City dominated possession but had no answers to a merciless attack that tucked away the goals from just five shots.

Sydney on the short turnaround from Tuesday’s FFA Cup Final defeat, showed no residual angst as they put Joyce’s men to the sword.

"Obviously a frustrating and disappointing night for us,” Joyce told Fox Sports post-match, describing all three goals as “poor”.

“The first goal (Riley McGree) falls over the ball and we give them a goal start. We had a lot of possession in the first half, lot of possession in the second, didn’t do enough with the ball.

“We’ve got to do better in possession – we’ve got to be more ruthless. We had chances after half-time, you know, you’ve got to take them.

City had sister club, Manchester City’s Premier League trophy on display at the ground but it failed to inspire the home side’s performance.

Instead it was Paulo Retre who put the Sky Blues ahead in the 16th minute before Adam Le Fondre scored just after the hour before tucking away his brace in stoppage time, making it four goals in three games for the Englishman to kick off the season.

Joyce denied there was an air of complacency in the ranks as they faced an opponent lining up for their third game in six days, but he was clearly miffed by the performance.

“(I’m) particularly disappointed with the goals that went in. I thought they were really poor goals to concede. And you’ve got to dominate. If you dominate possession you’ve got to make more use of that and create more chances.”

McGree had a game to forget, and the coach used his first half error to underscore Sydney’s lethal streak.

“He fell over the ball – that’s a mistake. Riley fell over the ball then in seconds there’s a goal. You know, that’s how ruthless (Sydney’s) been over the years - ruthless in making the most of an opportunity.”