City simply must respond when they host Brentford on Sunday afternoon

As performances go, you'd struggle to see worse at any level, especially in the Premier League, than the one Hull City offered up at Fulham on Saturday.

It was lethargic, it was disjointed, and in six years covering City, I can't remember too many games as bad as that, and given we've seen some desperately poor performances, that's quite an accolade.

Rarely have I seen a team give the ball away as much, whether it be handing it on a plate back to the hosts or simply sticking it straight out of play. The biggest success for City was getting out of Craven Cottage with a 1-0 defeat, because in truth, it should have been five or six. Put simply, if they deliver a performance as pathetic as that at Arsenal in a couple of weeks, there's a real chance they could be on the wrong end of a humiliating defeat.

That's why what happened at Fulham must be a huge warning shot. City's players and their manager have been riding the crest of a wave for a while now. They've been praised, and rightly so. In the early weeks of the Premier League season, they've been the big story, and they've been a joy to watch, as has their rise.

City have been a success; their performances and results have captured the imagination, and their players have met the challenge of playing at this level head-on. They've risen to the task. The biggest compliment I can pay Jakirovic's men is that they've looked like a Premier League team and one capable of making an impact.

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That wasn't the case on Saturday. David Moyes referenced a honeymoon period after the draw with Everton last weekend and if there was such a thing, it's most definitely over.

But it's one game. The Tigers were shocking; nobody in that dressing room would argue differently. Semi Ajayi, in his short and sharp post-match interview, slammed the performance, saying it wasn't good enough and can't be allowed to happen again.

It may be unlikely, but perhaps there was an element of complacency. Fulham were bottom and without a win, did one or two of the players think they'd be a pushover? I find that hard to believe, given the Tigers are only a handful of games into the Premier League season; however, it's a possibility.

This performance must serve as a wake-up call. City are not good enough to have seven or eight players delivering three or four out of 10 displays. For this team to compete and get results, they need those players at sevens and eights, as they have been previously.

That group of players shouldn't be written off after a bad day. They've had some good days already, and bar that crazy opening at Newcastle United, this was the exception rather than the norm.

It's gone, though. They can't get it back, they can't change anything from Craven Cottage, but what they do is impact their performances going forward, starting with Brentford on Sunday.

There will be plenty waiting for City's honeymoon to end and for them to fall to the foot of the table. Jakirovic's players are a proud group; they've earned their chance to play in the Premier League, and nobody will have been hurting more than them on the bus journey home on Saturday. Fortunately, there's a game to put things right and get back to the level of performances they've shown they can deliver.

Bad days happen, we all have them and City haven't had many in recent months. Was it miles below where they need to be every week? Yes, are they suddenly a bunch of no-hopers? Absolutely not. They, and their supporters, must come out fighting this weekend, and if anyone can inspire that, it will be their own sense of pride and their manager.