There is no sense of ‘job done’ at City, but with Mancini’s squad lacking United’s experience of the title run-in, Barry admits that those doubting the team’s nerve have yet to be proved wrong.
"Those comments may be true.” Barry said. “As a club, we haven’t been in this position because we haven’t done it (run-in) yet, so that is a fact.
“It’s true, but we have to try to get over the line. We have some really tough games between now and the end of the season and it’s a massive challenge, but I think we have enough in the dressing room to get the job done.
“We’re not worried too much that it’s being levelled at us because we’ve got experienced players. Not everyone in the squad has won titles, but some of the players have. They’ve been there and done it before. There's big pressure on us now, it's a vital part of the season and there are still a lot of games left. But this game coming up against Spurs is a huge one in the title race.”
Barry, a £12m buy from Villa in Jul 2009, rejected a move to Liverpool in order to become the first established name to sign up to Sheikh Mansour’s project at City.
The running total of the sheikh’s investment in new players currently stands at £433m and, while Barry is accustomed to the jibes suggesting that City have spent their way to success, he insists the negativity is fuelled by jealousy.
He said: “Maybe there is a bit of jealousy. Every supporter in the country would like a rich owner to come in and transform their club. It has happened slowly here, but we won’t take any comments to heart. We just want to win the league.
"The lads are not thinking about the money at all - they're thinking about winning the league. That's the pressure, trying to win the title. The investment is obviously there to be seen, but inside the dressing room, the pressure was on Monday night (against Wigan), everyone was waiting for us to fail. But we just wanted to win a football game, that's what it was really.
“The money will be bandied about, but hopefully it is because that will mean that we have won the title. For us, the main thing is to try to win the first title and then hope there are many more to come. If that happens, the talk will be forgotten about.”
- Gareth Barry was speaking at the launch of leading commercial law firm Hill Dickinson's sponsorship of the Strike a Balance programme, a healthy eating initiative run by Manchester City's community scheme, City in the Community.