Burnley 1-1 Manchester City: 5 Talking Points

Arguably the miss of the season from Raheem Sterling proved costly for Manchester City as Burnley struck late to snatch a point at Turf Moor on Saturday afternoon.

Johan Berg Gudmundsson’s goal eight minutes from time cancelled out Danilo’s first-half strike to add a third to City’s run of games without an away win. Although the Clarets have not won in nine league games, they are well on the way to a top half finish. City stretched their lead at the top too by another point before Manchester United beat Huddersfield to narrow the deficiency to 13 points.

Here are five talking points from a pulsating afternoon in Lancashire.

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#5 Burnley’s fighting spirit evident again

Although they had lost their last three home games, all to top six sides, Burnley have been excellent against those sides overall this season. This game was the fifth time they took something from one of the Premier League’s bigger sides and nothing changed about their approach.

They rode their luck at times, and perhaps Manchester City became complacent in the second half, but they battled hard and executed their game plan perfectly, growing into the game in the second half and deserving a draw in the end.

Ben Mee, a former City academy graduate, was fantastic in defence despite the continued absence of his partner James Tarkowski. The Clarets have won eight points in the last ten minutes of matches this season, the division’s third-best record.

Sam Vokes, who came on to salvage a draw at Newcastle on Wednesday by forcing an own goal from Karl Darlow, led by the line brilliantly. But it was Gudmundsson who proved the hero in the end. Burnley are seventh in the league as things stand, four points away from 40 and they fully deserve to be there.

#4 Danilo delight for Pep

Danilo scored an absolute screamer today

Since Benjamin Mendy suffered a serious knee problem earlier this season, Pep Guardiola has struggled to fill the void at left-back. In typical fashion, he appeared to fit a square peg in a round hole with impressive results.

Fabian Delph, a man many assumed would be cast out in the cold by the former Barcelona boss, appeared to go from strength to strength in an unfamiliar role, only to suffer a similar fate to Mendy.

Danilo joined City after two years of stunted development at Real Madrid; the Brazilian appeared en route to stardom at FC Porto, and Guardiola is the perfect man to get him back on track. His lack of defensive discipline was always likely to be an issue, and finally, after a tough start to life at the Etihad Stadium, he is starting to look a lot more settled.

City had 75% possession in the first half, and he was involved a lot, cutting inside to double up as a midfielder, alongside Kyle Walker at right-back, outnumbering Burnley. But it was his stunning curling effort from distance, which opened the scoring, that topped off a very good display overall.

#3 City’s short corners and diagonal passes frustrated Burnley

Burnley defenders were always kept on their toes by City players

Guardiola would never describe himself as an innovator, nor someone who has ‘reinvented the wheel’ tactically, but his ability to work out ways to weaken or frustrate opponents is quite remarkable. Burnley are known for their strength in defence, particularly aerially. With Sergio Aguero up front flanked by Sterling and Bernardo Silva, and Kevin De Bruyne pushing from deep, Guardiola sensed any high balls in the box would be lost with little competition.

He aimed to tire out the hosts’ full-backs by constantly switching the play; diagonal passes to either Sterling or Silva would get them one-on-one and into positions where they could cut the ball back along the ground for the likes of Agüero.

Even from corners, when the likes of Vincent Kompany and Nicolas Otamendi were given license to go forward, Guardiola was looking to unsettle Burnley. Once again, fully aware of their strengths, he kept them on their toes by playing short corners.

They were constantly threatening from set pieces because of that unpredictability, with one leading to Danilo’s goal. It showed the faith he has in his side that both full-backs, who would usually be defending against the counter-attack on the half way line, were primed to receive the ball on the edge of the area each time.

#2 It just wasn’t Raheem Sterling’s day

Sterling missed chances that he would normally convert

There would have been a fair bit of focus on Sterling in Sean Dyche’s pre-match preparations, and a lot has been made of the England man’s most prolific season to date. With 14 Premier League goals to his name, Sterling has shown just how much he has improved under Guardiola, and he didn’t perform particularly badly in this game overall.

He was the main outlet for City being a constant menace for Phil Bardsley in the first half and, when the former Manchester United man was replaced, Matt Lowton after the break. Constantly in space, Sterling typified Guardiola’s approach to the possession-based counter attack.

But it could be argued Sterling was the main reason for City dropping points for only the fourth time this season. The microscope focussed on him first when he failed to convert an opportunity from point-blank range after Agüero played him in, shooting over Nick Pope’s goal. But the pressure intensified when he somehow missed an open goal from mere yards out, later being replaced by Brahim Diaz and seeing Burnley steal a point just minutes from time.

#1 Vincent Kompany is beginning to look past his best

Not the finest performance from Manchester City defensively

It was rather sad to see, but the man who has defined the winning mentality that has engulfed Manchester City for much of the last decade looked rather off the pace at Turf Moor. It was clear that Dyche and Burnley had targeted him, playing Ashley Barnes, a striker known for never letting defenders out of his sight, up against him. The Belgian, now 31, is getting older and it is understandable that the constant injury issues he has battled for years have begun to haunt him.

With City’s record signing Aymeric Laporte on the bench and John Stones to return, Kompany can expect to fall down the pecking order. Guardiola may have felt his experience and physicality would have helped in such tough surroundings on Saturday, but he proved more costly than most.

Aaron Lennon almost equalised for Burnley with 20 minutes left courtesy of his error down the right-hand side, but goalkeeper Ederson was alert to the danger and tipped it onto the post. It was a huge positive that he managed to get through the full game.