Roberto Mancini has said his Manchester City players must learn to get nasty if they want to realise their ambition of securing Champions League football for next season (Man City 8/11 Premier League without Big 4).

The Italian was unimpressed by the manner in which his top-four hopefuls were bullied by relegation-threatened Hull in a 2-1 defeat at the KC Stadium on Saturday and has demanded a marked improvement for the visit of north-west rivals Bolton (Man City 4/11 draw 16/5 Bolton 6/1 Premier League match betting) on Tuesday.

Jozy Altidore opened the scoring in the 31st minute with his first Premier League goal and veteran midfielder George Boateng added a stunning volley to give the Tigers a first win since November on a day to forget for City in which Wayne Bridge was subjected by boos by the home crowd and Patrick Vieira and Adam Johnson made their debuts off the bench.

Emmanuel Adebayor halved the deficit with a consolation goal but Mancini was left with plenty to think about on a weekend when Liverpool grabbed fourth spot.

He said: “If we want to make the top four, we must win away and we must fight. We must be aggressive away, not like the first half.”

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