Two defeats on the road would often lead to some criticism and negativity but we performed superbly against Norwich City on Wednesday night and while on Saturday against Burnley we were definitely second best, we stayed in the game and could have come away with a point.
These two games were never going to define our season, but they have certainly shown that we can live with the very best that the Championship has to offer and there are many more positives than negatives.
You do have to question the EFL, and the fixtures process that sees Burnley play a game on Tuesday against near-neighbours Preston North End, followed by a home game and, while City travel to Norwich 24 hours later and then have to journey 400+ miles to Burnley. A friend of mine has worked out that I have travelled over 3,000 miles (with the round trips) already this season to watch City away from home and we are still only in September.
Following the impressive performance against Norwich, when we deserved as an absolute minimum a share of the points, I travelled home gutted for the players and fans but not disappointed. Anyone who watched the game will have been enthused by the way we passed the ball and the opportunities that we created, and it was only a couple of really poor moments that cost us.
I wondered if after the exhausting efforts against the Canaries, Nigel Pearson would make a few changes for the Burnley trip but he decided against it and kept the same starting XI. There was again no place on the bench for marquee summer signing Kane Wilson and Cameron Pring. Unless I have missed it, I haven’t heard of any injury problems with either and I would love to understand the rationale for the manager’s decision.
Pring, in particular, is interesting as he can play left wing-back or in the back three. Jay Dasilva was well off it on Saturday at Turf Moor and Pring would have been a natural substitution. Instead, we had three central midfielders on the bench in Joe Williams, Han-Noah Massengo and Andy King.
Burnley under their new manager Vincent Kompany had former City favourite and captain Josh Brownhill in their side and Josh was afforded a good reception from the 1,000+ travelling army.
The minute’s silence, followed by the rendition of the National Anthem for Queen Elizabeth II, was impeccably observed and brought a lump to the throat.
Burnley were quick out of the blocks and Nathan Tella had an opportunity in the very first minute. Three minutes later, they were in front through Manuel Benson. City got caught on their heels at a Burnley throw-in and neither Rob Atkinson or Kal Naismith closed Benson down, allowing him space on the edge of the box to fire sharply past Dan Bentley.
Atkinson and Naismith then had a debate over who should have done what but, in truth, both had an opportunity to close Benson down and just backed off. It was basic defending.
Burnley were very comfortable on the ball and had the lion’s share of possession, albeit much of it in their own defensive third but they were adept at keeping the ball, looking for the right moment to open City up. At times when we did manage to win the ball back, we were too quick to surrender it.
Unlike against Norwich on Wednesday, Mark Sykes and Dasilva on the flanks couldn’t get forward as effectively and Alex Scott and Matty James had very little success in midfield against Josh Cullen, Jack Cork and Brownhill. I was particularly impressed with Cullen who was constantly on the move and looking to play short passes into his attacking players.
Burnley were the better side, but City stayed in it and were rewarded for their doggedness in the 27th minute, when the tireless Nahki Wells drew us level, firing in from all of a foot after Tommy Conway provided an assist, he knew nothing about, following a Naismith corner.
Atkinson forced Burnley keeper Arijanet Muric into a save and Conway so nearly got on to a Wells through ball but was thwarted by the imposing Kosovan international.
Not all together unsurprisingly, Pearson made two changes at the break, replacing Scott with Joe Williams and Conway with Antoine Semenyo. Within minutes Muric was forced into another good save from a Wells header. City just couldn’t get a stranglehold on the game and Burnley dominated the second-half in terms of the ball, with a little more composure with their final pass or shot, they could have added to the score.
Their class eventually told with Jay Rodriguez losing Zak Vyner and heading in a Joey Gudmundsson cross past the helpless Bentley. Dasilva should have done more to stop the cross and Vyner had to stay with the run. To their credit City kept going and Williams and Semenyo, had chances for the equaliser, Semenyo’s after a flowing one touch move involving Sykes and Wells.
Pearson was honest in his post match assessment, fundamentally we were beaten by the better team.
Our 3 Peaps In A Podcast Bonus show ratings were: Daniel Bentley 6, Mark Sykes 6, Jay Dasilva 5, Kal Naismith 6, Rob Atkinson 7, Zak Vyner 6, Alex Scott 5, Matty James 5, Andi Weimann 5, Nahki Wells 7, Tommy Conway 5 and subs Joe Williams 6 and Antoine Semenyo 5. A game average of 5.62 and a season average of 6.59. For Nigel it’s a 6, beaten by the better team on the day.
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