Mancashter City (Away) 23.08.2025

The Spurs boss replaced Lucas Bergvall and Archie Gray in midfield with Rodrigo Bentancur and Joao Palhinha to try to counter the City midfielders, but with Spurs adopting a more solid 4-4-3 City’s 4-2-3-1 looked little more flexible, while City fans got all excited about Rodri and Foden being on the bench.  Having spent shedloads of cash this summer, they expect the side to do better than last season.  Spurs fans are not in the same boat with only the new signing that cost big money. 

Eight minutes in, Haaland was pressured by Romero just outside the City area and the Norwegian brought down Richarlison when he picked up the loose ball.  Pedro Porro hit the wall with the free-kick, but met the rebound much sweeter and the ball whizzed past Trafford’s right-hand post.  Then a defensive lapse at each end led to worries for the keepers, with Porro’s header back to Guglielmo Vicario too wide, letting Marmoush in to look for goal, with the ball going across the face of the goal with nobody there to capitalise.  Then Lewis played a back-pass to Trafford, who was very close to him and Richi got a foot on the keeper’s pass, taking the ball out wide, where Mohammed Kudus picked it up, but couldn’t make anything from the possession. 

There was a break in play after a quarter of an hour, when Ait-Nouri went down having injured his ankle blocking a pass from Mo.  When play restarted Marmoush had space coming in from the left and his low drive was beaten out by Vicario, with the ball just getting past the in-rushing Haaland.  Reijnders tried a shot from just outside the box, but hit it straight at Romero and when Ait-Nouri went down again ,he was replaced by Ake.  Tottenham were passing the ball well and when three City players went to Bentancur, he played a short ball to Djed Spence who moved it left to Djed Spence and his cross-field ball to Kudus in lots of space was just a little too heavy.  City broke when Pape Matar Sarr on the ball on halfway, but between himself and Rodrigo, Haaland took the ball away and found Marmoush running into the box but his shot was blocked as Vic had come out to him quickly.  A high ball hooked out of defence caught Reijnders underneath it and he let the ball bounce for Kudus to knock him off the ball, but Spurs were unable to make the most of it, as City got a lot of players back behind the ball.

The home crowd were quiet and “Can’t Smile Without You” rang out from the Tottenham fans.  Trying to play the ball out, Micky van de Ven put Spence under pressure and City won the ball, switching it to Reijnders on the edge of the box and he looked to find a team-mate to his right, instead of having a shot and the ball went off for a goal-kick.  Tottenham looked long with Vicario’s pass being nodded on by Sarr for Richarlison to go beyond Stones and with Johnson racing into the box, he played a low ball across.  It was slightly behind Brennan but he fired the ball into the top of Trafford’s goal.  A long VAR check eventually saw the ref point to the centre-spot to award the goal despite the linesman flagging for off-side.  So much for semi-automated offsides !!

Spurs tails were up when Dias put a weak header back to Trafford and Kudus was onto it, with the keeper coming out to kick the ball away with the ball making contact with his arm outside the area, but he also caught Mo in the midriff with a high boot and then Porro went towards the City box, being taken out just outside and not even given a free-kick.  Good pressure on the City defence won Spurs a corner on 45 minutes, the first of the match.  After the ref delaying it for some pushing in the box, it was played in by Kudus to the far post, but Marmoush’s header came off Richarlison for a goal-kick.  Trafford took it short and Sarr’s press won the ball for Richi, with the keeper knocking it away from him with his hand only for Joao Palhinha to fire in past a few light blue shirts. 

In the 12th minute of added time, a cross found Haaland’s head in front of goal and he put it over the bar. 

When the game kicked off for the second half, it saw Tottenham dropping deep, but City failed to find a way through, especially when Palhinha made a great sliding block to get in the way of Ake’s shot when the City defender took a touch before shooting.  Spurs were nearly the architects of their own misfortune when Vicario played a pass from a short goal-kick to Micky, but it wasn’t to feet and Haaland picked it off.  He played the ball across goal to Cherki directly in front of goal, but the ball was too strong for him and he then fouled Micky.  When Spurs moved the ball to the other end Sarr’s glanced header was saved by Trafford, who bundled into Richi, who was then confronted by Dias, who went to ground as if he had been hit by a bus.  It’s all very well clamping down on time-wasting (more of which later), but this sort of behaviour needs to be stamped out (more of which later).  

Porro’s excellent cross was met by Richarlison at the far post, but he headed it down and Trafford was behind it, then Bentancur broke up a City move in the Spurs half and ran the ball forward before passing to Johnson to fire a shot from outside the box over the bar.  He had Pape free inside him in the box, but chose to have a shot and then, a minute later as Palhinha won the ball in midfield, the ball was passed left to Johnson by Richi, but his first touch was too heavy and the ball was taken off him, when better control would have had him in on Trafford.

Richarlison had two good opportunities from headers, firstly from Porro’s free-kick and then from a cross by Kudus, but he lifted them both over the bar from the far post as he looked to knock it towards the far top corner of the goal.  A cross saw Micky do really well to beat Dias to the ball and glance it across goal and wide for a corner, but when the next corner came in, Vic punched it clear, but Dias went down before chasing the ref wanting a penalty.  Richi went back with him and nudged him, causing Gonzalez to get involved and the latter two ended up in the book.  Nothing more there than the incidents involving Dias and Trafford on Richi earlier !  Dias then went back in to pinch Richarlison on the waist.  No consistency from the match official.

The match was reminiscent of other recent Tottenham wins here, with City looking vulnerable every time Spurs went forward.  Kudus played a curling pass infield from the right that Trafford came out to meet just outside his box, but he was never going to get there and if it hadn’t bounced so high, Pape might have nodded it over the keeper and had an empty net to put the ball into.  Fortunately for the home team, the ball went a foot over Sarr’s head.  Bobb then bundled Johnson over when they both went for the ball, but wasn’t booked.

15 minutes left and Rodri won a free header from a corner that was planted straight at Vicario with City’s first effort on target in the second half.  Foden won a free-kick when the referee failed to notice that despite him using good skill to get out of a tight situation down in the City half, that he had a hand in Porro’s chest and was taken in by him going to ground claiming he had been pulled down.  Frankly, the diving by the City players was a tad embarrassing as they were looking for free-kicks at every opportunity, when they probably didn’t need to because the ref would have given them anyway.  AN untidy passage of play with players winning tackles and the ball going to the opposition led to Doku getting free on their left before looking for Foden in the middle, but van de Ven made an outstanding block just four yards from goal, that left the England midfielder rolling around on the ground and limping for the remainder of the match.

A cross deep to the far post from the left gave Bernardo Silva the chance to head at goal, but he floated it onto the roof of the net and then Foden tried a shot from 20 yards that took a flick off Palhinha, but it flew into Vicario’s stomach.  Spurs till looked composed and when the ball was played down the right to Bergvall, he lifted the ball over Lewis’ rash dive-in and pulled it back for Odobert, but he couldn’t get his foot around it and it flew well wide of the near post.  Tottenham picked up their fourth booking when Bergvall crashed into Ake, but he took a knee in the groin, which looked very painful. 

Tottenham had a great opportunity to add a third in added time, when Rodri headed the ball straight to Dominic Solanke, who turned Dias one way and then the other before hitting a shot across the keeper, who got a hand to it to push the ball into the air.  Wilson was in space and tried to head it early to catch Trafford out, btu it went down and the keeper got across to it to put it out for a corner as he dived low to his left. 

The match ended with ball lumped up-field by Porro after another loose pass from a light blue shirt,  And light blue was the colour, as City players traipsed around the pitch applauding the majority of empty seats as the home fans had started leaving well before the 90 minute mark.  The atmosphere in the Etihad was almost accepting that we would win, with the home crowd quiet for long stretches and resigned to defeat long before the final whistle.

If this match told us anything, it is not to waste any money signing Lewis, who has been linked with a move to N17.  His defensive positioning was awful and his decision making was flawed.  Although he wasn’t alone.  The lack of invention in the City side was stark, with aimless long balls that ran through to Vicario and looping crosses into the box with hope more than any accuracy.  Many were forced by Tottenham’s strong press that brought the errors and we took advantage, while City failed to create much from having the most possession, corners and XG, but that counts for nothing, as only the score-line at the end is what is important.  Stats don’t tell the whole story as the Tottenham midfield was so industrious, that the much feted signings of Cherki and Reijnders couldn’t affect the match in any way.  The three – Bentancur, Sarr and Palhinha – pressed so hard and won so many tackles that they overwhelmed their City opposite numbers.  While Pape didn’t get an assist, he was involved in both goals, flicking a header onto Richarlison for the first and then closing quickly on Gonzalez to nick the ball for the second, with Joao blocking shots at the back and getting up to score the second Tottenham goal.  Rodrigo Bentancur isn’t quite Mousa Dembele, but he is difficult to dispossess and uses the ball very well to link the defence to the attack.  Added to that Richi’s tireless work as the first line of defence and Mohammed Kudus’ tackling back prevented City .  Not only did we put three goals past last season’s tightest Championship defence, we now stuck two in the net of the Championship keeper who kept the most clean sheets.  And kept two clean sheets into the bargain !  And that was due to some heroic defending from the Spurs players, throwing themselves in the way of any shots that City looked to try to find the goal.

You would have to question the quality of the officiating in this game.  Tottenham took a good kicking from City, with the referee allowing it to continue without so much as a free-kick.  Obviously, him and his linesman couldn’t tell a clean tackle from a foul, as Romero won a great tackle on Bobb and got booked for it !  Just because the City player went down (without any contact being made) a) doesn’t mean it is a foul and b) doesn’t mean it’s a booking.  This error from the linesman who flagged and the referee who produced the yellow card for a good tackle, then put Romero on the back foot for the rest of the game, worrying that another challenge that won the ball might see him sent off.   Contrast this with Romero nicking the ball away from Haaland in the first half, with the City forward then bringing Richi down from behind with clear contact.  No booking for the Norwegian, but it is difficult to understand the referee’s interpretation of what is dangerous and what is seen as over-aggressive.  It would be interesting to hear some of these decisions explained, especially Trafford clash with Kudus, where his arm did not seem to be close to his body, although he was close to the Spurs man.

Maybe this was not the 4-0 of last season, but to take a quote from the Salford side of Manchester and put a twist on it, surely our recent record would allow us to say “It’s only City lads !”  And hey, “We are top of the league !” … for a while anyway.

• Joao Palhinha scored his first Tottenham goal.
• Thomas Frank became the second manager to win matches against Manchester City at the Etihad with two different clubs (the other was Antonio Conte – one of which victories came with Tottenham).
• Spurs inflicted Pep Guardiola’s eighth defeat in matches between the two sides – the most that any side has won against the Manchester City manager.
• Tottenham became the first team to score first in five consecutive Premier League matches at the Etihad Stadium against Manchester City.