After the surge and the hope came a brick wall and a realisation. If this is to be the season when Pep Guardiola and Manchester City snap out of their slumber, then what a chastening way to realise how much more work is needed.
Where to begin with this debacle of a 2-0 defeat? How to quantify or explain an afternoon that simultaneously revealed a poor defence, an uncomfortable goalkeeper and a Tottenham side that was quite exceptional in exploiting all of the above?
Perhaps that duty should fall on those Spurs fans, who covered a couple of bases with their chant towards the end of this dominant win: ‘It’s happening again, it’s happening again, Manchester City, it’s happening again.’
Now what could that be exactly? Is it the head-to-head record that shows how Tottenham, for all their flakiness, have made a curious habit of beating City in the past five years? That count now stands at eight wins in 15 across the competitions.
Or was it about the bigger picture? Was it aimed at the continuation of last season’s misery, which we had expected to clear after the 4-0 hiding of Wolves and the signing of Tijjani Reijnders?
Naturally, it is too early to be definitive. What we can say is that Reijnders was again solid and City were not. Their aura appears to be gone, based on the savage irreverence with which Thomas Frank’s side pressed them at each opportunity. Led by the excellent Joao Palhinha, they saw City’s frailties and stomped them into the grass of their own backyard.
Tottenham Hotspur beat Manchester City 2-0 at the Etihad Stadium in Saturday’s lunchtime kick-off
Brennan Johnson opened the scoring for the away side after a VAR check in the first half
A big element of that was the City backline, which has always adopted a high position on the field but has been revved to dangerous levels by Guardiola’s new assistant Pep Lijnders. For that point, witness the first goal scored by Brennan Johnson – Tottenham got what they deserved and so did City.
Already proven to be vulnerable to counter attacks, the speed of the goal was testament to how quickly Frank’s Spurs can change gear, but it was also about the welcoming acreage that lives behind Guardiola’s centre-halves. They were asking for it.
We can now move on to areas of individual calamity, which sadly encompasses James Trafford. The biggest selection decision of the day concerned Ederson’s place on the bench, which would signify his time at City is nearly up, but into his spot went a talented goalkeeper who had a horrible day with his feet.
He had survived one mishap early in the match and then endured a shocker for the second goal, when a needlessly convoluted goal-kick routine saw him fluff a short ball to Nico Gonzalez on the edge of his area. It was a bad error that set in train Palhinha’s goal.
So much credit ought to go to Frank, of course. He inherited a team in buoyant mood after Ange Postecoglou’s crowning hour in Bilbao, but low on reasons to trust them. And yet the intensity of their play under him, while similar to what we saw with Postecoglou, has more substance, coherence and direction, especially when they attack off the back foot.
Where once they were the high-line accident waiting to happen, here they had the savvy to exploit one, and in doing so kept back-to-back clean sheets for the first time since 2023. Early days, but it is promising.
For Guardiola, the goalkeeper dilemma will rumble. If his decision to field Trafford over Ederson was proven to misjudged, his two changes to the side that hammered Wolves were initially heading for vindication.
Both Rayan Cherki and Omar Marmoush came in and each made a quick imprint on the match, often in combination with one another – Cherki was a supply line and Marmoush, cutting in off the left, was his liveliest recipient.
New recruit Joao Palhinha doubled Spurs’ lead before the break
He pounced on a poor piece of goalkeeping from City’s new signing James Trafford
The Cityzens’ aura appears to be gone, Pep Guardiola was outdone by Thomas Frank
In the frenzy of the opening quarter of an hour, the latter was also central to City’s best chance of going ahead, with a quick reaction to a poor back pass from Pedro Porro. Muscling Porro out of the way, the Egyptian then beat Guglielmo Vicario with a finish across goal from a tightening angle but the shot was a fraction wide.
That dangerous moment was followed by another when Marmoush received a clever flick by Erling Haaland and drilled his shot too close to Vicario. The chances weren’t being converted but they were typical of City’s early frenzy – they were a blur of high-octane movement on the attack.
It’s why, when they’re good, City look brilliant. But the questions still exist about the defence, or rather the high line that appears to have been briefed to go even higher by Guardiola’s assistant Pep Lijnders.
Here, it was good for squeezing the space on Tottenham’s midfield, but if any side knows the perils of leaving space behind the back, it is the one raised by Ange Postecoglou and now led by Frank.
Palhinha was the first to expose the frailties. As much as we can criticise Daniel Levy’s work in the market, the acquisition of the midfielder from Bayern Munich is looking ever more shrewd – even prior to his goal, he was a menace, both for the precision of his tackling and then the quick balls into those gaps behind.
It set a blueprint that Tottenham continually sought to exploit, as will others across the campaign. In the first instance, Mohammed Kudus was a touch slow when a quicker ball in a two-against-one situation would have sent Johnson clean through on goal.
A far cry from last season, Spurs are yet to concede a goal in their opening two fixtures of this season
Man City talesman Rodri made his first Premier League appearance since his long-term injury but couldn’t help his side get back in the game
It’s back to the drawing board for Pep Guardiola after what seemed such a promising start to the season last week
In the second, Tottenham scored. As with many of their best moves, it came from a rapid counter that travelled the length of the right flank, with the decisive phase coming after Pape Matar Sarr flicked into the path of Richarlison, who in turn curved a ball behind the City centre-halves for Johnson.
The finish was quickly met with an offside flag, only for the decision to be correctly erased by the VAR – John Stones was shown to have been late in stepping out, playing Richarlison on. The Brazilian, apparently deemed expendable in those failed efforts to land Eberechi Eze, made a strong case for more respect with this performance.
By then, he had already caused Trafford one uncomfortable moment by trapping the City keeper in possession on the edge of the area. Richarlison was then involved again when the calamity of the second goal occurred, with Sarr responsible for the initial interception of a pass to Nico Gonzalez, before Richarlison helped the ball into the path of Palhinha.
His finish in the moments before half-time gave Tottenham a scoreline they deserved – Frank’s side had been exceptional, and improving by the minute. City’s opening 45 minutes? It was characterised by the vulnerabilities of their defence and missed chances, closing when Haaland sent a free header over the bar with the last action of the period. Messy.
Guardiola responded by hooking off Cherki and Marmoush early in the second half – all that early promise had faded, of course – meaning he was three changes down inside an hour, having also lost Rayan Alt-Nouri to injury after 20 minutes of his home debut. The alterations made little difference.
Come the end, at least Trafford was able to salvage something of his performance with a pair of good saves from Dominic Solanke and Wilson Odebert in succession. A little gloss on a hard day.
