Mancini bemoans lapses as City stay unbeaten

Manchester City manager Roberto Mancini was far from happy despite seeing the English champions mark his 100th Premier League match in charge with a 3-1 win at home to Queens Park Rangers on Saturday.

Goals from Yaya Toure, Edin Dzeko and Carlos Tevez at Eastlands saw City remain unbeaten so far in the defence of their title.

But when Bobby Zamora equalised for the west London club it created an air of anxiety around Eastlands, although it did not take long for Dzeko to head City back in front, adding to Yaya Toure's opener, before an injury-time deflected effort from Tevez sealed victory.

"We have one problem at the moment, when we have a chance to score we don't score and after this the game can change," said Mancini.

The Italian added: "We had this problem in our first game. We had a problem against Liverpool, it is a problem and when you have a chance to score you should score.

"I think the problem could be we didn't work with our players in pre-season, some players started their pre-season very late.

"At half-time, I said it's important we can't concede a goal every game - this is one of our problems - and when we get a chance we should score."

But City's first team coach David Platt insisted it was just a matter of time before the club found the form that enabled them to be crowned champions of England for the first time in 44 years last season.

"We're not quite at the levels we were last season at this moment," said former England midfielder Platt.

"This time last season, we were blowing teams away and keeping clean sheets.

"It's not that we're not playing well, it is that we're not playing as well as we did at the start of last season when we were blowing teams away. There is an expectancy from ourselves, an expectancy from supporters.

"But we can look at the video of the game, watch it in its entirety, a lot more positively when we have won the game. The be-all and end-all is we stand here unbeaten with seven points out of nine and we know we can improve.

"When you look at the players' names written down, you sleep easy every night because they are good players."

Platt believes key personnel are still searching for early season fitness, something which he hopes will improve over the coming 10-day international break, and he also had good news concerning the forward Mario Balotelli who is undergoing eye surgery this week to help cure persistent conjunctivitis.

"I think he's okay, it's just a normal procedure," said Platt. "He'll have an operation in the next couple of days and it's minor.

"We're not quite there yet in terms of fitness. After the international break, Gareth Barry will have had another two weeks (training), Sergio Aguero will be there or thereabouts, David Silva will have had another two weeks after playing in the Euros, plus we have the new faces who have come in as well."

QPR manager Mark Hughes, Mancini's predecessor at City, was disappointed his side failed to test the champions further, although with seven recent signings in his starting line-up, it may take time to see the best from his team.

"I can take a lot of positives from the game," said Hughes.

"We were in the backyard of the champions, we put a great shift in and caused them problems."

The former Manchester United and Wales striker added: "We were in charge of the game when we equalised and to concede so quickly was a body blow."

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