On Saturday night the two sides met again, this time on City's home turf at AAMI Park, but City simply wasn't at the races.

Sydney could have been three up at the interval but for a couple of excellent one-on-one saves by City keeper Andrew Redmayne. Just as well, as Redmayne needed to atone for his early error when he failed to take a cross, paving the way for Marc Janko to score the first of his two goals.

What has happened at City? A team that began the campaign with such a promising 45 minutes seems to have fallen in a hole and already looks to have the job ahead to even fight for a top-four spot.

Coach John van't Schip is adamant the tactics are right and the quality of his personnel is not the problem.

Rather, says the Dutchman, the team is playing with too much fear and trepidation. Their results have been so fragile that now, whenever they are in a position to win they are shredded with nerves and fail to seal the deal.

Some may argue with van't Schip's judgement about the ability of the players: after all, with a handful of inclusions, this is largely the squad that finished bottom in the A-League last season.

Manchester City's money might improve the off-field set up and pay for any number of pre-season trips to Europe, but this is a salary-capped league and the club simply can't go out and spend money to bridge the quality gap.

In hindsight, the Villa experiment looks more like a distraction than an advantage, although it has to be said that without his equalisers against Newcastle and Sydney, City would be even worse off.

The club has been unlucky with injuries, but then injuries are a part of the game and other clubs have to adjust to the same problems as well.

Still, it's hard not to believe the youthful enthusiasm of Connor Chapman in central defence might not have added some pace to a ponderous back four, where the two fullbacks - Jason Hoffman (in his second season in the position) and Iain Ramsay (having his first try as a left back) - are still wearing L plates in their new roles.

The loss of Rob Koren, the former Slovenian captain, was a serious blow - similar to the loss last season of Orlando Engelaar, whose absence proved so crucial in the first half of the season.

It seems inevitable that there will be a number of changes - perhaps as many as four - when City travels to Wellington at the weekend to face another side on a losing run.

Van't Schip talked up the likelihood of youth international Stefan Mauk being more involved, while injured Massimo Murdocca returns to training this week and could be fast-tracked into the starting line up. Ben Garuccio, another on the easy list for much of the season, will come in for consideration if fit.

The coach hopes to have Koren available in December, and it won't be a minute before time.

A quarter of the way through the season, the City revolution is stuttering.

Patches of good football simply will not cut it: a team has to concentrate for 90 minutes and put in for the entire game, not just parts.

With the exception of Irish international Damien Duff and Aaron Mooy, the hard-working midfielder whose good form was recognised with a Socceroo call up last week, the rest of the team simply has to lift.

If not, those questions about quality will continue to be asked, and the judgments may not be all that palatable for many.

As van't Schip put it after Saturday's night's game: "Maybe you can say it's quality, but that's not what I believe. It's more strongly believing in what we can do, and that belief is sometimes not there ... with fear you are never going to win games.

"We have to give the players the belief and confidence ... [but] we cannot wait forever. In the end it has to change quickly otherwise it will have consequences for the club getting into the finals, which is our goal. And it will have consequences for everyone involved."