Tevez: No rift with Mancini

Tevez: No rift with Mancini

Published Dec. 6, 2010 7:15 p.m. ET

The Blues skipper got himself embroiled in an argument with his boss towards the end of Saturday's victory over Bolton when Mancini decided to replace the striker with James Milner. Tevez had to be pushed towards the dug-out as he made his point. Although Mancini attempted to play down suggestions of a rift between the pair in the aftermath of the game, coming a day after Jerome Boateng and Mario Balotelli came to blows during training, it merely fuelled a belief all is not well within the Blues camp. Tevez, who has moved onto 10 Premier League goals, a figure only exceeded by Dimitar Berbatov, hardly paints a picture of a dressing room at ease with itself. But he was not rocking the boat either in an interview for the official City media outlets. "It is just like any club," observed Tevez. "There are both good and bad vibes alike. "The most important thing is that, as players, we are all pulling in the same direction and trying to do our best for the club. "I'm happy here. I really am. "Anything that goes on between us (Tevez and Mancini) off the pitch or in the dressing room stays there and he and I keep on fighting for the club." The insight offered to the City training ground by a public footpath that runs right past the club's base hardly helps. At the 'other' Carrington nearby, where United train, no such view exists, so it is no coincidence that similar pictures of players rowing do not end up blasted all over the media. It also means there is no way of testing Mancini's theory that such incidents occur at every club, every day. However, Tevez, who has experienced life at both Manchester clubs, does not appear to think it is anything out of the ordinary. "In any dressing room, you are going to have the odd problem, just like within any household," he said. "It's just the same. We are part of a family. Sometimes you get problems and sometimes you don't. "Everything's fine when you are winning, but when you lose, a lot of people get a bit down. "But also you have to consider that there is a lot of pressure within the club which the players are always stuck with. "Sometimes the odd thing gets out of the dressing room through people who don't have the best interests of the club at heart. "It's not big deal. You just have to live with it." Tevez has played down his own statements about retirement, insisting while the thought has crossed his mind, and probably is more appealing now his daughters are back in Buenos Aires, he does not see it happening "for a long time yet". City fans will be relieved at the reassuring words because, with Manchester United, Arsenal and Chelsea about to embark on their own round of key fixtures against each other, a path towards the top of the table is opening up. Not that everyone is impressed. Kevin Davies might have spent the last 24 hours dampening down the impact of his comments, both on Twitter and a post-match interview, about City and their players' conduct. But they still exist. And they still sting. "Seeing Tevez's reaction to being subbed assures me there is (sic) problems within at City, great players individually but as a team??" he declared, before adding in the Manchester Evening News: "When there is not much contact and they go down screaming, it is embarrassing from a man's point of view. "There are a lot of European players in their squad and I think it is something they are taught on the continent. "It is frustrating and embarrassing at times. However, it is part of our game unfortunately."

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