Manchester City's Sven-Goran Eriksson was not over-enamoured with Elano's reaction to being left out of the starting line-up at Bolton on Saturday, but much happier with his response on the pitch.
The Blues boss admitted that his £8million summer signing and highest wage-earner did not take too kindly to be being told he was benched for the trip to the Reebok.
But the manager was much happier with the response from the 26-year-old Brazilian once he got on the pitch with half an hour to go.
"He was disappointed when I told him on Friday that he wouldn't be playing and he is entitled to be so. Possibly it will make him play better next Saturday," said the City chief.
"I was pleased with what he did when he came on. He retained the ball and made things happen and had a couple of decent shots at goal. I thought he was good. Hopefully that means he is back to his best."
Eriksson was generally pleased with his side's mental approach to the third meeting of the season with Wanderers even though he was left
wishing they had not been sucked into a battle with their hosts and had imposed their own tempo on the match.
"It was a battle but we knew that it would be before the game and you have to be prepared for it," he declared.
"Our attitude and spirit were good and we defended well which is not easy against a Bolton team that pressures all over the pitch."
The full article contains 265 words and appears in n/a newspaper.
