Manchester City Vs Tottenham @ White Hart Lane [R]

[MVF]

Tottenham v Man City

White Hart Lane
Sunday, 9 December
Kick-off: 1500 GMT
BBC coverage: BBC Sport website, BBC Radio Five Live & highlights on Match of the Day.

Tottenham full-backs Pascal Chimbonda and Young-Pyo Lee face late fitness tests after picking up knocks during the UEFA Cup clash against Anderlecht.

Striker Robbie Keane starts his three-match ban for his red card against Birmingham on 2 December.

Manchester City midfielder Elano is a doubt with a hamstring injury.

But midfielder Michael Johnson is back after abdominal surgery and striker Darius Vassell has been declared fit after a hamstring problem.

Tottenham (from): Robinson, Cerny, Chimbonda, Lee, Stalteri, Dawson, Kaboul, Zokora, Jenas, Huddlestone, Malbranque, Lennon, Bent, Berbatov, Defoe, Tainio, Boateng, Taarabt.

Man City (from): Isaksson, Hart, Corluka, Sun, Dunne, Richards, Garrido, Ball, Ireland, Johnson, Geovanni, Fernandes, Elano, Petrov, Mpenza, Bianchi, Vassell, Samaras.

#
Tottenham defender Paul Stalteri:
"It's a tough match and the two down the road after that (against Portsmouth and Arsenal) are also very difficult.

"City's start shows England that Sven knows a thing or two about football.

"It shows he has the experience, he knows what he wants and he has got his team playing really well.

#
Manchester City boss Sven-Goran Eriksson on dropping out of the top four:
"I don't accept that we are now playing for fifth place, why should I do that?

"It is a big challenge to dislodge one of the favourites by the end of the season but I am not thinking about that just this Sunday's game at Tottenham.

"All we can do is take one game at a time and see what happens."

BIG-MATCH FACTS

Having qualified for the knock out stages of the Uefa Cup, Tottenham now prepare to meet Manchester City in a dress rehearsal for the Carling Cup quarter-final nine days later.

Tottenham have made their worst ever start to a Premier League season, and have gained only two wins to date; Manchester City have made their best start and are chasing a 10th victory.

Spurs have scored seven more goals than City but find themselves in the bottom five, while their opponents are in the top five.

The Londoners are yet to beat a top half club this season; the Citizens are yet to lose to a bottom half side.

Spurs have won their last six Premier League matches against Manchester City and are unbeaten in eight. Last season's corresponding fixture was their last game of the campaign when Spurs needed a point to secure Uefa Cup football, and in the event took all three to finish fifth.

[chinesefootballfan]

Check this out.

In the last 14 years, we've only beaten Tottenham once in league games. Is it possible to get an explaination on this? Tottenhamm isn't exactly considered a powerhouse.

2006/2007
English Premier Tottenham Hotspur 2-1 Manchester City 13-05-2007
English Premier Manchester City 1-2 Tottenham Hotspur 17-12-2006
2005/2006
English Premier Tottenham Hotspur 2-1 Manchester City 08-04-2006
English Premier Manchester City 0-2 Tottenham Hotspur 04-01-2006
2004/2005
English Premier Tottenham Hotspur 2-1 Manchester City 19-03-2005
English Premier Manchester City 0-1 Tottenham Hotspur 11-12-2004
2003/2004
English Premier Tottenham Hotspur 1-1 Manchester City 12-04-2004
English FA Cup Tottenham Hotspur 3-4 Manchester City 04-02-2004
English FA Cup Manchester City 1-1 Tottenham Hotspur 25-01-2004
English League Cup Tottenham Hotspur 3-1 Manchester City 03-12-2003
English Premier Manchester City 0-0 Tottenham Hotspur 28-09-2003
2002/2003
English Premier Tottenham Hotspur 0-2 Manchester City 18-04-2003
English Premier Manchester City 2-3 Tottenham Hotspur 23-12-2002
2000/2001
English Premier Manchester City 0-1 Tottenham Hotspur 10-02-2001
English Premier Tottenham Hotspur 0-0 Manchester City 23-09-2000
1995/1996
English Premier Tottenham Hotspur 1-0 Manchester City 13-01-1996
English Premier Manchester City 1-1 Tottenham Hotspur 19-08-1995
1994/1995
English Premier Tottenham Hotspur 2-1 Manchester City 11-04-1995
English Premier Manchester City 5-2 Tottenham Hotspur 22-10-1994
1993/1994
English Premier Manchester City 0-2 Tottenham Hotspur 11-12-1993
English Premier Tottenham Hotspur 1-0 Manchester City 21-08-1993
1992/1993
English Premier Tottenham Hotspur 3-1 Manchester City 24-03-1993
English FA Cup Manchester City 2-4 Tottenham Hotspur 07-03-1993
English Premier Manchester City 0-1 Tottenham Hotspur 28-11-1992
English League Cup Manchester City 0-1 Tottenham Hotspur 28-10-1992

[ForzaGrifo]

where the hell was the marking? HT 0:1

[chinesefootballfan]

the struggle vs Tottenham continues, one of those teams that we just can't beat no matter what we do.

[ForzaGrifo]

jesus everyone was ball watching on the 2nd Spurs goal.

Ireland just cost us a game with that send off.

Poor game by everyone except for perhaps Petrov, Gelson, Etuhu, Vassell, and Bianchi.

[thecitizen]

I don't think anyone wants to remember this game.

What is up with us letting them score 2 goals all the time?

It's been 2-1 how many times geez

Wierd.

[thecitizen]

I have to say though, Etuhu has great potential...only 19 years old.

I think in a few more years, maybe 2 or 3, we will be just as good as any "powerhouse" team. A good majority of our line up is young and when we get players like Schmeichel back at top form (and Hart just in case we don't have Schmeichel), can you say pay back Tottenham?

This game makes me sad but optimistic at the same time.

[Alan D]

We were unlucky not to get something, and the ref was wank. how the hell he didnt see chimbonda a mile offside and the ball hit his arm is beyond me, but im not making excuses. We made our own defeat, Ireland had a moment of stupidity and now hes banned for 3 games. Etuhu and Isaksson were positives from the game, and obviously Bianchi! Surely Sven realises hes our best striker by a mile (not including Boj) and at least Elano is back next week. We should look to beat Bolton at home on Saturday. In January we need a new quality centre midfielder and a new striker at the very least

[indestructible]

We were unlucky not to get something, and the ref was wank. how the hell he didnt see chimbonda a mile offside and the ball hit his arm is beyond me, but im not making excuses. We made our own defeat, Ireland had a moment of stupidity and now hes banned for 3 games. Etuhu and Isaksson were positives from the game, and obviously Bianchi! Surely Sven realises hes our best striker by a mile (not including Boj) and at least Elano is back next week. We should look to beat Bolton at home on Saturday. In January we need a new quality centre midfielder and a new striker at the very least

You guys had a potential 15-20 goal scorer sitting on the bench all season. Eriksson is a good manager, but i can't see how he doesn't see Bianchi's worth

[CityBlues]

He certainly dug our own grave in this one.

Sorry guys, I kind of fell asleep on the boards the past few weeks, I have beens tudying my ass off for my finals coming up. Medical School sucks!

With all the chances Spurs had they could have scored 5. Instead they should have only been allowed 1 goal. Their first is clearly an offisde AND a handball, take your pick on which one you want to call, either way no goal 1-1 we take a point.

Negative Points, our midfiels looked atrocious without Didi and Elano. Gelson has potential but I can't wait to get the Hamann-Johnson pairing back. Sucks that Stevie is banned for the next few matches, in all fairness his tackle was atrocious.

Positive Points, Bianchi, once again proving his mettle without a starting spot. If anything this is a clear sign the guy needs to start in our lineup. Hopefully Sven can see this. Isaksson did all he could to salvage this match for us. I thought he played well in some tough spots. Etuhu surprised me, he is quality and will continue to grow, once again a testament to our academy.

Spurs should never have beat us if we look at all three goals, only two were actual goals by the rules. But unfortunately, we put ourselves in a crappy situation, should have never got that far.

[MVF]

That header by Bianchi was world-class, Unstoppable.

Crap refereeing for their first goal, but that's football.

[thecitizen]

OK, I finally saw the Chimbonda goal and wow. can you say cheap?

that really gets under my skin that the ref acted so oblivious to that, he was standing right in front of Isaksson and he practically slapped it in. that should have been a draw.

[Lynne_mcfc]

We were unlucky not to get something, and the ref was wank. how the hell he didnt see chimbonda a mile offside and the ball hit his arm is beyond me, but im not making excuses. We made our own defeat, Ireland had a moment of stupidity and now hes banned for 3 games. Etuhu and Isaksson were positives from the game, and obviously Bianchi! Surely Sven realises hes our best striker by a mile (not including Boj) and at least Elano is back next week. We should look to beat Bolton at home on Saturday. In January we need a new quality centre midfielder and a new striker at the very least

Hi Alan

Agree with your posting totally - as someone mentions in a later post, you can add obstructing the goalkeeper to the list of why the first goal shouldn't have been allowed. That's football, I'm sure we've had 'calls' go our way too. We could've lost the match at least 4-1 but for some brilliant stops by Isaksson. Our usually calm, illustrious captain, was shouting some harsh words at someone - a sign that something was wrong. Come back Hamann we miss you! More points dropped.

Nothing takes away the fact that we didn't play well enough and SGE still needs to pick his best squad each and every time (at least he's beginning to put subs on when there's still a reasonable amount of time left for them to actually make a difference!). As has been mentioned in this thread, why didn't he start Bianchi? :eek: and Geo? and Vassell as lone striker (given our record against Spurs?). Get two (three is even better) goals up and then sub a striker and shore-up the midfield/defense. SGE's selection for Bolton is critical.

If the younger members of the squad stay with City, we'll have a boatload of talent in the not too distant future. We need a confident, winning team for them to have the opportunity to be involved in the matches and to learn from the more seasoned players.

[gdub171]

In January we need a new quality centre midfielder and a new striker at the very least

The striker seems a perfect choice, every team should have 3 solid strikers and then we could keep Big Sam and hope he still develops (or loan him out); however I think MiJo and Elano are set in CM and we could use a DM to supplant Hamman when he wears out, even though he's doing a great job now. A right MF is our key spot, although if we could get a top-quality CM like Modric, Van Der Vaart, etc. I say go and get 'em.

Mascherano + Bresciano + Amauri (or another top class striker) would be my hope for the Xfer season.

[Awareness]

The striker seems a perfect choice, every team should have 3 solid strikers and then we could keep Big Sam and hope he still develops (or loan him out); however I think MiJo and Elano are set in CM and we could use a DM to supplant Hamman when he wears out, even though he's doing a great job now. A right MF is our key spot, although if we could get a top-quality CM like Modric, Van Der Vaart, etc. I say go and get 'em.

Mascherano + Bresciano + Amauri (or another top class striker) would be my hope for the Xfer season.

A player like Van der vaart is too big for a club like yours I'm sorry to say. Modric prefers the Spanish league. Maybe a Nasri or Benzema.