Mancini: We're getting back to form

Roberto Mancini believes Manchester City are getting close to their best and will be back firing on all cylinders after the international break.

The reigning Barclays Premier League champions picked up a 2-1 victory at Fulham thanks to substitute Edin Dzeko's late effort. Had the Bosnian not found the net, though, the draw would have seen City go five matches without a win in all competitions for the first time in nearly four years.

Mancini admits his team are yet to find the form they showed last season but believes they are moving in the right direction, as he said: "I think, in my opinion, maybe after the international break we will be OK."

He added: "I was worried because we continued to play well and had chances. We didn't score for 87 minutes and I am very pleased for Edin because he scored an important goal.

"It is also difficult for me to choose 11 players because I have 17, 18, 20 players that are really good.

"We play every three days so we need all of these players. Fulham is a difficult pitch so it was really important to have all these good players. I think that we were very close to the same we played last year.

"The problem we had was we didn't have all the players in pre-season. Twelve players started their pre-season 10 days before the championship began, which is difficult."

The win stopped the rot and propelled City up to fourth, keeping them within touching distance of Manchester United and Chelsea.

"We were unlucky for three or four weeks and we deserved to win," Mancini said. "Against Fulham we had a lot of possession, a lot more chances to score and I think we played very well.

"I am happy with that and if we had lost you could say it was a bad moment, but we wanted this victory and we got it."