Roberto Mancini hopes to come away from Sunderland's Stadium of Light with a happy memory for a change It was, after all, there that their neighbours thought they had won the title back in May, only to see the roof fall in on their ambition, and the home crowd turn their backs in celebration, in added time. However, when pressed, it appears the Manchester City manager's recall of the fixtures remains excellent. Both games up there we've played very well, we had lots of chances to score. But we lost both games because we were trying to win in the last second. We were attacking and conceded on two counter attacks. That is our mentality. If we can play like we did last year we have a big chance. But we know it will tough. The challenge will be all the tougher because Sunderland have in their ranks Adam Johnson, who was let go by City in the summer. It is not difficult to spot that the one deficiency in the champions" squad this season has been the lack of a quick, wide man like Johnson. Mancini, however, does not regret the sale. I didn't say to him to leave. Adam said he wanted to play always and for this reason I let him go. For me, Adam was an important player but I understand the situation. He is young, he wants to play every game. With City beaten only once in the league so far, Mancini is approaching the new year in the same frame of mind as last season: he is convinced City have the resources to mount a Premier League title challenge. He does not anticipate being busy in the transfer window. I'm happy with our players. It's important that we recover our players that are injured in this moment, we don't know how many players we lose for African Cup: two players sure, Kolo and Yaya, and after that I don't know. Abdul [Razak]? We will see. And, he insists, if there are to be sales, one of them will not be Joleon Lescott. This is despite the England man falling behind Kolo Toure and Matja Nastasic in the queue to partner Vincent Kompany in the middle of the City defence. Joleon is a serious man, he always works hard. He played the last 15 minutes against Newcastle, he played against Dortmund. It's important for him to continue playing and working like he is.