Sean Dyche felt there was nothing much his makeshift Burnley side could have done to avoid the*9ir 5-0 FA Cup defeat at Manchester City.
The Clarets boss opted to make seven changes for the fourth-round tie at the Etihad Stadium on Saturday as he focuses on Premier League survival.
And Dyche watched as Gabriel Jesus, Bernardo Silva and Kevin De Bruyne all struck before Burnley’s Kevin Long turned into his own net and Sergio Aguero added a late penalty to complete the rout.
Speaking afterwards, Dyche said: “We’ve had to piece the side together as best we could to try to make sure players are back for Tuesday. “There’s risk and reward with that.
The risk is they turn up as they did. They were terrific, they pounce on every mistake. When they are in that mood they hurt you.”
Matej Vydra spurned a gilt-edged chance to equalise when City led 1-0.
Dyche said: “We had a golden moment. You don’t get many at these clubs. It was a big moment to go and score.
“I’m not remotely suggesting we’d have gone on to win the game but it changes the whole feeling.”
Dyche preferred Nick Pope in goal to Tom Heaton and Joe Hart for this game.
Asked how he keeps all three players happy, he said: “It’s my job. I’d like as many top-quality players as we can. “They know they can’t all play – although it would have been happy to have three keepers today. We might have got something!”
