"I take what he said as a compliment really. The manager knows his football and if a man of his experience says I can improve, then I take that on board and try and make it happen," he said.
"What I said was I can feel myself getting close to my best. That doesn't mean I'm totally happy with how I'm playing at the moment.
"I set myself high standards and every time I go out I try to give my best. I haven't been happy with my form this season, but of late I can feel it coming back.
"Rafa is always going to be on at me and the other players to try to improve all the time. I understand exactly what he means.
"I can't go forward at every moment. I have to think about the team and pick the right moment and fortunately against City I picked the right moment.
"You never stop learning in this game. I remember a quote from Roy Keane when he said he was still learning at 31.
"You learn from every match and from every training session. And when you have managers like Rafa Benitez and Steve McClaren and coaches like Pako Ayestaran and Terry Venables, you never stop learning."