Manchester City
Gundogan 33, Mahrez 90+2 (pen)^2RATINGS
Manchester City (4-3-3): Ederson 6 — K Walker 5,
R Dias 5, A Laporte 5, J Cancelo 5 — K De Bruyne 6,
Rodri 5, I Gundogan 6 — R Sterling 6 (R Mahrez
68min, 7), B Silva 6, P Foden 6.
Tottenham Hotspur (3-4-3): H Lloris 6 — C Romero
7, E Dier 8, B Davies 7 — E Royal 6 (M Doherty 83),
P-E Hojbjerg 7, R Bentancur 7, R Sessegnon 6
(D Sanchez 90+3) — D Kulusevski 9, S Heung-min 9
(L Moura 80) — H Kane 9. Booked Lloris, Romero,
Hojbjerg.
Referee A Taylor.
Attendance 53,201.Tottenham
Kulusevski 4, Kane 59, 90+5^3PAUL HIRST
Kane sweeps home the winner while
making a point to his former suitorsWhen Son Heung-min started racing
towards goal in the build-up to
Tottenham Hotspur’s opener, the
supporters in the North Stand at
the Etihad Stadium felt a sense of
trepidation and déjà vu.
It was at that end of the pitch that
Son had scored two punishing goals
on the counterattack in the
Champions League quarter-final tie
between the two sides almost three
years before.
The 4-3 home win that night was
enough for Spurs to eliminate City
from the Champions League on away
goals. Whether Saturday’s 3-2 away
win will prove to be a knockout blow
to City’s title hopes remains to be
seen. Pep Guardiola did not seem to
be panicking in the aftermath of
Saturday’s thrilling match.
“I never said the title race was over.
That’s normal,” Guardiola, the City
manager, said. “In January and
February the
teams at the
bottom won
their games
because
everyone fights
for everything.
“It will be
difficult. We
know it. But
today it’s
happened, we
lost a game. We
were close to a
draw, and maybe
winning, but
congratulations
to Spurs.
“We recover with training sessions
and prepare for the next game. We
have to fight for every game and
every game we are going to win we
will be closer. I said weeks ago we
have to make a lot of points to be
champions and this is what we will
try to do.”
Guardiola has good reason to avoid
panicking. His team had not lost in
their previous 15 Premier League
matches and Liverpool still need to
win their game in hand, against Leeds
United on Wednesday, and away to
City on April 9 to draw level.
To those who have suggested, in
recent weeks, that the title race is
over, Guardiola has always
maintained that there will be
setbacks. “We will lose games,”
Guardiola said last month. “What
matters is how we react. I know the
players. We will react well.”
Perhaps Guardiola will draw
comfort from his
team winning
their last 14
Premier League
games and
lifting the
trophy when
they were
involved in a
tight race with
Liverpool for
the title three
years ago.
What will
trouble
Guardiola is
how Antonio
Conte’s team made City’s attack look
vastly inferior to their own. City only
managed four shots on target, and
their two goals came from an error
from Hugo Lloris and then from the
penalty spot.
Any team who have aspirations
of beating City should study the
structure of Tottenham’s side. Out
of possession, they morphed from a8 1GG Monday February 21 2022 | the times
thegame
The race for the title3-4-3 formation to 5-4-1, with Ryan
Sessegnon and Emerson Royal
operating as full backs rather than
wing backs. Son and Dejan
Kulusevski dropped into midfield,
leaving the excellent Harry Kane up
front on his own.
As a result, the central area just
outside the box was swamped with
white shirts and City had to move the
ball out to the flanks, where they
pinged an unusually high amount of
crosses into the box.
City put 34 crosses into the area,
their second-highest tally of the
season. Only seven found a blue shirt,
which is unsurprising given that
Bernardo Silva was the tallest
member of the front three at 5ft 8in.
Being able to stifle City is an
admirable achievement, but causing
them problems at the other end of
the pitch is not easy either. Spurs
managed to achieve that, however,
thanks to the movement and
interplay between Son, Kulusevski
and Kane, who dropped deep, and
because of some lax defending from
City’s back four.
Rúben Dias was caught flat-footed
for Spurs’ first, João Cancelo and
Aymeric Laporte left Kane in the box
for the second and Cancelo was guilty
of allowing too much space for
Kulusevski to cross into the area for
Kane’s winner.
“I feel like it’s a good wake-up call,”
Ilkay Gundogan, the City midfielder,
said. “It wasn’t necessary but it’s a
good sign to recognise there is a long
way to go in the league and that
nothing is given. But I am sure we will
put the work in and win more games.”
Eric Dier, whose organisational
skills were key to Tottenham’s
defensive solidity, hopes that
Saturday’s win will help to kickstart
his team’s bid for a top-four finish
after their recent defeats against
Southampton and Wolverhampton
Wanderers.
“City are probably the best team in
the world,” Dier said. “So for us to win
after the results we’ve had is really big
for us and hopefully it can push us on.
“If we play with that intensity, with
that commitment, that unity in every
game we can really push on from this.
“We have to take it with humility
and understand that as a team we can
be very good.”
Conte praised his players and called
on them to follow the victory up with
a sustained run of wins.
“I think this type of performance
has to give us confidence,” Conte said.
“We showed that we are working very
well, that we are creating a stable
team, because when you have this
kind of performance after three
defeats against City, it means we
are starting to be stable. In my
opinion, in my experience, to get
good results, you have to be stable,
not up and down.”Hope for rivals
as Conte’s plan
conquers City
THE REMAINING FIXTURESMAN CITY
Feb 26 Everton (A)
Mar 6 Man United
(H)
Mar 14 Crystal
Palace (A)
Mar 19 Brighton (H)
April 2 Burnley (A)
April 9 Liverpool
(H)
April 16 Wolves (A)
April 23 Watford
(H)
April 30 Leeds (A)
May 7 Newcastle
(H)
May 15 West Ham
(A)
May 22 Aston Villa
(H)
Average league
position of
opponents: 11.4LIVERPOOL
Feb 23 Leeds (H)
Mar 5 West Ham
(H)
Mar 12 Brighton (A)
Mar 16 Arsenal (A)
Mar 20 Man United
(H)
April 2 Watford (H)
April 9 Man City (A)
April 16 Aston Villa
(A)
April 23 Everton
(H)
April 30 Newcastle
(A)
May 7 Spurs (H)
May 15
Southampton (A)
May 22 Wolves (H)
Average league
position of
opponents: 9.8TONY
CASCARINO
KaneEdersonRyan SeSon
Heung-
minSECOND GOAL
Harry Kane (59th minute)
Pass ShotRun without ballHeaded
defenceABBCCRúben
Dias can
only head Kane’s
probing long ball to
Ryan Sessegnon
Sessegnon finds Son, who cuts
inside and crosses
Kane’s late run is perfectly timed and he
guides Son’s cross into the top cornerCOMBINED FOR MOST PREMIER
LEAGUE GOALS
Kane and Son have set one another up
for a record-equalling 36 goals
Didier Drogba and Frank Lampard
(Chelsea)Harry Kane and Son Heung-min
(Tottenham)3636Thierry Henry and Robert Pires (Arsenal)29David Silva and Sergio Agüero
(Man City)29Teddy Sheringham and Darren Anderton
(Tottenham)27KANE DELIVERS
MASTERCLASS
TONY
CASCARINOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
KanKaneEdeEdeEdeEdeersor nRyan SSeeSon
Heung-ng-
minminSECOND GOAL
Harry Kane (59th minute)
Pass ShotRun without ballHeaded
defenceABBCCRúben
Dias can
only head Kane’s
probing long ball to
Ryan Sessegnon
Sessegnon finds Son, who cuts
inside and crosses
Kane’s late run is perffectly timed and he
guides Son’s cross intto the top cornerCOMBINED FOR MOST PREMIER
LEAGUE GOALS
Kane and Son have set one anotherup
for a record-equalling 36 goals
Didier Drogba and Frank Lampard
(Chelsea)Harry Kane and Son Heung-min
(Tottenham)3636Thierry Henry and Robert Pires (Arsenal)29David Silva and Sergio Agüero
(Man City)29Te ddy Sheringham and Darren Anderton
(Tottenham)27Harry Kane’s performance against
Manchester City was one of the
all-time great performances in
Premier League history — it was
that good. It was a tough start to
the season for him — he had
wanted to join City in the
summer — but despite that he’s
now up to 23 goals for club and
country this campaign,
which isn’t bad by almost
anyone’s standards.His fitness is his biggest
challenge. He wasn’t 100 per
cent fit at the Euros in the
summer and it showed, but when
he is fit and raring to go he is as
good as anyone.
His qualities make him nearly
the perfect centre forward — the
only thing he lacks is express
pace. But he scores, he shields the
ball, he moves well, he has the
intelligence to know when to drop
off, he can pass, he can provide
brilliant assists.
He has got Alan Shearer’s
strengths in front of goal but can
also play like Teddy Sheringham
and Dennis Bergkamp in drifting
into deeper areas, and we saw all
of that from him on Saturday.
One of his defining features is
that he is an unselfish player. He
can fit into any system and match
the narrative of a team. Antonio
Conte was very clear as to how he
wanted his team to play — you
can see from the position maps
how tight his team were — and
Kane fits into that.
He is just as happy assisting
goals for Son Heung-min as
he is scoring them. They have
a completely telepathic
understanding. The first goal is a
great example. Kane hits it first
time around the corner. He
knows where Son is going to be,
which run he is going to make,
and just hits it. The third goal was
a proper striker’s finish — he got
his body across Kyle Walker and
flicked in the header. He made it
look much easier than it was.
Everyone says this shows why
City should have bought him. Pep
Guardiola doesn’t need people to
tell him that — they tried to
spend £150 million on him. City
are a fabulous team, but a player
like Kane could be worth ten
points a season to them.