Manchester City forward Phil Foden conceded his team's defence of the Premier League title is over following their 2-2 draw at Brentford on Tuesday.
Foden, 24, scored twice to give City a commanding lead heading into the final 20 minutes before goals from Yoane Wissa and Christian Nrgaard in the 82nd and 92nd minute, respectively, saw Pep Guardiola's team drop points for the 11th time in 21 games this season.
By comparison, City failed to win 10 times in the entirety of the 2023-24 campaign after which they lifted their fourth straight league title.
"The title? Yeah, yeah, it's done for sure, it's done," Foden responded when asked about his team's standing by Eurosport. "We know. We're not stupid. So we've got to aim for top four, that's the next target now and then obviously Champions League as well. So it's not as if the season has gone.
"We've got to be realistic, haven't we? The performances have not been good enough to get up there. The top four is our aim now and then see where we can be in the other trophies. We can't dwell on it. We've got to try and aim for the top four now and make things right."
The England international added that he was not used to not being in the title race at this stage having been in contention in all but one of his seasons as a regular first-team player at City.
"I've not been in this situation before where I've lost this many games and been in this situation," he said. "So it's a learning curve, and it's just about how you get back to your best, not just me, but the team as well. And how we come back from this. "I believe, I still believe in the team, you know, I still believe we can do good things.
"It's about getting back on the training pitch and having that belief, to keep going, don't give up. "We've been the best in the last few seasons and when we face an opponent we can just see how much they're up for it. And we have to try and match that, if not better it, and we're coming up a little bit short at the moment."
The draw at the GTech Community Stadium was Foden's 294th game for City, and he said teams have become better at dealing with Guardiola's methods, particularly as injuries in the squad mount.
"I think that's been the challenge this year, how everyone adapts to have our playing style and that's made it really difficult," he said "That's one of the things I've learned. We've not got the biggest squad but we can't really make excuses.
"We've been used to it now playing most competitions every year and we've not struggled in the past. There's always the next game around the corner so you have to pick our heads up and go again. So, it's something to work on. At least the performances are picking up."
City will hope to get back to winning ways against Ipswich Town on Sunday before a huge UEFA Champions League clash with Paris Saint-Germain on Wednesday.
