The soap opera club of them all down the years, Manchester City will now need a miracle if they are to stay in the Champions League past Christmas.
Roberto Mancini took the blame after their 3-1 defeat in Amsterdam to Ajax, which leaves the English title holders bottom of Group D with just one point from three matches.
Borussia Dortmund’s 2-1 home victory against Real Madrid just added insult to injury.
It means three victories are now required to have any chance of keeping the European Cup dream alive for the rich Abu Dhabi owners and that might not even be enough to seal progression.
Huge tactical confusion
There seemed to be huge tactical confusion around City’s line-up, especially when Mancini switched from a flat back four to a three at the back formation for eight minutes while 2-1 down.
Joleon Lescott was withdrawn with an hour gone and replaced by Aleksandar Kolarov. This meant Gael Clichy and Micah Richards had to play in an unfamiliar central defensive role alongside skipper Vincent Kompany.
Sky commentators Martin Tyler and Gary Neville quickly spotted that Clichy looked totally flummoxed to be asked to play in such a position and this suggests that organisational skills are lacking at the moment for the Premier League champions.
Mancini (pictured) told Sky Sports afterwards: “We changed the tactics for five minutes to allow one player to play in the hole."
Richards confessed: “It’s not something we have worked on a lot. We’re used to a straight back four."
Questions will be raised about the preparation for such a crucial fixture in regards to their hopes of winning Europe’s most prestigious club trophy.
The away side never looked comfortable in Holland but still took the lead against the run of play through Samir Nasri in the 22nd minute.
Siem de Jong scored a stunning equaliser but the goals scored by Niklas Moisander and Christian Eriksen both could have been easily avoided.
Honesty about mistakes
Taking nothing away from the Dutch champions, who were outstanding but City’s lack of performance quality was quite concerning.
Mancini continued by saying: “It was probably my fault because I prepared badly for this game. I didn’t prepare the players and I’m at fault for the defeat."
At least he was honest about his mistakes but for an experienced manager of his proven quality, underestimating Ajax was a big mistake.
They might not be the European force they once were in the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s but they have a lot of youngsters coming through the ranks, have an excellent coaching setup and showed real class when beating Manchester United at Old Trafford in February in the UEFA Europa League.
It isn’t all over for City. Arsenal were in a similar position in 2003 with one point from three games and so were Liverpool in 2007. Both sides won their final three group games of those campaigns and went on to reach the last eight.
However, the task now seems huge. Last year, they were unlucky to not qualify and some naivety was expected as it was their debut campaign in the Champions League.
This year, excuses can only run so thin. William Hill have stretched their odds on them winning the Champions League to 40/1 after this latest defeat.
At this rate, the Etihad will be lucky to even see European football in the consolation of the UEFA Europa League in the New Year.
By Simon Wright – Follow me on Twitter @Siwri88
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