Mancini calls for focus in Manchester City's Champions League push

The Manchester City manager is demanding a similar display that won them place in FA Cup final as City could go four points ahead of Tottenham if they beat Blackburn.

Roberto Mancini's message to his Manchester City squad is to forget about the FA Cup for now.

There is excitement around Eastlands after City beat Manchester United to set up an FA Cup final against Stoke City next month and the chance to end a 35-year wait for a major trophy.

Mancini, however, has been keen to remind his team of their main priority as they visit struggling Blackburn Rovers tonight, aiming to increase their grip on fourth spot on the Premier League and with it the final Champions League spot.

City can improve their lead over fifth-placed Tottenham Hotspur to four points with a win at Ewood Park, but Mancini has not forgotten their last league game - a below par 3-0 defeat at Liverpool two weeks ago.

"It has been a good week but now Manchester United are in the past. We should forget it," Mancini said.

"Now we need to focus only on the next four games before the final. It is impossible to think of the final at this moment.

"We have games against Blackburn and West Ham, teams fighting against relegation. These matches are very dangerous.

"If we think we can go to Blackburn and play 50 per cent it is better we stay at home and not spend the money to go there. If we have the same focus as against United, the same concentration, we will win a lot of games.

"That is important because we have lost many points in the last month. We must remember what happened at Liverpool.

"We must give 100 per cent because Blackburn are a strong team at home and it will be a very hard game."

Shaun Wright-Phillips, in his second spell with City, believes they are taking huge steps.

"The win over United just tells you how far the club has come in such a short space of time and how far it can go," he told Key 103.

"We have come to a point where we have beaten them in a semi-final and it is important we maintain this form.

"We just sussed out against United that if we kept going at them we had the upper hand. As soon as we played the way we wanted to they found it a bit harder.

"There was a lot of self belief in the team and the back four were tremendous and never lost concentration once. That was the main thing for us, keeping a clean sheet."

A trip to Ewood Park used to mean facing a barrage of long balls from Blackburn but, since the club dismissed Sam Allardyce in December, they have abandoned their direct style in favour of a passing game.

Their new approach under Steve Kean, their new manager, may be easier on the eye, but it is not getting the results.

Blackburn were 13th when Allardyce left, they are now 16th, one point above the relegation zone and 10 games without a win.

Martin Olsson, their Swedish left-back-cum-left-winger, believes the priority should be winning, then playing good football - especially at this stage of the season.

Olsson, 22, admits the players have had to adapt to change since Allardyce departed.

"Keano is a different kind of manager, he likes to play the ball on the ground with lots of one-touch, two-touch football," Olsson said. "It was different to Sam but we have to get used to that and it has been going well on the pitch but we haven't got the points we wanted.

"To be honest now is not the time to play attractive football, it's about getting points and digging in. Even if we do long balls, I don't really care how we play so long as we get the points."

Kean has been the target of criticism from disaffected fans but Olsson said: "You can't blame it all on him, we players have to do our job as well. But we know the situation we are in and if we just keep playing with confidence I can't see us going down.

"We've been in the Premier League for a long time and it's not going to happen that we're going to go down now."

Kean echoed Olsson's sentiments, saying: "It's lovely to win and play nice football but at this stage of the game it's about winning.

"We have only lost once in almost four months at home, since I have become manager, so Ewood is going to be a tough place for any team to come."

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