Manchester City boss Roberto Mancini denies he was trying to play for the draw in the latter stages of their defeat to Manchester United.

The suspicion was that, having started with an admirably attacking formation, that featured Adam Johnson and Craig Bellamy in wide positions to supplement Carlos Tevez and Emmanuel Adebayor, Mancini got nervous around the 70-minute mark of a game in which his team had been second best without ever being outplayed.

Patrick Vieira's arrival suggested a 'hold what we have' mentality, even if Mancini denied it afterwards.

"I wasn't trying to do that," he countered.

"We had a problem in the middle and I needed to sort it out. It got better after five minutes so I brought on Shaun Wright-Phillips.

"All the players did well for me."