Manuel Pellegrini accused Manchester City of complacency in allowing a two-goal half-time lead over Burnley to slip as the champions missed the chance to move within a point of Chelsea, who also failed to win, at Southampton.
City led through goals from David Silva and Fernandinho but George Boyd scored 76 seconds into the second half and Ashley Barnes’s 81st-minute equaliser meant City failed to record a club-record 10th consecutive victory and allowed Chelsea to maintain their three-point advantage going into 2015.
“Maybe winning 2-0 we thought the game was over but until the last whistle the game is never finished,” Pellegrini said. “So we couldn’t continue with the same pace. I can explain, of course I can explain – football has a lot of things that decide the score. We played well in the first half, we were 2-0 up. In the [second] minute of the second half Burnley score a clear offside goal. After that they scored the second from a rebound.”
Although Boyd may have been offside – the goal came from a Danny Ings cross that he appeared to touch past Joe Hart – and Pellegrini spoke of a heavy pitch and blamed his team’s stamina, he claimed not to be blaming bad luck for the result.
“The pitch was very heavy,” the manager said. “Two games in 48 hours but we were winning 2-0. Once it was 2-2 we didn’t have the legs to score. I am not saying we are unfortunate. I don’t say that. I am saying in football just two balls can decide the score. I think we played very well in the first half. In the second half when they score, they grow.”
Of the missed chance to close in on Chelsea, the manager added: “Of course it is a chance to have two more points but we have to play a complete second round. We finished the first round with 43 points; that is a good amount of points.”
Yaya Touré missed the match because of injury and Pellegrini said he would know on Monday whether the midfielder will be available for Sunderland’s visit on New Year’s Day. “We hope that he will be because it was a lesser problem but after 48 hours maybe it is too high a risk to repeat – [it is] a muscle injury in his groin. Yaya was not able to play today, 90 minutes. It was a risk for him. The players that played today were the players who were able to. “Yaya felt a problem at the beginning of the last game against West Bromwich. He was not 100% so I think it was not good for him to play today.”
Of Vincent Kompany, who has been missing because of muscular problems, Pellegrini said: “We will see tomorrow if he is fit for the next game. It is very difficult now to know. He has some problems still in his calf.”
