City Finally Score at Spurs

FA Cup Campaign Continues, Phillips Moves on and Klopp Announces his Departure

Author

Bailey Wynne
January 27th, 2024 • Estimated Reading Time: 8 minutes

Top stories today:

  1. First Goal at Spurs as they move onto the next FA Cup round

  2. Kalvin Phillips makes the move to West Ham

  3. Jurgen Klopp leaves Liverpool in the summer

  4. Summer Road Map series and it’s release dates

0. Standings, Fixtures and Statistics

1. Post Match Thoughts: Tottenham 0 - 1 Manchester City

It took 102 attempts on goal since we first played at the new Tottenham Hotspurs Stadium but eventually we got that goal. Nathan Ake scoring the winner in back-to-back FA Cup fourth round games against a London based team.

If the Newcastle game gave us our self belief back, this result will give the team huge momentum heading into a busy period of fixtures.

MOTM: Mateo Kovacic

Other standout performances include Nathan Ake and Bernardo Silva.

Main Takeaways

  • One of our best defensive performances this season, keeping Spurs to only one shot at their ground is some display. Coming through at the right time.

  • Walker and Dias, both of which struggled in the first half of the season, really starting to hit form at the back. Switched on and aware.

  • Kovacic had perhaps his best performance in a City shirt, a monster when it comes to escaping the press. Gives us a lot of options on build up and overall setup. Double pivot another tool for Pep to use in games.

  • Nathan Ake is only behind Stones as our best defender in the last 18 months. Defensively he is top draw every week. Now he looks much better on the ball than he arrived.

  • Ortega must be extended before the summer, will struggle to keep hold of him without that. Quality stand in.

  • Gvardiol goes under the radar in his performances for City, to be composed on the ball and handle the physicality of players out wide like that. Needs to add more final product to his game to take advantage of the space he gets.

  • Bernardo Silva and Foden nit everything together across the pitch. The glue that holds it all together.

  • Alvarez unlucky at times not to score but continues a trend of snatching chances or messing up his timing on runs. Excellent at pressing for us all game.

  • KDB influence on mentality and composure in this team is huge. Time wasting in the corner with Doku was lovely to see. Along with Walker and Dias embracing after Walkers great defending of Werner. Those are the moments we need more of to win this league.

  • Doku and Bobb need patience, will have games were they are not the main player making an impact. Doku caused a lot of problems when he came on, should have done better with his chance but with minutes he will sharpen up. Bobb very neat and tidy throughout, unlucky not to have scored the opener.

  • Our ability to bait their press was organised and effective all game long. Absorbed the Brighton RDZ style.

  • Overall this is one of our best performances this season, a team who are very hard to contain and taking on the mental challenge Spurs away gives us. Fantastic.

Interesting Stats

  • Tottenham failed to register a single shot in the first half, the first time in any competition since February 2020. They finished the game with only one shot.

  • Ange Postecoglou is the first Spurs manager to not beat Pep Guardiola at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.

  • Rodri is now 51 games unbeaten across all competitions for Manchester City. Creating more chances (4) than any other player on the pitch.

  • Only 18% of the play was in the Manchester City third, 42% took place in the Spurs third.

  • The top three for most take-ons completed, in Europes big five leagues in 2023, is Jeremy Doku (133), Leroy Sane (114) and Nico Williams (110).

2. Kalvin Phillips Joins West Ham

He joins the hammers on loan till the end of the 23/24 season, no official buy option agreed.

Thoughts

  • It hasn’t worked out for him at Manchester City, for many reasons that include missing the qualities Pep needs for that position. Small details that left him struggling in our system. We as a club need to do much better in our scouting and profiling for that position going forward. Elite quality not back ups.

  • Wish him all the best on loan, clearly got quality and was a great person within the dressing room. Never causing issues, always had a great relationship with all the team. Did plenty of work with CITC and charities. A new father and needing to get his career moving forward if he wants to make the England team this summer.

  • No official buy option included, several sources have assumed there is and some have put out figures of £40 mil. Fabrizo Romano saying that they left the option open as future discussions could involve other players.

  • Insightful piece on his time at City by Jack Gaughan, find it here.

  • Ahead in the summer, City will most likely look to move Phillips on as the best option for both sides. Will need to do much better in recruitment for Rodri cover.

    In our Summer Road Map Series, we discuss transfers in and out of the team in summer 2024.

3. Jurgen Klopp Will Leave Liverpool in 2024

Jurgen Klopp announced that he will leave Liverpool in the summer, bringing the end to his tenure and time as the biggest rival to City in the premier league.

“I will sleep better. Before playing against Liverpool was always a nightmare.

“Of course he will be missed. It was shock to everyone. As Manchester City we will lose something, we cannot define our period without him and without Liverpool.

Pep Guardiola on Jurgen Klopp Leaving

Thoughts

  • Monumental news for the premier league and City given that during Peps time, only Klopp has made a team capable of running Manchester City close in the title race. In the conversation with the best premier league managers of all time.

  • After his time at Barcelona, Pep needed a sabbatical and perhaps this is Klopp’s version of that. Needing to reset and recharge. Who could find himself back in management for the 2025/26 season. Bayern Munich and the German National Team would be two leading options for him.

  • A reminder that when it comes time for Pep Guardiola to leave, it will be beyond painful news to hear.

4. Summer Road Map Series

We are in the middle of our Summer Road Map Series which breaks down the squads problem areas and targets for recruitment.

Released

  • Part One: Squad Minutes, Issues and Positions to Fill

  • Part Two: Departures, Loans and Academy Players

  • Part Three: Right Backs

Upcoming

  • 28th Jan - Part Four: Right Wingers

  • 29th Jan - Part Five: Central Defender

  • 30th Jan - Part Six: Central Midfielder

  • 31st Jan - Part Seven: Final Squad Picks and Review

Make sure you let us know any players you would target, changes to make and your feedback on the series!

  • City return from their warm weather training, clearly it has had a positive impact on the team.

  • Deloitte Football Money League Report released earlier this week, breaking down the finances of the top football clubs. More here.

  • Blue City Brain is a fantastic X account to follow if you want to see info graphics for all things City. Finances, squad minutes, wages and more. 👇

  • The FA Cup back in 1993 looked very different, here is a video of Dixie Dean enjoying a fag and some wine after winning against City.

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