With five new signings in his starting line-up, some of whom the former England manager had never even seen play, there was always going to be an element of the unknown about the clash with one of Spain's four Champions League entrants.
Eriksson would certainly have been able to pick a few positives out of the narrow defeat, not least the performance of young midfielder Michael Johnson.
But David Silva's early winner, combined with a series of missed chances including two by star striker Rolando Bianchi, confirmed the theory it may take some time for Eriksson's new-look side to gel.
With new owner Thaksin Shinawatra looking down proudly from the stand above, Eriksson had strode onto the pitch before kick-off to a standing ovation, bowing politely to all four corners of the ground.
It was an enthusiastic welcome, although the sight of thousands of empty seats suggested the former England coach has some work to do if he is to claw back the huge number of City fans who have become increasingly disillusioned with life at Eastlands.
In contrast, Ricky Hatton will forever be a hero in these parts and when he was spotted taking his seat five minutes into the game, the world light-welterweight boxing champion - and lifelong City supporter - was greeted like the superstar he has become.
Fault
Hatton barely had time to take his seat before Eriksson's side fell behind.
Switzerland Under-21 skipper Gelson Fernandes was the man at fault, gifting possession to Silva 35 yards out.
Silva laid a neat pass off to Miguel Angel Angulo but when his shot was parried by Kasper Schmeichel - handed his chance in the absence of injured duo Andreas Isaksson and Joe Hart - the Spanish international stroked home the rebound.
To their credit, City responded in defiant fashion, although the fact academy graduate Johnson led the resistance was a bit of an irony given the number of players Eriksson has brought in.
Johnson rattled the Valencia bar with a fierce 25-yard shot and not long afterwards Bianchi did the same as he tried to steer Elano's cross goalwards.
An £8.8million capture from Reggina, Bianchi is the man Eriksson is hoping will end a scoring crisis which condemns City to start the new campaign without a home Premier League goal since New Year's Day.
Bianchi certainly has the physique of a modern-day forward but the way he fluffed a golden opportunity when Marco Caneira's attempted clearance rebounded off Martin Petrov and spun into his path was a bit of a worry.
Petrov sparked sporadically down the left flank, although it appears the Bulgarian will look to cause defences problems with the accuracy of his crosses rather than any speed or trickery.
Geovanni became the first Brazilian to sign for City last month but did not show much Samba flair when he smashed a long-range free-kick straight into the Valencia wall.
Bianchi then failed to turn his far-post header goalwards after Petrov had picked him out before Geovanni volleyed the Blues' last chance over from close range.
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not too disappointed what do we expect it's early days yet
I think the article is a bit harsh. These players hardly know each other. I missed the opening 5 mins due to internet problems, but generlay I was pleased. The first half was better and to see passing and movement like I have'nt seen in a long time was great!
It will take take time, but when it clicks, my god are we in for a treat!!!
Keep the faith girls and boys because we are going to have alot of smiles this season!!!
surpried by all the empty seats as i phoned the ticket office this morning and was told no seats in the colin bell stand remained (where my season tickety seat is). sounds like it was a reality check for everyone. it will probably take untill about chrismas for everything to gel and to have a clear idea of best starting 11. Sounds like we need a new keeper next with both Issakson and Hart reported to have hand injuries.
Just got back from the game considering none of these players have never played befor,i think we could be in for some fantastic football once they get an understanding both on the pitch and with the language barrier,very impressed with petrov,fernandes,garrido,giovani.happy days CTID
I was in the middle of writing a comment to this forum yesterday saying it would be better if we lost tomorrow but then I realised people would start calling me a Rag (how original huh?)
The reason why I don't really mind about this result is that we would have gotten a false hope (like we did when we played Barcelona under Pearce and won). The fans would be talking about being able to beat anyone and there would have been a sense that we can relax and stroll to easy wins all season long. - WE CAN'T! The fact is we will still lose to the likes of Reading at home next season, we will still be hammered a couple of times on the road - it's inevitable - for all teams!
At least we didn;t lose our first league game and Sven still has a chance to tweak things before the crucial first game of the seaosn - we saw what happened last season - We lost to Chelsea and Corradi was sent off and we went downhill from there. It is crucial we start the season strongly and then try to maintain that form.
We have to be upbeat and realise that the players we have have not even played a full game yet - Geovanni and the four new boys etc.... they need lots more games under their belts before we see just how well they can perform for us next season.
Some of whom he had not ever seen play,I hope that this statement is a mistake,surely we are not back to the days of selecting our players from cleverly edited videos sent in by agents.I assumed that with Eriksson's supposed vast aray of contacts that all the recent signings were from his own personal list of noted players created during his period with the England team.Not having been at the game I hope the apprehension I am know feeling after this statement is completly unecessary!
Totally agree with Blue Expat, Bangkok. Some of the passing and movement was great. Lets all just keep the faith.
Come on Guys - A loss is a loss in any language.
Why not win 1-0 - it's just as easy!
WE MUST SIGN DIEGO RIBAS DA CUNHA JUST WATCHED HIM ON YOUTUBE WHAT A PLAYER
Dont panic Mr Mannering.
It will be fine, the boys will take time to gel and this will not be the team on Saturday.
Sven is the man.
Rubbish article. Very over critical.
We were playing against one of Europe's better sides and the core of that team has been together a number of years. Taking this into account, I thought, considering the untried blend, we did pretty well and at times played some good football. Kasper took his chance in goal (not sure why Isaakson and Hart were not on the team sheet) and thought that Micah and Dunnie did Ok. Ned looked a bit slow and clumbersome at times whilst I thought that Garrido looked the best of the newcomers on the day. Fernades showed his inexperience not only with the wayward pass that led to the goal but he was also caught in possession several times in the first half. Thought Johnno did brilliantly although tired in the second half. Very disappointed with Elano but perhaps he was still jet lagged. Stevie Ireland did well in an unfamiliar role but I do not think that is his position. Thought that Bianchi showed a lot of promise as lone striker holding the ball up. Corradi looked pretty desperate when he came on and despite the good reports from previous friendlies, he looks lightweight. Geovanni looked pretty skillfull when he came on showing some deft touches. As for Petrov, a few wasted balls but some of the crosses into no mans land were superb-someone has to learn to get on the end of them. Overall not a bad performance but we have a long way to go.
Valencia are a establish champions league team, and we did not look any worst than them and we created more chances, petrov and elano looked very promising.
thousands of empty seats!!
hello muen, its holiday time and lots of people will be away enjoying the sun or have other genuine reasons for not making it to the game. so dont point to that as being an anti sven protest. as for the result, well a win would be nice but the whole point of it is to give the players a good workout and try various tactics and style's of play without the worry of losing.
give us a month and we'll be firing on all cylinders.
Anybody else got any news on the new siging coming on monday.
very harsh article, thought we played some decent football against a an established side,
I enjoyed wha I saw today. Of course it will take time to gel but that today was a damn sight better that what was offered up last season..
Johnson is the future, he was head and shoulders above every city player today. Stevie Ireland showed some good touches also.
However, Geovanni in the second half showed us everything that we have missed since Kinky left. He looked absolute class out there. Petrov will be a revelation as will Bianchi..The rest will come together and that starting line up will definitely be a handful for west Ham and Derby County..
0-1 today is the least of my worries, the football was very good in patches and I reckon after 8 or so games we will be in for a real treat....
Nijinsky has summed it up well and i agree with his assesment of the game and the players,Geovanni looked very impressive,one point i will make is that Distin will definitely be missed as Dunney didn't look his normal collossal self but im sure its just a bit of rust and hopefully Corluka will do the business as his partner. Does anyone know where Empenza is?
I don't remember such a harshly worded article when the Rags got hammered by Inter during the week.
No wonder the article doesn't list who it is written by.
We would've beaten them away!
Edski, Keegan was in charge for the innaugaral game at the blue camp against Barcelona. Just get Pearce out of your system, he's gone mate.
Oh dear, Oh dear, Oh dear....2 defeats now under Sven....It won't be long now until you Man City fans start singing "SVEN OUT"....Ha Ha Ha....Man City have all the future as a Fish outa water under Sven beleive me they do.
WE ARE LEEEEEEEEEDS!
Thousands of empty seats.
10,000 up on last season's Thomas Cook Trophy.
Got that wrong MEN. How many did Newcastle get against Juve with free tickets for kids?
Lets look at it after 10 games,Sven has to spot quickly that Ireland ain't good enough in any position,
Onouha can't play full back
and Sun is lethal in our own penalty area.
Official site stating that Issakson is out for a month with a hairline fracture of the thumb and that we have to sign another goalie. Oh yea, by the way, I tried that link that someone posted on here and got robbed for 3 quid. I just wanted to see and hear the crowd.