Pep Guardiola brings his free-scoring Manchester City side to Nouveau WHL to match wits with old nemesis Jose Mourinho. In a season of mediocrity, our home numbers offer some crumbs of comfort - only the top 3 have won more at home and only Liverpool and Sheffield United have conceded fewer goals in front of their own fans (I had to do a double-take on that one). The bad news is City have scored 34 away goals, which is almost as many as we have scored home and away (38). Bad news II: we have won none of our last 12 in the league against the Big 6 (lost 9, drawn 3) and Jose has won none of his last 8 against Big 6 opposition (lost 6, drawn 2), including all 3 as Tottenham boss, stats which support the argument that he is being left behind by his more progressive peers. Hopefully the signings of Bergwjin and Lo Celso, along with the departures of the malcontents Eriksen and Rose, will have lifted some of the cloud that has hung over the team this season.
Here are the teams: Tottenham Hotspur: Lloris, Aurier, Alderweireld, Sanchez, Tanganga, Winks, Lo Celso, Bergwijn, Alli, Son, Lucas Moura. Subs: Vertonghen, Lamela, Dier, Sessegnon, Gazzaniga, Ndombele, Fernandes. Man City: Ederson, Walker, Fernandinho, Otamendi, Zinchenko, De Bruyne, Rodri, Gundogan, Mahrez, Aguero, Sterling. Subs: Bravo, Gabriel Jesus, Bernardo Silva, Silva, Joao Cancelo, Foden, Garcia. Referee: Mike Dean.
Mike Dean, Kevin Friend and VAR are an absolute disgrace. How Sterling is still on the pitch is beyond me. Should have been sent off for a nasty challenge that could have broken Dele's leg. Then he should have got a second yellow for diving trying to draw a penalty from Lloris.
Yep a yellow for the blatant dive and a second yellow ( red really ) for that horror tackle !! Sterling’s first touch has again been abysmal today
What a pleasant surprise. Son is scoring goals again. Bergwijn had a good game, hopefully that was just a cramp that forced him off. Brilliant passes by Moura and Ndombele to set up the goals. And finally a clean sheet. Plus a lot of other teams dropped points.
After watching the highlights, this team looked different than versus Norwich two weeks ago. Two weeks ago, the goal celebrations where muted, almost look like nobody was having fun, and they were not really a team. Today, from the highlights, they looked they were having fun and a team again. Oh, and also after watching the highlights, reminded me very much of the match versus Real Madrid 3 seasons ago (Spurs won 3-1 at Wembley). Both Real and Man City had some great opportunities, but just could not finish. But when Spurs had the opportunity, they pounced.
pffft! we were just plain better than Madrid that day, 'nutter, me owd mukka. they were already down two before they put any sustained pressure on. and down three when one finally fell right for 'em. edit: having typed that, I've just youtubed the highlights to insure that I'm remembering it correctly. and I gotta say … I really enjoyed it.
As my memory goes, even in the first half, Real couldn't do what they normally do. Yes, Spurs were better, but there was lack of decisiveness by Real. It really came to head when Spurs were up 2-0 and Ronaldo couldn't score from 6 yards out (or something like that). But Spurs didn't have a large number of chances, but what they had they finished. That latter part is what really seems to be the case from the highlights, today.
Poch set us up in a 3-5-2 against Real and Dortmund, conceded possession and played on the counter, and it worked a treat.
The protratced departure of 2 players, Eriksen and Rose, who clearly didn't want to be at the club, has helped lift the mood. Lesson learned 6 months too late from Daniel Levy.
Here are the stats from our 2 games against City this season: Spurs shots against Manchester City this season: 6 Spurs goals against Manchester City this season: 4 Spurs points against Manchester City this season: 4 Manchester City shots against Spurs this season: 48 Manchester City goals against Spurs this season: 2 Manchester City points against Spurs this season: 1
actually, I was only commenting because I was at the match and I've cultivated my memory of it to have been a sound thrashing, even though I know it may not have been. that said, in the first half we were definitely the better side, on the front foot and threatening throughout (and scoring once). they had a couple half-chances, but going into halftime I remember thinking they'd been fortunate to be only down one. the second half was a bit different, as they poured forward - but what they created (including their goal) was less down to them pulling us apart with smart attacking football than a case of just getting everyone in and around it - at least as I remember it. needless to say, I was a wreck - especially after they scored. objectively speaking, I have no idea who was better … but on the night, I definitely walked out of Wembley thinking we'd given it to 'em.