Stuttering City continue to struggle in Europe

City's unconvincing 1-1 draw with Roma at the Etihad Stadium on Tuesday has left them with just one point from their opening two fixtures in Group E.

Their 23rd-minute equaliser, through 38-year-old , was sublime and deserved.

Roma continued to press and although City finished the stronger, they were fortunate not to concede again.

The Premier League champions are now already five points behind group leaders Bayern Munich and face a familiar battle to qualify for the knock-out stages.

City's next two games are both against CSKA Moscow, the first away and the second at home, and are likely to be critical to their hopes of making progress.

If they fail, City's future - and that of manager Pellegrini - will be thrown into doubt. Two Premier League titles in the last three seasons are all well and good, but Pellegrini was brought in to translate domestic success into European glory - and with the club having failed to get past the last-16 of the Champions League in the last three years, the owners' patience will not last forever.

"It was not a surprise for me. They are a team in form with great players. They made it difficult for us, it was a difficult game but I thought we could win it in the last 20 minutes.

"A point playing at home is never good but we played against a very strong team in a very good moment (of form).

"We didn't play well, especially in the first half. We improved in the second half but I think the draw was the real (right) thing for both teams.

"We must continue fighting for the next 12 points and we will see which teams qualify for the next round...

"[Will we qualify?] We don't know. It depends on the way we play the next game. We have just one point from six but also we are just three points behind Roma, so there is a lot of things (to play for).

"We hope next game in Russia we can win and we will see what happens against Bayern Munich.

"We have 12 more points to fight (for) and we will fight to the end to try and qualify."

"[On the amount of space granted Totti ahead of the equaliser] I think that when the other team scores a goal it is not just a problem of one or two players. I think that he had too much space in that play.

"Maybe it was an easy goal for them but you must have the quality and the capacity to return to your normal performance. Today was not our day."

"Today was not our day," said Pellegrini. Quite. In fact, it appears that each and every time City take to the field at the Etihad for their first Champions League game of the season, it is not their day.

For the fourth time in succession the current Premier League champions have failed to win their opening home group game, and they now sit third in the standings having accumulated just one point from two matches. A defeat at the hands of Bayern Munich on matchday one was followed by the stalemate with Roma, meaning that City have it all to do if they are to qualify for the knockout stage.

Certainly, City have never had it easy when being drawn in the Champions League - having played Napoli, Real Madrid, Borussia Dortmund, Ajax and Real, amongst others - but one jaunt into the group stage from a possible three for a team possessing such quality is, quite frankly, a poor showing. And if that record becomes one from four, you can substitute that "poor" for "utterly dismal".

Pellegrini's men can still qualify and now face back-to-back games against CSKA, who look like the whipping boys of Group G. They then welcome Bayern in November - a game in which they need to prove their doubters wrong if they are to crash the knockout stage party.

Phil McNulty (BBC): Manchester City's squad is awash with talent and yet the players seem unable to cast off the cloak of inhibition when it comes to the Champions League. City have yet to convince that they have the collective self-belief that makes them feel at home alongside the exalted company they mix with in this tournament. There is, on occasion, an almost apologetic air about the way they go about their work. Make no mistake, they have barely caught a break when it has come to the groups they have been drawn in, but the evidence suggests they are still having trouble quite convincing themselves they have earned the right to be here.

Daniel Taylor (The Guardian): It has become the recurring theme of Manchester City’s difficult and largely unsatisfactory Champions League story, and the longer it goes on the harder the impression becomes of a team struggling to know what to do to put it right. While the damage is not grievous, there is already evidence that they might have to re-invent themselves if their latest European campaign is not going on to become another chastening experience.