
the team and solve them in the best way possible."
Santa Cruz admits the dismissal of previous boss Mark Hughes
had caused fury within the squad but the Paraguay international is
refusing to dwell on the decision.
He added: "Naturally, there was some anger, we had won the
game and things still happened.
"Garry Cook came down and told us after the game. He told us
what decision the Sheikh had made and that it was for the good of
the club because they were aiming to build something not only for
this season, but for the coming ones as well.
"We are employees of the club and if you've got something to
say, then you say it. But you work for the club and you want to do
the best for the club.
"If they think it is the best choice, we know as a fact that
they want the best for club as well, so you just have to put our
best into every session and try to help the new gaffer to find the
results that are expected and move forward.
"Of course it's sad. It is never going to be an easy thing to
see your gaffer going because it is somebody losing their job and,
even if you don't have a good relationship with your manager, you
cannot be happy to see him leaving the club having lost his job.
"Our results have not been incredibly good, but not
incredibly bad either. But things have happened because you have
people here who want to achieve the top four.
"Football is sometimes like that and you need to carry on. We
want to see the club in the top four so there is a lot of work to
do. Everybody needs to keep looking forward."
