WHY IT'S ROBERTO BRAIN-CINI AT MAN CITY

ROBERTO MANCINI calls it 'Brain Training': re-shaping targets and preparing Manchester City's players for the biggest prizes.

City's new manager has recognised an opportunity - the chance for a £200million super-squad to seize the moment and topple Manchester United.

Mancini believes they can do it after sizing up a squad full of talent and potential.

The training pitches are Mancini's playground and he thrives on the atmosphere at Carrington as they set out to eclipse United.

He has targeted a top four finish this season and the Premier League title next.

Not quite a revolution. More revelation.

Naturally, training has changed, with Mancini taking most of the sessions and experienced assistant Brian Kidd watching on.

He has them playing shadow football - without a ball - for some of the sessions, an alien concept that was initially met with puzzled looks from the players.

They were instructed to do everything as normal - making the runs, covering defenders and helping out overloaded team-mates.

It is aimed at helping the players with concentration, something Mancini believed they were lacking when he was told the job would soon be his last month.

He has also reminded the team of their defensive responsibilities, encouraging them to share the blame when the ball is in the back of their net.

The Italian has told his full-backs to be more alert when the opposition have the ball, noting that other teams have consistently attempted to exploit their frailty when they don't have possession.

It has worked, with City yet to concede after Mancini's impressive opening three games in charge.

That air of uncertainty created in Mark Hughes' final weeks at the club has been lifted, the gloom quickly swept away after three impressive victories.

Relaxed

The new man has an air of authority and his hands-on approach at the training ground has been well received by the bulging squad.

Mancini merits that after a successful playing and coaching career in Italy, and is entitled to call the shots as the top man.

He has also introduced a series of double sessions, snow permitting, with fitness coach Ivan Carminati a popular member of the backroom team.

The players have responded to his relaxed manner and being told they can make history this season.

He has brought Martin Petrov, Javier Garrido and Benjani in from isolation as he searches for the winning formula.

His official website boasts that he is a 'Campione di Classe', leaving little to the imagination after three successive Scudettos at Inter Milan.

MANCINI: With new boy Vieira

The arrival of Patrick Vieira, a baffling signing after five years away from English football, has raised eyebrows but the transfer could yet define Mancini's spell at the club.

Mancini spent much of his first couple of weeks devoting himself to hands-on work with a defence that, for all the money spent on it, had been spectacularly inconsistent.

Players were impressed that a former attacking player had such an instinctive understanding of the art of defence.

When not in possession, Mancini expects to have two banks of four not more than 10 metres apart.

The outcome has been those three clean sheets.

But it's not just the first team who have been taken aback by Mancini's attention to detail.

He has already built up files on every man at the club, youth and reserve players included.

Everyone has been told that, despite the huge financial clout of the owners, they will be given a fair crack of the whip.

And when he fielded 19-year-old Dedryck Boyata and Vladimir Weiss in the FA Cup tie at Middlesbrough, he was sending out the message that he wanted to develop players not just buy them off the peg.

"It's important to me and the owners that we continue to bring young players through the academy," he said.

Swatting

Such had been the unlikelihood of Boyata figuring in the first team that he had planned a Christmas break in his native Belgium.

Mancini made him cancel the flights. There is a chance that Mancini knew about Boyata even before he arrived.

Friends say that the ex-Inter coach had been swatting up on all things Premier League for more than a year.

He has had top contacts in the English game for many years - Sven Goran Eriksson and his close pal David Platt to name but two.

Those who heard his English when he had that brief playing spell at Leicester back in 2001 were surprised by how far it had developed.

The deal to take him to Eastlands may not have been done months ago but Mancini was still immaculately-prepared - and we're not just talking the club scarf matched with Italian designer gear.

He had his backroom staff sorted, including fitness trainer Carminati, the man who worked with Eriksson and England at World Cup 2002.

Not the greatest reference perhaps but Carminati is one of Italy's most respected fitness experts.

Mancini is also beginning to gel with Kidd after some awkward moments, feeding off each other's enthusiasm for the game.

The same can be said about Mancini's relationship with key players.

Craig Bellamy - City's outstanding performer this season - had an obvious kinship with Hughes.

Beneath his combustible exterior, Bellamy is a deep thinker about the game and has been taken by Mancini's attention to detail and appetite for training ground graft. After leaving him out of his first starting line-up against Stoke, Mancini then made a point of replacing Robinho with the Welshman, and then reserving a special handshake for him at the final whistle.

It was a small but significant gesture. Bellamy has since gone public in his commitment to the new regime and tells friends that he believes Mancini will bring success to City.

And that is what Mancini has promised supporters.

While Hughes had widespread sympathy over the manner of his sacking, there was not a public backlash from fans on the streets of Manchester.

Honeymoon

Mancini has already won their favour by talking about trophies rather than points targets.

By promising to take down that banner at Old Trafford.

By even suggesting the Premier League title is not out of reach.

Fans love that sort of chat.

Of course, the title is out of reach this season but a win against Blackburn at Eastlands tomorrow night would shorten their odds on claiming that fourth Champions League slot.

It is, of course, early in Mancini's reign. A honeymoon period.

In Italy, they called him Baciato Dalla Grazia. Kissed by good fortune. But while he may have been in England for less than a month, it is already obvious there is more to Mancini than good fortune.

• City hits the fan
• CITY AIM TO LAND POMPEY ACE KABOUL
• I'VE LEARNED FROM MY MISTAKES SAYS RICHARDS
• PETROV SAYS HUGHES MADE HIS LIFE A MISERY
• EX-CITY BOSS HUGHES CLAIMS A BONUS

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