What could have been

It seems perverse to complain after a 6-1 victory, but I am frustrated, quite legitimately I think, that we could not score another five in the second half on Saturday.

Roberto Mancini:

"Goal difference will be important at the end of the season," Mancini said. "I was disappointed in the second half because we could not play football and we could not score more goals because of the conditions. It was a day to get more goals, with the way we were playing, but the weather really was not good in the second half.

Vincent Kompany:

"The lads think that, yes," Kompany said. "If the pitch had been in the same condition as it was in the first half, it would have been easier for us to play those counter-attacks."

Adam Johnson:

"We could have had a few more - the rain did them a favour, the way we were playing.

"If the pitch had stayed in the condition it was in the first half, it might have been even more goals. I'm not used to being three up after six minutes, but I'm enjoying it!"

Burnley reax

George Murray, Independent on Sunday

Ruthless, clinical, making the most of others' misfortune, this was most unlike the Manchester City we have grown used to. Up to fourth, with Tottenham still having to travel to Eastlands, Roberto Mancini, who linked himself with a move back to Italy with Juventus on the eve of this game, looks like he may deliver Champions League football after all.

Graham Chase, Sunday Telegraph

With Tottenham, who still have to travel to City, slipping up at Sunderland history suggested that Roberto Mancini's side would shoot themselves in the foot.

Instead, they were three goals up within six minutes and played with a ruthlessness that has rarely been associated with the light blue shirt, with three goals coming from Adam Johnson corners.

Paul Rowan, Sunday Times

Within seven minutes, Burnley were three behind, and they had conceded five by half-time — equalling the Premier League record — as Tevez and Adebayor ran riot. Burnley’s defence couldn’t deal with Adam Johnson and Bellamy on the flanks either.

Joe Lovejoy, The Observer

The outcome was settled before the match was seven minutes old, by which time City were three goals to the good, and the Burnley players, and their suffering supporters, were thoroughly demoralised. It cannot be too often that a home team are booed while latecomers are still filtering into the ground, but that is what happened here. After 20 minutes, at 4-0, some were already heading for the exits.

Burnley player ratings

Given He seems to have fully recovered from his mid-season dip. He didn't have too much to do today but he was very good. Made one crucial reaction save on the line in the second half, and controlled the sodden football well with hands and feet. 7

Onuoha Brought in at right-back for his first start since February. While Burnley didn't pose too many problems he was solid throughout, even getting forward a few times with some effect. 6

Touré Another decent performance from the captain. Didn't have too much to do in the first half but held things together in the sodden second period. 6

Kompany Effectively had the first half off, but called on more later on - making a few important interceptions and heading home his second corner of the season. 6

Sylvinho Replaced Javi Garrido but didn't look fully comfortable - pressured by Burnley and gave the ball away more than he ought to have done. Went off injured in the second half. 5

Bellamy Proved just how effective he is in these away games where he can break into space. Took his goal excellently and was involved in future forays. 7

Vieira Still doesn't look as good as we might hope - a bit sluggish, slow to react to certain circumstances. But he formed an important barrier in front of the defence and his experience was crucial in calming us down in the second half. Took his header excellently. 6

Barry Free to break forward more than he usually does and he enjoyed it. Smart whenever on the ball and gave Vieira enough help at the back. 7

Johnson Coming in off the right, he beat the left back at will, always causing problems. Didn't threaten the goal much himself - one shot was deflected onto the post, but three of our goals came from his corners. 8

Tévez Another excellent performance. Drifting behind Adebayor in what was more 4-2-3-1 than 4-4-2, he was allowed to run the game at will. He's got a better football brain than people credit him with, and he was our creator-in-chief. He slid Bellamy in for our second goal and Adebayor in for our fifth, as well us picking up a poacher's tap-in himself. 8

Adebayor Did not have too difficult a job leading the line - he didn't really have to hold the ball, he could just run with it towards Burnley's goal to create opportunities. He took his first excellently, slamming home from a corner, and his second was a victory of gameplan: Tévez slid him through and he finished comfortably. 7

Subs:

de Jong Came on for half an hour and avoided getting booked, which is all that mattered really. 7

RSC Got into good positions twice, didn't do much with them. Got stick off the locals, understandably. 6

Nimely Debut for the Liberian youngster. n/a

Burnley 1 - 6 City

• One of the strangest and most memorable City games in years. In the first half, it was uncompetitive. In the second half it was unplayable. At no point did it resemble a football match. After our ten minute blitz I had no doubt that we would win the match, but as the rain got worse the traditional tension of watching City lead on the road was replaced by a new fear, of Alan Wiley calling the game off. But the pitch and the sun just managed to hold off the wind and the rain, and Wiley held off his judgement. I was never fully confident - it was the tightest run 6-1 I've ever seen, even if the football match was over in ten minutes.

• But for those ten minutes it was thrilling. I have never seen as one sided a period of football in my life. It was much worse than the start of the Arsenal v Barcelona game in mid-week, and not just because the ball ended up in the net. Burnley put in the worst defensive performance I have ever seen in the top flight. That terrible Derby County side of three years ago were never this bad, as far as I remember. Every time we attacked we went straight through on goal. We missed as many good chances as we scored from. Tévez dropped deep with impunity, facing no resistance from Burnley's midfield. Adam Johnson, Craig Bellamy and Manu Adebayor ran past defenders at will. At first it looked like men against boys, but it quickly descended into men against cones.

• I don't want to take anything away from our attacking though. We did well to score as early as we did, and to kill the game quickly. Mancini got it right going with four attackers - Bellamy and Johnson playing as outside-in wingers, with Tévez drifting behind the spearhead Adebayor. Tévez ran the game, putting the other three into advanced positions, where they faced little resistance from the defence. It was good to see us soon realise that Burnley were there to be routed, and to execute our plan with all the brutality it demanded. There was never any complacency or sitting back. Which is a sign of a more serious attitude than we've seen in the past.

• It was crucial that we had that five goal cushion going into the second half. The conditions were so bad after half time that it bridged the chasm between the teams. Had we been left with only a two or three goal cushion at the break it might have been nervy, but there was no way we were going to piss away 6-0, even with the ball struggling to travel more than four yards along the turf in any one movement. We were calm and assured when we could have panicked, keeping the ball as far as we could and playing it into the slightly drier channels where possible. Had the weather stayed bright we could well have scored eight or nine and vaulted beyond Spurs' goal difference.

• But I can have no complaints with the weekend. We are ahead of Tottenham and just scored six on the road for the first time since a 6-2 win at Hillsborough in September 2001. Tévez's form is improving ever further, as is that of Bellamy and Johnson. I'm still making Spurs narrow favourites for fourth, but tonight's result was a big step in the right direction. More of the same on Sunday please.
  

Burnley preview

Just seven games to go now. It's remarkable, really, that we are where we are. We've barely played well all season but if we can win five of our next seven I'm sure we'll grab fourth spot and play Champions League football next season. So today is another must-win game.

One of the hardest things in football is judging how teams threatened with relegation will perform. Will they fold like West Ham? Will they battle like Hull? Will they play with the abandon of condemned men like Portsmouth? There are many interpretations of how it can work out with evidence behind all of them. So I don't really know what to expect from Burnley.

They're clearly a pretty poor side. One win in thirteen under Brian Laws, and home defeats to Portsmouth, Wolves and Blackburn, none of whom have particularly good away records. I'm not even going to trot out the 'expect the unexpected with City involved' stuff today. We really should win this one. All I will say is that Burnley have taken just one point on their travels all season and that was at Eastlands.

We should have enough to beat them. There are a few injury concerns - Micah Richards and Craig Bellamy are said to be doubts while Stephen Ireland hasn't recovered from getting kicked by Johnny Heitinga. Throw in Pablo Zabaleta's suspension and Nigel de Jong's resting to avoid the same punishment and we don't have too many options. I imagine this will force us into a 4-4-2, with a back four of Javi Garrido, Vincent Kompany, Kolo Touré and Nedum Onuoha. We could play Dedryck Boyata, and move Onuoha central and Kompany into midfield but I'm not sure. Gareth Barry should return to partner Patrick Vieira in midfield with Wright-Phillips and Adam Johnson out wide. Bellamy will be a real loss - his running and breaking are even more important on the road than they are at home. I'd rather partner Carlos Tévez with Roque Santa Cruz than with Emmanuel Adebayor but this is unlikely.

It should be enough. It won't be a pretty game but I'm backing us to grind out a 2-1 win.

Suspensions

Pablo Zabaleta's season of bad tackles, late tackles, high tackles, cynical tackles and clumsy tackles has finally caught up with him: he has racked up ten yellow cards and therefore is banned from the Burnley and Birmingham City games.

It's not come at the best possible time, but I'd rather he missed these two games than the next two - Manchester United and Arsenal. The problem is that Nigel de Jong could well sit those out for the same reason. To avoid that, he needs to escape cautions in the next two games - at which point the giant reset button is pressed in Soho Square Wembley Stadium and de Jong can collect bookings with impunity.

But this means that it's probably wisest to rest de Jong for the Burnley and Birmingham games. Hence Gareth Barry's resting on Monday night. Expect to see Barry and Vieira in midfield on Saturday, with the possible addition of Stephen Ireland or even Sylvinho. I don't particularly worry about that game, but the prospect of Lee Bowyer and Barry Ferguson over-running Barry and Vieira on Sunday week is fairly worrying.