Manchester City 0-2 Spurs Review

Premier League GW2

This was far from the performance and result most would have hoped for against Spurs, at the first home game of the season, but as we’ve seen in the past, and in games against Thomas Frank, they’re always difficult. Manchester City didn’t by any stretch put in a terrible performance. Along with individual mistakes, the difference was in the small details, the fine margins that decided the game.

Notable Stats:

• Having also won with Brentford in November 2022, Tottenham’s Thomas Frank is only the third manager to beat Pep Guardiola away from home in the league with two different clubs, after José Mourinho (Real Madrid & Man Utd) and Antonio Conte (Chelsea & Tottenham).

• Tottenham Hotspur are only the second side to win away to a Pep Guardiola-managed team in back-to-back league seasons, after Manchester United, who achieved the feat in 2019-20/2020-21.

• Tottenham Hotspur's two goals against Manchester City this afternoon mean they've scored 850 away goals in the Premier League, becoming only the fifth team to achieve this feat after Manchester United (1040), Arsenal (976), Liverpool (975), and Chelsea (937).

Game Stats:

Manchester City 0-2 Spurs

• xG: 1.51 - 1.02

• xThreat: 1.63 - 0.98

• Possession: 60.4% - 39.6%

• Field Tilt: 73.4% - 26.6%

• Penalty Box Shots: 6 - 10

• Deep Entries: 15 - 9

• PPDA: 9.8 - 12.3

• High Turnovers: 5 - 7

Manchester City only completed 34 progressive passes against Spurs, dropping down from the 54 they completed against Wolves last weekend. Cherki, Reijnders, Dias, Nico, and Ake all completed four each.

Rico Lewis (6) provided the most passes into the final third. Although Rodri only played for 16 minutes, he made the most passes into Z14 (5) and the most passes from Z14 (4). Despite only being on the pitch for 36 minutes, Jeremy Doku completed the most carries into the final third (5), progressive carries (6), and passes into the left half-space (3).

If you want to stay up-to-date on individual player minutes, back four combinations, underlying numbers, and more, check out the live Google sheet below. 👇

I’d start by mentioning this post I did on how Manchester City looked to manage long balls against Wolves. Nico Gonzalez dropping into the backline to maintain a 4v3 if one of the full-backs is dragged out wide, allowing the defenders to not be stretched too far in trying to win any aerial duels, and a player nearby to pick up the second balls.

In this game, the Spurs were happy to try building up out wide, rather than drop a player deep to give a short option, and look for those long balls. Instead, keeping Sarr higher up pitch, trying to arrive in the space to win those balls, and eventually he does that in the lead-up to the opening goal.

That was one of the key battles in the game, which Manchester City managed very well for the most part. The idea of them dealing with several transitions cutting through the team like last season simply didn’t happen in this game. It was all about whether the Spurs could find success with one of their long balls before Manchester City broke them down. The former happened, which allowed them to slip back and defend the lead resolutely. Be more opportunistic with their press in the second half.

From Manchester City, you saw a 3-diamond-3 of sorts, with Cherki at the top, Nico the base, and Rico Lewis tucking inside. Lots of clever little moments from Cherki finding pockets of space behind the Spurs pivot tracking Reijnders. Dias found him well a couple of times.

They looked a few times for passes in behind for Omar Marmoush, like this example below, building through the right side into Rico Lewis, he moves inside, lays it off the Cherki. His pass to Marmoush was let down by a poor first touch.

Trafford also looked to play long into Omar Marmoush, like this pass, he drives into him. I did find with Marmoush throughout the match with the long passes, often his body position/first touch let him down from then, following up with a quick action. Spurs had the time to get back into better shape.

On the kicking side, Trafford, throughout the match, had moments he’d take too much time on the ball, close his body off to options, and it became easy for Spurs to Press with Richarlison on the left side coming towards him, then Sarr closing down a pass out to Stones. He had good moments of playing long into Marmoush, Doku, and others, but didn’t exploit Haaland being 1v1 nearly as much as he should have done. Meaning Spurs could get more confident pressing high, instead of City dropping them.

Neither was the decision-making in the final third the best by the team in this match. Below Marmoush cutting inside instead of playing through Reijnders run into the box, and then Reijnders not picking out the run of Marmoush to his left for a shot.

Rayan Ait-Nouri (23’), coming off injured, was replaced by Nathan Ake. I thought it had a bigger impact on the buildup than people have discussed after the match. Ake is deeper in the buildup, making the pass for Dias at a more awkward angle. He’s not able to press high like Ait-Nouri can, quickly covering ground to apply pressure. Hopefully, he’s back by next week for the match against Brighton.

Whether it was the chance Marmoush had after Haaland played him through, the pass Haaland overhits to Cherki for a tap-in, or the high turnover worked to Reijnders on the edge of the box, the team had plenty of great chances to score. Instead, it Spurs to get the goal and swing the game state in their favor to manage the second half.

Johnson 35' 0-1 

The opening goal for Spurs begins with them being pressed high by Manchester City, forced over to their right side, and to play it long.

We've seen in the opening two games that Nico Gonzalez is dropping into the backline to ensure a +1 against long balls. He managed it well, 9/10, but switched off in this situation. RAN is locked up with Kudus. Nico doesn't stick with Sarr, so Dias has to come across to try to win the aerial duel. It's flicked onto Richarlison. Stones attempted to jump up and play offside, but narrowly missed out. Slips up, which stops him from getting back in time to cut out the cross.

Johnson makes the run into the box, first-time shot off the Richarlison cross. Lewis was too slow to keep up and block it. Trafford could have narrowed down the angle more.

Palhinha 45+2' 0-2 

Second goal, even more so than the first, comes down to an individual mistake. Ederson, in this example, would have likely chipped a pass out to Bobb IMO. The quick pass to Stones is also on, who can immediately move it onto Bobb. Instead, he takes too long, invites the pressure, and picks the worst option.

If you flip it to behind the goal, Nico Gonzalez drags his marker with him to open up the passing lane into Cherki for Trafford to play short. Haaland is 1v1 with space to run into if he goes long. Perhaps you can argue that Marmoush should have given him another option, but he's come deep to leave space for Haaland to attack. Add those to his passing options on the right side in Stones/Bobb. Trafford had the options and didn't take them. That all being said, it's to be expected at some point, and a good lesson for him. We've seen these mistakes from Ederson.

Bernardo Silva and Jeremy Doku came on for Rayan Cherki and Omar Marmoush shortly after half-time (54’). In principle, the right changes to make, given how passive we were beginning to get OOP when Spurs had the ball. But, along with Reijnders, they lost the ball too many times and at a few points got the markers mixed up. Doku gave you back the width on the LHS, a route out, but it wasn’t used enough. The best occasion came later on with Foden, short of missing a cutback that was blocked.

Phil Foden and Rodri came on for Oscar Bobb and Nico Gonzalez towards the end of the second half (75’). This is probably the biggest positive of the game that was missed, given how good the two of them looked for their first PL minutes this season. Immediately more dynamic in the middle, zip on the passes, and that's the midfield trio I think we’ll see most.

Another few points I’d add after watching it back. The deeper runs through the middle and behind Spurs, by Reijnders, were not picked out. The team became too focused on finding Marmoush. Plenty of space there to be exploited.

Compared to the first game, Bobb and Lewis didn’t manage the width on the right side as well. A few times, you’d catch both inside, on the same line, which made the central space congested as Marmoush on the other side came inside too soon. Allowing Spurs to really squeeze the middle of the pitch.

In the final third, against Wolves, I thought Lewis did a great job of starting his runs into the box from deeper positions, pulling a player with him, and arriving in the box with some momentum. He was too static against Spurs, up against a defender, making it easy for Bobb to be doubled up on.

Lewis could have done a better job of creating space in the buildup by pulling out wide into the space, pulling an opposition player out there. Too often, he’s right next to Nico, so if you’re trying to play out short on occasions, you’re not opening up the space for anyone to find a way out of the Spurs press.

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Moving Forward

For James Trafford, there are lots he’ll improve on across this season with Manchester City, but one he’s got to change immediately is how deep he sits in the penalty box before any sweeping actions. The confusion with Rico in the first half, leading to Richarlison pressing, is because he hesitates coming for the ball, leaving Lewis with only one option. Instead, Trafford should have come straight out to collect; being positioned deep in his box gave him less time.

The clash with Kudus, of course, Dias made a poor attempt to pass back to him, but Trafford has so little time to react because of the distance he needs to cover to sweep up. The final moment, coming for the ball that ends up going over him, and Sarr just misses on a header, is down to his arriving late again.

I’ve mentioned the buildup in this newsletter, but just as much focus should be on his sweeping actions. You’ve got to be positioning higher in the box, anticipating the situation, and be decisive when you come out.

The buildup completion against Spurs was 87.3% which is the percentage of completed passes outside the final third of the field. The only times during the 24/25 season we had a lower percentage were against Newcastle (A), Brentford (A), PSG (A), Spurs (A), and Brighton (H). Considering they played 57 matches last season, it’s rare, even in a season without Rodri and the team struggling.

Ederson started for Newcastle, PSG, and Spurs games in that group. Ortega for Brighton and Brentford. Kovacic started all but the Brighton match. Ruben Dias started all but the Brentford game. It’s hard to draw too many conclusions on specific players for the buildup's struggles. They’re all teams that stood out for pressing high, aggressively, and well last season.

For me, it came down to a lack of movement to create space and the keeper as your spare man. You’re playing against a man-to-man press; instead of trying to find the space, you’ve got to create. Add to that, when the openings come, your keeper has to find them. If the long passes to Haaland are not being used to threaten, and you’re struggling to play through the press short, you won’t drop them back into a block; only give the team more confidence to be aggressive.

That all being said, it’s a great game to learn from early in the season, as frustrating as it is to lose, every single player comes away knowing the loss is in their hands, not because the Spurs were brilliant.

You’ve still got plenty up in the air when it comes to transfers, which can have a significant impact on how the squad looks for this season. Savinho is linked to a Spurs move, with Rodrygo reported as the replacement. Ederson is linked to a Galatasaray move, with Donnarumma reported as the replacement. City will no doubt only do these deals if both ends are lined up, but that does give the squad and fans a lot of uncertainty before the window closes.

Elsewhere, Vitor Reis played ninety minutes in Girona’s 5-0 defeat to Villarreal. Juma Bah completed ninety minutes as Nice beat Auxerre 3-1. Max Alleyne played eighty-seven minutes as Watford drew 1-1 with Swansea. Claudio Echeverri came on for the final six minutes as Leverkusen lost 2-1 to Hoffenheim. Sverre Nypan came off the bench for the final eighteen minutes as Middlesbrough beat Norwich 2-1.

Next up for Manchester City is Brighton (A) on the 31st of August at 14:00 (UK). Brighton have yet to win a Premier League match this season, and this will be the last match before the first international break.