Mancashter City (Home) 26.01.2024

ITV must have depressed the watching millions by putting this on at prime time on ITV1, as they must have wondered what all the fuss was about.  Unlike the 3-3 away draw, which ebbed and flowed with lots of excitement, this was just a massive yawn.  While City topped the stats for possession and shots, they were also highest in the number of fouls committed, relying on a more physical approach rather than trying to outplay Spurs.  It was a tactic allowed to flourish by a referee who allowed a lot of fouls committed by the black shirts which received yellow cards elsewhere in the match.  It was also an approach that was much admired by Pep Guardiola, who received a yellow card for sarcastic applause of the referee when Kevin de Bruyne barged Micky van de Ven off the pitch with no hope of getting the ball.  The fact that the City manager continued to clap the official for booking him should surely have brought another, but then Paul Tierney is another in a long line of referees who have gone from being pretty good to poor.

Although City had the ball in the net in the fifth minute, after another long VAR review it was ruled offside.  When Destiny Udogie slipped, it left space on the City left for Walker to put a low ball into the box that was poked at goal by Foden and Guglielmo Vicario saved, although the loose ball was knocked back past him by Bobb. Their high press was making it problematical for Spurs to move the ball out from the back, but winning the ball high up wasn’t helping them, because they failed to produce much from it.  Much of that was due to the dreadful final ball from £77 million man Gvardiol, who wasn’t using the space he was finding on their left to the best effect.  Vicario had to dive down to his left to save a soft shot from Alvarez from 25 yards and we were treated to a three minute stoppage thanks to the linesman’s technical equipment not working.  We could have had a couple of VAR checks in that time !  Foden shot wide and that was about it for the first half, except for Rodri whingeing to the referee as the players trudged off.

There was a regular tactic used by City of standing Dias in front of Vicario at corners, with the referee doing little to enforce what was tantamount to obstruction.  But more of that later. 

Bobb put an low cross from the left and Alvarez came in at the far post, but with it looking like a goal, van de Ven slid in to put him off and the ball skied over the bar from eight yards out off the Dutchman’s intervention.  That was three minutes into the second half and Spurs were carrying on their resolute defending form the first half, when Micky and Destiny had made great interventions to avert danger.  Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg joined in with a great sliding tackle to prevent Alvarez bearing down on goal, before two quick bookings interrupted play with Kovacic eventually going in the book for a late kick on Udogie’s ankle, then Destiny followed him for a foul on Silva, which was no worse than many of Dias and Rodri’s in the first period although it took ten more minutes before Dias did get shown a yellow for a crude pull on Richarlison as he got past him.  Gvardiol also got booked after he was fouled by Richarlison and then pushed him.

The Spurs crowd woke up when Ange brought on Skipp and Maddison for Bentancur and Johnson, while City introduced de Bruyne and Doku for Alvarez and Bobb (Is his nickname “Two” ?).  Spurs did have a chance when Werner’s pass put Johnson into the area with a pass inside Gvardiol, but Ortega came out quickly to block his effort.  Vicario was required to get down low at his near post as Doku ran into the box and Porro came across to challenge him.

Towards the end, it looked like Tottenham were carrying tired legs.  Hojbjerg missed a ball across the box with Silva shooting across the goal forcing Vicario to flop down quickly to save and then the Dane passed to Foden, who passed short to his right for de Bruyne to shoot and it had goal written all over it, but his effort went wide of Vicario’s right-hand post just thirteen yards out.  Perhaps the players thought they had got away with it, as they had shown little in attack, but a corner in the 88th minute was played to the near post and Dias again blocked off Vicario and forced him to punch the ball down into Micky’s back, with it dropping for Ake to put it into the net from very close range.  Dias had been pushing the Spurs keeper before the corner was taken and then jumped with his arm across Vicario’s chest that affected his ability to reach the ball.

It seems like referees are now allowing contact on keepers despite the contact occurring when the keeper was off the ground after Luton were allowed to score when the Burnley keeper came and didn’t get it against Luton.  Howard Webb said it was OK on the Sky show that reviews decisions, so now it’s open season on keepers. 

City were so desperate to see out the game they were keeping the ball in the corner and when Doku and Porro had a push and shove at each other, both getting booked for it. 

Spurs failed to get their attacking game going, but that was mainly down to the heavy press that City employed and any long balls forward were won by the giant City central defenders.  With another game coming so quickly on Wednesday thanks to programming by TNT Sports, Tottenham will need to get the better of Brentford to start pressing on for a place in Europe.  It is all there is left to play for this season, so we will have to go all out for it.

Keith Mendament

• Oliver Skipp makes his 100th Tottenham appearance.
• Mancashter City score and win for the firs time at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.