Barry urges City for a response

Manchester City midfielder Gareth Barry has insisted that City will improve against Sunderland on the weekend, after a disastrous 3-0 mid-week defeat at Tottenham Hotspur.

While, City were beaten 3-0 at White Hart Lane on Wednesday against Spurs, they still have the chance to hit back immediately when the Black Cats travel to Eastlands on Saturday.

Two goals from Niko Kranjcar and an effort from Jermain Defoe swept Mark Hughes’ team aside at the Lane, and Barry admits it was a poor performance.

However, the England international expects the team to right the wrongs they committed against Spurs.

“We’ve only got a couple of days to put it right, but we want to repay the fans that came down to Spurs and put a good performance in for them,” he said.

“It’s obviously very disappointing, because I thought in the first half an hour we played some really good football and there was nothing in the game.

“But once they scored we really did not create anything until the last 20 minutes.

“We are very disappointed and we are really hurting in the changing room, and the best thing we can do is try to put it right on Saturday.

“We knew that the first goal would be important, with them being at home their confidence was bound to grow.

“They had looked a bit nervous early on and if we had gone in front it could have been a different story.

“Shay (Given) had not had too many saves to make, we played some good stuff at times and got some shots away.

“We were also a bit unlucky with a couple of offsides, but there are not too many positives to take and plenty of things to put right.”

Following the defeat, City go four points behind Spurs with a game in hand as the race for a much-coveted UEFA Champions League place hots up.