MY ACCOUNT
Manchester City were left shell-shocked by Tottenham’s late show at the Etihad last Saturday.
It was a result which blew the title race wide open — and Pep Guardiola will be determined to see his side bounce back in today’s clash with Everton.
But did City just suffer from a rare blip last time out? Or did Spurs expose a more fundamental weakness that other teams could exploit?
Here is what we can learn from the Citizens’ surprise defeat to the North Londoners.
Conte and Kane masterclass
Ultimately, City fell victim to the expertly executed plan of a master tactician, as well as arguably the finest individual performance of the Premier League season.
Antonio Conte is undoubtedly one of the best in the business and he set his side up perfectly in Manchester.
The Citizens could not cut through them with their usual incisiveness, while Tottenham hit them hard on the break.
It was an exhibition of ruthless efficiency from Spurs, who only had six shots to City’s 21.
And at the heart of it was the player City tried to sign last summer in Harry Kane, whose match-winning brace was the culmination of a sensational showing.
A glimpse of what might have been
This was the first time Kane had faced City since his failed exit attempt and you could certainly say he showed them what they are missing.
It would be an understatement to suggest that City have coped just fine without a No9. But Guardiola is always looking to take his side to the next level, no matter how dominant they might already be.
Last Saturday saw Kane produce perhaps his finest-ever display of dropping deep and showing off his pinpoint passing ability, which had former Liverpool star Jamie Carragher comparing him to Andrea Pirlo.
The England captain is effectively two players in one and he could make City unstoppable — but has the chance to sign him been and gone?
A defensive dip
A City off-day comes around once in a blue moon. And when it does, you realise that their players are human after all.
On this occasion, that primarily applied to their defenders.
Aymeric Laporte and Ruben Dias were both at fault for the opening goal, with the former moving too late to close down Kane and the latter carelessly trying to play Heung-Min Son — who burst away to set up Dejan Kulusevski — offside.
Then, for the winner, Joao Cancelo afforded Kulusevski far too much time and space to cut inside onto his stronger left foot and cross for Kane to head home.
Pep unperturbed
While conceding that Spurs’ winner was due to “our mistake”, Guardiola was not concerned about City’s overall performance.
He said: “We performed well. We were who we normally are.
“They defended in the 18-yard box. It was so difficult, we had to go outside and after they can run with the quality they had.
“Every time we played inside, we had to go outside and we crossed and for many actions were not there to score. I think we performed well, honestly.
“It’s normal [to lose]. Especially in the Premier League.”
Well, it is normal for most teams. This was only City’s third league defeat of the season.
In all likelihood, it was nothing more than a blip — they have not lost successive league games since December 2018.
The curse of the bogey team
The concept of ‘bogey teams’ is generally nonsensical — there are too many variables from meeting to meeting — not least changes of personnel, both on and off the pitch.
But it is hard not to ponder whether Tottenham might just be City’s kryptonite. Spurs have won four of the teams’ last five Premier League encounters, as well as famously knocking them out of the Champions League three years ago.
Guardiola’s outfit do not need to worry about any curse when it comes to Everton, though. They have won nine in a row against the Toffees in all competitions.
