Manchester City manager Manuel Pellegrini is sure his side will avoid the hiccups of the club’s previous title defence and the nightmarish past campaign endured by rivals Manchester United.
United and Chelsea are the only two of the five Premier League winners to defend the competition since it started in 1992, while City’s second-placed finish in 2012/13 was considered a “disaster” by Pellegrini when speaking to the BBC yesterday.
The holders got off to a winning start with a tough 2-0 win at Newcastle to send them immediately to the top of the table, which the Chilean hopes was a message.
“It was important to start with a win. I think the players were both hungry and humble,” he told Sky Sports.
“We need both those things if we are going to continue winning titles and if we want to improve on what we did last year.
“It was so important to me that the players had that attitude from the beginning to the end of the game.”
City took the lead through David Silva after some clever play from Edin Dzeko allowed Silva to fire home in the 38th minute.
The game was rounded off in stoppage time after Sergio Aguero slotted in the rebound from his initial effort that was saved by Tim Krul.
“It’s very difficult to compare each year. Maybe last year a lot of people doubted we could win the title because it was my first season here in the Premier League,” added Pellegrini.
“Today, we have one year more working with the players and I think we have also a strong squad.”
Three of the next four matches have City up against most of their title challenging rivals in Liverpool, Arsenal and Chelsea.
Pellegrini wants his side to continue with the same attitude they showed in their opening game throughout the rest of the season.
“You have five or six teams that can win the title, so we need to have the same attitude as we had today, the hunger with which we have started the season, the same humility with which we played today in every game.
“I am sure this squad can fight, and we will see at the end of the season which titles we will win.”
Main image courtesy of Manchester City FC via YouTube, with thanks.
