Fazio (foul on Aguero) 67
 

  3  Bacari SAGNA
  4  Vincent KOMPANY (c)
26  Martin DIMECHELIS
22  Gael CLICHY

  6  FERNANDO (42  Yaya TOURE 77)
18  Frank LAMPARD (25  FERNANDINHO 29)

15  Jesus NAVAS     
21  David SILVA (35  Stevan JOVETIC 71)
  7  James MILNER

10  Sergio AGUERO       

Unused subs: 
13  Willie CABELLERO
38  Dedryk BOYATA
11  Aleksander KOLOROV
10  Edin DZEKO

 

15  Eric DIER     
  4  Younes KABOUL (c)
21  Federico FAZIO     
  3  Danny ROSE

29  Etienne CAPOUE  (19  Mousa DEMBELE 60)
38  Ryan MASON       (  5  Jan VERTONGHEN 70)

11  Erik LAMELA  (17  Andros TOWNSEND 60)
23  Christian ERIKSEN 
22  Nacer CHADLI

  9  Roberto SOLDADO

Unused subs: 
13  Michel VORM
26  Benjamin STAMBOULI
18  Harry KANE
10  Emmanuel ADEBAYOR
 

This is a match report that I felt I have read somewhere before.  Was it the Man City home game last season or was it the one away from home ?  It is becoming all a little too familiar and I don't just mean the loss to the Light Blues, but the level of refereeing that leaves Spurs punished for matter which are a figment of the officials imagination.  Spurs probably deserved to lose, but not in the manner that Jon Moss forced them to.

With Federico Fazio coming in for Jan Vertonghen and Soldado for Adebayor, Spurs had an unusual look to their line-up.  The rest of the side were in their normal positions, with Nacer Chadli and Hugo Lloris overcoming the knocks picked up on international duty.  City took the opportunity to rest Yaya Toure, such is their depth of squad and James Milner got a rare start.

Having negotiated the first 30 seconds safely, Spurs were set on closing down City players on the ball and Christian Eriksen almost got Mason in into the penalty area with three minutes gone, but the ball was nicked off his toes. At the back, Fazio made a couple of early interceptions and the team broke when they could, with Chadli setting up Mason for a shot in the fifth minute, but he dragged it wide from outside the box.

Soldado was being out-muscled by Kompany, but he chested the ball down to Chadli, who found Eriksen. He played in Lamela, then the ball was moved back to Roberto who astutely found Mason running into the area and as Hart came out, the young midfielder tried to slide it past him, but the keeper stuck out a foot to save it. This was quickly followed by Eriksen waltzing past two defenders into the box and firing over from a tight angle, when a square ball might have been the better option.

Kaboul was called into action when Silva slipped Aguero through on the edge of the six yard box, intercepting the pass, but Ageuro was offside anyway. However, the Argentinian was on the mark when Mason let the ball get away from him 25 yards out and it was picked up and played to Aguero on the left in the area. Kaboul wasn't close enough no him and he cut inside to shoot past Lloris' left hand in the 13th minute.

However, Mason made amends a minute later, when he robbed Fernando 30 yards from the City goal. His sliding tackle took the ball to Soldado, who played it to his right and Eriksen hit it first time and even though Hart got a thigh on the ball as it flew past him, it hit the underside of the bar and nestled in the bottom of the net.

The game was quite open and in the 15th minute, Fernando could have made up for his part in the Spurs goal by heading in a corner, when he was left unmarked just outside the six yard box and right in the centre of the goal. Luckily he put it wide. Not that it mattered, as Lampost crumpled under a light challenge from Lamela and referee Moss pointed to the spot. With Aguero stepping up to take it, you knew it would end up in the back of the net and it did. 20 minutes gone and another dodgy decision against us at the Etihad.

Once more, Spurs looked to get back in it and Chadli almost got put through but the pass was a little too far in front of him. At the other end, Eriksen and Rose allowed Navas to sneak in on a pass behind them and this time Lloris was behind Aguero's low shot when the ball was cut back to him. Luckily, Lampost went off after 26 minutes after he pulled a thigh muscle to go with the fast one he pulled with his flop in the box.

Kompany got caught pushing through the back of Chadli on the edge of the box in the 30th minute and a free kick 28 yards out was taken by Christian Eriksen, but it went over the bar by a foot, dipping too late. The next attack for City saw Aguero have the chance to complete his hat-trick when Kaboul tripped Silva in the 32nd minute, but his shot from 12 yards was down the middle and Hugo stopped it with his legs and the striker scissor kicked the rebound over the bar. Aguero was through on top a long clearance and beat Kaboul too it, before turning around him in the area, but his cross-shot was beaten out by Lloris.

Mason picked up a booking for a foul on Fernandinho in midfield, during a spell when City enjoyed a lot of possession. Interestingly, Navas got away with treading on Rose's foot well after the ball had gone, but then Dier picked up a yellow for pulling back Clichy when he looked to break from halfway. Then the ref was at least consistent, when he didn't book Capoue for a step on Silva's heel.

While Soldado was up front on his own, he was brining others into the play with some good first time touches, rather than waiting for Kompany to come through him. His link up when Eriksen was set up for a 25 yard shot that Hart looked unconvincing in beating out for a corner, which came to nothing, but when the ball was played forward again, Roberto nodded it on to Eriksen, who laid it in front of Lamela. Erik's shot was blocked but it came out to Mason, who hit it first time and drew a diving save from Hart.

Spurs were building up play well and Soldado set up Eriksen again, but he was crowded out before Milner jumped into a tackle on Capoue and took him out with his trailing leg and this set up a move that saw Navas run through and hit a shot that Hugo got over the bar off the side of his attempted punch. The Frenchman also had to save from Silva near half-time, but didn't need to when Navas shot over just seconds before the whistle blew for the break.

There were no changes at the break and no change within three minutes, when Lloris had to beat out a viciously swerving 25 yard effort from Aguero dealing with the bounce that the ball took just in front of him. With Spurs closing the ball down quickly, City's passing went a little bit to pot, but when they did get it right, Spurs were found lacking at the back and only over-playing by City failed to make the most of the space there was.

Tottenham were still looking to get forward, believing that keeping the ball in City's half kept it away from their own goal. A couple of corners came to nothing and when a City move broke down, Navas committed a cynical foul on Chadli as he brought the ball away. When they did get up the other end, the ball pinged about with it falling Tottenham's way and when a shot came in from Eriksen, there were big shouts for a penalty as it flew off Sagna's chest and onto his hand. Breaking away at the Spurs end, Hugo stopped Navas' shot at his near post and then Silva's low ball across the face of the goal couldn't be turned in at the far post by Aguero, who looked injured after he eventually got up.

Dembele came on for Capoue and Townsend for Lamela and when a long ball was chased by Soldado and he got it and got in front of Dimichelis, there was a touch on him and he went down. It looked outside the box and when a penalty was given, Roberto's side-footed spot-kick to Hart's right saw the keeper get down to it and push it aside. A couple of minutes later, Rose broke down the left and his low cross was hit first time by Soldado and his effort was kept out by Hart's legs.

Danny Rose headed a long ball back towards his own dead ball line, but Navas was alert to it, got  to the ball and pulled it across to where Aguero should have been, but the referee decided that Fazio had pulled him back as he tried to get on the end of the cross. Another penalty and a red card for Fazio. This time the Argentine made no mistake and now there was 22 minutes to play with ten men … as is usual against the top sides when we have crap refs. Mason made away for Vertonghen and Jovetic replaced Silva as the game entered the final third.

A long ball forward caught Spurs asleep, leaving Aguero one on one with Vertonghen and he came inside from the right to bend a shot around the Belgian and inside the far post to give him all four of City's goals.

Townsend had a swerving effort miss by half a yard with Hart struggling, but City used the space left by the eleventh Spurs man not being there and passed the ball around, waiting for another chance to score. Spurs struggled to close City down as they dropped into a 4-4-1 formation.  Every time Tottenham cleared the ball, it came straight back. They did keep trying to go forward, but when the ball was lost, it was with tired legs that the black shirted men trudged back. Dembele was a culprit when he lost the ball outside City's penalty area and it was left to Rose to stop Navas, who had the cheek to go to round looking for another spot-kick.

A move down the City left saw Jovetic back heel the ball into Milner's path and the England international curled the ball around Vertonghen and Lloris, but the ball cannoned off the outside of the post. When Spurs did get the ball with a chance to break, they invariably lost it. Kaboul did and Townsend did later, but the defence held out as City tried to score the perfect goal. Chadli broke and got brought down by Dimichelis a few yards outside the box to the right of centre, leaving Townsend to take the free-kick which was headed away by the wall. A Rose burst into the box was ended by a shove by Kompany, which was no worse than the first City penalty, but the referee once more showed how poor he was by giving City a goal-kick.

While Soldado missed the penalty, he did work tirelessly up front and probably gave Spurs more up front than Adebayor has done lately. And penalties were the name of the game in this match, with one saved which could have made it 2-2 and the next leading to a sending off and a 3-1 lead for the home side. As well as Kaboul played against Arsenal, he played as poorly today. The individual mistakes cost Spurs once more and making the most of the many chances we created cost us. Lloris saved a lot of City's efforts on goal, but they did convert a good ratio. Ruing a missed penalty and a red card, Spurs will look at the score-line and hark back to last season's home game, when Rose was sent off and we let in five.

The play was closer than the final score-line indicated, though not close enough to guarantee a point for Spurs, but the quality in the City team was clear, although the way Spurs set about City did show they have some vulnerabilities. Taking advantage of those deficiencies is something Pochettino has to make sure the team don't let those opportunities pass them by.

Anthony Spicer

And as we are doing with Liverpool, so we are with Manchester City.  Working down from 6 to 5 and now 4, in three matches time, we might get a pint off them !!