Going to top-level football matches is an expensive business. The cost of tickets, travel, food and drink means that an individual is likely to spend between £50 and £100 on most away trips.

For most fans that’s something that they happily accept, but they deserve to see something more for their money and time than City produced at Stamford Bridge.

From Friday’s press conference when Daniel Farke showed a level of deference to the opposition that was reminiscent of the days of Chris Hughton, to the pitiful display on the pitch where City capitulated with barely a whimper, to the inevitable apologies to the fans and the promise that next week would be better, there were no positives to be found.

In fact, we seem to currently have an unfortunate blend of the worst aspects of the end days of the Hughton and Alex Neil eras. Games against the top clubs seem to be written off before they’re played, and it is difficult to define exactly what the game plan is, although it clearly isn’t anything like the one that got City to where they are.

Last week, I talked about Farke finding a formation that worked, but no formation on earth will produce results if players consistently miss tackles, give the ball away and leave runners unmarked, as was the case at Chelsea.

In fairness, Chelsea are an excellent team, but it’s still 11 v 11 and, as Brentford showed the previous week, if you work hard and refuse to bow to their reputation then you can run them close, yet City never looked like laying a glove on them, and that’s what really hurts the fans.

We all understand that the club is operating at a huge financial disadvantage, but money has nothing to do with moral courage and having the pride in the badge to be prepared to take the fight to the opponent, however outclassed you may be.

Although this City squad is significantly stronger in terms of depth than that of two years ago the lack of a settled and coherent playing style and the fact that three of the most lauded summer signings have spent little time on the pitch is turning this season into a nightmare for everyone who cares about the club.

Having said that, the Chelsea debacle doesn’t represent the continuation of a declining trend, with two draws preceding it, and there is a danger that the embarrassment of such a heavy defeat results in the sort of kneejerk reaction that has seen some City-supporting media presences who were lauding Farke to the heavens in May now calling for his head.

On the other hand, the current situation is clearly far from satisfactory. This is without doubt the most pressure that Farke has been under in his City career, and neither his nor Stuart Webber’s CVs will look as impressive with another limp relegation campaign on them.

It was good to see Webber displaying his usual honesty in a round of interviews in midweek, and while he inevitably will not have satisfied everyone, it is difficult to see what more he could have been expected to say.

At least he nailed once and for all the myth that City could have done anything to keep a want-away Emi Buendia and made no excuses for the pathetic display at Chelsea.

However, his implied criticism of the support from fans has inevitably provoked a range of reactions, and while I agree with him in principle, I would argue that the relationship between fans and players is very much dependent on both parties playing their part in inspiring each other.

Yes, the atmosphere at some games has been flat, but so have the performances on the pitch, so hopefully on Sunday both fans and players will bring their 'A' games because it’s essential that the tide is turned as quickly as possible.