City deserved to win the title

PAUL SCHOLES says Manchester City have raised the bar in the Premier League and it is now up to everyone else to reach higher.

Only goal difference separated champions City from Manchester United at the end of last season.

But according to Scholes that wafer-thin gap really painted over a bigger crack between the two sides.

Now he says it is time for United to stop believing they are City’s equal and set about bridging the gap.

Scholes said: “There were spells last season when we didn’t play well and we have to become a better team.

“As much as I don’t want to admit it, City were good to watch and probably played the best football, so from that aspect they were the best team and deserved to win it.

“They have raised the bar, so now it’s up to us to kick on and do better than they did.”

Having said that Scholes is still lost as to how United blew an eight-point lead with six games to go.

He said: “When City went to Arsenal and got beat, you do think it’s all over.

“But you know you still have a job to do.

“We failed at the end of last season, we should have won the league and didn’t.

“It was a major disappointment to lose the league from there.”

Scholes, 37, came out of retirement last January and had no hesitation in staying on for the coming season when Alex Ferguson asked him to sign a one-year deal.

Now it is a case of getting down to business and ridding himself of that ‘Agueroooooooo’ moment.

Scholes said: “I have just seen little bits of them celebrating when Aguero scored at the very end.

“It’s not nice when you see another team celebrating winning the league on the last day of the season and that picture stays with you.

“It is in your head and you don’t want it to happen again.”

ROBERTO MANCINI wants some new faces in his Manchester City squad by the time the Community Shield takes place in two weeks’ time.

The Italian said: “We need to improve some positions.”