r.Ferrari had hoped to be competitive in Austin because the track

LONDON -- As Manchester United undergoes a smooth handover of power, Manchester City appears to be in disarray. City manager Roberto Mancini has publicly expressed anger that the club is not disputing reports that Malaga coach Manuel Pellegrini has been lined up to replace him. For his part, Pellegrini is only denying that a deal is in place, leaving open the possibility that he could be headed to the Premier League. "I deny that as of today I am the new coach of Manchester City," Pellegrini said. "I have not signed any agreement with anyone." The public silence from City, though, is speaking volumes. City chairman Khaldoon al Mubarak and his board members have not made a public statement supporting Mancini as the clubs season has imploded. And Mancini was visibly frustrated this weekend that the directors have decided not to shut down the reports that Pellegrini will replace him after almost four years in charge. "This problem has come out because we didnt stop all these things that you wrote for six months," Mancini told reporters in the wake of Saturdays FA Cup final loss to Wigan. "Its been too much. I dont understand why." Mancini is the manager who ended Citys 35-year drought trophy by winning the FA Cup in 2011, and then delivered the teams first English title in 44 years last May. City, though, only won the Premier League on goal difference after scoring twice in the final moments against Queens Park Rangers. QPRs London ground was being used by Mancini to train his team ahead of Tuesdays penultimate league match at Reading. By Citys standards, before being bought by Sheikh Mansour in 2008, finishing second in the league this month would have been a remarkable achievement. But a team that has benefited from around $1 billion of Abu Dhabi investment in five years has failed to build on its position of strength. The Premier League trophy was conceded to Manchester United with four games to go, giving manager Alex Ferguson the perfect retirement gift before handing over to David Moyes. And City has not established itself as a forced in Europe, exiting the Champions League at the group stage for the second straight season. The FA Cup gave City a chance to end the season with a trophy but relegation-threatened Wigan won the final 1-0 on Saturday. "The team looks without passion, desire and (its) difficult to find an answer why everything went wrong," City defender Pablo Zabaleta said. Captain Vincent Kompany is calling for calm amid the turmoil at City. "I think Man City fans just need to bear with us," he said. "We will come here again and win a lot of trophies in the future. We have proven it and it is just a matter of time." It shouldnt take long to see who will manage the team next season. And, for Mancini, history is repeating itself. The Italian exited Inter Milan in 2008 after three successive title wins after discovering he faced being fired in a newspaper. "At that moment I understood that maybe it was true," Mancini said. But Mancini also replaced Mark Hughes at City in 2009 under blurred circumstances. Mancini was forced to concede he had met City about the job two weeks before Hughes was fired -- a move that enraged fans at the time. On Saturday, those fans were bellowing abuse about Pellegrini at Wembley Stadium while chanting support for Mancini. However muddled his departure is proving to be, Mancini will always be the manager who ended the clubs long-wait for silverware. "For this reason we are very popular with the support," Mancini said. "I love them, they love me and Im happy for this. If in the end I will leave I will be the first supporter of Manchester City in the future."Stan Smith Goedkoop . Anthony Davis had 31 points and 17 rebounds in his seventh straight game with more than 20 points, but that was only enough to keep the Pelicans competitive into the final minutes. Andrew Bogut had 10 points and 15 rebounds for Golden State, which rebounded from a loss a night earlier in Oklahoma City and snapped a two-game skid. Adidas Stan Smith Nederland . -- Damian Lillard and LaMarcus Alrdridge were again the go-to duo for the Trail Blazers against the Kings. http://www.stansmithnederland.com/ .J. -- New York Giants wide receiver Victor Cruz will miss the rest of the season after having surgery on his left knee. Stan Smith Kopen .Y. - Free agent outfielder Jacoby Ellsbury, fresh off winning the World Series with Boston, reached agreement with the rival New York Yankees on a seven-year contract worth about $153 million, a person familiar with the negotiations said Tuesday night. Stan Smith Korting . Sulaiman, 44, was chosen unanimously Tuesday in a vote by the leadership, the World Boxing Council said. Sulaiman becomes the sixth president of the organization.AUSTIN, Texas -- Sebastian Vettel admitted he pushed too hard on his qualifying lap for the U.S. Grand Prix, but said it is unfair to suggest that teammate Kimi Raikkonen is only ahead because of that.Vettel will line up sixth behind Raikkonen on Sundays grid at the Circuit of the Americas after clocking a time over 0.2s off the Finn. But when it was put to Vettel that he has struggled against Raikkonen in recent races because of his own mistakes, the four-time world champion talked up the quality of his teammate.No, I think its not fair to look at it that way, he said. Kimi did a very good job today and both Q3 laps I wasnt happy and probably pushed a bit too hard. We know that backfires on these tyres, but that isnt an excuse and I should have done a better job.Its part of the reason why Im not that happy with today, but as I said before, the gap to the cars in front is really what we dont like. I think we had a good run in the last couple of races and coming here and not being as competitive as wwe thought is not good news.dddddddddddd But well take it and tomorrow is the race so we will see whats possible, even though it will be a big fight, but thats what we are here for.Ferrari had hoped to be competitive in Austin because the track has some similarities to Suzuka where Vettel and teammate Kimi Raikkonen qualified on the second row. The German said there was no obvious reason for the dip in form in Austin.I cant give you an answer because we dont exactly know. Yesterday we saw already that we werent yet on the pace. I think we improved today and the feeling wasnt that bad, so throughout qualifying I think we were both reasonably happy with the balance, but we werent quick enough.Obviously there is a lot of work going in trying to understand what happened, but for now we have to take it that way. As I said, we have to fight as much as we can at tomorrows race. ' ' '