Roberto Mancini blames strikers for Manchester City defeat to Sunderland

Manchester City manager Roberto Mancini has blamed his strikers for his side's 1-0 defeat to Sunderland at the Stadium of Light.

Adam Johnson's goal in the 53rd minute proved to be the difference between the two sides in their Premier League clash on Wednesday.

"It's the same story for us at Sunderland every year, we are not going to come here next season," Mancini told BBC Sport. "But last year we didn't win here and we won the title.

"It's important that our strikers start scoring more goals, sometimes we take one touch too many.

"We missed five or six chances in the first half, and we need to score first in games sometimes. We can't recover all the time."

The defeat leaves City seven points behind leaders Manchester United.