Roberto Mancini believes Man City must learn important lessons after their Community Shield defeat.
Boss wants City to control a game better when they take a lead
Manchester City boss Roberto Mancini believes his side must learn important lessons after they lost to rivals Manchester United in the Community Shield.
City went in two up at half-time after goals from Joleon Lescott and Edin Dzeko but a Chris Smalling effort and Nani brace - including the winner in added time - saw United retain the silverware.
Afterwards, Mancini believed his side had needed to control the ball and the game better in the second period.
Asked if it was a big opportunity wasted, he told
Sky Sports News: "Yes, because we went two-nil after 45 minutes.
"But this is football. Second half probably we didn't play very well and United scored two goals in seven minutes.
"But probably the correct result was 2-2 and go on to penalties but that is it."
No edge
He did not believe United would hold a psychological edge after the win.
"I don't think it has given United a mental edge but it will be important for us to know why we lost this game," he said.
"A top team doesn't always play well, but when we score two goals and go 2-0 up, we need to have a strong mentality.
"If we play another strong squad like United, or against someone like Real Madrid in the Champions League, we need to continue to play football.
"We need to stay high up the pitch, not go too deep like we did in the second half."
He added: "I think that this is only one game. It is not important for the Barclays Premier League, for the FA Cup.
"It is an important game because it is the first game and we wanted to win this game but if you play against United you can lose because they play well.
"When you go up two-nil I think you need maybe to control the ball and the game because a game like this can change very suddenly."
Overhaul
He believed his side can overhaul United and win the Premier League - but must learn from their mistakes.
"I repeat, if we understand why (we lost) it will be very important," he said.
Meanwhile, Mancini, who expects skipper Carlos Tevez to be back training at Carrington on Monday, believes big-money arrival Sergio Aguero needs to improve his fitness before he can be considered for first-team action after spending the entire game on the bench.
"Aguero is not ready to play," said Mancini.
"Maybe I could put him on for the last 10 minutes but it is difficult because we needed tall players for the set pieces.
"He needs to train. He finished playing three weeks ago. Now he needs to train and recover. Probably he doesn't need a pre-season like the other players but just a bit more work to find his form."
