LONDON - Manchester City are no longer Champions League novices but at the start of their fourth consecutive campaign they still give the appearance of being uncomfortable, impoverished guests at a rich man's party.

Despite enjoying the full financial support of mega-rich Abu Dhabi owners, City's expensively assembled squad again appear to have no love, passion or understanding of what it takes to succeed in Europe's elite competition.

Their fans do not seem too bothered either, with only 37509 turning up to watch the opening home match of their Group E campaign against AS Roma - the lowest crowd for a Champions League match at the Etihad Stadium.

There was a subdued atmosphere in the ground as the Italians dominated play for long periods.

By drawing 1-1, City again failed to win their opening home match, following draws with Napoli in 2011, Borussia Dortmund in 2012 and a defeat against Bayern Munich last season.

They now have only one point from their opening two matches, as they did in both 2011-12 and 2012-13, and both times they failed to qualify from the group.

Last season, they had three points from their first two games and finished second to reach the last 16, where they were beaten by Barcelona.

The statistics do make for surprising reading considering that the team is full of experienced internationals. Their Brazilian midfielder Fernandinho believes they need to approach the Champions League differently.

Fernandinho told Sky Sports: "The Champions League is different - you play a lot of big teams with very good technical players and we have to learn to play in the Champions League in a different way."

City still have a chance of qualifying with two winnable games against CSKA Moscow up next on October 21 and November 5, before a tough home match against Bayern Munich on November 25 and a final away game at Roma on December 10.