Ruben Dias has urged his Manchester City teammates to fight like they are in a Champions League final to secure a top four finish in the Premier League, as he acknowledged a mentality struggle in the squad in recent weeks.
Dias was captain for the day at Nottingham Forest and insisted City were good despite their late defeat. Yet the body language of their deflated players trudging out of the City Ground behind him told a different story.
CEO Ferran Soriano and sporting director Txiki Begiristain were waiting outside the exit at Forest, chatting with Carlos Vicens and offering commiseratory handshakes to the passing City squad as they made a hasty dash for the coach.
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They heard Oasis on the PA system from inside the stadium, but most had their own music playing already in their headphones. Jack Grealish and Kevin De Bruyne were among the first to leave, Phil Foden didn't hang about too long and most of the rest of the squad left in a big group when Dias stopped to talk to reporters.
Soriano and Begiristain offered genuine and lengthy congratulations to Nuno Espirito Santo as he headed to his press conference. In his, Pep Guardiola said City must be faster in their build-up, rued another game decided on transitions, and urged his squad to fight their way out of their inconsistency - it is 15 defeats in 30 games now.
"We have to do something, it will not come from the sky," the manager said.
Dias was a little more to the point.
"We're not happy with not winning and we do what we can which is move forward," he said. "They end up scoring in the transition. We had our chances and it's football, we need to score the chances we've got. We didn't win so in the end we have to do better.
"I felt like the team was strong. Then all the little extras - not conceding, doing better in certain moments, trying to move the ball faster. All these details count but we're in a good position to fight. Things are not perfect but we're there.
"There's spaces we'll try and explore [to improve] - everything, from the competitive mentality, everything to make sure every detail is covered. That's the way you win, without a doubt. It's how we've won before and how we have to fight."
City's mentality has never been questioned, but with so many defeats and no title race for the first time in half a decade, this is a team that looks tired and strangely short of ideas.
Forest made it difficult, made the pitch dry (Dias noticed), and played their counter-attacking gameplan to perfection. City have always found a way around those kinds of teams - but not this season.
How much of the recent results have been decided by that mentality that Dias insists must be improved? It's only natural for a mental reset when there is suddenly no title or Champions League on the line - but that could equally be costing City.
"I think that's a big step we've been fighting to make," Dias said of the mentality shift needed in the dressing room.
"Obviously when you come from a circumstance when you're used to winning and fighting for everything until the end, then it's not easy to take when things are [like they are] now.
"But it's our challenge and right now to fight for this top four is our final of the Champions League, it's our winning of the Premier League for this season. We have to take it as it is and keep fighting."
In more positive news, Dias confirmed he is fully over his injury issues of recent months and "finally feels like [his] body wants to run non-stop".
He said: "When I came back from the first injury, I felt very good then and did all the games in a row every three days. I ended up getting injured on the fifth game. It's coming from an injury is a risk. By that fifth game with all the other games on my legs and I was feeling great, you're on the red line.
"After that it's different, then it's the second injury in a season, the rhythm of the season is higher. I feel now, from the space I got back from the last injury until now, I'm finally in a very good place physically.
"This time we managed it a lot better and I feel a lot better every day."
