Manchester City vs Tottenham; Match Review

The game started off with City keeping the ball and pushing to break the deadlock, but the threat of Lamela, Eriksen, Soldado and Chadli was dangerous and looming throughout the sustained pressure City exerted on the Spurs defence. This showed when on 7′ minutes Spurs midfielder Ryan Mason was put through on goal inside the box by Spaniard Roberto Soldado, only to fire it straight into the onrushing figure of Joe Hart.

Shortly after this, City grabbed the game by the scruff of the neck and consequently broke the deadlock on 12′ minutes. Bacary Sagna intelligently poked in to steal the ball from a napping Lamela on the edge of the Spurs box and fed Frank Lampard who slid the ball into Argentine Sergio Aguero- the inform striker then proceeded to hold the ball up and sort of tease big Spurs centre-back Younes Kaboul into committing to a tackle, before a quick change of feet and a touch around him saw Aguero, with little backlift, fire home with venom. 1-0.

Yet after only two minutes we were back to square one. New summer signing Fernando was clearly too busy still thinking about Aguero’s finish when he was passed a ball that he couldn’t control. Soldado pounced on this mistake and provided the ball to the effervescent Dane Christian Eriksen who calmly slotted home past Hart, the ball clipping the bar on its way in. This move was typical of Eriksen’s game up to that point- quick, decisive and technical.

Although, exactly this was being displayed by City’s firepower and with even more panache at the other end. As the game hit 20′ minutes City were pushing to regain their sought after lead, and they got exactly this when a neat bit of interplay between fellow Englishmen Frank Lampard and James Milner caused Lampard to burst into the Spurs box and thus be brought down by Erik Lamela to give City a fairly fortuitous penalty. Aguero cooly slotted home from the spot to re-give city that vital lead. 2-1.

The game’s pace didn’t change but clearly proved to much for veteran Frank Lampard who was brought off after he strained his groin, Fernandinho his replacement (28′). Without Lampard the tempo didn’t regress and when Silva was blatantly brought down by Frenchmen Younes Kaboul, inside the box, another penalty was awarded to Manuel Pellegrini’s side. This time Aguero went low and to the right and was matched by a brilliant Hugo Llrois save, Aguero’s acrobatic rebound only found the ball boy behind the Spurs net. Still 2-1. Lloris proved vital for Spurs making a few great saves either side of half time. The third penalty of the game was awarded when old hand Martin Demichelis was alleged to have brought down Roberto Soldado inside the City box. Soldado’s record with penalties going into this game were pretty solid but it just wasn’t his day and his meager effort was smartly kept out by Hart who dived to his bottom left.

It was as though the players wanted practice or something when a fourth, yes fourth, penalty was awarded. This time, to City, after a ball in from a spritely Jesus Navas was destined for Aguero to tap home- before he was stupidly dragged back by the ex-Seville defender Fazio, Fazio was then given his marching orders by referee Jon Moss and left his Spurs side down to 10 men for the rest of the game. This time, Aguero made no mistake and looked very relieved to have made up for his previous blunder. 3-1.

City then secured the points on the 75′ minute mark- an adept and quick free-kick from Brazilian Fernandinho found Aguero in the channel who then beautifully, in such typical Aguero fashion, curled the ball home with such nonchalance that it looked embarrassing for Spurs. 4-1.

Milner could’ve made things worse for Spurs late on when he curled a low effort onto the post but it wasn’t to be. As for City- a much improved home performance after their loss to Stoke in the previous home game. Hart made some huge stops and Aguero was simply unplayable.