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Article continues belowArticle continues belowArticle continues below<ul><li>City went through a rough patch in November and December</li><li>Slipped to fourth position</li><li>Senior City players spoke at length with the squad</li></ul><script type="application/json" data-placement="fcplayer-semantic">{"type":"fcplayer-semantic","data":{"embedCode":"//cdn.fcp.codes/embed-code-template/embed-code-template.js#SEMANTIC_5704afb8-c10b-4ba5-9cb4-d7fb6098ef90"}}</script>

Revealed: Senior Man City players - including Kevin De Bruyne and Kyle Walker - held crunch December meeting following poor run of results to ensure nobody played 'victim card'

Premier League

Manchester City

West Ham

In the face of a challenging run of results jeopardising their pursuit of a fourth consecutive Premier League title, City's core leadership group, <a href="https://www.goal.com/en/lists/man-city-season-starts-now-kevin-de-bruyne-return-spark-trophy-hunt/blt3843c8c257b34df3" target="_blank">led by Walker, De Bruyne, Ruben Dias, Rodri, and Bernardo Silva, </a>held a crucial squad meeting last month. The aim was to instill a collective commitment to avoid playing the "victim card" or making "excuses" for their dip in form which saw them slip into a slump with three successive Premier League draws against Chelsea, Liverpool, and Tottenham Hotspur. Despite a 3-2 Champions League comeback victory against RB Leipzig, a 1-0 defeat at Aston Villa on December 6 saw City drop to fourth in the table, trailing then leaders Arsenal by six points.

WHAT HAPPENED?

In an interview with <a href="https://www.telegraph.co.uk/football/2024/01/12/manchester-city-players-crisis-talks-nathan-ake-season/" target="_blank">Telegraph Sport</a>, Nathan Ake revealed: "We had a big get together organised by the captains and we had a good talk with each other. Not to hammer each other but to be honest that everyone has to look at themselves to see what we can do better because this is not what we want. We want to win games and get the season going again and we had to do it now while there were still so many games to go. The time was still there to do it because we would rather have had the conversation then than in five weeks when we could have been even more points behind."We know we weren’t playing too badly. But we weren’t getting the points and all of us expect from each other that we get points, we defend better and look at yourself for why we are conceding so many goals. They weren’t necessarily great goals [from the opponents] - many were deflections or those kind of things - but it still happened so [we asked] why did it happen this year and not last year? We talked with each other about it to try to understand and make sure everyone was on the same page - that we don’t just play the victim card of deflections or a difficult moment.”

WHAT NATHAN AKE SAID

Drawing parallels with a crucial meeting in January 2021, where an "emergency" discussion sparked a 21-match winning streak, Ake revealed that the floor was open for all players to make them heard.“We have to do better as individual players and defenders but everyone was allowed to say whatever they wanted and we picked it up,” he said.“We set the standards really high for ourselves. Obviously, the manager [Guardiola] is on top of it but we want to achieve good things as well and always make sure that, no matter what, we want to keep the standards high and not let excuses or injuries creep in for performances. So, it’s a good thing that we still have this character to keep going."

THE BIGGER PICTURE

City have bounced back in the title race quite emphatically after <a href="https://www.goal.com/en/lists/pep-guardiola-compares-kevin-de-bruyne-phil-foden-xavi-andres-iniesta-man-city-delight-return-exceptional-belgian/blt04a8b005faa3849b" target="_blank">successive wins against Everton and Sheffield United.</a> They can move to within two points of leaders Liverpool if they beat Newcastle United on Saturday and Ake admitted that since the difference was nominal it further spurred them to give their all.“We struggled a bit at one point but the gap is not too big so that motivated us as well,” he said. “[The attitude was] ‘Ok, win these two games [Everton and Sheffield United] and we’re there again and can compete again’, knowing normally towards the end of the season we start to kick on and hopefully we’re going to do the same.”City indeed rallied at the business end of last season to close down a five-point gap with Arsenal in the final stretch to lift the Premier League trophy. They have once again regained their mojo and looked unstoppable in their recent 5-0 thumping of Huddersfield in the FA Cup.

WHAT NEXT FOR MAN CITY?

Revealed: Senior Man City players - including Kevin De Bruyne and Kyle Walker - held crunch December meeting following poor run of results to ensure nobody played 'victim card' | Goal.com English Oman

Kevin De Bruyne and Kyle Walker reportedly held crunch talks with the squad following poor run of results to ensure nobody played &apos;victim card&apos;.

Revealed: Senior Man City players - including Kevin De Bruyne and Kyle Walker - held crunch December meeting following poor run of results to ensure nobody played &apos;victim card&apos;

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