Roberto Mancini refused to bow to supporter demands to unleash Manchester City's attack and insisted he is under no pressure after Saturday's Birmingham City stalemate.
The Blues repeated their 0-0 draw with Manchester United against Alex McLeish's side as they potentially fell further off the Premier League title pace. Boos rung from the Eastlands terraces as the Italian manager removed striker Carlos Tevez for defensive midfielder Gareth Barry as frustration grew at his dour methods.
Asked for the reason behind his call, a defiant Mancini insisted he was the boss and "it is not football" to throw on centre forwards to chase a winner.
He said: "Because we play with all our players in the box.
"With Carlos [Tevez], he has a little injury for two to three weeks and I thought if I took off the striker and brought on another player we would have some chance to score.
"If you think I put on four strikers and we score four goals, it is not football.
"All the supporters can think like this in here and in Italy, but I must think like a manager.
"The supporters think, 'OK, why don't you put on two, three, four, five strikers?' If the football is like this, I'll put on 10 strikers.
"But, it is not football. We must score when we get a chance.
"We had 17 chances in the second half."
The 45-year-old added: "I am frustrated for these supporters as I want to win. I don't want a draw or loss."
Question marks are sure to grow about Mancini's future at the helm of the richest club in the world after the weekend result. The ex-Inter supremo rubbished talk he was feeling the heat of owner Sheikh Mansour's burning ambition.
He stated: "Which pressure? For what?
"You continue to say I'm under pressure. I'm not [under] pressure.
"We are in fourth position.
"We have some problems, and must improve.
"Which pressure? Because some supporters say 'put two strikers on?' When we have all our players, we can play with balance.
"Maybe we play better, or if we play like today in second half where we played some good football."
