City 3 - 2 FC Twente

• The team last night was definitely picked to attack, and for most of the game it did so brilliantly. In all of our home games this season we have been free-flowing and attacking, with the possible exception of our first European games. The league scores at least have been 3-0,1-3,6-0,2-3 and 3-0. This is really impressive, but unsurprising given how good our players are. Last night we again showed that our natural instinct was to attack. We should have got more than three, Jô and Robinho (twice) missing great chances to add to the scoreline.

• However the defending was worse than usual. It's really difficult to find where the problem is. I thought all of the back five, individually, were generally good last night. Maybe it is more mental than physical, a problem with work ethic, perhaps. It is also important to remember that the formation picked was very attacking and Fernandes seemed to be our only midfielder at times. This balance between defence and attack is one that Hughes is yet to sort out.

• Vassell and Benjani, who both did not have much match practice, featured prominently. This tells us that they might feature more than we first thought when we bought Robinho and said we would never see them in a City shirt again. Benjani might be a good addition as Jô needs to share the burden of playing up front on his own with someone (of course I'd rather this someone was Bojinov). As for Vassell, I can understand that his hard work makes him a manager's favourite, but the gulf in quality between him and our other forward players is obvious.

• This was a game that we needed to win in our group. If by the time we play Schalke we still play as openly as we do now, I don't think we have a chance. Schalke themselves only got a point at Racing Santander, where we also have to go to. We should be able to beat PSG at home given that we can turn it on when we want to at the CoMS. But it isn't an easy group and progress will still be a struggle.