Mistakes and Melancholy at Manchester City
Hugo Lloris did not cover himself in glory today and he looked more like the mistake prone Heurelho Gomes, who finally ended up moving on to Watford. Not once, but twice Lloris was at error, gifting Manchester City a 2-0 need. The City boss Pep Guardiola was a man dancing on the sidelines as if his side had crafted two goals themselves and he also looked a much relieved man after City's unceremonious 4-0 thumping by Everton last week.Damage done, the question was whether City had the backbone to claim the victory or Spurs could find the character to take a valuable point. The City backbone crumbled and Spurs showed the fighting spirit as they came back from 2-0 down to draw the game 2-2. This was a point won for Spurs in the end, and two more points lost for City. The only teams that would have enjoyed today's results are Chelsea and Arsenal. Both of those teams play tomorrow against lowly and easily beatable opposition.
It is however easy to say "easily beatable" because Spurs fans must have been rejoicing to hear that struggling Swansea had travelled to what is these days "Fortress Anfield" and beat Liverpool 3-2 . That put Spurs a point ahead of Liverpool in the title race, but with Chelsea still to play, they may end tomorrow being 9 points behind title favorites Chelsea. If Arsenal beat Burnley tomorrow then it is Arsenal who jump 1pt above Spurs and in so doing build momentum in their favour.
Spurs defender/wing-back Kyle Walker could of easily got a red card when he pushed Raheem Stirling in the penalty box, but Stirling to his credit did not play for the penalty, and instead took his shot which Lloris saved. Had he played for the penalty and had fallen, Walker would have been sent off for preventing a goal-scoring opportunity and Spurs would not have come back with 10 men on the field - more importantly as Toby Alderweireld limped off, the last thing Spurs want is a defensive crisis with injuries and suspensions.
Next week is the rather pointless FA Cup competition, a 4th Round tie against Wycombe Wanderers, which will give Pochettino the opportunity to rest 8 or 9 key players and test out his tactical system to see if it really does have two men at every position, and provide an opportunity to Vincent Janssen to develop some match confidence because Spurs desperately need a second striker in form. Right now the second striker is attacking midfielder Dele Alli, who scored yet again, as did Heung-Min Son.
That Pochettino was gambling on bringing into the game a largely ineffective Moussa Sissoko to get an equalizer was made redundant, but Son scored just at the right time to equalize. That Sissoko may probably remain at the club is something that is circumspect because even though he can show brilliance in the barest patches, he does not have the kind of work ethic that Pochettino demands in his players and so he remains a liability.
At the beginning of the game Spurs could justifiably argue that should have taken all three points and were playing City at the right time as they are not playing good football, but untimely errors create a big hole for any team to come back and that Spurs did, adds a little more kudos to their outside title aspirations. This was considering the circumstances a good result for Spurs fans and with a game due next month at Anfield when they will be tested by Klopp's Army, a point here is not bad, but that means that Spurs do need three points at Liverpool.
Next month is also the return of the Europa League, which the way it is set up know is an important competition for Spurs to try to win. The added incentive of a Champions League place by winning the Europa League finally makes what was an increasingly Mickey-Mouse competition into a competition that represents big dollars in Champions League presence.
The other good news today was that Manchester United dropped points at home against Stoke City. That was not expected, but at least their fans did manage to see Wayne Rooney break Bobby Charlton's most goals for the club record and that virtually being the last kick of the game. The good news is that the phenomena of Dele Alli continues to grow and Spurs managed to negotiate an incredible deal to get this player from Milton Keynes Dons. That Alli was originally a boyhood Liverpool supporter and Liverpool thought the asking fee was too high, must mean someone has red blushes at Liverpool. Today was a good result for Spurs.
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