DEFEAT SENT CITY OUT OF THEIRMINDS

DEFEAT, it turns out, was never part of the Manchester City mindset.

While boss Pep Guardiola and his players spent much of their time in recent months claiming a Quadruple was impossible, and defeat inevitable, they did not mean it.. or believe it.

And that, according to John Stones, is why the FA Cup shock at Wigan has proven so painful to the all-conquering Premier League aristocrats, because they took on the mentality of the invincible. When it was suggested after Wigan’s giantkilling at the DW Stadium that City had to lose at some point in one of the competitions they were pursuing, his response was direct – and revealing.

“No,” he said. “I think we’ve had that mindset that we can win every game and that’s probably why we have gone on such a good winning streak and not lost.

“It hurts even more that we’ve lost because we’re not used to it.

“We’ve only lost twice before this season. It hurts. The feeling of losing is never nice for anyone but I think we take it to heart a bit more. Just massive disappointment in the dressing room. We felt we should have got something out of the game, at least taken the game back to the Etihad.

“That’s been cut short now, the run in all four competitions, which we wanted to be in, right until the end, fighting for everything. The overall feeling is massively disappointed.

“I’m a bit lost for words. I’m massively disappointed we have not gone to the next round.

“We have to look at the game and make sure we take everything from it, good and bad first of all.”

City have a chance to get back on track by lifting t h e i r first trophy of the campaign on Sunday when they play Arsenal at Wembley in the Carabao Cup final.

Stones added: “I think that’s how we move forward and bounce back quick, because we’ve the chance to win some silverware at the weekend.”