Mancini hails City progress

Roberto Mancini was pleased with Manchester City's progress as they beat Arsenal into the Carling Cup semi-finals.

The Citizens boss performed ten changes to the line-up as City were playing the second game in three days.

“It will be better to win here [at the Emirates] in the Premier League but it is a good feeling because we are into the semi-finals of the competition. I don't think that Arsenal had a lot of chances. I think we played well,” he told Sky Sports. 

The game was well played but short on goal opportunities, with Aguero's winner not coming up before minute 84', in a fast combination play between the Argentine, Adam Johnson and Dzeko.

“We have a chance seven minutes from the end and we scored. It was a great goal. A great counter-attack,” Mancini praised.

It's OK to change players

With only Samir Nasri keeping his place in the starting XI to face his former club, Mancini wanted to keep the whole squad fresh and with game time. Which, according to the Italian, is not a problem in a squad like City's.

"We have a strong squad - all of the top teams have a good squad and can change eight, nine or 10 players. It is normal for the Carling Cup to change.”

Manchester City are launched to an extraordinary season as they are yet to be defeated in the Premier League, which they lead by five points. They are off to the semi-finals of the Carling Cup and the Champions League is the only competition where the Manchester Blues haven't been so well as qualifying to the knock-out stage is no longer entirely up to them.

"December and January will be crucial months because we play tough games and we play every three days. After January we can talk about whether we can win things or not," Mancini added.