Nigel de Jong is adamant that the Blues have what it takes to bounce straight back after the disappointment of the defeat at Hull.
City missed out on the chance to make up more ground on Euro qualification rivals Villa and Spurs and lost ground on Liverpool.
But the Dutchman reckons a survey of the Premier League standings and a quick resume of the character in the dressing room should remind everyone that City are still in the hunt for end of season satisfaction.
“It will hard to forget the game at Hull where we improved in the second half but that is what we must do and now concentrate all our energies on Bolton,” reckoned the Dutch midfielder. “We missed a couple of chances that might have snatched a point
“We have dropped points against some teams in the bottom half of the table and we have to make sure we are prepared for them to come at us 100 per cent.
“We are a scalp for teams now and we didn’t contend with that well enough at Hull. We always try to play football but sometimes you have to win the battle first. It was good lesson. The first ten minutes of any game set the tone and make the difference.
"Bolton need points to survive like Hull
and we must beat them because the
battle for fourth place will be won by
taking points off such sides. To
maintain our spot in the race we now
have to beat Bolton and then go to
Stoke and do the same"
De Jong was impressed by the two January additions Patrick Vieira and Adam Johnson who livened the Blues up after the break but smiled when he was told the Frenchman would start on Tuesday against Bolton
“Patrick is a great player and I think that he can still be a big influence on this squad of ours because we have a lot of young guys in it. The fact that he is now injury free is a big positive for us,” he insisted.
“I don’t like to talk about having a rest especially in this phase of the competition as we have such an important couple of weeks coming up for us. We are glad Patrick is here because the coach has more options in midfield – it doesn’t mean Gareth (Barry) or I have to drop out we could always play with three midfielders!
“As for Adam I think he did well and showed that he is a talented and promising footballer but he still needs time to settle into the side.”
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