Dias: We are in a good place – but more progress needed

In partnership with

Manchester City F.C.

·13 dicembre 2025

Dias: We are in a good place – but more progress needed

Ruben Dias says City have made good progress since last season’s frustrating campaign.

Our Portuguese defender believes the team have come a long way in a relatively short space of time, but there is still hard work ahead to reach the level the players believe we should be at.

OneFootball Video

Asked about how he has seen the past 12 months, Dias said: “You always reflect – whether you win or not. And there are always things to learn.

“There are always factors that you have to continue to develop – to develop in order to stay there.

“But without a doubt, this whole difficult period last season was a very important moment.

“I embrace these moments with everything, because they’re part of a player’s career.

“They’re part of football and you just have to see them in a positive light, in the sense that they can only make you better, they can only make you grow.

“It was a moment of much improvement and, as always, as every year goes by, we are again striving for more.

“Of course, this has been a time of reconstruction in which many players have left, and many players have come in.

“And obviously, more than ever, we have to be assertive in what our culture is, in what our way of being is, so that whoever comes in understands as quickly as possible where they are and how they can help us.

“In terms of their individual performance, in other words, everyone has their own characteristics, everyone has their own way of thinking.

“But at the end of the day, we all have to work out how we can be as profitable as possible for the team. For the team. And in that sense, I think that as one of the captains, as one of the team leaders, you have and we have this mission to make it very clear what the essentials are – the things our team can’t live without.

“And I think we’re getting better and better at that. In that sense, everyone feels and knows exactly how they can best contribute to the team. I feel like we’re in a good place, but I still feel we have a lot of progress to make.”

On our battle to close down leaders Arsenal – and fend off the challenges of Aston Villa and Chelsea, Dias added: ““It’s obviously balanced. Even apart from the top three below. Everyone below is very close, and I know we’re more or less halfway through now, but it’s still early days.

“We have to keep winning games and we have to keep working hard. We have to keep improving as a team.

“And I think that, as a team, we still have a lot of growing to do. And in the end, we’ll do the maths.”

As the Blues face Crystal Palace for the first time since last season’s FA Cup final defeat, Dias says he expects nothing but a stern test at Selhurst Park.

Oliver Glasner’s side are currently just five points behind the Blues and have lost just once at home this season – but only won two of their seven matches on home soil.

“We know how difficult it is to go there,” said Dias.

“They keep on being this team that is dangerous – they have quality everywhere.

“Players have been coming in and out, but they remain dangerous so we’re very aware of the game we’re going to play. We want to go there and do what we have to do.

“They’re obviously good defensively – it’s not easy to get into the structure. They’ve always been dangerous in the transitions.”