Nathan Ake
Manchester City defender Nathan Ake has admitted that the team were ‘sloppy’ against Tottenham in their opening day defeat but believes they can bounce back by drawing on their experiences of last season.
Nathan Ake said: “Through the whole team I think we could have done better. I think we were sloppy a lot of times on the ball and that is what brings the counter-attacks. For sure, we have to look at that this week and be ready for Saturday. For sure [we can use that experience from last season]. You always want to win every game but sometimes you have obstacles like this. It is a difficult start, but we know what we can do and we have to go again next Saturday. We know what we have to do. At a club like this we have to try and win every game. We came to Spurs to win the game and it didn’t go as planned. We just have to make sure we stay together and go again next week. There are a lot of matches to go. We wanted to win the first one that is clear, but we have to keep our head up and go again next week (against Norwich).”
City opened up their campaign with a trip to north London but, after a positive start, they were overrun by a solid Tottenham side and punished thanks to a fine strike by Heung-Min Son in the second half. It meant the club have suffered three consecutive 1-0 defeats in competitive games stretching back to the Champions League final last season, and while Ake has admitted that the team weren’t at their best he believes the club can rebound like they did in 2020/21. City started the season last year with just four wins from their first ten games, including a 5-2 thrashing away at Leicester City and Ake believes that will help them not to panic this time around.
