you don't come to a place like this thinking that it's going to be probably as convincing as it was for us in terms of just the way we handled it. I've said it before, City test you in every football way possible. You've got to do a bit of everything. You've got to defend, you've got to work hard, be disciplined and you've got to play football.
I thought in all four areas we really got to a really strong level today where the players were really determined, after a really disappointing game last time and we just got back to our core beliefs as a team. Credit to the lads. I thought they were just outstanding out there today.
We knew that in the first 10 minutes they'd come out flying, especially with the four losses they've had were away from home. So being at home, there'd be an energy in the stadium.
We were going to have to weather the storm, which I thought we did fairly well and then we just grew into the game and I'm just so pleased for the players, for the belief they have in trying to play the way we want to and then you get a reward like that. I think it just furthers hopefully our progression.
Yeah, I thought they were all great. You have to be against City because obviously they've got big Erling up there, but the way they deliver the ball, the areas they consistently probe, you've got to be focused the whole time and I thought Ben and Radu were really focused, I thought Vic behind them was really positive as well with his positioning and the way they communicated. I thought Biss was important to that.
I think the key for us was we had to do it as a collective today. I think when you play City, you can't rely on individuals to find solutions out there and collectively, I thought we defended really well, but credit to those two guys and not just defensively, but we had to play out from the back.
It was the only way we were going to deliver balls to the areas we wanted to and both Ben and Radu didn't shy away from that. It wasn't always easy, but they consistently were looking for the ball and looking for us to play out from the back. So credit to those guys.
I really think we've progressed as a team. I think we're a better team this year than we were last year, but we've had some real flat spots to say the least that have kind of not allowed us to progress in terms of where we are, in terms of our standing.
But as I said yesterday, I've never sensed from the players that they have lost belief in what we're doing. It's very easy to because obviously there's a lot of noise when things don't go well. But today was about doubling down on our football principles and we did that. It is significant because obviously they've got an unbelievable record here at home.
So I don't think it's something that you can be just sort of blasé about. It is significant, but I think it's significant for the whole group that we've reached these standards before. It's about now not dropping as we have in certain games.