Mancashter City (Away) 03.12.2023

Last weekend when I saw the score-line Mancashter City 7 Tottenham Hotspur 0, I thought it was a prediction for today’s game until I saw it was the result from the Women’s Super League.  Going away with 10 players out and with two goalkeepers on the bench alongside four Under-21 players looked as though it had “Slaughter” written all over it.  Ange had said that he could not change from his belief about playing attacking football and all the pundits put the game down as a big home win. 

The way the game started, you thought they might have a point, as the ball headed towards the Spurs goal with worrying regularity.  An early City corner saw Akanji get across in front of Vicario but could only get his shoulder to it to divert it over the bar and another followed a minute later, but Spurs cleared this one away.  Vicario got down well to keep out a shot from the left by Doku for a third corner, when Porro and Royal dithered over clearing the ball and let it go off and it brought a goal.  Vic got half a punch to it and Bryan Gil did well to keep his head, turn 360 to find a way past three blue shirts and slide a pass out from just outside the box to Kulusevski on his left.  He picked out a long diagonal ball to the right where Doku looked likely to win it, but he misjudged the bounce and Son headed it on and raced into the box to drive low under Ederson to give Tottenham the lead with five minutes gone.  It was a fantastic breakaway goal and rocked City who had been in control of the ball until that point.  The lead didn’t last long, 137 seconds to be precise, as a City free kick on the right was swung in and Haaland got a touch, with the ball coming off Bissouma and it hit Son on his thigh to put it into his own goal as he knew little about it.

City were give an impetus by the goal and a deflection caused chaos in the Spurs box with the ball ending up with Silva close to the dead ball line on the right, but Vicario did well to get close to him and eventually claim the ball.  He had no chance in the 12th minute though when Emerson Royal was challenged as Tottenham tried to play the ball out and it went to Foden, who squared for Haaland in front of goal ten yards out and the deadly striker managed to side foot it wide of the keeper’s left-hand post to the amazement of all.

The home team continued to rack up the corners and then Tottenham won one in the 20th minute.  Then another, but nothing came from them.  A great run from Johnson saw him race past Gvardiol and his low ball into the near post was intercepted by Dias, who managed to slide it past his near post, but unfortunately, the corner went straight off.  Bryan Gil was working hard and intercepted a ball across the back 20 yards out and his low ball into the box was again cut out at the cost of a corner.  It was difficult for Spurs to make much from set-pieces, as they were lacking height against the City players, so it was very reliant on a second ball falling to a Tottenham player.

As the half hour approached, Doku made a run down their left and he turned Ben Davies one way and then another before crashing a shot against the underside of the bar that bounced down and out.  It was a fortunate bounce for Tottenham for once.  It was only a brief escape as the ball was played to Doku on the left and he touched it forward to Alvarez, who squared the ball for Foden, who ran in unmarked to knock it in from eight yards out.

From a Spurs free-kick, City worked the ball forward to Alvarez on the City right and he drilled a low shot across Vicario with the ball bouncing away off the foot of the far post. Bissouma then had the ball taken off him and Alvarez managed to squeeze the ball to his right for Haaland, who blazed it wildly over the top. However, Spurs did manage to get forward and Son’s run in the left hand channel tried to pick out Gil In the box, but it was cut out and then Spurs won the ball back and Porro looked to find Johnson in the box, but again, it didn’t reach the intended target.

Just after the second half started, Vicario played a dangerous ball to the edge of the box and it was pinched by Silva, who got it back after Alvarez and Haaland had knocked it between them and his shot brought a flying save as the Spurs keeper dived up to his left to push the ball wide. Spurs almost put themselves in trouble again when Lo Celso played a pass short to Hojbjerg, but it didn’t reach them and luckily, City turned the ball over.  Ten minutes into the half, Spurs enjoyed some possession and some time in the City half.  With the home side having the score-line in their favour and the way the they were playing, it was surprising that it was only the Tottenham support you could hear, until the Blue Moon chant  sprung up in response. The prawn sandwich brigade seem to have been moving across the city !!

City had brought on Grealish just after the 55 minute mark and from that point their game became slower paced and lacked the urgency and accuracy of the early stages.  The ball was played forward for Haaland in the centre circle, but Davies dived in to head the ball forward to Son.  He played it short into Gio and then made a run to this right to take men away, with Lo Celso taking the ball left and placing a low shot just inside the post with Ederson’s right hand some way away from it.

Spurs were stepping it up and won a corner that went all the way through to Lo Celso, who fired in a shot that took a deflection to take it wide.  It came out to Hojbjerg, whose shot hit Davies and then Johnson, with it going off for a goal-kick.  Frustration was building in the City side and a high ball up to Haaland saw him throw an arm into the side of Royal’s head.  Little surprise then that no decision came from the VAR officials.

We turned the ball over 30 yards from goal and substitute Lewis got to the line and pulled it back for Rodri, whose shot at the near post went wide.  It was a little worrying that with 15 minutes left, Spurs were dropping deep behind the ball, allowing City to come at them.  With 12 minutes of normal time left, Ange brought on Skipp for Lo Celso, which seemed like another defensive move, although Gio had put a lot of effort in.

Bissouma lost the ball 25 yards from goal and that left three City players bearing down on goal.  Haaland squared it into the middle and Grealish swept the ball past the exposed Vicario.  It was a goal that had looked as though it might not come for the home team and Grealish celebrated in the camera lens like he had scored a Cup winning goal, when it was a routine tap-in from six yards out.

A very high, studs up foul on Skipp by Gvardiol brought another yellow card, but it was dangerous and you’ve seen reds given for challenges that were lower than that.  However, he got up to play on and Tottenham made a change with Richarlison returning sooner than expected from surgery as he came on for Bissouma with four minutes remaining.

As ever, Ange wanted the team to go forward and that is just what they did.  Skippy did well, turning past two City players on the halfway line and playing the ball out to Son, who knocked it out to the left for Brennan Johnson to cross into the middle of the box.  Dejan Kulusevski came from substitute Ake’s blind side behind him and having the run on him out-jumped him to win the header that left Ederson rooted to the spot with the ball going in off the underside of the bar into the keeper’s top right corner.  It was another memorable Etihad moment, as Spurs clawed their way back into a match there the only way they know how. City’s lack of determination during a long part of the second half looked to have cost them.

Although, it nearly didn’t and it brought out another moment in a match between the two teams where the home fans felt they had been cheated against Spurs.  In added time, a ball was played forward to Haaland in the centre circle (again) where Royal dived in and caught him, but Haaland got up and played the ball over the defence for Grealish to get in behind the Tottenham defence. He looked as though he was offside, but the flag didn’t go up.   However, he was stopped from bearing down on Vicario as the referee decided to pull the game back for the foul, for which he booked Emerson. The City
players went mad. The City fans went mad. Pep Guardiola went mad. The Spurs fans were in stitches.  There was one last free-kick after this that was played low across the area by Silva and Akanji went down as Skipp looked to prevent his progress, but there wasn’t much likelihood of it being given as there wasn’t a great deal of impediment and the City defender made more of it than it really was. The final whistle brought a chorus of boos aimed at the referee, although they might need to aim some at their players, who slacked off when leading.  Haaland raged off the pitch at the end, looking for a fight with anyone he could find, finally picking on the smallest of players (Lo Celso) and the smallest member of our backroom staff before being dragged away with his goal-less attitude trailing behind him like his unleashed blonde hair.

Having been hard done by over the last few matches, it is hard to feel any sympathy for City, who, as the critics never cease to tell us is our problem, let the game ebb away from them after not taking their chances.  City didn’t, we did and therefore we got something out of the game.  While City created more chances and had more shots, each side recorded four shots on target.  For much of the first half, it was a little like schoolboy training sessions of attack against defence, with Spurs defying that notion by taking the lead.  It was the fourth game on the trot that we had gone ahead and ended up losing, with the major difficulty here being how we played out from the back.  With a full strength side, we can do it with our formation and players making it easier than with our current resources and too often we ceded possession too close to our goal.  Against lesser sides we might have got away with it, but City were pressing hard to win the ball as high up the pitch as possible, which made retaining the ball very hard.  While Ange had always said that he wouldn’t compromise his beliefs and the criticism that is coming his way is unmerited when you consider the players we have out and how the matches have gone.

It is a work in progress and that means that we aren’t going to win every game, but we should be proud of the way we are playing – win, lose or draw.

Purcell Cole

• Phil Foden makes his 150th Man City appearance.
• Kyle Walker makes his 250th Man City appearance.
• Spurs scored in their 26th consecutive match.
• Son Heung-min becomes only the fifth players to have ever scored a goal, an own goal and had an assist in a Premier League game.
• Dejan Kulusevski becomes only the second player in Premier League history to score away to the reigning champions in three consecutive seasons.
• Son Heung-min scored his 50th Premier League away goal for Tottenham. He is also only the seventh different player to score at least 50 home goals, 50 away goals and provide 50 assists for a side in the competition, being the first to do that for Spurs.
• Son becomes only the second player in Premier League history to score a goal and an own goal in the opening ten minutes of a match.
• Jack Grealish’s goal was City’s 50th home goal against Spurs in the Premier League.