The foundations around Man City crumbled again with Christian Norgaard's late header halting their resurgence as the Premier League champions threw away a two-goal lead to draw 2-2 at Brentford.
Pep Guardiola's side had moved 2-0 ahead with less than ten minutes remaining before Brentford's late fightback.
City had shown glimpses of their old selves as skipper Kevin De Bruyne delivered a captain's performance, capped by a typically perfect cross for Phil Foden's close-range opener, before their late collapse showed again how far they have fallen this season.
They looked to have seen off Brentford's threat when Foden notched another from inside the six-yard box to continue his own personal resurgence 12 minutes after his first - and had Savinho's effort not hit a post and Erling Haaland not aimed a header straight at Mark Flekken, they might have.
But their defensive frailty, which has seen them agree deals for Lens' Abdukodir Khusanov and Palmeiras' Vitor Reis, soon came back to the fore to allow Brentford back into the game.
Eight minutes from time, Nathan Ake missed his header to cut out Mads Roerslev's cross, allowing it to reach Yoane Wissa, who swivelled smartly and notched his 11th Premier League goal of the season.
A repeat performance was to come as Brentford piled forward in added time when Norgaard beat Manuel Akanji to Keane Lewis-Potter's delivery, lifting the roof off the Gtech Community Stadium and once again leaving last season's Premier League champions with a bloody nose.
Guardiola: We don't have players in our own box to defend lead
Man City head coach Pep Guardiola:
"What I missed today was that we didn't take the right decisions in the final third, when the actions were that we could run. We were winning long balls and could run with them, but we didn't make the right decisions.
"I like the way Brentford play, today we created a lot and we've come here many times and they've had more chances than us.
"At 2-0 we had to close it out, but we don't have a specific player to defend a result in the box - we have to do it with the ball, create and control in the final third."