Nathan Ake has called on his Manchester City team-mates to show their character with questions being raised regarding the squad’s mentality after yet another disappointing result.
While City ended a run of five straight defeats across all competitions, they are now winless in six following a dramatic turn of events in their Champions League clash against Feyenoord on Tuesday night.
Leading 3-0 at the Etihad Stadium after 53 minutes thanks to a brace from Erling Haaland and Ilkay Gundogan’s second goal since returning from Barcelona in the summer transfer window, the hosts were seemingly in cruise control and on their way to a morale-boosting victory.
However, Pep Guardiola’s side then shipped three goals in the space of just 14 minutes late on to draw the game - a result that leaves them on eight points with three matches remaining in the league phase of the competition.
More worryingly for City, it’s now 17 goals conceded in their last six games, leading to suspicions that the players are suffering from mentality problems as their mini-crisis deepens.
The question was put to defender Ake and his response was to issue a challenge to his team-mates to stand up and be counted.
"Maybe, maybe... it's difficult to say,” he told Amazon Prime Video when asked if it was a mental issue for City. “I think obviously, we’ve not been in this situation many times. This is where we have to show our character.
“When everything seems to go against us and everyone writing us off. We have to stay strong mentally and believe in ourselves and stay together.
“There’s a period every season where people write us off. We just have to make sure we stay strong together as a team, the staff and everyone together and make sure we get out of it.
“We played quite well and had it under control, then it all changed. At that point, you just have to stay strong mentally. I think after they made it 3-1, they pushed on. I think maybe we have to go forward a bit earlier to keep pressure on them.
“But we stayed playing at the back and maybe invited more pressure on us. Then when you concede the second one there’s even more pressure and I think we have to stay more mentally strong.
“I think we did [give it away]. When you’re 3-0 up at home, I think you can never give it away like this. It is what it is at the moment. The only thing we can do now is fight back and stay strong. It feels like a defeat when you give away three goals at home.”
Next up for City is a trip to Anfield to face Premier League leaders Liverpool on Sunday. Knowing a defeat would leave them 11 points behind Arne Slot’s side, Ake thinks the game is a perfect opportunity to bounce back.
“Look, it’s tough now, it’s a tough night,” he added. “The only thing we can do now is look forward to the next one. It’s Liverpool, it’s a big game. It’s another challenge we have to overcome.”
