A guide for Mancini to keep City on track

Manchester Six things for Roberto Mancini to do as soon as he gets his feet under Mark Hughes's desk at Eastlands

Sort out Robinho

Either play him or sell him. Trickier than it sounds because when he played for Hughes the Brazilian did not often show much commitment, and selling Abu Dhabi's signature £32 million (Dh192 million) signing may not yield a profit or go down well with the owners. Yet the situation cannot be allowed to stagnate any further.

At best Robinho is an expensive luxury City do not really need, at worst he is a disruptive dressing room influence who is bound to spend most of January being linked with other clubs.

Mancini could learn a lot from the Tottenham defeat that accelerated Hughes' demise. Craig Bellamy was suspended, and was much missed. Robinho played extremely poorly and had a strop when substituted.

Get Bellamy onside

The Welshman is not only Hughes' staunchest defender, he has been City's best player this season and certainly one of the outgoing manager's key signings. Mancini needs to keep him happy, never the easiest of tasks but simply playing him regularly would help while ensuring his resentment over Hughes' treatment does not boil up in arguments with referees, teammates or City's new coaching staff. On no account suggest a team bonding day at a golf course.

Work out some transfer targets fairly quickly

For all City's spending in the last 18 months there are still areas of the team to be strengthened, notably the defence, where Kolo Tour, Joleon Lescott and Wayne Bridge all look as if they were either overvalued in the transfer market or flattered by the presence of better players around them at their previous clubs.

A reliable goalscorer would not go amiss either. Whether Carlos Tevez cost £25 million or £47 million he is not a reliable scorer. Emmanuel Adebayor has lost form, Bellamy and Robinho are not as deadly as they might be and Stephen Ireland is not getting forward as he once did. Mancini must find a way of combining those attacking talents while still protecting his defence.

Get the fans onside

There is not a great deal of public sympathy out there for Hughes, who had not actually delivered much in the way of startling results or a revitalised team. Even he would have to accept he never succeeded in stamping his personality on the team as he had done at Blackburn.

If City wish to carry on just being City, as they endearingly managed to under Hughes, there is no need for foreign ownership or a vast transfer budget. Mancini will win over his new public if he can find a way to make a difference, either in tightening up the defence or introducing a more professional mindset. In other words...

Do a Guus Hiddink

Considering he was only at Chelsea on a part-time basis, while still keeping his hand in as coach of Russia, the Dutch manager gave an object lesson at the start of the year in how to produce markedly better performances from the same group of players in a short time. Hiddink was not even allowed a transfer window or a game against Manchester United, and Mancini will have both of those.

The next Mancunian derby, as luck would have it, is a two-legged semifinal in the Carling Cup next month. Should the new boss take City to Wembley by prevailing over the evil empire, whether Sir Alex Ferguson puts out his Carling Cup side or his currently floundering first teamers, Mancini will be an instant Manc hero.

Try not to draw any of the early games

Just a thought.