With City losing 3-1 at St Mary’s and falling 12 points behind Manchester United, hopes of successfully defending the title won last May are fading, though Zabaleta says the players will not be giving up the chase and have re-focused after the Saints defeat.
“We had a great session on Wednesday afternoon and the feeling among the lads is very positive,” said the Etihad Player of the Month. “Sometimes after a game like Southampton you need a few days to think about what went wrong and why, and then come back stronger and I believe that’s what will happen.
We are completely focused for the weekend against Leeds and for the rest of the season and we are determined to do the very best we can in the remaining months
...Pablo Zabaleta..
“We know we gave probably our worst performance for two years or more last Saturday and it couldn’t have come at a worse time because it was such a vital game in the title race and United keep winning so the gap is even bigger than before, but you never know in football.
“I think it was just one of those days when everything went wrong. It’s not an excuse, but sometimes when everyone is away for international duty in the days before it is difficult to prepare in the normal way and I think it didn’t help us on this occasion.
“But having said that, we must give full credit to Southampton who played really well and pressed us from the first minute to the last. We have to hold our hands up and admit they were better than us on the day.
“We will learn from this defeat and use the deflated feeling we had afterwards as an inspiration to maybe try and re-discover the sort of spirit we had last season. We need to stand together, battle and show what we are really capable of.
“We will aim and get back to winning ways at the weekend in the FA Cup and that is our immediate focus now.”
