City Watch: Spurs haunt City once again

Manchester City faced their ‘bogey’ team on Saturday, Tottenham Hotspur, and I was already nervous enough considering that last season, they beat the Blues 4-0 at the Etihad Stadium, and then it was announced they would be facing Spurs at 12:30. 

History has taught us to ‘never back the early kick off,’ and following the weekend’s results, I’m afraid to say, I have to agree wirth that philosophy.

Following such a positive start to the season last weekend at Wolves, I had a little more optimism than expected heading into our first ‘big six’ game of the season, but that confidence was soon snatched well away from me.

City started the game brightly, having all of the possession and chances in the opening 30 minutes. Marmoush had a few great chances, failing to slot an away but it seemed that any gremlins of last season weren’t showing. 

However, after 35 minutes, Brennan Johnson, the man who won Spurs the Europa League last season and was one of their key players across the whole campaign, slotted the ball home from a Richarlison cross to make it 1-0.

Just before half time, James Trafford, the man who’s come in to seemingly replace the outgoing Ederson, passed the ball straight to Spurs inside his own box, allowing Palhinha to hit home a two goal advantage before half time.

Fans were frustrated at half time, recalling the woes of last season and how our confidence at Wolves may have been short lived, I mean City are the team who build you up to let you down right, typical City! 

However, we have come from two down against Spurs before a few seasons ago, winning the game 4-2 after some incredible individual displays.

However, the second half rolled on with multiple good chances coming City’s way, but no one was able to get us back into the game, and our old nemesis got the better of us once again. 

I’m not too disheartened by the result, at the end of the day we lose to Tottenham at least once every season, it took us five years to score our first goal at their new stadium!

The intense and high press of Spurs was the downfall of Pep’s side in the end, I actually don’t think we played too badly, on the day it seemed like we were just beaten by the better team. 

One thing Pep won’t have been pleased about was the loose passing of his players, which was the key reason we couldn’t manage to score.

Surprisingly, this doesn’t worry me too much, with such a new squad and so many fresh players, there’s bound to be a lack of chemistry at the start of the campaign, after all, it’s been shown in the past that the newer players take time to get used to the system. 

There were only 3-4 first team regulars from last season who started the game on Saturday, so although it was an awful result,  it doesn’t worry me too much.

James Trafford had the opportunity to cement his place as the starting goalkeeper, but with his mistakes on Saturday, I can see the club advancing with Donnarumma from PSG, who’s been linked for a few weeks now before the window closes. 

I have sympathy for Trafford, ultimately, we’ve seen Ederson make similar mistakes and he’s been an incredible goalkeeper for us in the Pep era, and on of the reasons we’cve won the treble, so I’d hate to see him lose confidence.

The Blues now travel to Brighton on Sunday before the first international break of the season. 

Again, if we base it off last season’s result, City lost 2-1 at the Amex after going a goal up, so we can only hope for a better performance this year!