• Premier League: What They Said

What They Said: Title still not a possibility for Mancini

Roberto Mancini congratulates hat-trick hero Carlos Tevez © Getty Images

Enlarge

Related Links

• Features: Carroll's hairy secret, Tevez back in the swing of things
  
• News: Tevez helps hit Norwich for six, Swans slay Rovers
  
• Gallery: Saturday football gallery

Roberto Mancini is still adamant the title is Manchester United's, despite Manchester City beating Norwich 6-1 at Carrow Road in Saturday's early kick-off. He noted: "It's finished," before adding: "I think we did well without Carlos for four or five months, but I'm sure if we had Carlos with Sergio Aguero, Edin Dzeko and Mario Balotelli we would have scored more goals.

"Carlos did not play for us for six months but it is only in the last month that we have come off the top of the league. Everyone makes mistakes. It's important that when you do them you apologise. I am not frustrated (with him) because we lost Aguero for two games, Vincent Kompany for one match, and Joleon Lescott for four weeks too."

Norwich boss Paul Lambert was left frustrated after seeing his side succumb to something of a hammering in the closing stages against City. He said: "I think for 70-odd minutes we were well in the game. We played well in the second half, but losing four goals in that space of time was disappointing for us but we'll learn from it and we'll take our medicine. My team have done well and I can't complain about them."

A draw with Sunderland at the Stadium of Light was an improvement on recent results, but Wolves nevertheless remain doomed. Interim manager Terry Connor said: "We thoroughly deserved the point and possibly should have nicked it. We've been building towards that type of performance. We'll keep going right until the end."

Martin O'Neill had a less upbeat assessment of his side's performance, although the Black Cats have no relegation worries. He noted: "It's been a heroic effort from the players [this season] but we looked tired today, we didn't play well enough for prolonged periods."

Blackburn lost to Swansea 3-0 to remain in the relegation zone, but Steve Kean could still only see the positives despite what appears to be a very difficult run-in. He said: "It is obvious what we have to do. We have to win our next game. We'll have to win two games and get a draw from somewhere. It's as simple as that."

Roy Hodgson was so excited to beat QPR that he got his maths wrong - even now, only two teams cannot mathematically catch the Baggies - but his general point still stands. He noted: "We did well. QPR played very well to get back in the game. I'm full of praise for the way my team dug in. We had chances on the counter-attack.

"That's two home wins, which makes it a good Easter for us. When we beat Blackburn last week I thought we were safe, but with this win we are mathematically safe."

Mark Hughes believed the opening goal of the game proved crucial, and was annoyed his side did not get it as they missed a glorious chance to open up a gap from the relegation zone. He said: "I think we started slowly, it's difficult obviously on the road we had a great result and performance on Wednesday [against Swansea City] and we needed to hit that level, but we weren't able to do that today. We've conceded a goal, albeit a fantastic strike from the boy [Graham Dorrans], at that point everybody knows the opening goal, given our circumstances, is really important."

© ESPN Sports Media Ltd.