There wasn’t a match preview I had not read and my personal conclusion was that if we could repeat the away form we displayed at Manchester United, then we could again get all 3 points from the Etihad encounter. The reality after the final whistle was that by no means did we ever get close to the Old Trafford level and as a result we met the inevitable, which was losing all 3 points.

I will not attempt to put pen to paper on how I thought of the team as I have been branded as “negative”. However I must admit that for me the most important issue was that of “psychology” and I did not see one player other than Adebayor who was physically prepared for this game. Both our ‘war engines’ i.e. our wingers were in no way psychologically prepared for this game.

We were playing as if we had accepted the fact that we were an inferior team. I could see that in our player’s movement and even body language. Bale should have at least thrived on the occasion that Maicon came on at some time. He had ridiculed Maicon twice when in the CL be made a fool of him. Even that was not to be. We now find ourselves lying in a mid table position and the prospects of getting all 3 points on Saturday seem most difficult unless we can get the players psychologically ready for such a high profile game.