Manchester City defender Vincent Kompany provided a decent reply when Arsenal supporter Piers Morgan offered him a sports cars and money to swap the north-west for north London this week. 'These days I play for glory,' said the Belgian. As quick witted as it was acerbic, Kompany’s Tweet made his point. The landscape has shifted in English football over the last five years. You no longer sign for Arsenal if you want to win the Barclays Premier League any time soon. Even the ever optimistic Kompany will find little glory in his own team’s predicament at the moment, however, as the City captain does his best to steady a defence currently looking as vulnerable as at any time since Arab money eased his club on to an upwards trajectory six years ago. Manchester City captain Vincent Kompany failed to deal with the threat of two-goal hero Seydou Doumbia . Belgium international Kompany, pictured with CSKA Moscow's Alan Dzagoev, struggled against the Russians . Manuel Pellegrini's side have not been at their best during this season's Champions League campaign . Kompany reflected on his side's performance shortly after the final whistle . Football is cyclical, of course. Few things at the really top clubs last forever and City have too many good players in their squad for their current struggles to last. Having said that, they are currently showing few signs of digging themselves out of a defensive slump that threatens to undermine their whole season. Manchester City have tried to pair Vincent Kompany with a number of centre backs during his time at the club but have had little success. The likes of Kolo Toure, Joleon Lescott and Stefan Savic have all been given a chance to hold down a starting berth alongside Kompany - but have all since moved on to pastures new. Eliaquim Mangala, who sealed a £32million move to the Etihad during the summer transfer window, had expected to bolster City's defensive options but is yet to impress. There are other issues currently afflicting this City team. Too many of their marquee players are lacking form. They miss a reliable third striker after the departure of Alvaro Negredo on the back of his wife’s homesickness in the summer. Nevertheless, the sickness that currently drags them down is undoubtedly their work without the ball, their defending. Even the best attacking teams need a platform on which to work and at the moment City just don’t have one. City were as poor as they have been for many years on Wednesday night in that area of the field and there would appear to be a self-belief issue. Confidence – that intangible sporting elixir – can hide a multitude of sins. Equally, when it leaves you it can turn very good players in to shadows of themselves. Look, for example, at the two first half goals conceded by Pellgrini’s team here. Kompany looked dejected after his side loss 2-1 against Champions League opponents CSKA Moscow . The Manchester City defender was not happy with the performance of referee Tasos Sidiropoulos . Martin Demichelis, pictured, and Eliaquim Mangala have taken it in turns to partner Kompany . The first – a free header from a free-kick – was the type of goal Sunday League defenders would go to the pub and fret about. The second, meanwhile, began with a botched clearance from Gael Clichy and ended with a run from CSKA forward Seydou Doumbia that was just too well-timed for the City left-back’s malfunctioning colleagues to do anything about. There were other horror moments, too. Between his two goals, Doumbia raced clear on Joe Hart with far too much ease. On that occasion he was let down by a poor first touch and a shot pulled across goal and wide. Then, shortly after CSKA’s second goal the talented CSKA midfielder Bebras Natcho turned away from Yaya Toure so effortlessly that it was embarrassing. Luckily for City, he couldn’t supplement that act with a pass of similar quality. Let’s not be too hard on Toure. The City midfielder has had a tough week and scored a sublime free-kick equaliser early in the piece. His subsequent sending off – as deserved as it was – was simply born of frustration. Former Porto defender Mangala has failed to live up to his £32million price tag . Piers Morgan took to Twitter on Tuesday to ask Kompany if he would join his beloved Arsenal . Morgan then joked he had withdrawn his offer after the Manchester City star's performance against CSKA . City lost their discipline here. Despite their numerical disadvantage, they could have chased this game down. They had enough quality left on the field. There is a distinct lack of joy about this team at the moment, though, and, it must be said, their manager is showing few signs of finding answers. We have all watched this group of players often enough over the recent months and years to know what they are really capable of. They can be a pretty fearsome, destructive force. At the moment, though, they look vulnerable and fretful and it is surprising. Certainly across the back it would help if Pellegrini could field a settled back four and in particular a regular central partnership. Injuries to summer signing Eliaquim Mangala – back on the bench against CSKA Moscow – and Aleksandar Kolarov have deprived him of that option, though, and for now he must muddle on. The Champions League looks beyond City already. If things don’t improve soon, the Premier League will follow suit by the time the Christmas trees go up. VIDEO Pellegrini defends City's discipline .
Manchester City's defence failed to deal with the threat of CSKA Moscow star Seydou Doumbia .
Manuel Pellegrini's side lost 2-1 against the Russia outfit at the Etihad .
City's hopes of qualifying for the knockout stages are extremely slim .
Fernandinho and Yaya Toure were sent off against CSKA Moscow .
Manchester City defender Vincent Kompany provided a decent reply when Arsenal supporter Piers Morgan offered him a sports cars and money to swap the north-west for north London this week. 'These days I play for glory,' said the Belgian. As quick witted as it was acerbic, Kompany’s Tweet made his point. The landscape has shifted in English football over the last five years. You no longer sign for Arsenal if you want to win the Barclays Premier League any time soon. Even the ever optimistic Kompany will find little glory in his own team’s predicament at the moment, however, as the City captain does his best to steady a defence currently looking as vulnerable as at any time since Arab money eased his club on to an upwards trajectory six years ago. Manchester City captain Vincent Kompany failed to deal with the threat of two-goal hero Seydou Doumbia . Belgium international Kompany, pictured with CSKA Moscow's Alan Dzagoev, struggled against the Russians . Manuel Pellegrini's side have not been at their best during this season's Champions League campaign . Kompany reflected on his side's performance shortly after the final whistle . Football is cyclical, of course. Few things at the really top clubs last forever and City have too many good players in their squad for their current struggles to last. Having said that, they are currently showing few signs of digging themselves out of a defensive slump that threatens to undermine their whole season. Manchester City have tried to pair Vincent Kompany with a number of centre backs during his time at the club but have had little success. The likes of Kolo Toure, Joleon Lescott and Stefan Savic have all been given a chance to hold down a starting berth alongside Kompany - but have all since moved on to pastures new. Eliaquim Mangala, who sealed a £32million move to the Etihad during the summer transfer window, had expected to bolster City's defensive options but is yet to impress. There are other issues currently afflicting this City team. Too many of their marquee players are lacking form. They miss a reliable third striker after the departure of Alvaro Negredo on the back of his wife’s homesickness in the summer. Nevertheless, the sickness that currently drags them down is undoubtedly their work without the ball, their defending. Even the best attacking teams need a platform on which to work and at the moment City just don’t have one. City were as poor as they have been for many years on Wednesday night in that area of the field and there would appear to be a self-belief issue. Confidence – that intangible sporting elixir – can hide a multitude of sins. Equally, when it leaves you it can turn very good players in to shadows of themselves. Look, for example, at the two first half goals conceded by Pellgrini’s team here. Kompany looked dejected after his side loss 2-1 against Champions League opponents CSKA Moscow . The Manchester City defender was not happy with the performance of referee Tasos Sidiropoulos . Martin Demichelis, pictured, and Eliaquim Mangala have taken it in turns to partner Kompany . The first – a free header from a free-kick – was the type of goal Sunday League defenders would go to the pub and fret about. The second, meanwhile, began with a botched clearance from Gael Clichy and ended with a run from CSKA forward Seydou Doumbia that was just too well-timed for the City left-back’s malfunctioning colleagues to do anything about. There were other horror moments, too. Between his two goals, Doumbia raced clear on Joe Hart with far too much ease. On that occasion he was let down by a poor first touch and a shot pulled across goal and wide. Then, shortly after CSKA’s second goal the talented CSKA midfielder Bebras Natcho turned away from Yaya Toure so effortlessly that it was embarrassing. Luckily for City, he couldn’t supplement that act with a pass of similar quality. Let’s not be too hard on Toure. The City midfielder has had a tough week and scored a sublime free-kick equaliser early in the piece. His subsequent sending off – as deserved as it was – was simply born of frustration. Former Porto defender Mangala has failed to live up to his £32million price tag . Piers Morgan took to Twitter on Tuesday to ask Kompany if he would join his beloved Arsenal . Morgan then joked he had withdrawn his offer after the Manchester City star's performance against CSKA . City lost their discipline here. Despite their numerical disadvantage, they could have chased this game down. They had enough quality left on the field. There is a distinct lack of joy about this team at the moment, though, and, it must be said, their manager is showing few signs of finding answers. We have all watched this group of players often enough over the recent months and years to know what they are really capable of. They can be a pretty fearsome, destructive force. At the moment, though, they look vulnerable and fretful and it is surprising. Certainly across the back it would help if Pellegrini could field a settled back four and in particular a regular central partnership. Injuries to summer signing Eliaquim Mangala – back on the bench against CSKA Moscow – and Aleksandar Kolarov have deprived him of that option, though, and for now he must muddle on. The Champions League looks beyond City already. If things don’t improve soon, the Premier League will follow suit by the time the Christmas trees go up. VIDEO Pellegrini defends City's discipline .
Manchester City captain Vincent Kompany failed to deal with the threat of two-goal hero Seydou against the Russians . Manuel Pellegrini's side Doumbia that was just too well-timed for the City Yaya Toure so effortlessly that it was star's performance against CSKA . City lost their at the moment, though, and, it must be said, City's discipline .