Nathan Ake has revealed that Pep Guardiola has figured out how Manchester City can build on their treble success.
In the eyes of many City fans, Guardiola’s side completed football last season.
City won a third consecutive Premier League title, beat arch-rivals Manchester United in the FA Cup final and then won the Champions League for the first time in the club’s history.
It may seem that things can’t get any better than that, but that doesn’t mean Guardiola is going to try and take his team to even greater heights.
Many clubs suffer drop-offs after achieving great success, but under Guardiola City have largely managed to avoid that.
Guardiola has warned City stars
Now, defender Nathan Ake has admitted that Guardiola has already addressed the subject of ‘going again’ during the club’s pre-season tour in Japan.
“The manager already picked up on how we can go again,” Ake told reporters in Tokyo.
“He doesn’t want anyone slipping up or being too casual. We know what we have to do, everyone wants to hunt us down, that’s normal. So now it’s about us. How can we do the same again? I think everyone is ready.
“We already saw in the last few days in training, everyone still runs hard and that’s a positive. The next few games will be good to get our rhythm back and then from there we start to go again – and I’m sure everyone is as hungry as before.”
Ake went on to explain that it’s not just the mentality and attitude of the players that keeps standards high at the club.
“City hire people who demand, have the same mentality,” the 28-year-old said.
“I’m not just talking about players, physios, staff, everyone keeps making sure we’re on our toes and not slacking with little rules they keep in place and make sure we do the same as before.
“I think that’s a big thing and also the players who they are bringing always have the mentality and everything just then clicks together and we go again, I think that that’s just the mentality. No one lets it slip up and especially the manager.”
