George Boyd: Burnley fully deserved to beat Manchester City
GEORGE BOYD put the boot into Manchester City on and off the pitch after effectively ending their Premier League title chances while giving Burnley a survival lifeline.
George Boyd and Co celebrate Burnley's winner against Manchester City
Not content with scoring "the best and most important" goal of his career, Boyd provided a searing analysis of City's alarming decline since the turn of the year.
He claimed they don't like tracking back, can be knocked out of their stride by a high pressing game, and are uncomfortable dealing with long balls which turn their slow-moving defence.
This latest debacle leaves under-pressure boss Manuel Pellegrini needing to lift his shell-shocked squad for Wednesday's daunting task in the Nou Camp when failure to overturn a 2-1 first-leg deficit will lead to an exit from the Champions League and deepen the crisis enveloping City.
Boyd said Sean Dyche's team had taken a lot of encouragement after storming back from 2-0 down to take a surprise point at the Etihad Stadium in December and learned a whole lot more about City's weaknesses after watching a video of their recent defeat to Liverpool.
"You could see how Liverpool got in behind them so easily and we did that a few times," he said.
"You could see in that game how they don't track back as well as they go forward so we knew we could exploit that and we did.
"Obviously with the bigger teams they've got world-class players who can cut you open in a second, but you find if you get in amongst them and press them they don't really like it because they're not used to being tackled.
Pellegrini: Man City lacked creativity [AMBIENT]
"We played a few long balls too - not bad balls, more diagonal balls. It was all about playing to our strengths, playing an unfamiliar game for them and getting in their faces.
"We fully deserved to win. We were better than them."
There was an alarming air of complacency about City's £300m squad compared to the work ethic of their Burnley counterparts, assembled for around £5m. And their lacklustre attitude was summed up by the Clarets' fully deserved 61st-minute goal.
We fully deserved to win. We were better than them
George Boyd
Martin Demichelis couldn't cope with Danny Ings' pace and tripped him, Vincent Kompany's headed clearance from Kieran Trippier's free-kick was poor and Edin Dzeko failed to close down Boyd, whose sweetly struck half-volley gave Joe Hart no chance.
It was a far more positive outcome for Boyd, who was given a three-game ban for spitting at Hart while playing for Hull last season.
City were denied a blatant penalty in added time when Pablo Zabaleta was brought down by Ben Mee but should have stirred themselves long before then. And this is no blip.
Since drawing level with Chelsea at the top on New Year's Day, City have dropped 15 points from the last 27 in the League and are now no longer looking upwards at catching Jose Mourinho's team but instead over their shoulders to make sure they do not do the unthinkable – drop out of the four.
In the same nine-game period, in-form Arsenal have taken 24 points and now sit only one point behind City.
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Pellegrini refused to accept his players are no longer playing for him.
"They want [to win games] but maybe they can't at the moment," he said. "We have to find a solution but one thing I can tell you is that it is not down to the effort of the players."
Just as well for Pellegrini that City chief executive Ferran Soriano missed this debacle to be at New York City's opening MLS home game. But if he fails to turn round City's fortunes it won't matter. The knives are no doubt being sharpened.
Burnley (4-4-2): Heaton 7; Trippier 6, Duff 6, Shackell 7, Mee 6; Boyd 8, Arfield 7, Jones 7, Barnes 6; Ings 7 (Reid 90), Vokes 6 (Ward 87). Booked: Mee, Duff. Goal: Boyd 61. NEXT UP: Southampton (a) Sat, PL.
Man City (4-4-2): Hart 6; Zabaleta 6, Kompany 6, Demichelis 5, Clichy 5; Navas 5, Fernandinho 5, Toure 5, Silva 6 (Jovetic 74, 5); Dzeko 4 (Bony 63, 4), Aguero 7. Booked: Demichelis. NEXT UP: Barcelona (a) Wed, CL.
