James Milner has insisted Manchester City were never going to be able simply to buy their way to the Barclays Premier League title.
Owner Sheik Mansour has reportedly invested more than £400million on players in a bid to make the club champions, money that looked well spent during the first half of the season.
But Sunday's 1-0 defeat at Arsenal left City's campaign on the brink of unravelling completely, with arch-rivals Manchester United now eight points clear with only six games remaining.
United are past masters at winning the title, having done so 12 times in the last 19 seasons, while the neighbours' most recent success was in 1967.
Midfielder Milner has claimed City's expensively-assembled squad were always going to need time to learn the art of claiming championships.
He said: "We have brought players in and it takes time for them to settle, coming from abroad or from other clubs, and gelling as a team.
"We have challenged this season and are still fighting until the end.
"As a team, to move forwards, to keep improving, you have to work hard and be together for a number of years.
"Hopefully, we will keep improving as a team and moving forwards as a club."
He added: "United are obviously a strong side, but we knew that all season.
"For the last 20 years, they have got that knack of winning and know how to close out title races. This is the first year we have been up there as a group.
"But it is not over yet. We will keep fighting to the end.
"Learning is the biggest thing, of being in these positions.
"Last season, we won the FA Cup, having that winning mentality to go on and win trophies.
"You ask any player and they will tell you that winning the Premier League is so special because you can win other trophies by having off days and get through cup ties, but the Premier League is 38 tough games, home and away."
Despite City's inexperience at the top end of the table, the sheer depth of their playing pool looked more than enough to overcome that.
But a succession of on-field difficulties and off-field controversies have completely undermined their bid.
Milner sidestepped questions about whether that cast doubt on manager Roberto Mancini's position.
"As players, all we will do is try to win every game that we can, work hard when we step out onto the training field and try to take care of our business," he said.
Asked if Mancini had what it took to mastermind a title success, Milner said: "We will see. Hopefully."
The 26-year-old refused to answer any questions about the latest meltdown by Mario Balotelli, who Mancini has admitted he would "probably" sell this summer.
Balotelli will learn on Tuesday whether he faces missing the rest of the season when the Football Association ask the match officials whether they failed to spot his knee-high tackle on Arsenal's Alex Song.
The Italian is already serving a three-match ban for his sending-off late in the 1-0 defeat at the Emirates, which Milner admitted further highlighted City's lack of "ruthlessness" away from home in 2012.
Mancini's men held a five-point lead over United just over a month ago - admittedly having played a game more.
They were also five points clear back in October when they won the Manchester derby 6-1 at Old Trafford, having previously thrashed Tottenham 5-1 at White Hart Lane in August.
But while United have gone from strength to strength, City have self-combusted on their travels since the turn of the year, with even their victories edgy affairs.
Milner said: "We have played well for the majority of the season, but have come unstuck for whatever reason over the past few weeks, most of the time away from home.
"We have been very strong at home, but away have not got the results we want.
"It is about having that ruthlessness on the road which we can learn from."
Admitting Mancini had set a target of seven straight wins before Sunday's game, Milner added: "From now, we will try to win the remaining six, which is all we can do and see where that takes us."
While Balotelli is missing through suspension, influential midfielder Yaya Toure is also unlikely to feature against West Brom on Wednesday after limping off with a knee injury at Arsenal.
Playmaker David Silva (knee) will be assessed while striker Carlos Tevez could push for a start after four successive substitute appearances.
Man City (from): Hart, Pantilimon, Richards, Zabaleta, Lescott, Kompany, K Toure, Savic, Clichy, Kolarov, Nasri, Milner, Johnson, Barry, De Jong, Pizarro, Silva, Aguero, Dzeko, Tevez.
