Mancini praises Tévez

The manager has been talking about how well the TLDORC Player of December Carlos Tévez has been playing:

"I do not like to pick out individuals because we have been collectively very good in the two games we have won against Stoke and Wolves but Carlos Tevez has been outstanding," he said. "He is a world-class striker who has shown that he is in top form. He is playing with a smile on his face and eight goals in the month of December is just an incredible effort. Confidence is a great thing with players and especially when it comes to goalscoring.

"Carlos is not just putting the ball in the net, though. His team ethic is fantastic and he has a good understanding with the players around him. His movement and pace worries defenders and he is clever, too. He has scored 12 times already for City since he came to the club and that is an impressive ratio."

He's right - Tévez has been excellent recently. Even more impressive has been his flexibility, in that in both the Stoke and Wolves matches Mancini played Tévez as the lone front man. He's not going to win high balls (although it's good that our defenders no longer have an excuse to hit it long), but his hold up play is so good that he is still effective in that role.