Hands up all those who were surprised on Tuesday night when Roberto Mancini held his hands up.

Surprise? That's not the half of it. A manager admitting he got it wrong is as rare these days as an Arsene Wenger cartwheel, but the Blues boss owned up at Goodison Park.

Or as Jim White puts it in the Telegraph, "he did something really unusual in the modern game: he took responsibility for defeat by admitting to his own ineptitude".

Jim's tongue-in-cheek salute - "he has turned the club scarf into a fashion item (and) pioneered the introduction of mime into the technical area" - merely sets the scene for a theory.

Sure enough, he sees a method in Roberto's apparent madness "in an era in which the cult of the coach reigns supreme, when managerial omnipotence is promoted ... during every press conference".

He points out that the boss did something similar after the 3-0 defeat at Liverpool last season and "while fans feared for their season ... City beat Manchester United five days later in the FA Cup semi-final on their way to their first trophy in a generation.

As a motivational tactic, shielding his players from blame, his remarks worked a treat

"And if it worked once, why not try the line again? After a testing January, the truth is City looked jaded at Goodison Park, badly missing the titanic midfield influence of Yaya Touré."

White sees the personal risk of Roberto's gambit, but argues: "What he does not want is for his team spirit to be damaged by excessive condemnation of a defeat which, in the long view, might be irrelevant.

"He knows that Touré’s return is really all that is required to return the team to the kind of form they demonstrated at the start of the season."

Another absentee interests ESPN, who report that "Boca Juniors president Daniel Angelici claims Carlos Tevez is always welcome to join the Argentinian powerhouse club as the 27-year-old prepares to end his absence from football".

Tevez is "set to play in a testimonial match for Boca star Martin Palermo this Saturday, prompting Angelici to suggest the Buenos Aires club would be willing to give Tevez further game time ahead of any potential summer transfer".

Angelica is quoted: "If Tevez arrives for free then we would be happy to have him." We're pretty sure the club will get more tempting offers ...