“I believe it is about being mentally stronger because we certainly have enough quality in the team.”
Manchester City’s involvement in this season’s Champions League is hanging by a thread after just two matches.
Dropped points against Roma last Tuesday, added to defeat by Bayern Munich on Match Day One, means that City no longer have any margin for error if they are to make the knock-out stages.
They failed to get out of their qualifying group in two of their three previous Champions League campaigns and last season were beaten in the round of 16 by Barcelona.
Both manager Manuel Pellegrini and his predecessor Roberto Mancini have cited tough groups and the need to grow into the competition as reasons why one of the world’s richest clubs has failed to make an impact on Europe’s elite.
But when your squad cost upwards of £300m to assemble and your players have hundreds of international caps between them and have played in World Cups, European Championships, Copas America and the Africa Cup of Nations lack of experience seems a weak excuse.
Pablo Zabaleta is as mystified as anyone as to why a group of players who have won two Premier League titles, an FA Cup and a Capital One Cup in three years can’t work out how to consistently win Champions League matches.
“We know this is our fourth year in this competition and we are aware that sometimes we are not playing at our best,” says the Argentinean right-back.
“Obviously we are in a very tough group and now it is going to be very tough to qualify but we are Manchester City, we are champions of the Premier League.
“There are still 12 points to play for. But we are still positive but obviously we are under much more pressure now. I believe it is about being mentally stronger because we certainly have enough quality in the team.
“Sometimes we are maybe affected by the lack of intensity in the games. But the simple reason why it is more difficult in the Champions League is that you play against the best teams in Europe.
“If we don’t play at our best, we cannot win games in the Champions League. As players, we need to take responsibility for this. We know we have to improve.
“You cannot make mistakes like we did against Roma. You can’t afford poor defending in this competition. So I think it’s about mentality. But the only way to improve is to work and work.
“We are professional players and we know that we will not play well in some games.
“The manager always prepares 40 minutes of video so we can see what we have done wrong or done well but we don’t need the manager to tell us whether we are playing well or not. We know that ourselves.”
There’s now a suggestion that if City don’t crack the Champions League this season, a major overhaul in personnel might be the only solution.
The core of the current team would then have had four attempts to deliver and time might just be running out on Zabaleta, Yaya Toure, Vincent Kompany, James Milner, Joe Hart and the rest.
Zabaleta accepts that argument but insists he and his team-mates are up to the job.
“We obviously know that the club’s owners have been spending big in the last few years to make this a Champions League-winning squad,” he says.
“We know that it’s our responsibility to win the games and we have the ability. We just need to improve our mentality.”
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