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Mancini plays down Tevez bust-up

Carlos Tevez did not like being substituted © PA Photos

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Manchester City manager Roberto Mancini has played down Saturday's public spat with Carlos Tevez, insisting he wants all his players to have the Argentinian's passion.

Tevez and Mancini exchanged words on the touchline after the City captain was taken off late in their 1-0 victory over Bolton, but Mancini laughed off the incident.

Despite his winning goal, which came after Gary Cahill failed to cut out a through ball from Yaya Toure, Tevez seemed ill at ease. He picked up his fifth booking of the campaign and will miss the match against West Ham on Saturday, and he did not hesitate in giving Mancini an ear-bashing when he was replaced by James Milner in the final minute.

"I am happy about this," said Mancini. "I would like all players to be like Carlos and want to stay on the pitch. I needed a player like Mario [Balotelli] on the pitch as he is taller than Carlos. We must continue to score when Carlos doesn't play.''

Following last week's 1-1 draw at Stoke, there were some nervy moments for City to survive late on against Bolton, and Mancini accused his players of being too selfish in front of goal.

Mancini said: "You can say we had some bad luck but we must improve. Sometimes we are too selfish. We had maybe 15 chances to score. When you have a lot of chances you think the game is easy.

"You shoot when it is better to pass the ball. We must improve this situation. It means you can draw when you should have won by three or four goals. It was the same at Stoke where we deserved to win but we drew. When we have a chance we must score. If I had played today I would have scored two or three goals.''

Aleksandar Kolarov was dismissed by referee Andre Marriner after a challenge on Sam Ricketts and Mancini, who saw Kolo Toure limp off with a calf injury, added: "I did not agree with that decision. It was not right.''

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