Roberto Mancini has instructed Mario Balotelli to “keep it simple” as he looks to overcome a run of 11 Premier League games without a goal.
The 21-year-old started for the Citizens against West Ham at the weekend but failed to find a breakthrough, eventually being substituted, to his apparent dislike.
Balotelli’s best chance came from an overhead kick and his manager has urged him to look for an easier way to goal, in order to regain his confidence.
“There is a problem with him not scoring,” Mancini admitted to the Manchester Evening News. “It’s probably because he tries too hard when he has a chance.
“Sometimes when you have a chance you don’t concentrate on scoring. When you get those chances, you can make mistakes.
“Sometimes Mario needs to try to do the easy thing.
“He sometimes wants to score an incredible goal, but when you don’t score for a long time you need to keep it simple, stay on the goalkeeper often and not stay too far out, as he did at West Ham.
“He put on a good performance but from what we created on Saturday we should score – and that goes for Edin Dzeko, Carlos Tevez and Sergio Aguero, for everyone.”
Saturday’s goalless draw with West Ham was the first time City had failed to find the net since April but Mancini was satisfied with his side’s overall showing.
“It was a good performance but we were missing a goal,” Mancini said. “We had four or five incredible chances and when you get those kind of chances, you need to score.
“We are not scoring enough at the moment. With Chelsea drawing, it was a good opportunity to go top.”