Disaster for the Blues as their losing streak continues in a horrible fashion with 4-0 drubbing at home to Tottenham
FA Premier League
Saturday 23rd November 2024, 17.30 KO
City: Ederson, Walker, Gvardiol, Akanji, Stones (Ake 46), Gundogan, Lewis (Grealish 74), Silva, Foden, Savinho (De Bruyne 74), Haaland
Unused: Ortega, McAtee, Nunes, O'Reilly, Simpson-Pusey, Wright
Goals:
Booked: Lewis, Silva, De Bruyne, Akanji
Referee: John Brooks
Man of the match: Ederson
Manchester City’s first fixture after the international break was a home encounter with Spurs on Saturday evening, looking to finally end their tough losing streak in all competitions. City were without midfielder Mateo Kovacic who sustained an injury while playing for Croatia and will be sidelined for a month. The Blues also started with Kevin De Bruyne still on the bench despite his return to training being over a month ago. Ederson started in goal with Walker, Akanji, Stones and Gvardiol in defence. A midfield of Bernardo Silva, Ilay Gundogan and Rico Lewis started with Erling Haaland in attack supported by Phil Foden and Savio.
City made somewhat of a bright start and put Spurs under early pressure with a chance falling to Haaland being deflected wide from Spurs and another close chance being saved by Vicario in the opening stages. City would’ve liked to think this early period of control would set the tone for the game, but Spurs had different ideas and began to exploit City’s vulnerability in midfield and defence. Kulusevski dribbled the ball past Gvardiol and floated a cross into James Maddison who skipped through the City defence and poked the ball in to give Tottenham the lead after just 14 minutes. Once again, the Blues conceded the first shot on target. Their problems were not over after as Tottenham continued to pile the pressure on with a curling effort from Heung Min Son being saved by Ederson. In the 20th minute, problems worsened as the ball was in possession of Son in the City penalty area who flicked it through to Maddison who chipped the ball over Ederson to give Spurs a 2-0 lead with not even half of the first half gone.
City began to wake up slightly and make more efforts at goal but it was a bad day for striker Erling Haaland who was consistently denied by Vicario and one effort was blazed over the bar, piling on more frustration for the Blues. Even in attack, City didn’t look completely strong, losing the ball cheaply and inviting Spurs back in for a counter attack.
This was particularly the case in the second half, when City, desperately trying to find a way back into this match were attacking in the Spurs half had the ball snatched off them and were hit brutally on the counter attack as the ball found its way to Son on the edge of the line, who poked it back to Pedro Porro who struck the ball cleanly straight into the net to give Spurs a 3-0 lead.
For the first time ever in the Pep Guardiola era, City were 3-0 down on home soil and their hopes of trying to end a grim streak were fast deteriorating, with no sense of relief being added especially after another effort from Haaland hit the bar a few minutes later and another effort being saved by Vicario from the same position.
Kevin De Bruyne was subbed on for City, but at this point he could make no difference despite his efforts and it just seemed as though City just couldn’t find the net.
In stoppage time, the worst home defeat in over 20 years for the Blues was confirmed when Timo Werner skipped past Walker to pass it in to the path of Brennan Johnson who poked the ball in and made it 4-0 to Tottenham Hotspur right at the very end. A very dismal, drizzly Saturday evening for City. Their two year home unbeaten run had come to an end in disastrous fashion.
Pep Guardiola may be facing the ultimate test of his career, having just signed a new contract extension until 2027 and now having to try and find a solution to this very rough patch for City, with Rodri out for the season and further injury problems impacting the Blues. City are now merely one point away from dropping out of the top 4 and will face a very challenging fixture next weekend with a top of the league Liverpool at Anfield welcoming them. Whether or not a solution to City’s problems can be found in such a desperate period, only time will tell…