Pep Guardiola has spent the last fortnight drumming the perils of complacency into his Manchester City squad.
Guardiola has used meetings at the club’s training ground and team talks before their opening two Premier League matches to make sure minds are focused.
The Catalan is placing great importance on mental strength during the first weeks of the season and refuses to allow standards to slip after amassing a record 100 points last term.
Guardiola remembers dropping points early as a reigning champion in Spain and Germany and does not want City to fall into a false sense of entitlement.
Barcelona drew two of their first four league games in 2011 before finishing second to Jose Mourinho’s Real Madrid. The year before, Barca were victims of a shock 2-0 home defeat by Hercules in the second game of that campaign but rallied to clinch the title eventually.
Guardiola also saw his Bayern Munich team fail to win two of the first four fixtures of the 2014-15 season. A year later Bayern did not drop a point until October 30 when defending their crown.
Guardiola has returned reinvigorated by the youthful City team, with sources claiming he is working harder than ever as he bids to become the first manager in a decade to successfully defend a Premier League title.
Vincent Kompany, a winning captain in 2012 and 2014, believes this squad are hungrier than previous City teams, with the 6-1 demolition of Huddersfield serving as proof.
‘It’s different from previous years we have won the league,’ he said. ‘I think everyone has been warned enough as well.
‘We almost have to fight against ourselves and our nature, not to fall in the same trap as the other teams have done — my teams included a few years ago. It is the easiest moment to let something go.
‘Many players win the league for the first time and they come back ... it’s something you have to feel, to see in their eyes if things have changed or not.
'I’m not saying we are going to do as well as we did last year, but if this season is going to be different then it has to be because of the other teams being stronger, not us being weaker.’
Meanwhile, Benjamin Mendy has vowed not to change his outlook on social media but promised to put his phone away in the dressing room. Guardiola (right) last week said he hopes the left back can ‘forget a little bit about social media and focus’.
Mendy said: ‘I don’t change but in the dressing room I don’t use my phone at all. I know the fans love it but the manager is the chief of the team so when he says something I have to listen to him.’