“Some of their players cost £30 million, but we’re all human,” said Kevin McDonald, the Burnley midfield player who came off the substitutes’ bench to earn his team a thoroughly deserved first away point of the season at the City of Manchester Stadium.

True enough, but such an assessment is unlikely to bring Mark Hughes much comfort as the Manchester City manager takes a fringe squad to Abu Dhabi this morning for a winter training break and, quite possibly, a meeting with Sheikh Mansour, the club’s owner.

As Sir Alex Ferguson, the Manchester United manager, articulated recently, international friendly matches at this stage of the season can be “a thorn in everyone’s flesh”, but it is doubtful that Wayne Bridge, Joleon Lescott and one or two others are cursing their timing right now.

Anything to spare them the embarrassment of explaining to City’s billionaire Arab benefactor how you can make such a hash of things against a Burnley team who had conceded 17 goals in their five previous away league matches and, for the second home match in succession, fritter away points from a winning position.

Hughes, of course, may not be afforded that luxury. First question from the Sheikh: “Mark, on the subject of the defence, is that really all £60 million buys you?”

A season that, to quote Hughes, started “like a house on fire” has gradually fallen limp, to the point where the manager and his players must feel as though they have been doused down with a rather large hose.

After winning their first four matches, City have managed a solitary victory in the seven league games since and if Liverpool beat Birmingham City at Anfield tonight, they will fall to seventh position, outside the minimum requirement of a top-six finish set by Khaldoon al-Mubarak, the chairman.

A little perspective first. City have lost the fewest games — one — of all the teams in the league this season. They started the weekend in the top four and the manner in which they came from 2-0 down to lead Burnley 3-2 says a lot about their self-belief.

But — and it is a big but — cracks are beginning to appear and mistakes are becoming more frequent as opposing teams identify the weak spots, as Burnley did magnificently.

The defence deserves a bashing for gifting Burnley three goals — just as they had thrown away a two-goal lead against Fulham here a fortnight earlier — but should City not be asking for a good deal more from their £72 million strike force of Carlos Tévez and Emmanuel Adebayor?

Adebayor had one of those afternoons when he did not seem too interested and Tévez’s last contribution being before substituted was to volley Craig Bellamy’s measured cross over from inside six yards.

No one was as bad as Bridge, though. Analysing the left back’s performance for Match of the Day, Alan Hansen, the former Liverpool defender, summed it up when he said: “I just feel sorry for him, he has played that badly.”

Hughes tried to deflect some of the flak off Bridge, but it is hard to imagine that the manager will have been so diplomatic in private.

Bridge was halfway up the field when Gareth Barry lost possession, allowing Chris Eagles plenty of time to pick his pass for the outstanding Steven Fletcher to score and put Burnley 2-0 up after Graham Alexander had scored from the penalty spot in the wake of Lescott’s handball.

City’s fightback was impressive, Shaun Wright-Phillips pulling back a goal shortly before half-time before Kolo Touré and Craig Bellamy edged the home team in front, but Bridge’s error in the build-up to Burnley’s late equaliser was unforgivable.

Brian Jensen’s long punt bounced off Bridge’s back as the former Chelsea defender got himself in a dreadful tangle. David Nugent picked up the loose ball and crossed to the far post, where Fletcher cushioned a header into the path of McDonald to score. Hughes will not be short of things to ponder in Abu Dhabi.

Manchester City (4-4-2): S Given 6 P Zabaleta 6 K Touré 5 J Lescott 4 W Bridge 3 S Wright-Phillips7 S Ireland 7 G Barry 5 C Bellamy 7 C Tévez 5 E Adebayor 5. Substitute: M Petrov (for Tévez, 73min). Not used: S Taylor, M Richards, M Johnson, R Santa Cruz, N de Jong, V Weiss. Next: Liverpool (a).

Burnley (4-2-3-1): B Jensen 6 T Mears 7 C Carlisle 5 S Caldwell 6 S Jordan 6 G Alexander 7 A Bikey 5 C Eagles 7 W Elliott 7 R Blake 6 S Fletcher 8. Substitutes: K McDonald 7 (for Bikey, 61min), J Gudjonsson 6 (for Blake, 62), D Nugent (for Eagles, 71). Not used: D Penny, M Duff, S Thompson, F Guerrero. Next: Aston Villa (h).

Referee: S Attwell. Attendance: 47,205.