London, Dec 10 : Manchester City manager Roberto Mancini aimed his derby frustration at striker Mario Balotelli after the reigning champions surrendered their 37-game unbeaten run at the Etihad Stadium to Manchester United in a thrilling 3-2 defeat.

Having surprisingly selected Balotelli ahead of Carlos Tevez, Mancini proceeded to substitute the Italian forward early in the second half. Some of Balotelli's teammates were equally unimpressive, but Mancini singled him out for criticism. "There are words I can't say," the Telegraph quoted Mancini, as saying when asked about Balotelli's selection. "It is a bad feeling at this moment, when you lose a derby in the last seconds, but the manager should do his choice properly.

I decided to play with Mario because he could cause a problem for their defenders. He is young and can run and cause big difficulties for them," he added. "In the first half, we had to sub Vinny [Kompany] and I wanted to wait to see if Mario could play well in the second half.

But after five minutes, I saw he played like he played in the first half and I didn't want this," he said. Mancini added: "I love Mario as a guy and a player, but it is important for him to start to think about his job. He has everything to play well, but we wanted more from him and he cannot play like he played today." "I saw players like that in my life with fantastic quality and end up with nothing, but I don't want this for him," he concluded. (ANI)