Manchester City manager Roberto Mancini has warned his players they will have to improve if they are to get anything out of Tuesday's Champions League trip to Naples.
City take on Napoli, knowing they must win in order to seal a place in the knockout phase and avoid a nervous last-day encounter with Bayern Munich. They warmed up with a decent 3-1 win over Newcastle, which ended the Magpies' unbeaten record and maintained their own advantage at the top of the Barclays Premier League.
However, despite a couple of penalties from Mario Balotelli and Sergio Aguero either side of a Micah Richards effort, Mancini still found room for complaint and he said: "I know what we can find more in Naples. Naples this season are playing very well at home. If we want to win in Naples, we should play better than we did this afternoon."
Still, City came out on top by adding another three goals to their impressive tally, with Balotelli and Aguero taking their seasonal tallies to eight and 11 respectively.
It is a measure of Mancini's new-found confidence in Balotelli that he allowed him to take City's first penalty, after Ryan Taylor had handled Yaya Toure's shot.
"With the penalties, Mario is fabulous," he said. "It is impossible that he misses. I don't know why. He shoots very well.
"Mario is a very important player for us. He is a great player and is getting better and better.
"I am trying to help him because I don't want him to waste his talent and to make sure he can become the player he can become.
"The rest is down to him and he is doing very well."
City are yet to drop a point on home soil this season and, despite Mancini's concerns, look well placed to come through a difficult week that concludes with a trip to Liverpool next Sunday.
Source: PA
Source: PA