“Unhappy is the fate of one who tries to win his battles and succeed in his attacks without cultivating the spirit of enterprise; for the result is general stagnation.”

Has Nick Barmby read Sun Tzu’s ‘The Art of War’? Perhaps not, but it is clear from two interviews printed in national newspapers the day of his first home game as caretaker manager, that he holds firm convictions about how the game should be played. As shocking and galling as surrendering a 2-0 lead and losing 2-3 to Burnley was, Barmby shouldn’t (and nor is he likely to) abandon the spirit of enterprise shown by his side before the late collapse.

Phil Parkinson did just that after City succumbed to a Barnsley comeback early in the 2006-07 season, Parkinson was so scarred by losing 3-2 after leading 2-0 that he gave up on the attacking endeavour and tried to make City hard to beat. The result was stagnation, failure and ultimately dismissal.

If Barmby is as good as his word, (and who would believe otherwise?) then he won’t limit the freedom he grants his charges, freedom that against Burnley, after an indifferent start, saw City play with verve and élan, culminating in an impressive lead. He will, of course though, need to recapture the defensive form that was the foundation for our play off challenge before Barmby took the helm.

It is probably true that a Nigel Pearson led City wouldn’t have conceded three goals, but conversely it is probably true that Pearson’s Tigers wouldn’t have taken a two goal lead. Therein lies Barmby’s challenge, to fuse together the strengths of both his and his predecessor’s principles.

He certainly has the goodwill of the Tiger Nation on his side, after a minutes applause for a club sponsor who recently died, City fans lustily declared themselves members of the Barmby Army. Just one change was made to the side who bested Derby last week, Brady started as Aaron Mclean sat out the game because of suspension. The XI was thus: Gulácsi; Dudgeon, Hobbs, Chester, Rosenior; Brady, McKenna, Evans, Stewart; Koren and Fryatt.

City made a jittery start to the game and it was Burnley who carved the early chances. Hobbs made a smart tackle to halt the run of Rodriguez moving into the box after a good through ball and a fortuitous stumble by Stanislas ended a move (that was beginning to resemble the move that Alan Shearer scored from in the Euro ’96 England game v. Holland) after several sideways passes by Burnley. Stanislas fired wildly over after a good run that rounded Hobbs soon after.

In possession, City lacked composure and were quick to give the ball away, yet after an opening 10 minutes of mediocre play we took the lead. McKenna fed Stewart on the left flank and the young winger nimbly tricked his way past defender Trippier before threading the ball to Fryatt, lurking between two defenders and the keeper, who had a simple tap in. 1-0 City.

Against the run of play? Yep, but buoyed by the goal City turned the run of play in their favour and asserted control. Stewart was fortunate to escape a booking after clattering a claret, but then the ref was inconsistent in his application of the laws all afternoon, sometimes to City’s benefit as here, sometimes not. Such as when Rosenior saw yellow after stretching to retrieve the ball he’d just lost, impacting on a Burnley player. Tiger Nationals were howling in protest after Fryatt wrestled with a defender in the Burnley box, though it looked more like a tit-for-tat test of strength that he lost than a foul. A basketball move by a claret shirted player was oddly not deemed handball, however.

Regardless of refereeing inadequacies, City had found some rhythm and momentum and were now maintaining possession with good movement and crisp passing. Rosenior, at the crowd’s urging, struck a long range shot that sailed some way over the bar. Stewart was confounding the Burnley rearguard by perpetually changing the flank he operated on, he fired in a cross that Fryatt couldn’t quite get on the end of and was awarded a free kick after a late challenge sent him to the floor. Stewart took it himself, with the same outcome as before, his dangerous cross had no takers, as our advanced players didn’t get goalside of defenders. Brady, on the right wing, pinched the ball from Mee and darted into the box, hitting a curling shot that was heading in ‘til keeper Grant got a paw on it.

The half ended, City a goal to the good and playing positive, attractive football after a poor start. Not looking so attractive was the young lad dressed as a slice of pizza stalking the stands hawking, well, slices of pizza. Dressing up as the items on sale really isn’t necessary, as anyone who works in a chemists would testify.

The second half began as the first had finished, with City in control and the ref making head-scratch inducing calls. Evans was flattened under the gaze of an uninterested official.

Burnley did look like they had at least one goal in them though, and any complacency creeping into our game should have been dismissed when Rodriguez shook the crossbar with a ferocious shot on the turn.

Koren had a pass deflected into Dudgeon’s path, and as he bore towards goal marked by Russell the ref sounded his whistle. For a second the assumption was the decision was against us, but the official showed Russell a yellow card for what seemed an innocuous challenge and gave us a free kick. Brady’s raking delivery was cleared by a claret clad defender. No matter, as City soon doubled their advantage.

Koren took the ball from the half way line deep into Burnley territory before diagonally rolling the ball to Fryatt, from a few yards into the box he struck an oblique shot that didn’t appear troubling for Grant, but the visitors netman swatted the shot into the net rather than above or around the goal. 2-0, and City were cruising to three points it seemed.

Koren dinked the ball exquisitely into the path of Fryatt, racing forward, and with a hat trick a distinct possibility he hit a low shot goalward. It had little on it though and trickled into Grant’s grasp, spurning an opportunity to score that was far easier than the speculative chance the second goal came from. Delicious football was now being played however, and City looked as if they could hand out a bit of a pasting.

Brady fired a shot over from a free kick after he himself had been hauled back. A one-two between Koren and Fryatt sent the Slovene into the box, but the ball appeared to get stuck under his feet as he sought to strike. Koren then had a placed shot blocked by the keeper as he sought to direct Fryatt’s pass beyond Grant.

Although City were on top, there were warning signs being shown by Burnley, Wallace hammered a shot in from the right that didn’t miss by much, fizzing past the far upright. Furthermore, our defence and goalkeeper were demonstrating a lack of communication, Dudgeon headed the ball behind for a corner with no Burnley man near him, Gulácsi evidently failed to let the full back know he had time to deal with the cross at leisure.

Slowly, the arm wrestle in midfield, dominated by the Tigers since the 10th minute, was swinging to Burnley’s favour, they had a sustained spell of pressure characterised by desperate shooting, but we couldn’t rely on that remaining the same and needed to respond.

We didn’t, looking cock-sure that the two goal lead wasn’t under serious threat. The hubris was shared by a large group of school kids in the North Stand (seemingly all dressed in red, green or yellow tracksuit tops, giving the appearance of a bowl of M & M’s come to life) who mocked the travelling fans with a sustained chant of ‘Who are ya?’, complete with flamboyant gestures.

Cameron Stewart had been limping for a few minutes when he was retired, replaced by Andy Dawson. Burnley had been given a free kick in their own box when he came on and City were all deep to defend a long ball so it wasn’t immediately apparent that he was taking Stewart’s position to the left of midfield, an odd move. The long ball was hit to the right side over the heads of the jumping Dawson and Duff, Dudgeon dithered as Wallace chipped in a cross that was met by Edgar who out-jumped Chester to direct the ball beyond a flapping Gulácsi. 2-1.

A wave of nervousness washed over the Tigers, Rosenior needlessly chested the ball behind for a corner and communication between keeper and defencemen was looking garbled at best, nonexistent at worst. Minutes later, Edgar netted again. A long throw was headed on by Trippier, sandwiched between Hobbs and Dudgeon, Chester froze allowing Edgar to nip in and thump the ball into the roof of the net on the turn.

2-2, our commanding lead was gone and all but the jubilant away fans and still boisterous North Stand kids were amazed and aghast. Those wont to scapegoat, scapegoated Dawson – we were 2-0 up when he came on, but that is somewhat unfair. Nick Barmby will have regretted the substitution though, as it knacked our shape and robbed us of a good possession man/crossing threat on the left.

We steadied ourselves a little and looked to regain the lead, patiently moving the ball around, prepared to go backwards temporarily to go forwards with cutting edge. Koren attempted to scissor kick a cross but couldn’t get sufficiently behind it. Adebola came on for Brady, removing a second crossing threat at a time we needed to supply a target man. Gulácsi tipped over a dipping long range Burnley effort, at the other end Koren struck over. The 4th official’s board indicated an additional 3 minutes remained.

In those extra minutes, disaster struck. Three City players were unable to prevent a diagonal ball being clipped in between Rodriguez and an advanced Vokes, clearly in an offside position. Vokes though, had the sense to check his run (meaning that he wasn’t profiting from being offside) and leave it to Rodriguez, who swept the ball across Gulácsi and in. 3-2 Burnley. Heartbreak, and a day before Lancashire Day, it was the Lancashire side‘s day. It was too late for a comeback, and boss Barmby was left to rue some of his decisions at the games‘ end.

Choosing Gulácsi in goal was the first mistake (unless Basso is injured in which case there was little choice), even though the Hungarian made some smart saves in this game. What he didn’t do, what he doesn’t do, is command the trust of the defenders in front of him, they look unnerved with the uncommunicative Gulácsi behind them. Defence has been our strong suit this season (at least when Basso has been in nets) and our defenders’ ability didn’t vacate the building along with Nigel Pearson. Restoring Basso should restore the rearguard’s confidence, and should be a priority decision ahead of the Southampton trip. The Brazilian keeper hasn’t been a superman in goal by any stretch of the imagination, but he has been assured and assuring, something Gulácsi sadly isn’t.

The entrance of Dawson was also an error, not because the faithful servant was exclusively culpable for any of Burnley’s goals – he wasn’t, but the midfield that had been in charge for much of the game unravelled at that point.

Mistakes from a rookie manager are somewhat inevitable, as are reactionary platitudes about learning curves being steep, so we won’t indulge them or slate Barmby too much. He has acknowledged that little is wrong with the current squad, which isn’t often the case when a manager departs, and he knows he needs to get the defence back to their confident, stingy best.

To make us hard to beat again need not mean curtailing the freedom of expression given to those in midfield and up front, freedom that has generated four goals in two games, something Nigel Pearson’s City side did only twice in 15 games.

The answers are at hand, within the group of players we have, if used correctly. We will see how well Barmby knows how to use those players in the coming week. As Sun Tzu said “If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the results of a hundred battles.”

Be they against Southampton or Leicester.