“It is October, you cannot imagine what my team has already done. I am new here. So far it has been an amazing performance but we need more, we have to work more, it is what it is”, Pep Guardiola – 02/10/2016.
Goals; Kolorov (9', og), Ali (37');
Line Up (4-2-3-1, 4-4-2 Diamond) (match ratings in brackets);
Bravo (6)
Zabaleta (5)
Otomendi (5)
Stones (6.5)
Kolorov (4.5)
Fernandinho (5.5)
Navas (5.5)
Fernando (5), Gündogan (5.5), 53')
Silva (6)
Aguero (7)
Sterling (7), (Sané (5.5) 87')
Stats;Possession, 42%/58%; Shots, 13(7)/12(6); Fouls, 20/10
Referee; Andre Marriner (5)
Line Up (4-2-3-1, 4-4-2 Diamond) (match ratings in brackets);
Bravo (6)
Zabaleta (5)
Otomendi (5)
Stones (6.5)
Kolorov (4.5)
Fernandinho (5.5)
Navas (5.5)
Fernando (5), Gündogan (5.5), 53')
Silva (6)
Aguero (7)
Sterling (7), (Sané (5.5) 87')
Stats;Possession, 42%/58%; Shots, 13(7)/12(6); Fouls, 20/10
Referee; Andre Marriner (5)
Nobody really knows why "Totteringham" reappear whenever Arsenal are in town, or when they are reaching the end of the season. It just happens, sure as eggs is eggs, when the chips are down they blow it, its just a fact. Only it probably isn't "just a fact", it is likely a pychological barrier, the sort of barrier which truly great teams overcome to break old hoodoo's and win no matter what; great teams make their own luck.
So it was not inevitable City would lose to one of their bogey teams at White Hart Lane, but it does prove City are a good ways away from being a great team, at least yet. Perhaps even, they are not yet as good as they were in their two recent title winning seasons (in both these seasons Tottenham were dispatched, and occasionally embarrassed, home and away, hoodoo or no hoodoo).
Another port of solace when losing big games is to blame a bad referee. Last year Clattenburg certainly played a hand in this fixture home and away. But this year, however inept Andre Marriner was (and I would point to the Tottenham foul count (20) verses cards count (2) as being somewhat ridiculous), City were as lucky to keep Otamendi on the pitch, as Tottenham were to keep Ali, and Rose.
No, it was not fate, luck, or bad refereeing which cost City this game. This time perhaps it was a case of not learning a lesson. Though only a very recent lesson learnt at Celtic. When opposition players are flying into challenges high up the pitch, and City's weakest point is the psychological pressure put on the defence (to the point where 67% of distribution goes to the opposition), then don't pass back ... instead pass forward?
It was this pressure surely, continued from Wednesday, which saw Alex Kolorov "brain fart" an own goal. Waving his right foot at the ball, similar to his actions for Celtic's third, but this time finishing in the top corner of his own goal from Danny Rose's cross.
After the goal, it took City another fifteen minutes to steady the ship; and they were starting to assert some pressure of their own, when they were caught out by quick tackling from Wanyama and deft passing from Son, to let Ali in for Tottenham's second.
There was a lingering hope that just one City goal might start to turn the tide, but City never really had the concerted ten minutes of attack needed. And when the attacks did come (and Sterling and Aguero I thought made some good attempts), the Tottenham defence was solid. One bright point was at least Bravo saved Kolorov's further blushes for his mistake on 65', by saving Lamela's penalty.
So with only one of the many Tottenham fouls being committed close enough to Tottenham's goal for a direct attempt (the resulting Aguero free-kick being well saved Lloris), it never really looked like City's day. Tottenham played their system well, and it would be churlish to say anything else but they deserved the points. City missed DeBruyne and Nolito, who both "get it" in terms of the Pep system, in a way which Navas and Fernando do not; and you perhaps wonder how long they will continue to play in the top games.
I also wondered would the game be different if Nasri had remained a little longer to fight for a place under Pep [though he was injured again yesterday in the Sevilla win verses Alavés]. But that would be looking back ... and now is the time to learn lessons and look forward, and as per the quote from Pep above, it's very early days; and moving the ball forward quicker is something no one needs to tell Pep about. #CTID.
@l0ngwayfr0mh0me
