Manchester City super-sub Edin Dzeko refused to complain about a lack of starting opportunities after he fired the Premier League champions to a 2-1 victory over Tottenham, insisting that his goals are his only message for manager Roberto Mancini.
The Bosnian forward has struggled to nail down a place in the starting XI this season, despite netting his sixth strike of the campaign with a sumptuous late volley past Spurs’ Brad Friedel on Sunday afternoon.
And, while the striker has made no secret of his desire to start more games for the 2011-12 title winners, Dzeko maintains that he will simply carry on doing what he is doing in order to win Mancini’s trust.
“The goals are my message, that is the only thing,” he told Sky Sports when asked if he had a message for his manager following his winner.
City came from behind yet again to close to within a point of league leaders Manchester United and Dzeko insists that his side will have to start games in a better way in order to retain their title.
“It’s not the first time [we have come back] but it shows our character that we are strong,” he commented. “Even when we are losing to come back, I hope next time we start winning 1-0 and then win the game because like this it is much harder to play.”
The striker lamented the nature of Spurs’ opener, suggesting that there is a worry that City are becoming weak at defending set-pieces.
“Again from a free kick we conceded a goal – stupid, as it was against Arsenal too,” he complained. “Two games, we have to improve there for sure.”
However, the champions came back strongly in the second half, and the Bosnian felt his side deserved the win, concluding: “Even after the goal we played better, we were the better team over 90 minutes and at the end we deserved it.”