Manchester City 0-1 Tottenham: Spurs deservedly into the Champions League
Tottenham emerged victorious from this Champions League playoff, primarily because they created more clear-cut chances. Peter Crouch’s winner was slightly fortunate, but it was no more than Spurs deserved.
Manchester City played their expected line-up in a game they needed to win – two strikers with Emmanuel Adebayor as the targetman, and Carlos Tevez dropping off in behind, in a position he seems to prefer, judging by his recent display at Arsenal. Craig Bellamy and Adam Johnson continued as inverted wingers.
Tottenham largely returned to the system that had proved successful against Arsenal and Chelsea, rather than the one which suffered a 1-3 defeat against Manchester United – Gareth Bale in front of Benoit Assou-Ekotto and Younes Kaboul playing as a defensive-minded right-back. Wilson Palacios was on the bench, with the Huddlestone-Modric parnership preferred. Peter Crouch came in for Roman Pavlyuchenko.
The first half was a tense, nervy contest. It was a stereotypical English football game - fast tempo, physical, and a bit lacking in technical quality at times, with the wingers on either side looking dangerous, and set-pieces key. City had the majority of possession and more shots, but Spurs came closest to scoring, from a Crouch header against the post, and a controversially disallowed Ledley King header from a corner.
City coped quite well with Tottenham’s wide threat in the first half. Adam Johnson played deeper than usual, and helped Pablo Zabaleta against Gareth Bale, covering well early on when Zabaleta was beaten. On the other side, Bellamy stayed reasonably high up the pitch, and therefore against Aaron Lennon, Wayne Bridge was aided by Gareth Barry, who dropped to the left, vacating the central midfield area. This left a slight hole in the centre of midfield, whch was manned solely by Nigel de Jong, but Spurs were unable to exploit this too much with their two central midfielders, as one of them (generally Tom Huddlestone) was concerned with Tevez dropping deep.
0-0 was a fair scoreline at half-time, but the game opened up in the second-half. The onus was on City to get forward, as Mancini pushed Adam Johnson further forward, and seemingly allowed Craig Bellamy more of a free role, but Tottenham took advantage of the wide open spaces to play the ball to their wide players.
City’s wingers were tracking back less, and with neither Wayne Bridge nor Pablo Zabaleta the most mobile of full-backs, they were exposed by Tottenham’s wing partnerships of Kaboul & Lennon and, in particular, Assou-Ekotto & Bale. Twice before their goal, Spurs should have gone ahead through left-wing crosses. Firstly the two on the left combined to get Assou-Ekotto in a crossing position, and he played in a brilliant ball that both Defoe and Crouch were inches away from converting. Soon after, Bale’s ball from a similar position was headed straight at the goalkeeper from point-blank range by Crouch.
Spurs were quicker and more assured on the ball throughout the second period, and Gareth Barry’s departure for Patrick Vieira (who these days is an awkward, uncomfortable-looking player) did nothing to help City achieve what they really needed – a goal.
The away side finally went infront from a cross from Kaboul that fortunately fell into the path of Crouch, but it was a fair way for the game to be settled – both because it was a Spurs goal, and because it came from a cross into the box.
With both sides playing 4-4-2s that became 4-4-1-1s when not in possession, the game was characterized not by free players or one system prevailing over the other, but by individual match-ups throughout the pitch, as shown in two Chalkboards below. King and Dawson consistently beat Adebayor in the air, whilst Toure and Kompany consistently lost to Crouch in the air.
The one difference between the two systems, of course, was the nature of the wingers. City’s wrong-footed pair, Johnson and Bellamy, had to come inside or cut onto their stronger foot to get crosses in, making it difficult to create chances from this method, especially with Adebayor struggling. Tottenham’s, however, could more instinctively look up and swing balls in towards Crouch without disrupting the flow of the attack. Wrong-footed wingers have been arguably the tactical development of the season, but Tottenham’s proficiency from crosses tonight showed that the good old-fashioned method of playing lefties on the left, righties on the right and telling them to get the ball into the box is often the more effective tactic in a tense, scrappy game like this one.
Three Chalkboards. Firstly, the two target men compared in the air. Peter Crouch won a far higher proportion of challenges than Emmanuel Adebayor:
And the other side of the coin, the centre-back match-up; Michael Dawson v Kolo Toure. 11 out of 12 against 7 out of 14:
Lastly, Carlos Tevez seemed to fade as the game went on – in the first half he was key to City’s play, in the second he looked disinterested and showed little of his famed work ethic as City collapsed.
Manchester City 0-1 Tottenham: Spurs deservedly into the Champions League
Love the website.
Where is the review of the Motherwell V Hibernian game??
This may be harsh, but I suspect there is little tactical analysis to be done on Hibs- Motherwell!
The first-half was a typical English game but, believe me, this is a world away from a typical Scottish game. OK, 6-6 is not typical, but the type of game was – ball constantly in the air, as many headers as passes… compared to this, the Man City – Spurs match looked a technical masterclass. I am referring, of course, to Motherwell 6-6 Hibernian, which was on at the same time…
Spurs did look a lot more confident than City.
I find it interesting that they’ve stuck with Adebayor. Honestly, he hasn’t looked the same since the first Arsenal game. He’s obviously a talented player but he just hasn’t seemed into it.
In general though Spurs looked like a team that believed and City just looked flat, even though they did force Gomez to make some good saves.
I’m definitely curious to see how many players Harry is going to buy this window!
Adebayor is a lazy git. When he was playing for Arsenal two seasons ago he was an amasing player becauase he worked so hard. Always chasing the ball down, harrasing defenders and creating space. Last season, after his big pay increase, he just stopped working and lost the faith of Wenger and the Arsenal fans.
I think his experiences with the Togo team really had an impact. Rather than being a “lazy git,” he likely had a hard time getting his head back in the game after having a member of the team’s management die in his arms after a machine gun attack.
no he’d already metamorphed into a lazy git well prior to being transferred, in fact that is why he was transferred (witness CL Semi v. man utd) which was itself almost 6 months prior to that horrible misfortune you reference.
the horrible misfortune being that the coach driver got shot and he didnt
Yeh Steve, because you’re well funny mate (!).
Disgusting thing to say.
Thanks for coming Mancini don’t let the door hit your backside on the way out
I would prefer a cover of Roma-Inter game rather than Hibs-Momwell. If ZM can do both, thats even better!
Anyway, great read as always!;)
80% of the highlights I saw on footytube were players jawing at each other, the ref, and mourinho.
you forgot the diving. good lord the diving. and the sly fouls when the ref was elsewhere.
it’s amazing what those two got away with last night. masterclass in cynical defending, wot wot.
Tevez ’showed little of his famed worth ethic’
Great Freudian slip.
Hahaha, cheers for pointing out the error
Spot on. Thought Spurs throughly deserved the win.
Redknapp deserves credit for playing attacking football. How many top managers would allow BOTH their fullbacks high up the pitch to contribute to the winning goal 8 minutes from time in a game where a draw is a good result?
Focus on Spurs finishing 4th, without tactical aspect;
http://redandwhiteblogger.blogspot.com/2010/05/is-it-really-surprising-that-liverpool.html
The tactical aspect is what people come here for.
A good assessment of the match, though one that pains me to agree with as a City fan. City just did not have the tricks in the bag to unlock the Spurs defence, which was massed for much of the match. Similar to Spurs-Arsenal a couple of weeks back, crosses into the Spurs box were largely a waste of time as there were too many bodies in there. (Not one cutback all night last night either. You’d think that’s something reverse wingers would be quite adept at.)
City’s most dangerous moments in the first half came on the break, where the numbers of attackers more or less equalled the defenders. Perhaps it might have been worth sitting deep and trying to draw Spurs out, leaving space for Bellamy and Johnson to exploit.
City’s aerial weakness at the back, which is specifically Toure’s, needs to be addressed. In the last two matches, both Carew and Crouch have sought out Toure and exploited it.
Barry’s injury was a turning point as the City midfield seemed far more open with the arrival of Vieira, and allowed for the sustained period of pressure that got Spurs the goal. Actually I think you could argue that City never really got the better of Spurs after Barry left.
ZM, I’d love to hear a discussion of Toure’s play from the lory days with arsenal through the fallout with galls and on to Citeh.
Tottenham did deserve to win, played with positive intent throughout despite being OK with a draw.
I am beginning to think Adebayor was a product of Arsenal’s system, with so many technically good and creative players around him, he did well. At City, there is no Fabregas-type player to feed him.
Matt, that’s a good read you’ve linked there, thanks. Congrats to Spurs but the hard task (and very new territory) of navigating the CL playoffs awaits. For City, take heart. No dynasty is ever built on day one. In truth, none of Man U, Arsenal or Chelsea was that good in playing the CL at first. Liverpool too weren’t that much either under Houllier, Evans or Souness. Like everything else, patience will prevail.
If they do qualify for the CL group stage I predict Spurs won’t make the CL again the next season, they don’t have the squad to be playing that much football and keep the standard high.
Agree. This part actually seems harder than getting 4th the first time. The squad demands of CL group stages AND getting 4th again is brutal.
I disagree, The depth of the squad was and is one of the best in the league, even when compared to the ‘Big Four’. If you were to compare the top 4 strikers, from each team, you would say Tottenham does have the best strike force as a UNIT. If you would compare the top 8 midfielders (as a UNIT), only Chelsea would top spurs (in my opinion). Yes, the defence is a bit weak, agreed, but its still good.
The difference is in the starting 11 and spurs will need to add a bit more quality, but that extra quality is very hard to find, don’t think they will find it unless they keep qualifying for champions league on a regular basis.
I’d also like to add, an increase in quality doesn’t need to be bought or grown, it can happen as it did this season, with Gomes and Bale.
Maybe harry can bring out a bit more from these players, what do you think, is there an extra 10% harry can bring out or have these players hit their limit?
Sam, you’re right to point out that tottenham are into Champions League qualifying, not the Champions League proper. qualifying is much more difficult now than it was last season, and i’m not sure whether tottenham would be seeded due to the fact that they have never qualified.
whatever happens, they’ve done well to qualify for qualifying, and they’ve done the rest of the football world a huge favour by delaying City’s plans for world domination. if they fail again next season, maybe the trillionaires will bugger off and we’ll return to a fairer playing field, and future would-be overseas investors might be dissuaded.
on the tactical side of things, i thought mancini got his right hand side wrong. surely richards would have been a better option up against bale, and wright-phillips could have tested the vulnerable ekotto more.
one of the advantages of inverted wingers is obviously creating space for your full-backs to get forward, but (i didn’t catcg the game) how many times did bridge and zabaleta get into dangerous crossing positions? i imagine they were worried about getting forward because of the pace of lennon and bale, but if that’s the case then why go with the inverted wingers?
What exactly is Adebayor supposed to contribute? It seems like City’s game is mostly about countering/fast transitions going through the fast/tricky wide players, but all Adebayor does is slow them up. The contrast with Rooney doing a similar job is stark. Not to mention the offsides, lack of heading quality etc etc…so glad we sold him!
ZM, do you think Defoe has any hope of surviving in the CL? Assuming they get there, of course. Everyone seems to assume they’ll qualify
curious why you’d ask about Defoe in particular as opposed to Spurs as a whole…
Oh and great evidence for your midfielders article from Spurs, ZM. 3 big wins with Huddlestone & Modric in the middle and no “destroyer” in sight. When they did play him, they fell apart. I for one am delighted that this sort of player is dying out.
Im not sure I agree with you. It depends on the opposition and tactics if you need this kind of player.
Personally, I think Modric has a lot more to give attacking wise and when you are playing with a defensive midfielder who is primarily known for his defensive ability, it allows modric to give more attacking wise.
I do not agree with you Matt because you are drawing too wide a conclusion from too little evidence. Moreover Spurs finished fourth with Palacios playing almost every game so how you can call that falling apart is confusing to say the least.
Johnson and Tevez aside the City players looked a bit too cautious in a game in which they needed to win. I though Bellamy’s delivery into the box was often stalled (because as you mention he had to cut back onto his right foot) and this meant that Adebayor often had to check his run to wait for the delivery, which, when it did arrive was often poor.
I thought in particular that Crouch was immense last night. His obvious aerial prowess aside i thought his hold up and link play was brilliant. I lost count of the amount of times he got the ball out of of tight situations and his goal was just rewards for his contribution.
Your pass numbers are off on the first Tevez chalkboard, I think.
Whose pass numbers?
The numbers on the right don’t correspond to the specific minutes selected in the Chalkboards, they refer to the performance overall.
Mancini’s decision to buy Vieira really came back to hurt him last night. When Barry was hurt, he needed someone who could contribute to attack. With Ireland injured, he had nobody but Vieira’s rotting corpse and paid dearly for it.
Credit to Harry Redknapp and his team for attacking City throughout the game, although the draw would have done enough surely to see them into the Champions League. Maybe Roberto Mancini didn’t see this coming, maybe hoping to chisel away at the Londoners for 90mins.
Adebayor was woeful, a typical display from a player who’s hunger to achieve glory in football had died, replaced by an obsession with the biggest contract on the market. How the Arsenal fans must laugh now watching him lumber about the pitch. He was thoroughly dealt with by the excellent Michael Dawson and Ledley King, who seemed first to everything.
Dawson I thought was almost Nemanja Vidic like, commanding the area and heading the ball to safe distances numerous times over. King too deserves a special mention.
Tevez may like to operate in the little pockets in front of the defence, but alongside a lazy Adebayor, I think it would have been best to see him push further up and maybe the inclusion of Stephen Ireland would have helped unlock the solid defence.
Tevez certainly looks a lot quicker and livlier (and more confident) on the ball than he did with United, maybe the product of Mancini’s twice a day training that the Argentinian hates so much!
Nice to see a flash back in tactics with as you say “lefties on the left” etc. Bale is really catching the eye, and I agree with the poster above, Richards would have been a much better option to go up against the Welshman.
Good article!
Remember. . .Tottenham still has a chance of taking the 3rd place if they beat Burnley this weekend and Arsenal loses to Fulham,although I dont think thats going to happen because with the Europa League in mind…Fulham will field a weakened side.But credit to Spurs for achieving fourth spot.. . .they truely deserved it.Man City can only play good attacking football against small teams although they played brilliantly against Chelsea 4-2.But there games against Man u and Arsenal showed that they r still not sure about what they are capable of doing against big teams.
With regard to city and mancini, I was pretty impressed by their performance this season, given that they have had no time to gel and that they have had 2 managers in the space of 1 season.
Also Mancini has done very well, he has outperformed Hughes with a team that Hughes built. It would be unfair in my opinion to sack him, but unless they truly believe he is good enough to win them the league and CL, should they let him invest so much for next season?
In my opinion, he needs to be given a proper go, he needs to built him own team, but this doesn’t happen over a summer, they need to guarantee him his job for at least 2 seasons, so he can build his team and keep player power under control. Otherwise, the owners shouldn’t bother investing and Mancini shouldn’t waste his time at city.
For me, the tactical battle of the match was that Spurs defended with 8 and intentionally isolated their forwards, while City defended with 7 (with one of either Johnson or Bellamy, usually Johnson, dropping deeper/tucking in).
Spurs were able to bring their wingers back because 1) They’re rapid and 2) both are able to run at defenders and beat them anywhere on the pitch 3) Their fullbacks had the quality and pace to defend against the counterattack and 4) most importantly, Spurs ALWAYS had the outlet ball to Crouch.
When City played the ball out of their half under pressure, it always came back at them (thanks to Ade jumping a year and a half early for every ball in the air). For Spurs, Crouch, not surprisingly, given he was often up against Toure, (who is mediocre in the air) was able to knock the ball down to Defoe or hold it up.
If formations are looked at in terms of four bands, Spurs played a 4-4-0-2, because Defore and Crouch were isolated high up the pitch. It was a trick that worked constantly at releasing pressure, and led to the odd chance.
City, on the other hand, ended up with an unbalanced 4-3-2-1 (as mentioned in the article). Bellamy and Tevez showed the signs of fatigue they’ve been showing for weeks now, meaning the City counter attacks lacked pace and often invention. Bellamy has never been the best when he has to beat a man, and get a cross in to boot, and he did neither on the night. He is a make shift left winger used for his pace and work rate, and against decent sides he rarely looks dangerous.
On the few occasions Johnson was able to deliver decent crosses, Ade was often the only man in the box (if he was there at all) and was never at the near post. Tevez stood watching at the top of the D while Bellamy watched from the far corner of the box. It is very hard to score goals like this, especially when the opposing CBs are good in the air.
To compound this, Spurs were often packed with a narrow 8 behind the ball, and to their credit, they were well organized and have a fantastic back 5 (We-City, would kill for BAE, Gomes and one of their 3 CBs on the night).
In the end, the goal was the result of Bellamy being a poor tackler and Wayne Bridge not closing down a cross, something he never does. Any luck involved was probably owed to Spurs at that point.
That’s all, sorry about the insane rambling, I expect no one to read this, it’s just part of my five steps of dealing with grief.
Alex in California
Oh, and I love the site. And Wayne Bridge is a very bad fullback. Okay, now that’s all.
I do respect Mancini. He came very close to success and showed class and aside from a ’special one’ they should probably stick with him.
I did hear one thing he said I think about Spurs using playing it long to Crouch which was a little cheeky though.
If you build a brick wall in the middle of the park by playing two DMs you cannot then complain if your opponents have to kick it over the wall to start an attack
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