Barry: Success with City this season will soften World Cup blow

Gareth Barry claims Manchester City’s destruction of Liverpool must be the benchmark if they are going to be champions.

Barry was thrilled by how well Roberto Mancini’s new side gelled together in front of owner Sheikh Mansour to send out an emphatic warning to their rivals.

However the England midfielder also sounded a note of caution, claiming City still have much work to do.

He says it will take more than one win to overtake Manchester United and Chelsea as the best team in the land.

“Last season it took a bit of time to gel properly,” said Barry, who scored the first in the rout of the Reds at Eastlands.

“Already this season, there have been times when things haven’t quite gone to plan, but the manager had us nice and organised against Liverpool and everyone knew their jobs. The team stuck together.

“The players who were here last season had a little taste of where the club wants to be heading, but everyone knows it won’t happen overnight and that we have to build it up gradually.

“What happened against Liverpool is just a little bit of what we need to be doing week in and week out.”

Nigel de Jong echoed Barry’s sentiments and claims the Blues must not get carried away by the result and performance.

The Dutchman says City must show they have the mental strength to come out top over 38 games.

“Monday’s performance was one that should set the tone for the season,” said the Dutch midfielder.

"It’s not often that anyone beats Liverpool 3-0. I think anyone would agree we have enough quality in our whole team to be challenging now what we have to show is that we have the mentality too.

“We want to win this league. That’s the ambition, but to do that we have to hit these standards every week.

“There are lots of things to be positive about, but we must not get carried away with one result.

“What this win has done is make sure we have made a positive start just like United, Chelsea, Arsenal and Spurs.”

Barry is also determined to succeed this season with City to erase his painful World Cup memory.

He had a rotten summer when he got back from South Africa and is just happy to have the chance to put it behind him with City.

“It’s a relief to be playing again,” he said. “Everyone knows that once the Premier League gets going, it is the focal point of the whole season.

“People like myself couldn’t wait for it to start so that we could get over the summer and what happened.

“If we can do well at City this season, it will soften the blow of what happened at the World Cup.”

Barry was hurt by the criticism levelled at Fabio Capello’s players in the wake of their woeful campaign.

He aims to learn from the harrowing experience and prove to everyone this season that he is still a top player.

“It’s tough for everyone when a team doesn’t perform as well as it can,” he said. “Individuals get picked out and everything that was said and written was what you would expect really.

“Even though I am experienced, you still try and learn from what happened and my goal was to wait for the season to start again so that I could show people what I can do.”