VMC 3-3 Post Match Reaction

City's mission to consolidate a place in the top four has been thrown away again and made to look a mere dalliance. Here's how the rival gaffers saw today's pisspoor encounter...

Mark Hughes:

'For the vast majority of the second half I thought we were excellent. It was a huge effort on our part, but then we shot ourselves in the foot again and switched off. At the moment we are struggling to to take the sting out of things. You have to give the opposition no encouragement - you have to see them off, discourage them. You have to make them think there is nothing for them.'

Sparky then turned his attention to the state of the seemingly collapse at will City defence:

'Defending is a collective duty. We have to stop things at source before they develop. Maybe we have to work exceptionally hard to stop balls coming in to their front men. That's a part of our game we are not doing very well at. It's about working hard and making sure we improve.'

And on the bigger picture, he attempted to put a positive spin upon the current limbo. I can't see many Blues wearing the all credit to the lads tone:

'We started the season like a house on fire - we knew there would be games where we didn't function like that. But we are still picking up points. Obviously we are disappointed today, but credit to the lads, they nearly turned it round. Ten or 11 games in, I think we're doing OK, no more and no less than that. There will be times when we look like what we are - a team still coming together and trying to gel. There are things we need to tighten up on.'

Owen Coyle:

'I have to say I felt very comfortable at 2-0. I'd have loved to get in at half-time with that. Wright-Phillips has come up with a great strike that's come off Stevie Jordan with a slight deflection.'

You can almost hear Planet Blue's toes curl en masse at that 'comfortable' statement. Burnley grew in confidence as the first half wore on:

'There was belief at half time that we could still win the game. Then there was a spell that City will have been delighted with the goals they got. They then went in front. I said to the boys we're on a learning curve and if we had an experienced Premier League team we'd have seen that out
What I do know is that having gone 3-2 down in the game and with City firing on all cylinders we still showed tremendous resolve and belief.'

To his credit, Coyle then revealed how Burnley set out their stall to win despite City's comeback:

'I think if you'd offered me a point beforehand I'd have taken it. We went the last 25 minutes 4-4-2, really gung ho and my reason for that was I was prepared to lose the match 4-2 in trying to draw 3-3.'

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