Sunday 1 November 2015 08:00, UK
Manuel Pellegrini is not concerned about Joe Hart after the Manchester City goalkeeper's error against Norwich on Saturday afternoon.
With City 1-0 ahead, the England international misjudged Robbie Brady's deep cross and spilled the ball to Cameron Jerome, allowing the Canaries striker to level the score with six minutes to play.
Hart, who became only the sixth goalkeeper to reach 100 clean sheets with a single club following the 0-0 draw against Manchester United last weekend, recovered to make an important save from Martin Olsson late on after Yaya Toure's penalty had put City back in front.
"Joe Hart and all the players are human, they make mistakes," Pellegrini told Sky Sports. "It doesn't matter, we won the game, maybe if we lost the two points, we would talk to him, and give him trust that he has saved us a lot of other games. I think that Joe is very strong, a good professional.
"Of course, he's not happy but these things happen, and we don't need to talk with him because he knows what we think of his performance."
The Manchester City boss also praised Norwich, who frustrated the Premier League leaders for 66 minutes before Nicolas Otamendi's opener.
"I think Norwich played very well, they defended with 100 per cent concentration," Pellegrini added. "The chances we created, we missed, so when we scored through Nico Otamendi that opened up the game a little bit more."
After Hart's mistake had allowed Norwich to equalise, City fought back and won an 88th minute penalty. Russell Martin was penalised for handball on Raheem Sterling's goal-bound effort, and the Norwich captain was sent off and a spot-kick awarded.
The response to Norwich's equaliser pleased Pellegrini, and the City manager pinpointed the club's midweek Champions League tie against Sevilla as a potential distraction for his players as the game wore on.
"The most important thing for me was in the last 10 minutes my team had the character, personality and trust to get back in the game. We won two penalties, they were penalties without any doubt, and we are never finished until the last minute.
"It is relief because it is important not to drop points at home, but after so many years in this profession you know that ahead of Champions League games, or games after the international break, they are always very difficult games. I think that today we were very focused on this game."
Bacary Sagna echoed Pellegrini's praise for the visitors, and the France international also backed Hart to put the mistake behind him.
"We knew it wouldn't be easy," Sagna said. "They have good players and they came here and defended well but we stayed patient. That was the key today. We knew they would defend well and we managed to create some chances.
"We conceded a bad goal, but we had a strong reaction and managed to win - that's the most important thing. We know if we want to be successful, we have to be a team.
"Joe [Hart] made a mistake, but the team was right behind him to come back stronger and that's what we did. We managed to score right after."
Otamendi put in another impressive performance after his man-of-the-match display in the Manchester derby, and Sagna said the Argentina international has settled in quickly.
"He is top quality," Sagna added. "He is very quiet. We needed to be tight to mark them, and that's what he did. He is very committed, even if he has only been here for a short period. He is doing very well."
