Manchester City have broken a long-standing curse! But everything was decided by an error by the goalkeeper.
Georgy Ilyushchenko January 27, 2024, 01:43 Moscow time Audio version: Your browser does not support the audio element.
The local Tottenham team no longer scares Pep’s team.
Manchester City beat Tottenham away and advanced to the round of 16 of the FA Cup. Surprisingly, it seems like a sensation.
Before City’s treble last year, Pep Guardiola was asked about his goals for the new season. The coach responded with a surprise: score and win at the Tottenham stadium. Apparently, this is the main reason why he hasn’t left England yet. It seems like a joke, but it’s really not: at the Spurs stadium, the favorite has leaked the last five games, starting in April 2019. And I missed it seven times.
The Spaniard’s fears were not in vain. And yet, the Man City team is excellent even without the injured Haaland and Akanji, as well as without the improved form of De Bruyne, who again remained on the bench. At the same time, the Londoners lost Sarr, Bissoum and, most importantly, Son Heung-min. This is a catastrophic loss for them.
With Tottenham, City really has regular statistics, but that is not the limit:
Guardiola dreams of at least scoring against Tottenham away from home. But this is not the most inconvenient opponent.
The guests had the ball 68% of the time in the first 25 minutes and did not allow the opponent to take a single shot until the first half of the second half, while they themselves shot constantly. And in the sixth minute they even scored the long-awaited goal! Vicario deflected Foden’s shot a few meters away and Bobb finished into an empty goal. But he was offside by millimeters. Even in the screenshot it is almost impossible to see it.
Oscar Bobb offside
Photo: Transmission frame
By the way, if the referees had listened to Arsene Wenger’s advice and changed the offside rules, City would have taken the lead at the beginning of the match. The Frenchman proposed the following: if at least one part of the attacking player’s body with which the goal can be scored is on the same line as or behind the last defender, there should be no offside. Now Pep would definitely support the words of his former rival.
Spurs took the initiative at intervals, but the champions controlled it almost all the time. Guardiola could have easily used an outfield player instead of Ortega, like at the end of a hockey game when the score was behind. Although in the first half there were no more scoring chances, not even in the home goal. For this we also have to thank the Tottenham defense: they constantly stopped City’s shots. Just to clarify: how do you feel about three (!) blocked hits in one attack? Well, it’s amazing!
First shot blocked
Photo: Transmission frame
Second shot blocked
Photo: Transmission frame
Third shot blocked
Photo: Transmission frame
At the start of the second half, Van de Ven attacked the hero again and deflected Álvarez’s nearby cannon with his studs, and Højbjerg hit the ball under Guardiol’s feet in the area. Real play on defense. In the 54th minute, the Spurs were convinced that they were not going to sit back for the entire match and organized a one-on-one: Ortega played with confidence and neutralized Johnson’s shot.
After that, Tottenham realized that City were not so scary (they seemed to have forgotten about the home winning streak before) and created some interesting approaches. But no more. Pep got tired of seeing this and in the 65th minute De Bruyne and Doku replaced Bobb and Álvarez. The double castling almost led to a goal: Foden crossed from the left wing and the ball, after a rebound from Porro, almost ended up at the empty far post. It was close!
It is curious that Guardiola soon shouted at Doku: Jeremy lost the ball in front and did not run to work on defense. The Spaniard was active in general: he earlier sarcastically applauded the referee and took away his yellow card.
Josep Guardiola
Photo: IMAGO/Pro Sports Images/TASS
Postecoglou responded by replacing Johnson and Bentancur with Skipp and Maddison, who was treated for two and a half months. This did not help Londoners. Furthermore, in the 80th minute, Højbjerg seemed exhausted and made two serious mistakes in a row. First, Pierre-Emile passed the ball after a cross from Doc and spared Bernard, shooting straight into Vicario’s hands. And then the Dane succumbed to Foden’s pressure and gave De Bruyne a chance, which he completely missed.
The end of the game was exciting. Doku himself ran towards the door: Vicar was there. But Guglielmo could not face the final test and made a mistake in the scoring episode. De Bruyne sent the corner to the near post and Dias turned the Italian’s back with ease. If he had been stronger, the result would have been different, and still the ball bounced to Ake, who decided the result. The Spurs argued, but what was the point if the fight was within the rules?
Vicar Error
Photo: Transmission frame
Thus, a couple of defenders broke City’s curse. This time, the home Tottenham still couldn’t stop them.
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