Bravery, a noisy crowd and 'real hard graft' is still required to beat Manchester City these days, even when they can't buy a win.
City fell to a sixth defeat in eight Premier League fixtures at Aston Villa on Saturday, and it is now just one win in 12 in all competitions, of which nine games have been losses.
Pep Guardiola's side are making awful mistakes, injuries are piling up again and they don't look like scoring. Each of their winless games have seen them concede at least twice, often without reply, and they have not won any points from losing positions.
While Pep Guardiola rightly says the initial priority is to win just one game let alone a title, he will note that the six Premier League defeats now this season are double the total across the whole of last term.
Read more on manchestereveningnews.co.uk