Big-spending Manchester City have just found out that a fortnight is a long time in football, after consecutive EPL defeats, a shock Europa League loss in Poland and widespread rumours of dressing-room dissent have halted what was feted as a genuine EPL title challenge fourteen days ago.

A 3-0 loss to Arsenal at Eastlands was justifiably put down to having played 86 minutes with only ten men after Belgian centre-half Dedryck Boyata was sent off for a foul on goalbound Gunners striker Marouane Chamakh.

But defeat at Wolves, who are an improving side but had not won an EPL game since the season’s opening day, was described by angry supremo Roberto Mancini as “the worst game we’ve played.”

 

And Mancini was left desperately pleading for unity after two late goals condemned City to their first Europa League defeat of the season, 3-1 at Lech Poznan, a side struggling in the Polish League’s relegation zone that had sacked their coach the day before the game.

The Italian was further angered this week by what he described as “these lies” about dressing-room bust-ups, with players reportedly claiming that City will not win the EPL with him in charge.

City started both the Wolves and the Lech Poznan games in dominant mood. But Mancini was left puzzled after the Wolves game, saying: “We only played for 25 minutes.

“Then we stopped playing and Wolves deserved to win. It’s the worst game we’ve played. We must regroup and understand why this happened.”

His post-match mood was more upbeat in Poland, as he claimed City would “win 90 times, maybe” if they’d played “this game 100 times.”

But he added: “We must continue to work. We can only change this if we stay together.”

His plea for togetherness came at the end of a week of reports of internal discord, with a series of un-named sources in the Sun newspaper claiming Mancini had “no respect” from the players who “don’t like his confrontational style” and are “baffled by him tactically.”

Out-of-favour striker Roque Santa Cruz had already claimed there was internal disharmony and that Mancini had particular difficulties with the man he made captain, Argentine striker Carlos Tevez.

There have been on-field bust-ups, including a fierce row at Wolves between Vincent Kompany and Emanuel Adebayor.

Meanwhile, there were also reports that a group of City players had been involved in “late-night partying” during a recent trip to Scotland, with Mancini criticising English players’ drinking “culture.”

Mancini’s initial response was to label the anonymous Sun accusations “rubbish.” And he later added: “If there is someone who wants to write these lies, they can do, I’m happy for them. But it is not true.”

A number of players publicly backed their under-fire manager before defeat in Poland.

James Milner said: “We have 100% faith in him (Mancini). We are very fortunate to have him around.”

Gareth Barry insisted: “The truth is that there is a group of players working together, working hard and working for the boss.”