• ‘He wants us to work really hard every day’
• Touré looking forward to facing countryman Drogba
Kolo Touré has praised Manchester City’s manager Roberto Mancini for instilling a strong defensive discipline within the team. City have conceded only two goals in eight matches in all competitions since the start of the season, with their most recent clean sheet coming in the win at Wigan Athletic on Sunday.
“It’s going really well,” said Touré. “The defenders are doing well but we are also defending well as a team. We don’t concede many goals because we are really tight as a unit and work really hard for each other. We hope we can keep going like this.”
Asked if Mancini’s training methods are a key reason for the side’s strength at the back, the centre-half said: “For sure. He wants us to work really hard on it every day because when you defend well, it gives you the chance to win games.”
City, who travel to West Bromwich in the Carling Cup tomorrow, have another chance win in the league on Saturday, when they host the leaders, Chelsea.
Touré will come up against his Ivory Cost team-mate Didier Drogba, a prospect the 29-year-old admits will truly test the credentials of their defence. “All he thinks about is scoring goals, but this season he is also passing well and making a lot of assists as well,” the City man said. “That makes him a much better player. We’re going to have to defend really well as a team to stop him.”
City currently lie in fourth place, seven points behind Chelsea. Their meeting is seen as the champions’ first major hurdle of the season after five wins from five and scoring 21 goals in the process.The hosts go into the match confident of being able to bring Chelsea’s perfect run to an end after they beat Carlo Ancelotti’s men both home and away during the last campaign. “It’s going to be a really exciting game,” said Touré. “We need to make sure we take something from it. If we can get one point that would be great but if we can get all three like we did twice last season, that would be fantastic.”
Manchester CityChelseaSachin Nakraniguardian.co.uk
