Mancashter City (Home) 14.05.2024

With late season injuries causing some Spurs players to play out of position and Radu Dragusin given only his third start, the respective benches told a tale of squad depth and maybe this was reflected in Ange Postecoglou’s post-match comments.  As the team kicked off in the dying light of the day, there was a decent beginning to the match for Tottenham, although pressure on our defence when playing the ball out did cause some errors.  Pape Matar Sarr appeared to be playing as a false nine and the passing in the early stages was crisp and precise, with their being more movement off the ball than we had witnessed in recent matches.  Spurs sprung forward, with Hojbjerg’s diagonal ball out to the right over Gvardiol’s head giving Johnson the space to bring it down and lay it into the run of Rodrigo Bentancur.  He took one touch on the 18 yard line and smashed a rising shot at goal that Ederson helped over the bar. 

When Walker got away, it looked worrying for Spurs, pulling the ball back for de Bruyne to shoot, but it hit Micky van de Ven to go off for a corner, only for the offside flag to go up as is the way of things these days.  Walker did the same again, pulling it back but only finding Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg who put it out for a corner, that Micky won in the air for another corner, which Vicario came to punch and Kovacic sliced his volley way too high.  From the goal kick, City got possession and a ball into the Spurs box caused Hojbjerg to slice his clearance up into the are and from ten yards out it was dropping to Foden on the volley.  It was one of those “On, no !” moments, as he finishes very well usually and he met the ball with his laces to put power into his shot, but Vicario was three yards away and threw up an arm to keep the ball out with a wonderful save.  For all the criticism about his issues at corners, Guglielmo has made some outstanding saves to keep us in matches this season.

Spurs were stretching the compact City midfield and a move across the edge of the City area saw Son move it on to Bentancur, to Sarr, who pushed it right to Brennan Johnson, but his first touch allowed Gvardiol to block his cross.  Foden was soon yelping after being tackled by Bentancur, but it was a genuine attempt for the ball, but he caught the top of the City midfielder’s foot.  Picking off another cut-back by Walker, Cristian Romero laid the ball off and ran forward to receive the return pass, but it never came and the move fizzled out, when a straight ball could have put our Argentine defender away into the City half.  Van de Ven did produce a pass that Romero should have received, but it was to Bentancur on the left.  He tried to swing the ball across the box for Johnson, but Gvardiol’s heel just diverted it away.

City were having problems picking up the Spurs runners, as Sarr often dropped deeper, allowing one of the other Tottenham players to make the run through their back line, but it also meant that the visitors were unable to get their game together, with Tottenham quick to close space down and block off routes through to Haaland.  The press high up the pitch was making City make unforced errors with their passing and this was allowing Spurs to attack, with Hojbjerg again finding Johnson and his cross was deflected off Gvardiol’s boot that created an issue for Ederson, who fumbled it around for a corner.  We should have had another when it was cleared to Son, but his sliced shot went across goal to the right and Maddison played it off de Bruyne’s shin, but not in the linesman’s eyes, who was right on top of it but pointed for a goal-kick.

Bentancur got to Foden late and although the England man was raging, the ref had played on before going back to book the Spurs midfielder when play broke down.  Seven minutes before half-time, City did create an opportunity as Walker swung the ball across from the right and Gvardiol got onto it in space, but he chose to volley for goal, putting it over the bar, instead of trying to lay it across for Haaland in the middle.  de Bruyne’s free-kick in from their left just before half-time saw Vicario come to catch it high above his head and from there, Tottenham launched a break with Bentancur free on the left, but his pass fell between Porro and Johnson, allowing Gvardiol to intercept.  City launched a counter-attack giving the ball to Silva in acres of space on the City right, but his cross was deflected and fell gently for Vicario to gather.  Spurs were on the back foot soon after when Foden dinked the ball across from the left corner of the area and Haaland volleyed at goal, being blocked by Mick van de Ven and it ran to Silva, who shaped a shot towards Vicario’s uncovered far post.  It didn’t get there as Radu Dragusin made a great block with his head, but it was all for nothing, as the offside flag went up for Foden’s run.

At the start of the second half, Hojbjerg gave possession away around the Spurs box as we played out and it was moved quickly to de Bruyne, who fired in a first-time shot from the edge of the box that Vicario dived full length to his left to push away.  It was another super save by our keeper.  We did better playing out from the back when Porro played a good ball down the line for Sarr and Johnson over-lapped, crossing low to the near post first-time.  Heung-Min Son was there but his flick at goal was blocked by Ederson, who was onto him quickly.  

Somewhat against the run of play, City took the lead in the 51st minute.  Foden won a 50-50 ball with Romero, who was looking to win it and lay it off and then the City midfielder raced away with Bentancur with him, but unable to make a tackle because he was already on a yellow card.  The ball was played into the middle, which went across to Silva and he slipped a ball down the right side of the box where nobody had tracked de Bruyne’s run and he put a low ball across goal for Haaland to tap in from two yards out.  van de Ven had been left with two men and he tried to stop Silva putting it across, but de Bruyne’s run gave him to space to set up the goal.  The chants of “Are You Watching Arsenal?” which is something I have never understood when we aren’t playing them.

Bentancur clattered into another challenge that brought some advice for Son from the referee, perhaps saying next time he will be off, which is certainly something that Walker and Guardiola both wanted.  He went off with Kulusevski replacing him, angry at himself as he raged back on the bench and it was Pape who picked up the next booking for kicking de Bruyne on his Achilles, despite Dias wanting a red.  And they wanted one for Romero too when a corner was cleared and Dragusin and Hojbjerg worked it to Kulusevski and his cross found Cristian coming in unmarked at the far post and had to go for it, but Ederson got there before him.  City’s players were surrounding the referee preventing him to review whether the medics needed to come on and VAR looked at it too.  The stretcher came on as the keeper was being attended to as VAR were in the referee’s ear but advised it would be a yellow card.  Pep wasn’t impressed, with the goalkeeper coach feeling the same and picking up a yellow card for his abuse.  When the video was replayed, it was Romero’s thigh that was what Ederson made contact with and it appears that going for the ball and getting hit by an opponent equals a booking these days.

Ederson played on for three minutes and when eh went off started kicking things and throwing his gloves around like a spoiled kid, but the substitution was for his own benefit, having slid over when he took the free-kick that resulted from the incident anyway.  City brought on Doku at the same time, which spelled danger as he is so quick, but it was Spurs who nearly equalised  with Johnson’s ball inside to Kulusevski allowing the Swede to go past Rodri and Akanji to get into the right side of the six-yard box and shoot, but Ortega was in close attendance, producing a point-blank save as the ball went between his legs.  Doku got away on the left wing and his cross was touched away by Vicario, making sure it didn’t drift in at the far post or that Haaland didn’t get to it.  

Johnson nearly got through until Akanji eased him off the ball, but when Sarr looked like bringing the ball through midfield, Foden dragged him down cynically, injuring his own hip as he gave away the free-kick in an area where no damage could be done.  Spurs were working good situations, such as Maddison’s short corner to Kulusevski on the right corner of the box and he shaped to bend one into the far top corner, but overdid it, lifting his shot over the bar.  Dejan then chased a ball into the box, which Ortega came for but didn’t claim, leaving the Spurs winger an option of a shot or finding someone in the middle.  He chose to shoot, with the keeper right in front of him, but he might not have been able to squeeze the ball across to a white shirt.

With less than 10 minutes left, City were playing possession football after a period when they had dropped deep and tried to see out the game.  Porro had got across quickly to kick out the ball intended for Doku as City found some space going forward, giving the chance for Lo Celso and Skipp to replace Sarr and Hojbjerg.  A great chance to level the score came with five minutes of normal time remaining, as Johnson poked the ball away from Akanji as he dithered over it on the centre-spot and Son was away beyond Dias, bearing down on goal.  When once, you would lay odds that he would stick it away, his recent form of indecision on the ball may have been playing on his mind, as he took the ball too close to the keeper, who stuck out his right foot to prevent it going past him on the penalty spot, when a shot with some height on it would have made it far more difficult to save than one along the ground.

More cynical play saw Foden produce a bad foul on Maddison from behind, as James threatened to take the ball upfield, but it was Foden who lumped the ball to the left and Doku was one on one with Porro.  Getting into the box, he showed quick feet and Porro tried to stand his ground but Doku went down and it was 2-0 when Haaland put the ball to Vicario’s right, being sent the wrong way.   

With 10 minutes added time to play, Maddison left the pitch with 16 year old Mikey Moore coming on, while the Spurs crowd found their voice in support of the team.  Vicario was clever to stand big when Doku got past Porro again deep into the box and fired a shot that the Spurs keeper saved with his chest.  

Ange’s change in tactics for this match, maybe forced on him by the personnel available, Spurs produced a good performance and did our usual job of worrying City, who do play differently against us than they do many other sides.  A second half change halted Walker’s and Gvardiol’s forward runs to hold them in defensive positions, but it was two moments of good play that won City the match, with Tottenham producing a display that belied all the snide rumours that we would roll over for City.

It means that Champions League football is off the menu for next season, but there is still Europa League to play for on Sunday at Sheffield United, who will be keen to put on a good show for their fans in their last game before returning to the Championship.  However, another match played as we did today might be enough for us to get over our line.

Stanford Rivers

• Mikey Moore made his Tottenham debut as a substitute and became the club’s youngest ever Premier League player at 16 years, 277 days.
• Tottenham finished the season without a single home match ending in a draw.