Manchester City 0-4 Spurs Review

Premier League GW12

Pep Guardiola tried out some different ideas against Spurs along with some players returning from injury but the same problems still persisted for the reigning champions. With a losing run that’s now extended to five, is there any reason to be hopeful about the team turning it around anytime soon?

Notable Stats:

• Manchester City are the first reigning top-flight champions to lose five games in a row in all competitions since Chelsea in March 1956.

• After twenty minutes played against Spurs, that is the earliest Manchester City have been down 2-0 in a Premier League home game since December 2010 (vs Everton).

• James Maddison is the first Spurs player to score a Premier League goal on his birthday since Christian Eriksen in 2016, which also came away against Manchester City.

Game Stats:

Man City 0-4 Spurs

• xG: 2.43 - 2.78

• xThreat: 2.14 - 1.26

• Possession: 58.4% - 41.6%

• Field Tilt: 75.5% - 24/5%

• Penalty Box Shots: 17 - 7

• Deep Entries: 24 - 11

• PPDA: 6.6 - 18.9

• High Turnovers: 5 - 2

At least these two lines have started moving back in the right direction 😅

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 linked below. 👇

In possession, Manchester City set up with Walker and Gvardiol expected to provide the width as Foden/Savinho moved inside. Gundogan was flanked by Lewis/Bernardo to offer more passing options and be in a better position to counter-press should they lose the ball.

It was too easy for Spurs to find solutions around the outside of the City press, around the corner of the midfielder (Lewis) with the winger inside (Foden), and get yourself a 2v1 against Walker. Phil Foden had far from his best game out of possession, alongside Haaland to lead the press. Not covering pass lanes well enough, not applying enough pressure on the ball, not jumping out at the right time.

Lewis, Gundogan, Bernardo, Savinho, and Foden are not an impressive group to be pressing you. Whether it is how explosive they are across the ground or the physicality in duels to win the ball.

Against Brighton we saw this approach of having a high line without pressure on the ball, the result is providing the opposition the space to run into and the time to pick out those runs.

The other issue was being so easy to play through on the counter-press. Unable to win the ball. Unable to recover when the opposition runs past you into the space. That’s with Guardiola packing the central areas with more players to try to win the ball, yet still, Spurs are able to break through them.

In terms of solving these issues, ultimately that is going to come in January and the summer when City brings in new midfielders, ones that can spot the danger and be physically able to deal with it. In the short term, they need to get back their defenders, get back De Bruyne, Doku, and Bobb. Introduce one of the young players to more minutes in McAtee, O’Reilly, and Wright. Trust Matheus Nunes to play in midfield. They must deal with their pressing and counter-pressing out of possession. The lack of pressure and success in tackles is going to bite them every match. The league is brutal and Guardiola will know it.

Kyle Walker is Kyle Walker, is probably the most respectful and clear way I can put it. He’s had a great career for the club but his time to move on has come, his deficiencies are clear and with the team in a poor run of form, those only get exposed more often.

It has to be made clear that away from the problems discussed above, the team is not taking their chances. Look how many of their shots inside the box are not even on target let alone being converted. It goes beyond Haaland. Nobody else in the team can be relied on right now to deliver goals. That needs to change if they want to compete for the title. 17 shots in the penalty box is the most they’ve had in the Premier League since West Ham (19).

This in particular is a huge problem that needs to be dealt with, regardless of whether you are taking your chances or not. You cannot afford to be giving away consistently high-quality chances to every team you face. Even if Manchester City creates enough chances themselves to win the league, it won’t happen when you are wide open in your box. In the last four seasons, they’ve never been close to a situation like this.

One real positive to make is the contributions of Gvardiol in the final third which will go unnoticed since the team failed to convert their chances. Since 2017/18, only four defenders have played more key passes in a single Big European League game (Candreva, Kostic, Kimmich, Doughty). No U23 defender since 2017/18 has played more than eight key passes in a single match, only Kimmich and Davies can match the record.

I’ve left this one to the very end as I think it’s quite a good reminder of how often the same problems can occur and the same sensationalist headlines come out of it. Manchester City has struggled with injuries to key players and has not done a good enough job in building the space, midfield especially, in the last couple of seasons. It’s just that simple. It’s happened at Barcelona with Guardiola and it’s happened twice at Manchester City, 16/17 and this season.

Moving Forward

Two clear takeaways looking at the graphic above, Manchester City needs more players to be contributing goals, and the Premier League table is very tight. Just like the 20/21 season, only a few points difference between being in the top four and dropping out of the midtable. One week there are questions about Spur’s manager, the next week they are pushing for the top four. The narrative and media cycle around a team can shift dramatically after just one result. Manchester City just needs to worry about getting the first win, then they can look to build some momentum.

Speaking of momentum, Ruben Dias and Jeremy Doku being back in training ahead of the Champions League match is a big boost. On the other hand, John Stones missed the training session, further highlighting his injury struggles. De Bruyne completed another fifteen minutes and Guardiola said ahead of the Feyenoord match that the day before Spurs was the first time De Bruyne did not feel pain in his leg. That’s encouraging if he can get back to completing 90 minutes regularly.

Heading into the summer window the age profile needs to be improved, specifically in the midfield. The only players between 25 and 29 in the squad are Rodri, Nunes, Dias, Grealish, Akanji, and Ake. For Midfielders that is only Nunes who is not trusted enough and Rodri who is out injured. You have several younger players in Doku, Lewis, Savinho, Foden, McAtee, Gvardiol, and Haaland. In Bernardo, Kovacic, Gundogan, Walker, Stones, and De Bruyne you’ve got several key players over 30 years of age. The balance is not right.

This evening Manchester City takes on Feyenoord in the Champions League, and it gets very cliche to say it but the team needs to get back to winning games. Especially heading to Anfield possibly losing six in a row. If the same problems show up from the Spurs match then don’t be surprised to see Feyenoord do very well, plenty of quick young players in the team to expose City.

At the end of a previous newsletter looking into possible replacements for Kyle Walker in the summer, we asked subscribers to send in their suggestions through the Google form. Andrew Tattersall picked Singo. James Carroll picked Kossounou. Alan Tobin picked Pedro Porro. Thank you for your suggestions and if you haven’t already done so, you can read the full piece linked below. 👇

If you’re looking for more content then you can check out these two players I’ve written about in more detail, two midfielders that should be considered for Manchester City in the next two transfer windows. 👇

LAST WORD👋

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Bailey