Yet what Roberto Mancini made of it all remains a mystery. As Platt attempted to offer something that resembled a case for the defence, Mancini spent his time pacing up and down the tunnel outside City’s dressing room before leaning against a wall.
The way in which he ran his hands through his air and stared at the floor, coming so soon after the agitated way he had behaved on the touchline during 90 wretched minutes, made it impossible but to draw anything but one conclusion: the pressure had finally got to him.
In many ways, though, his decision to refrain from media duties was in keeping with City’s day. Here was another failure to take responsibility, looking to someone else for direction. Mancini never turned up and nor did his team.