After the Lord Mayor's show!

Les Chapman.

IT was definitely a case of 'After the Lord Mayor's Show' for Manchester City as they were held to a 1-1 draw by Middlesbrough on Saturday.

The whole team were fantastic during the week when beating Barcelona.

That second half was probably the best I've seen a City team play in a long, long time.

City were far superior to Barcelona. They put pressure on them, the work rate was phenomenal and they scored some great goals.

It was just class to watch City play so well against arguably one of the best teams in the world.

Pep Guardiola have now shown categorically that they're up for the Champions League this season.

As they hopefully continue through the competition now, they shouldn't fear anyone.

HELD

It was a little disappointing being held to a draw by Middlesbrough in the Premier League, and particularly with them equalising very close to the end.

Victory should have been sewn up by half-time I felt, and then in the second half the team were just a bit flat.

This goes to highlight once again though, that there's no easy games in the Premier League.

It doesn't matter if a team is playing Barcelona or Middlesbrough, they have to be equally as determined and focused.

Maybe City felt they were cruising once they'd gone into the lead, but that can come back to haunt you, as it did at the weekend.

Don't get me wrong, as title challengers City should be burying teams like Middlesbrough at home, but the Premier League is the best league in the world and you need to be on top of your game throughout the whole 90 minutes.

On the work front, I'm about to head off to interview Yaya Toure and Jesus Navas for a couple of little Christmas features we're planning for the City website.

I'm looking forward to it as we also have good fun with the players on these type of shoots.