Jamie Redknapp says it would be a 'huge embarrassment' for Manchester City if they don't beat Burnley on Saturday Night Football.
There has been a lot of talk at Man City in previous years about wanting to win a certain amount of trophies in so many years, and rightly so, because the owners have ploughed so much money into the club.
For them to be on the verge of going out of the Champions League, out of the FA Cup and Capital One Cup, and five points behind Chelsea - who we saw on Wednesday aren't the real deal that perhaps we have been talking about this season - is hugely disappointing.
If they don't win the league, there are going to be a lot of questions about whether Manuel Pellegrini is the man to take them forward and are this group of players in need of change.
The players have to take responsibility as well, you can’t just look at the manager all the time and keep sacking managers.
Jamie Redknapp
The players have to take responsibility as well, you can't just look at the manager all the time and keep sacking managers. You win the league one year, then have a disappointing campaign the next; that is not good enough when you are ploughing that much money in.
City have to try to put some pressure on Chelsea by winning this Saturday. It could go two ways for Chelsea after that defeat to Paris Saint-Germain. It could galvanise them and they could win the league or it could put a few doubts in their mind, so City have to try to at least put some pressure on them.
Burnley vs Man City
March 14, 2015
If they can win on Saturday and Southampton can get a result at the Bridge, then it is game on again, but we can’t say that unless they take care of their own games. I think they have to win every game; for them to win the league, they have to a 10-game winning run. Are they capable of doing that? It doesn't look like it at the moment but they have the players to do it.
If City don't win this game, then it will be a huge embarrassment to the club because of the situation they are in. There is a huge gulf in the quality of the sides and City have to win to keep the title race alive.
Kompany's struggles
Vincent Kompany was dropped against Leicester.
It's very strange with Vincent Kompany. I am a big fan of his, but he has had a very poor season. I don’t think it has helped that he has had a lot of different partners at the back.
One minute it’s Martin Demichelis, the next it’s Eliaquim Mangala, but there is no doubt that Kompany's performances have dipped dramatically. He is the one player you would say they could always rely on, who could save goals, but he hasn’t this year, and I think that has had a really big effect on how City have played.
When you have spent £25m on a player like Wilfried Bony, you have to play him otherwise what was the point of signing him?
You could argue some of their best performances over the last few years have been with Yaya Toure playing off the striker; maybe that gives them a better balance in midfield because when they play 4-4-2, they leave themselves wide open as we have seen. They certainly have an abundance of options.
Edin Dzeko played really well against Newcastle but if you don’t play Bony sooner or later, then his confidence is going to drop. He will be thinking 'what am I doing here? I've got a lovely wage packet but I want to play some football'.
Battling Burnley
Burnley manager Sean Dyche.
Burnley were 2-0 down earlier in the season before coming back to draw 2-2. After going behind, they went really direct and asked a lot of questions of City and I am sure they will do the same again.
The stats suggest they play a lot of long balls and work on second balls. I have no problem with that because if that gets them goals and success, it’s fine. There are lots of different ways to score a goal so I think they will do the same again.
I think City might do just enough to win, so I’m going for them. Burnley have a lot of character, they won’t roll over, they will create chances and they will get the ball in the box and in Danny Ings they have one of the best strikers in the Premier League.
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