Manchester City goalkeeper Joe Hart believes his side answered some of their critics by securing a place in the Champions League last-16 with a 2-0 win against Roma in Italy.
City backed up their win against Bayern Munich in the last round of Champions League fixtures by sealing their passage to the last-16 of the competition with a thrilling win in Rome coming courtesy of goals from Samir Nasri and Pablo Zabaleta.
"We are a strong unit, we believe it what we've done," Hart told Sky Sports. "We've had a bit of a slow start [this season], but you don't win the Premier League easily and we have done that twice in three years.
"We have got resolve, we have got character and we have got fantastic players. Add all that together and we have got a chance.
"This was a great performance. We are moving in the right direction. Five or six performances in a row where we have really stepped it up. We are going to be together for a long time now with no international breaks coming up to disrupt it in December."
Manchester City goal scoring hero Nasri declined the chance to take his share of the glory for the win against Roma, even though his stunning 60th minute shot paved the way for the vital win.
"The performance of the team was amazing," insisted the Frenchman. "It was important for me to score. After my surgery, it took me a little bit of time to get back to my full level and now I am. Yaya [Toure] wasn't there, Kun [Sergio Aguero] wasn't there and it's important that we showed we are a team.
"The manager told us that this game is played over 95 minutes. We won our last game against Bayern Munich in the last minute as well, so we knew we had to be patient. I scored and we won the game."