From Tottenham Hotspur Stadium – only one goal from Erling Haaland turned out to be the narrow margin of victory for Manchester City against Tottenham Hotspur on Wednesday evening.
“They will try to play in a demanding way,” warned Ange Postcopou, “and we will try to do the same.” The two teams were up to their invoicing, throwing the foundations of a generally entertaining duel between two daring outfits – and in chronically.
How Haaland was the only player to find the net of a pleasant back and forth competition dotted with 23 combined shots, will remain a mystery.
How the game went
Pep Guardiola turned to the 11 most energetic players he had available, queuing two wingers in the form of Jeremy Doku and Savinho, the first (and third) intention was to lead to the signature and draw a cut in the box. The two fleet attackers beat their opposite files in the 12 minutes before Haaland’s opening goal.
At the end of a fluid movement which started deep in half of the city of the city, the brown visitors cast diagonally diagonally on the ground, presenting the ball at the feet of Doku whose cross has deviated gently so that the Haaland could swallow a Tap-In.
Tottenham had started brilliantly, supported by three consecutive victories and kept a slightly frantic zeal after having lagged behind. But City has taken an air of control that was so distinctly missing this season, accumulating an overabundance of opportunities that Haaland and Savinho conspired to waste each other. The reflexes of Guglielmo Vicario and the visitors’ collective were responsible for the 1-0-thinly attentively at the interval deficit. An unrolled crowd still praised the part-time interval with a grain of hoots.
The subdued atmosphere during a quick night in northern London started to crack while Pedro Porro found room in the last third to attack after an opening of 45 minutes almost entirely unleashed in the Doku Slipstream.
Postcoglou capitalized on the dramatic change of the momentum – now it was Tottenham’s turn to walk on the underused dashboard – with a quadruple substitution. A few seconds after their arrival, Djed Spence Teed Up Pape Sarr, his substitute colleague, by a clear view of the goal he was well biased.
The son Heung-Min, another introduction in the second half, had a small sparkling effort at the height by Ederson late while the Spurs pushed in search of a winner that their demonstration after the break was probably justified.
After a painfully prolonged Var review finally decided that Haaland had clearly managed the ball before stuffing it in the net in the second half, Sarr found the time to head around ten meters from the charmed goal of Ederson.
Discover the notes of Tottenham vs Man City Player here.
“Obviously, we will miss,” said Guardiola after watching his side of the city record only two shots on the target against Liverpool without their Talismanic striker last weekend – the lowest delay of the club of a Premier League match for 11 months. Haaland only needed 12 minutes to test Vicario twice himself on Wednesday, finding a way to pass the Italian with his second effort.
The return of no 9 sent a renewed positivity undulation through a base of fans which needs a boost, but little would have been as delighted as Jeremy Doku. The Belgian slipped in Trent Alexander-Arnold inside and at the back last Sunday, but had no one to come across. Haaland quickly resolved this – even if he missed most of these chances.
It has been several months and difficult months that Postcoglou was entitled to luxury to be able to rotate your squad. He might not be tempted to start over in the near future.
Wilson Odobert made his first departure since September while his son Heung-Min looked at the first half from the bench. Dejan Kulusvski has been named among the substitutes for the second time since August, but the Spurs have mainly missed Djed Spence.
Doku has made its way with the right back Pedro Porro, and the Udogie fate has not succeeded much better on the opposite flank. The Italian back from Tottenham was left on his knees, two hands joined far from assuming a position of prayer, by one of the body of Savinho. Udogie was so often bamboo that he changed his boots ten minutes before the whistle at halftime. It didn’t help much.
The view of Spence undressing on time sparked one of the noisiest cheers of the night. The back of Buccaneling was part of a quadruple substitution with 25 remaining minutes, which also included Kulusvski, Son and Pope Sarr. Three of the four arrivals created or had a shot on goal when they are limited – alluding to the impact they could have appreciated if Postocoglou deployed its strongest programming from the start.
The number of Haaland keys has been fetishized beyond all recognition – but even the minimalist Norwegian would have blushed to the sparse interaction of Mathys such with the ball in the middle of the week. Tottenham’s winter transfer coup has won his only sixth minute blow and finished the match with only five pass attempts.
Against a city team which has hardly been defensively resilient – or even flirted with the idea – like barely presented, not to mention a threat.
It is relevant to note that this is still a teenager who wads courageously during his first month in a foreign country with a team that – until very recently – had been undoubtedly in free fall. However, he may need to have more than 12 keys in the future.
“We have managed teams that [mark] Man-to-man very well, “insisted Guardiola this week, categorically ignoring the catalog of evidence that points the opposite. This calendar year, the press on foot before Paris Saint-Germain transformed the back line of the city into a tight ball.
Tottenham has delimited around the last third with the nervous energy of a surfacinated child, leaving large expanses of space so that the city broke out once this first wave of pressure has been broken.
Rather than complex passes schemes, City has found their way through Tottenham’s press with the Guardiola quality only came to assess more than any other; dribble. Omar Marmoush received a consecutive pass directly from Ederson, moving away from the central defender Kevin Danso to launch the movement, which led to the opening of Haaland.
Haaland, Doku and Savinho have also moved away from a set of boots that slam their heels to create chances that they all wasted.
It was a risky approach – a bad rotation would be open in transition, a fact that Tottenham easily discovered after the interval – but Guardiola was not in mood to abandon his principles. As he warned the pre-match: “We are not going to try to adapt.”
