Guardiola ‘hated’ Man City vs Burnley as ‘opportunity’ missed in title race | OneFootball

“The absolute unthinkable” was on the cards in the last action of a game everyone assumed would be a means for Manchester City to steam ahead of Arsenal on goal difference. Hello tension, my old friend.

City’s 13 shots was their most in the first half of a Premier League away game since August 2024 v West Ham (17), and yet, we suspect it will have been one of the more animated team talks from Pep Guardiola.

Erling Haaland broke the deadlock in the fifth minute with a lovely dinked finish after a stunning touch, turn and pass from Jeremy Doku, at which point Arsenal will have had considerable goal difference fears after that opener took City to the top of the table on goals scored.

Rayan Cherki had already been denied through a stunning Martin Dubravka save and a ridiculous move featuring five one-touch passes on the edge of the Burnley box saw Nico O’Reilly force the goalkeeper into another decent stop. But despite the abundance of shots, City were probing without battering the door down as everyone watching in the stadium and at home would have expected.

“They’ve not been ruthless in this first half – they should really have killed the game off,” Gary Neville said on commentary. “These last few minutes will have bugged Guardiola. They’re letting the game drift a little bit. It’s sloppy from Manchester City. There’s a bit of complacency here.”

Had it not been for some very average finishing from Burnley, City could have been in real trouble here. Zian Flemming scuffed one effort wide and blazed another over the bar. Quilindschy Hartman diddled Bernardo Silva in the box before forcing Gianluigi Donnarumma into a save. Hjalmar Ekdal and Bashir Humphreys got in each other’s way having both got on the end of one of several James Ward Prowse deliveries City didn’t deal with efficiently.

“It’s strange – Man City aren’t really defending,” Micah Richards said in the Sky Sports studio, and Neville picked out the Citizens’ beacon of composure as a tell-tale indication of their “nervousness” as they continued to look off it after the break.

“He’s more uncomfortable than he should be on the ball and in his defensive work. He’s normally so smooth, Marc Guehi,” Neville said.

Guardiola was “not happy” on the touchline and his mood didn’t improve upon seeing Doku fire an off-balance shot over the bar from the edge of the box following a 22-pass move. “He can’t believe that – he hates stuff like that,” Neville said.

A poor pass from Cherki forced Antoine Semenyo to stretch as he shot over the bar, Haaland hit the outside of the post after a fortunate break of the ball, Savinho drew a simple save from Dubravka after a Guehi cross found him at the back post, Nico Gonzalez shot just wide and O’Reilly got a Cherki cross stuck under his feet in the six-yard box. They had a lot of chances and ended the game with an xG of 3.15 to Burnley’s 0.57.

But every time the cameras cut to Guardiola he was either shaking his head or dramatically slumping down into his seat and complaining about something or other to assistant Pep Lijnders.

“There’s just not the urgency we expected from Manchester City. Goal difference could be a big factor and this was a golden opportunity here,” Neville said, before insisting they would “have to play a lot better” in their remaining games this season to pip Arsenal to the Premier League title and delivering a five-word line to demonstrate the incredible shift in focus from kick-off to the 85th minute.

“He won’t want another shot,” Neville added.

There were no further shots, but “the absolute unthinkable” was still possible right up to the final whistle as Burnley filled the City box from a free-kick and then a corner.

They didn’t bottle it but the tension was plain through snatched finishes, unsure defending and the looks on away fan faces in those final few minutes. Job done, but “opportunity” missed in a game we suspect Arsenal might have enjoyed almost as much as their title rivals.