Spurs’ poor execution deny them the chance to get back into the game after an early mistake
Monday’s morning main topic was the death of Leicester City’s owner Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha which slightly overshadowed the game at Wembley. City’s visit to London had been rescheduled to Monday as Spurs’ new stadium wasn’t ready, and Wembley was already booked by the NFL on Sunday.
Both City and Spurs were impressive in midweek during their European tenures. Spurs undeservedly drew with PSV after missing their chances, in addition to some defensive mistakes. City meanwhile steamrolled through Shakhtar’s defence in Kharkiv.
City started with the same lineup they fielded against Liverpool albeit in different system. Pep returned to his 4–3–3 after fielding a 4–2–3–1 at Anfield. Spurs on the other hand steered away from their shapes this season, and played in a 4–4–1–1 with the surprise exclusion of Eriksen. Alli’s omission was understandable as he was marked doubtful before the game.
Pressing dominated the early parts of the game, Bernardo Silva pushed forward to press Alderweireld as City pressed in a man to man fashion. Spurs’ pressing was more associated with denying balls into Fernandinho while containing the full backs. Early pressing from both teams forced long balls from both keepers, and Ederson’s ability was on stage again as his ball towards Sterling was wrongly calculated by Trippier who headed it back poorly. Sterling nicked the ball squared it to Mahrez to open the scoring. Despite it being a mistake, the goal indicated an essential part of City’s style this season which is inside runs from the wingers. Last year City’s wingers played on their prominent sides, Sterling on the right and Sane on the left quiet possibly because City lacked an overlapping left full back after the injury of Benjamin Mendy.
Spurs’ pressing scheme gave Laporte and Stones plenty of time on the ball, and it was questionable from Spurs considering that both center backs are two of the best ball playing defenders in the league. Dier and Dembele did a good job covering David Silva and Bernardo Silva respectively, but it was Aguero’s movements towards the midfield that presented itself as a passing option for both center backs. Sterling could have doubled the lead as Aguero dropped into midfield to flick the ball into David Silva’s path who put Sterling through but his shot was blocked. City’s man to man pressing and Aguero’s movements gave Pep’s team total control of the game in the first twenty minutes.
On the other side of the pressing fence Spurs had a plan to bypass it, long balls into the space behind David Silva where Lamela and Sissoko regularly roamed to drag City’s back four out of position. One of those roams saw Lamela bringing it back to Trippier who quickly gave it to Sissoko behind Mendy. The French defender’s poor positioning and defending meant that Sissoko was overwhelmed with options when attacking the goal, and decided to pass it back to Lamela but the cross was intercepted by Fernandinho. Eric Dier dropped into the right side of defence to help Spurs play those balls towards the right channel, and his ball in the thirty third minute was poorly headed by Laporte. Resulting in the Spanish defender being out of position with Kane running into the space behind him. Lamela put Kane through but Kane’s poor first touch made it easier for Ederson to collect.
In the second half City’s attacking scheme reformed, rather than building up through the center of the pitch they switched to the right wing. Bernardo Silva regularly dropped to offer a passing option for the back line and overloaded the right wing to create a 3 v 2 situation or drag Alderweireld out of position. Bernardo’s combination with Mahrez and Walker on the right wing dragged Alderweireld out of position, but David Silva’s decision to pass Bernardo’s cross rather than finish it denied City from scoring their second goal. Minutes later, Bernardo Silva moved again to the right wing dragging Alderweireld out of position, to then play the ball into the center of the pitch. David Silva who was on the end of that pass managed to play the ball into the space vacated by Alderweireld. Aguero’s shot wasn’t strong enough though and Lloris saved it comfortably.
As the game went on, the pressing decreased from both sides and Spurs began to control the game with the introduction of Harry Winks in place of Eric Dier. Winks provided more control of the midfield, and helped with ball progression. The problem for Spurs though was that City’s midfield was compact and denied any space for Lamela to operate, leaving them with the wings. Spurs’ crosses were intercepted by Stones and Laporte, who displayed an excellent performance on the day excluding Laporte’s error that led to the Kane chance in the first half.
Pochettino introduced both Alli and Eriksen in search of the equalizer, but Spurs had only one major chance when they nicked the ball off Mahrez. Luck wasn’t on Lamela’s side however as the ball bobbled miscuing his shot. The state of the pitch after the NFL game actually aided City contrary to pubic opinion before the game that it would be in Spurs’ favor. Late chances didn’t create any problems for Ederson and City climbed back to the top of the league with 0–1 win.
City’s pressing scheme controlled Spurs but it was poor execution that contributed to Spurs’ inability to score. Injuries have hammered Spurs this season especially the absence of Vertonghen which is affecting the build up as Alderweireld is now shifted to the left center back position. Their next trip will be to Molineux where they will face Wolves’ 3–4–3 system, and it will be intriguing to see how will Spurs lineup.
Kevin De Bruyne’s return will give Pep a useful headache in terms of team selection as Bernardo Silva’s performance have earned him a well deserved place in City’s starting eleven. It’s interesting to see if Pep tries out a false nine or winger-less system considering that Mendy can occupy the left wing on his own — definitely not with his performance against Spurs — Next up for City will be a much easier game against a Southampton side that haven’t scored since mid September.
