After receiving the humiliating 1-8 thrashing by Middlesbrough on Sunday, Manchester City boss Sven-Goran Eriksson has come forward to reveal exactly what went wrong for them at the Riverside Stadium.

He said afterwards: "It started badly with Benjani injured after just a couple of minutes.

"Then a penalty and red card to our captain so it was a really bad start to the day even though we were in the game until they scored to make it 3-0. After that we didn't have the mental strength to come back.

"It was only one way after that - it was one of those days where Middlesbrough scored beautiful goals and it is not very often you can say that and I never saw it coming.

"Our goalkeeper couldn't do anything about any of the goals they scored and it was not the goalkeeper's fault, but it was a bad day, no excuses at all after 3-0. We were somewhere else - not here.

"It is bad for everyone, bad for the fans, for us, our image - the Club as a whole."