Man City 0-4 Tottenham (Maddison 13′, 20′, Porro 52′, Johnson 90+4)
No Rodri, nor Rodrigo, this risked being a 90 minutes defined by who was not on the pitch rather than who was.
Too often in November that tag has applied to James Maddison, benched against Aston Villa and Ipswich, anonymous at Galatasaray, but whose season roared back into gear with two goals in seven minutes as Spurs tore the champions to shreds.
Pep Guardiola can attempt to play it down – two of Manchester City’s five straight defeats were in cup competitions – but two losses in three weeks have come against Tottenham Hotspur. Ange Postecoglou, like Antonio Conte, Jose Mourinho, Mauricio Pochettino – even Nuno – before him, had City’s number once again.
In these pages this week, we wrote that Bentancur’s suspension would be make-or-break, and that the obvious move was to maintain the status quo by introducing Yves Bissouma at No 6. Instead Dejan Kulusevski shifted back into his former role in the front three, while Bissouma, Pape Matar Sarr and Maddison made up the midfield.
Without Kulusevski, none of Spurs’ first three goals could have happened. The Swede was unfortunate to end with just the one assist. Against a tormented Josko Gvardiol, City were repeatedly unpicked from the right while John Stones floundered in the middle. City conceded three times – for the second successive season at home to the same opposition – because they were beaten on width time and again.
Crucially, on a stellar 28th birthday, Maddison had redefined his positioning on the left; his two goals came from cutting into the middle, combining with Kulusevski or Son Heung-min, but he had already stretched City by occasionally dropping into the left-back role and overlapping with Destiny Udogie, who at times was effectively operating as a No 10.
City were particularly susceptible down that flank because at 34, Kyle Walker’s pace looks irrecoverable.
John Stones was hauled off at half-time. There were moments when Spurs’ tinkering down the left made them vulnerable, Udogie straying too far and leaving Erling Haaland unattended in the box, but it is an indictment of what has gone so mind-blowingly wrong at City that they were not able to capitalise on that pressure early on.
The first Spurs goal was distinctly peculiar, their first touch in the City box and coming totally against the run of play. It was nothing short of a knockout blow when Spurs were flagging on the ropes.
James Maddison vs Man City
Goals: 2
Take-ons completed: 2
Duels won: 9
Possession won: 5
Tackles: 2
Via Squawka
“You’re getting sacked in the morning,” boomed the away end at the City head coach who signed a new contract this week.
This is a result that, as Gary Neville put it on commentary, will “emphasise that this is a City side which is in decline”. Once it was Fernandinho whose presence or absence risked shaping their fate one way or another. It is too simplistic to assume Rodri’s ACL alone has thrown City off course, but it allowed Spurs to exploit a disorganised pack, with Maddison’s alternating runs perplexing Ilkay Gundogan.
A week earlier, Postecoglou had hesitated to throw Maddison on against Ipswich, even once Spurs had cut the deficit to a single goal. Reports followed of the playmaker’s unhappiness at the club, banished in style with his best performance of the season.
Afterwards, the England international was asked who the real Spurs are – the ones that lost to Kieran McKenna’s newly-promoted men, or the team who sent shockwaves across the Premier League on Saturday evening at the Etihad.
He was only going to answer one way. The emergence of the real Maddison could be the key to proving it.