Manchester City (Home) 14.04.2018

Starting with Lamela ahead of Son, Spurs were mainly unchanged, although they featured a Sterling – Kazaiah – of their own on the bench, but there was a change in their approach, whether it was planned or not, the space and time on the ball they allowed City in the first 20 minutes could have seen the visitors kill off the game as we struggled to get out of our half.  It was only three minutes in when Raheem Sterling went down the right and picked out a cross to Sane, left unmarked in the box, who cracked the post with a volley that had Lloris could only watch.

Although Dele had a shot deflected wide, the space afforded to Silva and De Bruyne was allowing City to camp around the Tottenham box and only some good interceptions kept them from breaking through.  Sterling and De Bruyne put shots wide, the first curled and the second driven from outside the box, but then their goal came it was a creation more associated with 1980s Wimbledon than Manchester City.

A long, straight ball from the back flew into the Spurs half and Jesus used his pace to get away from Sanchez and with only Lloris in front of him, buried a low shot to the keeper’s left to put City into the lead in the 22nd minute.  It was a simplistic goal and one that showed that pace is a vital asset at the top level.  It is the one thing that Tottenham perhaps lack and the second goal, just a couple of minutes later could be put down to the same thing.  Well, that, a rash rush by Lloris and some rank bad officiating by Jon Moss.  A through ball down the left saw Sterling set free.  Having had to race out of his box within the first couple of minutes, Hugo came out to the corner of the box and Sterling checked inside before going down under the challenge.  The ball had run into the box, where Gabriel Jesus had a great goal-scoring opportunity, but a fantastic tackle prevented him for getting a shot away into an unguarded goal.  Moss whistled, pulled the game back for Lloris’ foul and booked the Spurs keeper, having pointed to the spot.  Even from our position 12 rows back, it looked outside the box and that was proven by TV later on.  Not that it mattered as the erratic referee seemed to be doing his best to hand the game to City with a string of increasingly confusing decisions, including giving Trippier a lecture for being cleared out by Sane’s late tackle !  When Gundogan stepped up to take the kick, it was odds on he would score, as Hugo hardly ever stops penalties.

So, two down and not playing well, not closing, not keeping possession and getting cut through with alarming regularity, what could Spurs do to get back into the game ?  Well, Davinson did well to block a Sane shot when he got away on the left, staying with him when it looked like he was going to run away from him, before Spurs went close with Lamela taking Christian’s pass, coming inside from the right and dragging a shot just wide, with Ederson rooted to the spot. But still City kept coming and Hugo produced a good save diving to his left to push out a David Silva shot from long range.

Spurs were starting to put a few more passes together and Davies was getting space on the left wing, but the cross or final pass was not good enough and City were able to defend, with only Kompany clattering into Laporte, leaving the Spaniard on the floor, as the piece of defending that looked like it might hint at a way through.  But then Kompany dived in on Lamela as he jinked his way into the box and unsurprisingly the referee pointed for a goal-kick.

Getting slightly rattled by Tottenham’s impudence of getting into their box, DeBruyne hacked down Vertonghen from behind and was booked despite his remonstrations, with the free-kick preceding the goal that got Spurs back into the match.  Spurs worked it well, with Mousa Dembele starting it by playing the ball to Ben Davies, who found Harry Kane.  His perceptive pass played Eriksen in and as the keeper came out, his shot hit him, then as Laporte came in, Christian’s momentum took him forward and the blocked shot bounced off him past Ederson and into the net to make it 2-1 three minutes before half-time.

While Spurs finished the half strongly, they were given a warning that City were still dangerous going forward, with only an interception by Tripper stopping a potentially threatening break.

The break perhaps gave Pochettino to give the side instructions to tighten up and to get their own game going.  With Dele nut-megging Gundogan just after the restart, it looked as though the side had got their mojo back, with some more dynamic pressing and their passing opening up some space in City’s defensive third.  Davies was again getting good service but couldn’t get the ball to a Spurs man in the box, while dele tried to dribble past a couple of players before being stopped with a tackle that took the ball into the air, only for Kompany to come down on top of his foot.

Jan had an absolutely magnificent game and was the best player on the pitch by miles.  The timing of his tackles was impeccable and when he won the ball, he was more than willing to go forward to start an attack.  Despite Spurs enjoying the majority of possession during this spell, City showed their counter-attacking threat, when a straight ball caught Davinson out to send Jesus away.  However, this time, he failed to find the net, although he did put the ball past Lloris, but also five yards wide of the goal.

Otamendi replaced Sane, as City looked to keep Spurs out and Lamela made way for Son, as Poch looked to try and use his pace and intelligent running to get at City’s back four.  Instead, the changes brought City another good opportunity, with Silva feeding Sterling, who hesitated and allowed Ben Davies to get a superb block on his goal-bound shot.  When Walker played in a low right wing cross, Hugo could only palm it out to the penalty spot, where Sterling was lurking.  The winger’s first effort was blocked and as he steadied himself for a goal form the rebound, Kieran Trippier made an excellent block to divert the ball wide by 12 inches.

It was a short respite, as the corner was not cleared by our defence and while Lloris saved a shot from Jesus from 12 yards out on the left, the ball fell to the feet of Sterling, who took an opening even he couldn’t miss from two yards out.

All three goals had an element of our own making contributing to them, but the third goal killed off any hope we had of getting back into it.  It didn’t help when Moss got his sizeable frame in the way when we were trying to go forward.  Lucas came on for Mousa Dembele, who had a fantastic game, retaining possession despite numbers of City players around him a lot of the time and not all trying to stop him fairly.

City created another break when DeBruyne produced an outrageous pass off the outside of his right foot on the volley in the centre circle to send Sterling running away from Sanchez.  It looked as though he might put the ball past Lloris, but Davinson got back at him and managed to stick a foot out to take the ball wide for a corner.  Seizing on a mistake by Kompany, Dele had a shot that flew over off a City player, Son had an effort blocked and then Eriksen, who didn’t have one of his best games, drove a shot from inside the box straight at Ederson.  The keeper had a more difficult save to make when Lucas drilled a shot at goal from outside the box and Ederson had to dive to his left to beat the ball away.

And that was it.  City hadn’t won the title with this victory, but it is only a question of time.  In my view, they are the best side we have played, but while we didn’t play at our best, I think that when you compare the investment in the respective squads, we are not a massive distance behind them.  They have bottomless resources and will strengthen again in the summer, but if we can keep the bulk of the squad together and build on that, there is no reason why we can’t be challenging again next season.

Dele and Harry worked hard but failed to make a dent in the City defence, while Hugo wasn’t his usual reliable self.  It was a sloppy start that set us back and that was difficult to come back from, but the introduction of Lucas at least showed us what he is about and maybe in the closing games, Pochettino might unleash him on unsuspecting defences.

Pete Stachio