Spurs 2 - 0 Man CityDele Alli leads vibrant Tottenham to inflict first loss on Manchester City
Home team scorersAleksandar Kolarov 9 o.g.
Dele Alli 37
It was a performance of furious intensity and one that served to make the most eloquent of statements. Tottenham Hotspur mean business and, after their near miss last season, they are once again shaping up as serious contenders for the Premier League title.
Manchester City had arrived in north London with the perfect domestic record. They departed having been well beaten, knocked from their cultured rhythms by the blood-and-thunder basics that Mauricio Pochettino demands.
Tottenham brought the class, too. The most eye-catching players wore white and Dele Alli, Son Heung-min and Victor Wanyama vied for the man-of-the-match award. Alli scored Tottenham’s second goal and he dazzled with his quicksilver incisions while Son was a persistent threat in the No9 role. Wanyama offered the platform upon which Tottenham played.
The home team could even afford to miss a second-half penalty through Erik Lamela and, by the end, the White Hart Lane crowd was serenading Pochettino about him being magic. It was Pochettino’s triumph, as much as anybody else’s and, although he would not say so, it was surely made all the sweeter by it coming against Pep Guardiola – his rival from the days when they were in opposition as players, then managers, at Espanyol and Barcelona, respectively.
Pochettino’s first game as a manager had been against Guardiola’s great Barcelona team in 2009 and he had told the story on Friday about how he had instructed his players to press high and hard – and be fearless. Espanyol would draw 0-0.
This was another classic Pochettino performance and City had no answers. At times, as Tottenham’s players swarmed into their faces, the visitors looked extremely uncomfortable. Time on the ball was at a premium. City struggled to break Tottenham’s high press, although when they did they had their moments – mainly through Sergio Agüero. But it was an afternoon when, try as he might, he could not find a way past Hugo Lloris.
Pochettino’s team took the lead early on, and what a horror story it was for Aleksandar Kolarov. Danny Rose’s cross from the left was flighted into the danger area but there were no Tottenham players close to it and Kolarov ought to have known that there was nobody coming in behind him, either. He did not, and his decision to attempt a volleyed clearance resulted in an ugly slice, which sent the ball spinning into his own net, off the underside of the crossbar.
City might have led at the outset when Jesús Navas crossed from the right and David Silva could not apply the decisive touch. But Tottenham looked hungrier and, with Wanyama setting the tone, they won the battle for midfield control. It was easy to marvel at their aggression and physicality, and Guardiola was left to lament how City could not build up the play or win the second balls. “Tottenham were the better team,” Guardiola said. “We can just say congratulations to them.”
Son started up front, Pochettino preferring his mobility to the more traditional virtues of Vincent Janssen, and the South Korean unnerved City with his direct running. He laid on Alli’s goal, after an initial Tottenham break had run into Pablo Zabaleta. The weight of Son’s pass was perfect and Alli rammed a low shot past Claudio Bravo. It was remarkable to think that Son had not played at centre-forward since his days at Hamburg. His hold-up work was also first-class.
Son had worked Bravo at his near post in the 11th minute while Christian Eriksen thumped inches wide with a free-kick after Nicolás Otamendi had been booked for a foul on Alli. Otamendi skated on thin ice. He had earlier escaped censure for a deliberate handball and Pochettino argued with the fourth official that he should have been given a second yellow card for another foul on Alli in the 35th minute.
Bravo looked anything but secure, particularly with the ball at his feet, and the home crowd jeered him whenever he went near to it. Guardiola wants the goalkeeper to be an additional outfield player – the first passer from the back – but some of his decision-making was risky and it invited Tottenham pressure.
Agüero was City’s most obvious threat, as he so often is against Tottenham, and he extended Lloris with a free-kick midway through the first half. Shortly after the interval, from Fernandinho’s pass, the striker saw a shot diverted by Lloris on to the near post and away.
Guardiola had sent his players out for the second half well before those of Spurs, which seemed to speak volumes and he made tweaks to his team, including sending on the striker, Kelechi Iheanacho, in the 65th minute and switching to a 4-4-2 diamond formation. But Tottenham were comfortable and, after Son and Wanyama had gone close, they ought to have added to their lead.
Alli picked his way into the City area again and, when he was clipped by Fernandinho, the referee, Andre Marriner, was compelled to point to the penalty spot. Lamela grabbed the ball and he resisted Son’s attempts to snatch it from him. In those circumstances, the player has to score but Lamela’s kick was too close to Bravo, who beat it away.
City sought the goal that might have levered them back into the contest but Iheanacho had a shot saved by Lloris and Agüero watched a late effort deflect and fly towards the roof of the net. Lloris tipped it over the crossbar. Pochettino’s team were perfectly balanced in their 4-3-3, with Moussa Sissoko also looking powerful off the right flank. It feels as though the international break has come at the wrong time. The momentum belongs to them.
Guardian
