Vincent Kompany calls on Manchester City to build momentum for next season

http://www.theguardian.com/football/2015/apr/07/vincent-kompany-manchester-city-premier-league-title

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Vincent Kompany has admitted Manchester City’s title defence has effectively petered out into a bid to gain some late momentum to take into next season as the champions face up to the reality that they cannot catch Chelsea at the top.

City’s 2-1 defeat at Crystal Palace on Monday was a third successive away loss in the Premier League, the first time they have suffered that ignominy in four years, and left them nine points adrift of the summit, with the leaders also boasting a game in hand. Manuel Pellegrini’s side visit Old Trafford on Sunday in the Manchester derby in fourth place with their campaign having effectively degenerated into a pursuit of a top-three finish to avoid having to play a qualifying game for the Champions League this summer.

Kompany, like Pellegrini, refused to address the gap with Chelsea, captain and manager preferring to concentrate on reviving their own team’s results over their remaining seven fixtures. “For me, my only concern is we get back to our best form,” said the Belgian. “I’ve learnt from the past seasons as well that finishing a season strongly can have an impact on your next season as well.

“We have United on Sunday and a derby is a derby. It doesn’t matter what place you are in the league, it’s a derby. If anything, it’s a good moment to go into a derby. I guess the momentum is a little bit with our neighbours at the moment, but it’s the perfect place for us to go and try to rectify what we’ve had on Monday.”

City monopolised possession at Selhurst Park and mustered 22 attempts on goal, albeit only four on target, but ended up succumbing to goals from Glenn Murray and Jason Puncheon, with Yaya Touré’s late effort no more than a consolation. “In some funny way, it wasn’t even a bad game from us,” added Kompany. “We are demanding with ourselves because we have to win, but you guys saw it – did they have a shot on goal except for set-pieces? I don’t know.

“They are definitely a solid team. They are definitely a team who knows how to defend. They had a game plan so credit to them but, for us, it wasn’t a bad game in comparison with other games that we might have lost. But any big team, big club, who loses a game is very disappointed. I think it’s our general form that we have to improve, not just away from home. It’s hard to draw too many conclusions from many of those recent away defeats.

“Credit to Crystal Palace but that game was not one I felt we should have lost. It has a bit of a different feel to it maybe than, say, the result at Burnley. But a team like us needs to win and that wasn’t the result that we hoped for.”