Stoke 2-0 Manchester City: Pellegrini Points Finger at Fatigue

Manchester City were well beaten at the Britannia on Saturday. Stoke City's 2-0 victory was a flattering scoreline for the Blues who were not only second best all afternoon, but failed to show any fight or drive once falling behind. City Manager Manuel Pellegrini has chosen to blame fatigue brought on by participation in multiple competitions, resulting in many midweek games.

Pellegrini said:

"On the positive side we are still in all four competitions, but today we didn't have the legs to defend as we needed to or attack in the way we liked and we didn't create many chances."

"We have had to play the same 12 or 15 players for most of the season, but the fault is the whole team's because we defend as a team and we attack as a team and we didn't do either well today.

"I'm worried by the first 20 minutes of the game against Stoke and I'm worried going forward about the way we played the ball in the opposition box.

"We don't have a priority to get any one player back in the team in particular - we have five or six key injuries and I don't think we will have any of them back this week."

What are your thoughts about the managers claims? Certainly the Blues injury situation is causing real problems, but those who are fit seem not to be at the races when needed. Is this a reflection on the manager's inability to properly motivate his squad, a sign of players who have hit a wall, or an indicator of something deeper at the club? Leave your thoughts below.