Defeating Tottenham hard, Man City continued to sweep all competitions with their 7th consecutive victory. The winning machine is not necessarily the perfect machine.
In just one day, Pep Guardiola received two good news. His biggest rival, Jurgen Klopp, will leave Liverpool at the end of the season and Man City will be on the road to dominating the Premier League. And Tottenham’s on-field curse has finally been lifted. Nathan Ake’s late finish gave Man City their first goal and first victory at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium after 6 visits here.
Victory does not come easily for Man City. But it’s convincing. Man City is still the master of the game despite not fielding the strongest squad. They are the team that holds the ball more (57%), takes more shots (18 compared to Tottenham’s 1) and takes 7 times more corners than their opponents (14 compared to 2). If Guardiola’s students had finished more neatly, the score would not have been just 1-0 for the away team.
The problem of finishing still makes Guardiola lose sleep. His students bombarded Tottenham’s goal 18 times but only scored 1 goal. Julian Alvarez played very hard but was unlucky in front of the opponent’s goal. The nostalgia for Erling Haaland is still evident in every Man City match.
But somehow, Guardiola’s team still won 7 matches without the presence of the Norwegian striker. They even scored up to 25 goals, equivalent to an impressive performance of 3.6 goals per match. The goals were spread evenly across the three lines and there were always heroes appearing to resolve the match, like Ake against Tottenham.
That’s the scary thing about Man City. Their finishing was worse without Haaland, but they were still strong enough to crush all obstacles. A person who always seeks perfection like Guardiola certainly does not feel satisfied with the recent series of wins. Man City still has times of trouble, the defense system still makes Pep have to remind him (in the 3-2 win over Newcastle), the attackers still miss opportunities and superstars like Kevin de Bruyen still make Guardiola scratch his head. regret.
Against Tottenham, the Belgian midfielder entered the field in the 65th minute (replacing Alvarez) and immediately added ideas for the ball attacks. But it was also De Bruyne who missed a great opportunity in the 82nd minute with a shot off the post at a distance of 11 meters.
That is a situation that reminds Man City that their conductor has still not regained his best feeling on the ball after a long break from competition. But it’s clear that as long as De Bruyne stands on the field, his level will make a difference. A nasty corner kick from the Belgian midfielder caused goalkeeper Vicario to stumble and Nathan Ake did not miss his only chance to score.
De Bruyne can be seen as a compact image of Man City, not the best but always above the level of his opponents. Watching Man City play football right now does not bring complete satisfaction in terms of performance. But the winning culture has taken root in Guardiola’s team.
Remember, Man City’s bench in the win over Tottenham had a total value of up to 343 million pounds. Which team in the world can beat Tottenham with such a “huge” bench?
Ange Postecoglou certainly understands more about the great caliber of Man City, in the context that the Tottenham captain is the leading candidate to replace Pep in the summer of 2025.
