Mancashter City (Away) 23.11.2024

Colours : –

White socks worn

It was like the old days when City didn’t have Abu Dhabi money behind them and we used to go up there and be confident of coming back with a result.  Much was made beforehand about the effect of Rodri’s absence from the City side in their run of four straight defeats and parading him before the game to receive his Ballon D’or trophy should only serve to remind them that with the all the wealth of Sheihk Mansour’s money behind them, the fact that missing just one player could have such a devastating effect on the performances of a team.  I suppose they will claim that Kovacic being out compounded the weakness in their midfield, but let us not forget that Spurs travelled to the Etihad without their two first choice central defenders – Cristian Romero and Micky van de Ven.  And we do not have the resources City do to buy who they want when they want.

It was a wet Manchester that welcomed Spurs fans to the monolith that is the Etihad.  The sports village that is around the ground means it has all the life of a ghost town, despite the big crowd.  The rain eased as the kick off approached as Storm Bert swept across the country.

When the match did kick off, getting a booking within 15 seconds as he brought Foden down wasn’t going to help Yves Bissouma, whose game is based on tackling and having the best part of 90 minutes left to go without another yellow card, made things very difficult.  A better pass up the left by Destiny Udogie might have freed Son, but it was short and City went on the attack, shifting the ball to their left for a cross to Haaland’s head at the far post, but his header went across goal instead of at it and Tottenham got the ball away.  The Norwegian was in a lot of space inside the Spurs box on the right in the fourth minute, but Ben Davies made a good block on his shot to concede a corner as Haaland took too many touches before getting his shot off. 

Spurs couldn’t hang onto the ball and City were moving the ball well to put the Tottenham defence under pressure.  At corners, they were using one man as an incumbrance for Vicario and it was reasonably well dealt with as the first couple came in.  Spurs were not employing the full press, rather they were allowing City to have the ball at the back.

In the 10th minute, Savinho got away on the City left and his square ball across the box to Haaland was swept low at goal, but Vicario stopped it with an outstretched right leg.  Conversely, when Tottenham moved the ball out from the back, it was swept wide right to Dejan Kulusevski, who held off Gvardiol.  Pedro Porro made a run outside, distracting the City man and allowing space for the Swede to bend a cross in the caused Stones to lose his bearings.  Making a well-timed run in behind him, James Maddison read the play and volleyed home with his left foot from inside the six yard box to give Spurs a surprise lead.

Foden reached a ball into the box but could not control his shot and Spurs were finding some space on the left, bending low balls in for Kulusevski that were just too far ahead of him.  Then, in the 17th minute, Sonny didn’t do that but came inside to put in a trademark curling effort that Ederson just about got a fingertip to at full-stretch to push round the post.

City were punished when Gvardiol gave the ball away 25 yards out from their own goal.  Maddison picked it up, played it in to Son’s feet in the box and he came inside, City defenders all getting in front of him after the shot he had just had.  That allowed James to continue his run and Son chopped the ball left and Maddison controlled the ball with his first touch and as Ederson came out to him, lifted it delicately over him and into the net.  It was a piece of skill that made City pay, but Son’s pass was delightful itself.

City needed a response, with Haaland firing over the bar when another low pass found him in the box.  Walker was being given a tough time by Son’s work wide on the wing and was happy to take him on.  He also did well running inside to receive Maddison’s pass and he reversed it to Solanke, whose fierce drive had to be turned over the top.

In the 35^th minute, Haaland tried to bulldoze through the middle of the Spurs defence and the ball ran loose to Savinho, but his low left foot shot wasn’t powerful enough trouble the Spurs keeper.  Spurs also had a chance five minutes later, when Kulusevski did well to hold off Gvardiol and laid the ball back for Bissouma and his curling shot looked to go over Ederson from the right corner of the box but was a bit too high.   Foden tried a scissor kick but Ben Davies’ movement in front of him forced a misjudgement and it flew well over the top.

The first half ended 2-0 to Spurs.  Not a great score for us either against City or against anyone.  It would need a more attentive second half by Spurs than they produced at Brighton, so it was an opportunity to see if lessons had been learned.

City kicked off the second half and Maddison was being targeted with big hits on him from Gundogan and Akanji.  Spurs were playing the ball well, but enticing City in to try and win the ball.  When they did so in their own half, Kulusevski nutmegged Savinho, played a one-two with Son and he was away down the left.  Dejan looked to pick out Dom in the middle, but the pass was over-hit and the centre-forward retrieved the ball, playing it back for Pedro Porro to sweep a shot over and across Ederson to nestle in the opposite side of the goal.  City were all over the place and Spurs were taking full advantage.

Spurs were put under pressure when Maddison’s loose pass back to Bissouma in his own penalty area only found Haaland, who got the bounce of the ball off a tackle and fired at goal straight away, grazing the bar on the way over the top.  Porro made a good block to stop Gvardiol’s half-hit shot reaching Vicario on the hour and then the City defender took down a cross from the right, but shot over from inside the box.  When Dragusin shrugged Lewis off the ball, he played it forward to Solanke, who was strong against his marker to play Kulusevski in outside him.  Dejan ran into the box, checked back inside and Ederson had to throw a hand up to keep his shot out.  Spurs looked dangerous every time they went forward on the break.

A cross from Gvardiol was headed over by Haaland, Foden had a weak low shot that Guglielmo got down to and behind safely as Spurs were dropping deep and City were enjoying a lot of possession.  Guardiola brought on Grealish and de Bruyne for Lewis and Savinho to try and liven things up, with Gundogan finding some space to the right of the goal and his shot from a tight angle was kept out by Vicario, who stood up and the ball hit him as he got his chest in the way.

Narky little pushes and petty fouls showed the frustration that City were suffering, as they misplaced passes.  It went too far when Silva put in a scything tackle on Maddison from behind and he went into the book and then substitute De Bruyne went through Sarr after he had cleared the ball and was also shown a yellow, with Pape also going in the book in the ensuing pushing and shoving.  Interestingly, Pape did nothing more to de Bruyne than foden then did to him, but there was no yellow card for the City midfielder.

Grealish got a cross in from the left to the far post and Silva volleyed it way over the top, having lost his composure earlier, he couldn’t control his shot.  Destiny, Pape and Madders went off on 90 minutes to be replaced by Djed Spence, Lucas Bergvall and Timo Werner as the Etihad locals vacated their sky blue seats in large numbers.  Radu Dragusin was alert to the danger in the first minute of added time when de Bruyne’s bent ball into the six yard box was looking for Haaland, but Radu managed to get it over the bar with a fine piece of defending.

After Akanji dragged Bergvall’s shirt off his arm, the free-kick came to nothing, but when Grealish played a pass along the halfway to nobody in particular, it was picked off by Werner, who sped forward and Kyle Walker, who was always beaten in this match, couldn’t catch him.  Playing a ball across goal like our favoured set-up move is, his ball beat Ederson and might have been going in, but Brennan Johnson made sure by sliding it over the line getting ahead of Ake.  4-0 and in dreamland.

There was very little time left and the whistle blew almost straight away, so the remaining City fans filed out into the dank Manchester night.  Was this a once in a blue moon occurrence or is it the heralding of a new era for both clubs ?  Spurs need to develop some consistency to produce performances like this week in, week out, while City need to find a win from somewhere.  It might also signal that some of the City players are reaching their sell-by date.  de Bruyne seemed intent in making his presence felt physically rather than making an impact on the ball, while Gundogan was unable to cope with the way Tottenham worked through midfield and Walker was left trailing Werner and could not deal with Son’s trickery.  Maybe we were fortunate that Haaland had left his shooting boots in Norway after his midweek goal-scoring exploits for his country, but he only had a few glimpses of goal so well was he marshalled by our defenders.  I’ve never been totally convinced by Akanji and Stones although others rave about them, with Foden putting in his second anonymous performance against us in just a couple of weeks.

That was where the biggest praise should go.  Ben Davies and Radu Dragusin came in and were solid in their defending and instrumental in playing the ball out from the back, where a lot of our moves began.  It was Radu’s ball forward to Kulusevski that ended in our first goal and Ben’s interception just outside our box that went to Dejan, who started the move for the third goal.  Not that there was a single Spurs player who didn’t contribute to this stunning win.  James Maddison celebrated his 28th birthday by combining his two goals with a fine all-round display that put him way ahead of any of the feted City midfield, leading to the continual fouling on him and Dejan Kulusevski showed just why he is at the top of his game at the moment.  Sonny and Brennan ran the wide positions and Destiny and Pedro were always looking to get forward, but also defended well when required. And while he didn’t get on the score-sheet, Dominic Solanke put in a superb centre-forward performance, holding the ball and bringing others into the game, being aware enough to set up Porro for his goal when the chance of scoring himself seemed to have gone. 

As stated, Yves Bissouma taking a yellow card so early in the game was going to need a controlled performance by the midfielder and that was just what he delivered.  Being more considered in his tackling, but getting the ball down and playing it to a white shirt, he was a stabilising influence in midfield to help others go and play, so if he can cut out the rash tackles, Yves is going to be an important player while Rodrigo Bentancur is out suspended.  And the Uruguayan was another player we were without at City, in addition to Richarlison, as well as having five teenagers on the bench – one of whom came on, but very few reports mentioned that.  But then when you win you don’t need to make excuses.

The Heathrow Spur

• Ange Postecoglou managed Spurs in his 50th Premier League match in charge of the team.
• Guglielmo Vicario made his 50th Premier League appearance for the club.
• Tottenham’s second goal was their 100th in away matches against Manchester City.
• This was Tottenham’s biggest away win against City.
• Tottenham’s win was the first at the Etihad after City going 52 matches unbeaten at home (since November 2022 against Brentford).
• Pep Guardiola had never lost a home game by four goals before today.
• Pep Guardiola had never lost five consecutive matches before today (Spurs won two of them) either as a player or a coach.
• James Maddison scored twice on his 28th birthday.