The Chimp On Our Backs... City 1 vs. 2 Juve - What We Can All Learn

A lot of our blog entries concerning the Champions League start with us being negative towards the competition and shunning UEFA as an organisation, I'm going to cut that part out. What I want to get to is the more pressing matter of whether as a club, players and fans, we are actually learning from mistakes or is there something more pressing in play? Rather than being worried about the meters between Bony's attempts and the goal, we should be worried about the centimetres in between our players ears.

City started extremely well. Fernandinho must have taken the Pogba transfer speculation to heart and played with power, drive and aggression and within moments almost landed Sterling's first Champions league goal in sky blue. It wasn't only Ferna that was enjoying the occasion and come half-time it looked like City weren't just a team that played pretty football, but a team with a purpose and a real force.

This was also how City started the second half, and got off the mark. Chiellini, a player that most would shy away from due to his old fashioned approach and ruthlessness, was made to look two foot tall when Kompany leaped aggressively over the Italian, making him head the ball into his own net. Relief, elation, excitement, and ... unfortunately what seemed to follow was anxiety.

If it had stayed 1-0 then I wouldn't have to mention the obvious nervousness from Bony, Sterling's finishing, and an ever more agitated Etihad crowd. However as the game went on the "Champions League Chimp" became ever more apparent both on and off the field.

This is where every one of us becomes a tactical wizz and says that the naivety from coach and players once again cost us three points from a winning position in the champions league. On the face of it this is a fair point, however, from a psychological perspective there seems to be more cards in play.

When we went 1-0 up, performance anxieties set in and you could even go as far as describing it as choking. While choking occurs due to any number of reasons, I can't help but think the ever increasing pressure pot of high expectation surrounding this competition can only be a disrupting piece in City's European puzzle. These players have the ability to battle with the best, as proven last season, scrapping out of a group of death with away wins in Munich and Rome. On Tuesday City also showed they are no pushovers, until that is, the jitters made their return.

There is a difference between being tough to play, as City were in the first half, and being mentally  'hardy'. To establish the concept of hardiness in the sport context any elite sporting environment places the athlete into highly stressful situations, both physically and psychologically. When confronted with this stress any disruptions (success or failure) will bring different reactions. Mentally hardy individuals react not only with a renewed attempt to control the situation, but also appraise the experience as interesting and worthwhile (greater commitment), and concentrate on the growth in knowledge and wisdom that is taking place (rise to the challenge). Others can let anxiety have the opposite effect.

An obvious example of City standing off and not 'attempting to control the situation' would be letting Pogba swing the ball in to Mandzukic for the equaliser, Fernandinho busted his lungs all game, but only flung a leg at the frenchman, followed by Mangala only doing the same when trying to block the marauding forward. In the first half they were instinctively getting to the ball first, putting their bodies first but with the additional stress of  possibly losing a lead, they then started to stand off.

The second goal was a similar story, not undermining the finish, but Kolarov and Otamendi were second to the ball, City were flinging legs and not getting into position and being aggressive, like in the first half, to win that ball back. A similar story developed within the crowd, suddenly being happy with a draw was not good enough, and this change impacted the atmosphere, not that it was negative ... it just wasn't as positive. This is why sometimes away games can be easier on teams than home.

This points to a certain lack mental toughness at the highest level, however, this toughness can be learned as well as be inbuilt. Chances can always be missed, but the ability to "win ugly" when they are can be learned from Juve. City have the intelligence to know when to keep up the pressure and kill the game off at this level, but need the hardiness to display those behaviours in the Champions League as well as the Premiership. Else the Chimp may never be shaken.

Nothing from Tuesday night made me think that City can't go to Turin and get a result. If the mental toughness of the players (and ourselves!) can improve from this experience and match that shown in the Prem, then without a doubt, we will go much further in this ruthless competition.

@PatrickElano