Manchester City head into the make-or-break game against Ajax in the Champions League, knowing another slip up and their chances of advancing past the group stages will be as good as over.
City are bottom in this year's Group of Death, with just a single point from three games, that too thanks to a rather fortuitous draw against Borussia Dortmund in their last home game at the Etihad.
Dortmund top the group on seven points, with Real Madrid second on six. Ajax are third with three points from three matches.
When the Dutch champions visit City's fortress on Tuesday, it will be Ajax who will have the psychological advantage having pulled off a remarkable 3-1 win over the English Premier League champions in the reverse fixture in Amsterdam a couple of weeks ago.
In the Champions League, despite their wealth and endless number of equally rich players, City look like a fish out of water, with manager Roberto Mancini looking equally clueless. They were extremely poor last year and failed to get past the group stages and the first three games of this year have shown they still have a long way to go.
The dominance normally witnessed in the Premier League games from City, is not evident in Europe's elite competition -- albeit they have been handed a difficult group, with their three opponents all champions of their respective leagues.
City have also not been helped by reports that said Mancini had interviewed for a job with Monaco and was on the brink of leaving the club at the end of last season. Asked about the reports by the press, a clearly frustrated Mancini replied: "I don't understand why you continue to ask me about last month, last year. It's finished, so why?
"For which reason, why do you continue to ask me: 'Last year you had another chance to go.' I stay here because my work is here. I worked for two years. I built with the chairman, with the owner, this team. We won three trophies in two years. For 50 years we didn't win (the league title, when it was actually 44). Never. Never.
"You should have respect for the people sometimes. I don't understand why you have to ask me this, why? You ask me one question, I'm polite because I answered your question and the other questions. I'm polite because I answer: 'It's true' (about the Monaco reports). Every year I can have two or three new situations where I can go, I want to stay here because I work hard.
"I am not saying the future will be easy but when you have a new team the strong work is the first two years and we have won three trophies. I think you should have more respect for this, for me, for the club, for the players."
Having a flustered manager ahead of one of the biggest games of the season, does not bode too well for the Premier League champions - the players and more importantly Mancini will have to put the distractions into the back burner and look to find a way, as a unit, to garner their first win in the Champions League this season.
City are still missing several players with David Silva, Maicon, Micah Richards, Joleon Lescott, Jack Rodwell and James Milner all ruled out. However, Pablo Zabaleta could make a return from injury at right-back.
Ajax are a dangerous side, filled with talented young players, and Frank De Boer, who has seen and experienced everything as a player, will look to take advantage of the vulnerability that has clearly seeped into the City lineup.
The game at the Etihad on Tuesday can go two ways: One, where an inspired City, that have the likes of Yaya Toure, Samir Nasri, Sergio Aguero and Carlos Tevez in their lineup, dominate Ajax for an impressive victory, or two, where City, with all that is going on around them, fall apart under the pressure.
Expected lineups: Manchester City: Hart; Zabaleta, Kompany, Nastasic, Clichy; Barry, Garcia; Toure, Nasri, Tevez, Aguero.
Ajax: Vermeer; Van Rhijn, Alderweireld, Moisander, Blind; De Jong, Poulsen; Sana, Babel, Schone, Eriksen.
Prediction: 3-1 to Manchester City