Roberto Mancini fears Manchester City will fail again in Champions League after goalless draw with West Ham On Saturday the only similarity with that golden autumn was when one of their forwards blew a gasket over a substitution issue: this time it was Mario Balotelli ejecting his toys, Carlos Tevez-style, from the technical area. Mancini insisted this was the consequence of a change in his club's status. "Because we are the champions, it is normal for teams to give more than 100 per cent," he said. For this reason, to win the second time is harder. Because the other team now know us very well, teams defend better. Today they defend very well. He was right there. While Balotelli was hurling his gloves to the turf, West Ham's defenders were throwing their bodies into the line of fire; James Collins twice eschewed all fears for personal safety to fling himself at fierce, goal-bound shots. No wonder the home manager Sam Allardyce was smiling afterwards, lauding what he described as "the best point since I came to the club." But there was something sluggish about City. It was not for wont of tactical innovation. Mancini loaded his team with forwards, sending out a potent front three of Tevez, Balotelli and Eden Dzeko, with Samir Nasri instructed to buzz around behind them. None of them had brought their shooting boots. Dzeko appeared determined to provide evidence for the contention that his best role is as supersub, Balotelli missed a couple of chances which suggested he was lucky not to be substituted earlier than he was, while, after they had greeted their old boy with such a warm reception, Tevez seemed concerned not to upset the home crowd by actually putting the ball anywhere near the net. Last week Gareth Barry claimed City had learnt an important trick from winning the title: they now know how to play badly and still win. Here, they did the first part of the champion equation all right. Trouble was, they forgot the second. They lacked pace and width, they lacked fizz. In short, they lacked David Silva. The recovery of the man who provided such effervescence 12 months ago cannot come soon enough. Without him City are missing their can opener. Not that this is a side in crisis. Far from it, they remain unbeaten in the league this season and Kevin Nolan's wrongly disallowed early goal notwithstanding, they never looked like being beaten here. Yet the watching contingent from Ajax will have seen the manner in which Matt Jarvis continually outpaced the emergency right back Kolo Toure, noted how the busy Mark Noble and Yossi Benayoun pushed City's central midfield back on to the toes of their defence and concluded that a sharper striker than Andy Carroll might create havoc in such circumstances. For Mancini, however, such problems are simply remedied: all his team need do is convert their opportunities. "I'm unhappy only for the chances we missed," he said, perhaps having in mind Balotelli arriving unnoticed to meet Tevez's first-half free-kick just a couple of yards out of goal only to spoon the ball over the bar. Tomorrow his opponents will be better placed to make his team pay for such profligacy. With crucial ties ahead against Madrid and Dortmund determining their immediate future in Europe, the City manager might reckon himself owed a big performance from highly remunerated players yet to find their European feet. "Actually," he smiled. Three big performances. Ajax:Tuesday: Last match: Ajax 0 Vitesse 2 Ajax surrendered their unbeaten run in the Dutch League and remain lodged in sixth place after losing at home to third-placed Vitesse, for whom Wilfried Bony scored both goals shortly before and after the interval. Although Ajax were impressive in their last meeting with Manchester City, coming from behind to beat them 3-1 in Amsterdam, they have won only four of their 10 league games this season.