Man City 0-4 Tottenham: Cityzens fall to fifth consecutive defeat
Man City 0-4 Tottenham: Cityzens fall to fifth consecutive defeat. For the first time in his managerial career, Pep Guardiola recorded a fifth defeat in a row, as his Manchester City side were romped 4-0 by a brilliant Tottenham Hotspur side, to record a deserved on Saturday evening.
James Maddison did fire the visitors in front, taking advantage of the widening cracks in City’s fragile confidence. The Tottenham playmaker did doubled his tally in the 20th minute as the reigning champions wobbled uncontrollably. Full-back Pedro Porro added a third at the start of the second half, before Brennan Johnson capped it off late in stoppage time, to make it 4-0.
Pep Guardiola, who penned a two-year contract extension few days ago, has never suffered such a sustained run of defeats. Beyond the result, the criminally inept performance will be of even greater concern.
How the game unfolded:
Still wounded by four successive defeats heading into the international break, City started in a blur of channelled rage. Erling Haaland lined up at the tip of a reshaped setup and was presented with two clear chances inside the first ten minutes, only to squander them both.
Spurs James Maddison was far more clinical. The reinvigorated midfielder celebrated his 28th birthday with a quick-fire brace. Maddison’s first surge into the box to volley in Dejan Kulusevski’s wonderfully arced cross was Tottenham’s first touch in City’s penalty area. Within seven minutes, Maddison was back at the sharp end of the pitch, exchanging passes with Son Heung-min before dinking Ederson.
City regained some sense of control after a ten-minute blackout, but Maddison’s opener seemed to remind the visitors and an increasingly nervous Etihad crowd of the hosts’ recent struggles. City’s high line looked increasingly vulnerable, the press didn’t have the same snap and that signature composure in possession was conspicuous by its absence.
Guardiola reshuffled his frontline and brought on Nathan Ake at half-time, but it was Tottenham who struck once again within ten minutes of the restart.
Kulusevski dazzled between a gaggle of sky blue shirts, knocking the ball between the legs of a particularly problematic Ilkay Gundogan before setting Dominic Solanke away. Tottenham’s front man rolled the ball back for an onrushing Pedro Porro to blast Spurs into a 3-0 lead.
Most of the game was played in Tottenham’s half and on their terms. Content to surrender possession, the visitors held their position, and afforded the luxury of launching swift raids in transition thanks to such an early lead.
Timo Werner came off the bench to spearhead one final surge forward, skipping beyond Kyle Walker, the substitute then squared if for fellow substitute Brennan Johnson to slide in Tottenham’s fourth of the evening.
Rodri was treated to a grand ceremony on the pitch ahead of kick-off to celebrate his Ballon d’Or, but that only served to remind everyone in the Etihad exactly what City were missing. With Mateo Kovacic also retiring to the treatment room, Guardiola stuffed four scarcely imposing midfielders into a theoretically compact quartet.
Yet, in reality, City’s new 4-4-2 shape left Ilkay Gundogan and Bernardo Silva swamped by at least three white shirts as Spurs surged forward in transition. Gundogan was caught out for Tottenham’s first two goals.
