Complacency Denies Manchester City Opportunity to Close Gap on Chelsea

Manchester City’s longstanding club record of nine consecutive wins remains intact after Manuel Pellegrini’s side failed to beat Burnley at the Etihad, despite being two goals ahead at half-time.

A win would have seen City string 10 wins in a row together for the first time in the club’s history and, more importantly, reduce Chelsea’s lead at the top of the Premier League table to just one point after their draw at Southampton earlier in the day, but a second-half collapse, which came as a huge surprise given their recent displays, has dented their unblemished winning record since the November international break.

Burnley started brightly, with the movement of Danny Ings, Ashley Barnes and George Boyd a precursor to their second-half showing, but David Silva’s turn and finish after a smart ball from Jesus Navas settled City down and saw them produce moments of free-flowing, inventive football.

Fernandinho blasted in a second from outside the area, the ball crashing off the underside of the bar, and at that stage it felt like City would go on and dominate proceedings.

Alex Livesey/Getty Images

News emerged at half-time that Chelsea had unexpectedly dropped points against Southampton, and the pendulum, it felt, was swinging in City’s favour. Eight points behind the west Londoners a matter of weeks ago, here they were 45 minutes away from closing the gap to a solitary point.

Burnley, though, had other ideas.

Boyd poked home early in the second half from what looked like an offside position after good work from Ings, with Joe Hart left disappointed with his attempted save, and suddenly City looked nervous and were sat too deep, inviting pressure and giving Burnley hope of an equaliser.

And with just nine minutes remaining, Barnes, who had given a superb performance all afternoon, was rewarded with a goal of real quality. A long ball into the City wasn’t dealt with, as Barnes beat Martin Demichelis in the air, and after a couple of ricochets, it fell back to the Burnley forward who let fly and blasted the ball into the top corner.

For City, it ends the momentum they had built up during a glorious winning run, and the manner of the second-half display, which was characterised by inertia and complacency, will be a concern to Pellegrini.

Yaya Toure, who was unavailable to play after suffering a groin injury, was badly missed, and Eliaquim Mangala, whose start to life at City has been patchy, gave another unconvincing display which saw him struggle with the physical side of Burnley’s game.

It’s clear Mangala has the attributes needed to be an excellent player, but right now a nervousness and lack of concentration is invariably blighting his game. Having been much improved in recent weeks, this was far from his most convincing display.

Alex Livesey/Getty Images

However, given their recent injury troubles, their form since the November international break has been excellent, helping to close the gap at the top of the league from eight points to three and allowing them a remarkable qualification from their Champions League group, which, at one stage, seemed unthinkable.

This result is a huge disappointment, but in the context of their recent results, it’s by no means a disaster.

Afterwards, Pellegrini suggested his side were unfortunate to lose, and he highlighted Burnley’s first as the turning point. “In football, just two balls can decide the score,” he said.

“It is clear we couldn’t keep the same intensity in the second half because the first goal was very important for them because they improve a lot and have a lot of trust.

“It is difficult for all the teams, especially our team because we play on a very heavy pitch against West Bromwich in the last game, to keep the same pace in the second half.”

City now face Sunderland on New Year's Day before their FA Cup match with Sheffield Wednesday just three days later. Their unbeaten run now stands at 11 games in all competitions, and there's much to be happy about for Pellegrini, despite the nature of today's result.

Rob Pollard is Bleacher Report's lead Manchester City correspondent and will be following the club from a Manchester base throughout the 2014-15 season. All quotes are obtained firsthand unless otherwise noted. Follow him on Twitter: @RobPollard.