Manuel Pellegrini could not explain why Manchester City were so below standard in the Champions League on Wednesday night.
The reigning Premier League champions were beaten 2-1 by Russian side CSKA Moscow at the Etihad Stadium which put a massive dent in their hopes of progressing to the Round of 16.
Seydou Doumbia scored either side of Yaya Toure's fine free-kick before Fernandinho and Toure both saw red in the second half which allowed CSKA to come away with a result which had Pellegrini at a loss for words.
"It's very difficult to understand why we played so badly," he told Sky Sports 5.
"From the beginning we were so nervous and we gave them the two goals. Really, we didn't play.
"The first half especially, we didn't see the team we normally see. We didn't shoot once at their goal, we just had Yaya's free-kick, and we gave away two easy goals.
"It's a strange moment to understand why it happened. I don't think it's just this competition, the last two weeks we are not playing the way we normally do.
"It's a crisis of confidence, of course, I don't understand why but we must find a reason, talk with the players every day and try to win again."
City now sit bottom on the Group E table with just two points from four matches which has them 10 behind runaway leaders Bayern Munich and two in arrears of Roma and CSKA with two fixtures left.
