Big-spending Manchester City’s big spending was quantified in last week’s announcement of £121m losses for the financial year ending 31 May 2010.

And while they may be riding as high in English football’s top-flight as they have done for many years, that hasn’t stopped the critics of the side’s Italian supremo, Roberto Mancini.

Nor has it allowed City’s Dutch international Nigel De Jong to escape criticism and censure for the tackle which broke the leg of Newcastle’s Hatem Ben Arfa.

 

Last month, the former Inter boss spoke out against unhappy players making their unhappiness public knowledge. But in the last week, the on-going differences between Mancini and his captain and top-scorer Carlos Tevez were laid bare.

City are second in the Premier League, four points behind leaders Chelsea, after hard-earned home wins against Newcastle and, impressively, Chelsea themselves.

They ended Chelsea’s 100% EPL record thanks to Carlos Tevez’s second-half goal in a tight fixture. And Tevez was on the scoresheet again as City overcame Newcastle, converting a first-half penalty in the 2-1 victory over the newly-promoted North-Easterners.

England wideman Adam Johnson was a match-winning substitute against the Toon. And he also found the net as City drew 1-1 in their home Europa League tie against Serie A giants Juventus.

 

But the headlines were made by Tevez’s half-time bust-up with Mancini, during the Newcastle game over the defensive nature of City’s tactics, which have often left the Argentine international ploughing a lonely furrow up front.

Mancini admitted to the angry dressing-room confrontation with Tevez but said there was no on-going bad feeling between the pair, despite the fact that there were reported fall-outs between the two towards the end of last season.

He suggested that the confrontation, which he described as “ballsy” was “exactly the alarm call everybody needed…now and then a good shake-up is healthy.”

Less healthy was De Jong’s tackle from behind in the seventh minute of the game, which left French international Ben Arfa with a double-leg-break.

De Jong has subsequently been dropped from the Netherlands national squad for the tackle which Dutch boss Bert Van Marwijk described as “wild and necessary,” before adding: “I have a problem with the way Nigel needlessly looks to push the limit.”

Newcastle were considering legal action against De Jong, although their chances of proving liability are thought slim given that match referee Martin Atkinson saw the incident and did not even deem the tackle a foul.

City’s £121m losses were announced last week amid speculation as to how the club would meet UEFA’s “financial fair play” criteria in time to be allowed to compete in either the Champions or Europa Leagues.

City Chief Executive Garry Cook said: “Player acquisitions on the scale we have seen will no longer be required,” as the figures revealed City’s wage bill to be higher than its turnover. However, these results take no account of City’s summer spending splurge of over £120m.

City visit EPL surprise package Blackpool on the Sunday after the forthcoming international break.