Andre Villas-Boas has said that Tottenham Hotspur paid the price for their poor start against Manchester City in their Premier League defeat.

The visitors suffered a 6-0 loss at the Etihad Stadium, with Villas-Boas unhappy with the performance from his side.

"It was a difficult start, conceding after 15 seconds. That puts your plans in doubts and everything you've been preparing," he told Sky Sports News.

"It's difficult to take. We had a very, very good reaction to the goal we suffered - that's the only positive, the 20 minutes before they scored the second.

"There's not a lot to look for; everything went bad for us from being one of the best defences in the country to suffering six goals. There's not a lot we can say. City were excellent, we were extremely poor today and paid a heavy price."

Tottenham are ninth in the Premier League table after today's defeat.