Manchester City captain Vincent Kompany has called on his teammates for a big response following a poor week.
The Premier League champions were dumped out of Europe after losing to Borussia Dortmund last Tuesday, before falling six points behind rivals Manchester United in the league following a 3-2 defeat at the Etihad on Sunday.
However, Kompany has insisted that City do have ambition, and has urged his players to display it.
"In my mind, there is no difference other than we now know we can do it, so if we apply ourselves correctly we can win it again," said the Belgium international defender. "Of course, as champions you start most games as favourites to win and teams tend to sit back a little bit more and wait for you to take the game to them - then try to catch you on the counter-attack.
"Teams may have more respect, but they are not naïve with it and that makes each game a bit trickier than it was last season. It's an honour to be defending the Premier League title, so you have to take everything that comes with it.
"The message was very clear for everyone at the start of the season - we can't sit back and just expect the success of the last campaign to land in our laps again. We have the ambition to improve on our achievements last season and do better again. That's our aim and what we work towards every day in training. We've learned a lot from winning the title but I still think there is a lot of room for improvement."
City travel to Newcastle United on Saturday.
Matt Cotton
