Mancashter City (Home) 30.10.2024

Much was made pre-match of the good record Spurs have against Mancashter City, but the fact that they had won the last two matches against us here (one in the FA Cup and one in the Premier League) contradicted the media’s obsession with our form being less than consistent.  Ange put out a strong side, although many may have questioned his inclusion of Timo Werner, who elements of the crowd clearly do not appreciate.  Micky van de Ven played left back, as he has done on previous occasions and Archie Gray was Pedro Porro’s replacement in the right back slot.   City lost Akanji during the warm-up and benched Haaland to play Foden as a false nine.

The atmosphere was a little strange, as walking up to the stadium the streets were not thronged with Spurs fans and inside, there were few areas that had many people in.  It may have been due to horrendous traffic congestion on the M25, with two hour delays after the A10 junction (clockwise) from about 13.30.  By the time the game kicked off, most people were in place and after a couple of home games with the Trumpeter being muted, he was at full volume as the Spurs fans picked up the “Spurs Go Marching In” chant.  There was an individual near where I sit, who isn’t a regular, but showed his passion for the club by beating his fist on his chest repeatedly as kick off approached !

Inside the first two minutes, Dejan Kulusevski went down in the box under challenge from Gundogan, but there was little interest in it from the referee and with no VAR, it couldn’t even be reviewed, although it didn’t really look like there was much in the challenge.  Despite early good defending by Archie Gray, it looked as though Nunes fancied himself against the Spurs teenager, who wasn’t always given the vest protection by his colleagues, so, when he got a yard of space in the fourth minute, his cross looked dangerous, but luckily for Tottenham, it went behind all the maroon shirts in the box. 

With the ball at the back, it was passed around between Dragusin, Romero and Vicario, with Cristian eventually playing a ball to Archie on the right and he played a quick pass up the line.  Brennan Johnson flicked it down the line past Dias to send Dejan away with Gundogan not tracking his run.  As Dominic Solanke made a run through the middle, Lewis and Stones were sucked in to trying to get back to mark him, leaving Timo Werner free racing up the left hand channel.  The early ball across from the Swede had just enough weight on it as it went into the ball for Timo to come onto it with his right foot and bury a shot past Ortega’s left hand with Lewis too late to get a challenge in.  It was a pass right into his run and Timo didn’t snatch at it, but planted it with confidence past the keeper.  It turned up the volume of the fans singing “Spurs Go Marching In” too.

So five minutes into the match, Tottenham were ahead, but had we scored too early ?  The fans were revelling in Werner’s goal, singing “He scores when he wants” and the players were snapping into tackles, putting City under pressure.  Ten minutes in, Savinho looked like he was going to break down the City right, but Micky used his pace to get back at him and slide the ball out for a throw, but when he got up, he immediately started feeling his hamstring.  A minute later he went down after waving to the bench and you knew he was going to have to go off with Destiny Udogie taking his place at left back.

City’s passing was all over the place and a loose one from Gundogan five yards outside the box went straight to Werner, who went low this time and without as much behind his shot, Ortega got down to save.  A corner on the Spurs left was played low to Bentancur at the near post and he turned it back to the D for Kulusevski, but Dejan couldn’t keep his shot down.  Pape Matar Sarr went into the book for his third foul, which was the right decision, as he had already been warned.  Bentancur read a ball out from City well and slid in to stop it reaching McAtee, then got up to lay it off to Johnson.  He played it on down the right for Werner, who Dias had to slide in to block his cross for a corner.  Dejan and Timo went to the corner on our right wing and it was worked short with Timo taking a pass from Kulusevski and returning it to allow Dejan to square it into Pape, who side-footed a shot that curled from way outside the post to beat Ortega at his near post.  It looked as though the keeper thought it was going wide, but from five yards outside the box, the midfielder’s effort nestled low in the bottom corner of the net.  25 minutes gone and City hadn’t even had a shot at goal !

The visitors had a free-kicks ten minutes later, with Gudogan both firing over the bar, with Nunes going past Gray to play a ball across the face of goal with Foden too far behind it to get a touch.  Savinho had a curling shot from inside the right side of the area, but put it wide of the far post.  Three minutes before the 45 were up, Nunes clipped a lofted ball into an area inside the box that he didn’t have a lot to aim for, but he picked out Foden’s run, although the England man could only slice his volley over the bar.  When Romero fouled McAtee just outside the D, the ref gave a free-kick and Foden took it, but lifted it too high.  After the referee had awarded a free-kick to City when Dias and Ake knocked each other over trying to foul Solanke and then didn’t give one to Spurs for Dias pulling Solanke over, the away side built a move that saw Savinho get away down the right and put a cross to the far post, where Nunes swept the ball in from just outside the six yard box.  While they had a lot of possession, there hadn’t been too much in the way of threats on the Tottenham goal.

Half-time brought changes for both sides, with Sarr taken off with Bissouma coming on, while City replaced Dias with Gvardiol and Gundogan with Kovacic.   Straight away the referee made some decisions in City’s favour for some weak fouls, but a couple of minutes after the restart, it was Spurs who threatened with almost a replica of the first goal.  Werner raced into space on the left wing, played a ball across for Kulusevski running through the middle, but it was intercepted, only for the ball to run on for Brennan Johnson.  He lined up his favourite shot, low across the keeper, which Ortega got a hand to, pushing it just beyond Solanke, who had strayed offside.  Werner went close again, when Gray cut out a cross into the Tottenham area, Bentancur played it short to Solanke and he lofted the ball beyond Lewis, who was the last man inside the Spurs half.  Timo was away and despite Lewis, Ake and Gvardiol chasing him, stayed ahead to fire a left foot shot that whistled past the far upright by inches. 

Meanwhile, Ben Davies had been warming up since half-time and Romero made way for him as they and having taken Pape off as he was on a booking, eight minutes into the second half, Biss picked up a yellow card for a rash push in the back of O’Reilly.  Hunting City players down, Gray won the ball and sent Kulusevski away down the right.  With Werner coming in at the far post, the trademark ball would have been low across to the German, but he checked back onto his left foot and tried to curl a low shot past Ortega’s right hand, but the keeper got down to it well to push it away.  When Dejan did pass one on to Timo, he came inside and hit a right foot shot a long way wide this time.  

Just before the hour, Foden was replaced by Silva, while Savinho went to ground and had treatment on what looked to be a painful ankle, with the Brazilian having to be carried off on a stretcher.  City were trying to maintain possession, but pressure and loose passing were giving it to Spurs, who were making the most of it.  When Udogie sent Werner down the line, his ball across the box was looking for Johnson, but Gvardiol just got there to cut it out for a corner.  When Timo took it, he seemed to have pulled a groin muscle and although he tracked back, it was obvious he was feeling it.  Richarlison replaced him and Mikey Moore came off the bench for Johnson and when Udogie had put the ball out for Werner to get treatment, City threw the ball back and pressed straight away, leading to s shot from substitute Wright that went a ball’s width wide of Vicario’s left-hand post.  Desperation seemed to be gripping the Mancs as they tried every trick in the book to get back into the match.

Yves was fortunate with fifteen minutes to go, as he left Lewis on the floor following what looked like him getting to the player after the ball had gone.  Some odd attacking by City saw Wright cross to the far post, where Silva knocked the ball across goal for Wright, who hit a volley that went off for a throw-in on the far side of the pitch.  When Spurs conceded throw in on the right wing level with the City 18 yard box, Gvardiol tried to steal about 20 yards by walking the ball up the line, but decided to throw it back to Stones on the corner of the box.  Unfortunately, the England central defender wasn’t sharp enough to get there and it was spotted by Richarlison.  From 14 yards out, he had to stretch a little to reach it, but could only hit the keeper with his shot, when either side of Ortega and it would have been a goal.

Vicario came for a right wing cross and managed to push it away at full stretch beyond Nunes, but from the next City corner, he was too intent on trying to reach a ball that went way beyond him, allowing the ball to be headed back and O’Reilly had a shot that Bissouma did wonderfully well to block on the line, right next to the goalpost with two minutes of normal time left.  The following corner was headed over by Gvardiol at the near post.  Guglielmo needs to concentrate on the ball and not get involve din pushing and shoving players who are trying to block him off, as it forces him into making rash decisions.

Archie Gray was booked for pulling Nunes back tight to the side-line when the clock approached 90 minutes and there was six minutes more to play.  It was an offence that brought punishment that could easily have been applied to a number of City players, who were happy enough to pull Tottenham shirts.  But it didn’t matter, because after O’Reilly had done that to Dragusin and still couldn’t get a header on target, that was their last chance and the final whistle brought a great noise from the Tottenham crowd and silence from the City section.  There wasn’t any silence from the obsequious Silva who went after the ref to moan about something and then to anyone else who was foolish enough to get within his vicinity.

With City only managing three shots on target for their 68% possession and 637 passes.  Werner’s goal originated with Vicario and for all those who moan about us playing the ball out from there, this was a fine example of what can be achieved.  Beat the press and suddenly, we are away.  While Dominic Solanke didn’t score, he ran himself into the ground working for the team and failed to get anything out of the referee on the night.  With the back four re-arranged from the start and then again during the game, Ben Davies brought some experience to the back line, with Radu Dragusin having another fine match, popping up to do what he needed to do when it was required.

It was a poor display by referee Jones, who gave City 16 free-kicks and Spurs 6.  It wasn’t a nasty match but one where he judged things very differently throughout the match.  For all the hype about the City youngsters, they failed to make much of an impression and to be fair, Mikey Moore didn’t have much chance to get in the match when he came on, but when the two sides meet again in twenty-four days time at the Etihad, things will be very different, I’m sure.  But for tonight, we will celebrate City’s first defeat of the season and look forward to welcoming another Manc side in United to the THS in the quarter-finals in December.

Gary Sampson 

• VAR was not in operation for this match.
• Jahmai Simpson-Pusey made his Mancashter City debut.