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Tottenham 1-0 Manchester City: Nuno shows he can be successful at Spurs without Harry Kane
For an opening weekend clash, this match looked to have everything before kick off - two ‘Big Six’ rivals, new signings on both sides, one new manager on the touchline and over 60,000 fans present for the first time in nearly 18 months.
There was one thing missing, though - Harry Kane.
City had the look of a team waiting for Kane, or any orthodox centre forward, to be signed while Spurs performed like they are waiting for the 28-year-old to be sold.
This was an encounter between two incomplete sides, but through their combined deficiencies a highly compelling contest was produced.
On the basis of the 90 minutes, Spurs might already be winning the Kane breakup. They are closer to being a coherent unit without the England captain than most envisaged would be the case even if their performance was ragged in places.
Nuno Espirito Santo might not favour the attack-minded football Tottenham fans craved after Jose Mourinho, but his fast and furious game plan exhilarates when it works like it did here.
Nuno will in fact bring a more effective brand of ‘Mourinho-ball’ to Spurs than the man himself did in his 18 months at the club. The former goalkeeper might ultimately shift his new team into the 3-5-2 shape that worked so well for him at Wolves, but he has already imposed his own identity on the squad.
Pep's City need Harry Kane
City’s season, however, hinges on whether or not they sign Kane before the transfer window closes.
Pep Guardiola quite clearly requires a new centre forward after the exit of Sergio Aguero to give them purpose in the final third - of the 18 shots the Premier League champions mustered, only four were on target. Their greater share of possession (66%) counted for little such was the ponderous nature of City’s play.
⚪️ FT: Spurs (1.08xG) 1-0 (2.29xG) Man City 🔵
— Sporting Life Football & Infogol (@InfogolApp) August 15, 2021
👊 Spurs lost the possession, xG and shot count battles but beat the champions thanks to a terrific winner from Son Heung-Min.
👏 What a match
#TOTMCI #THFC
Nonetheless, the visitors could have scored three within the opening five minutes as Jack Grealish, Fernandinho and Joao Cancelo all went close, but their play soon became disjointed.
Most notably, there were significant holes in City’s defensive structure whenever Spurs won the ball and moved it forward at speed (Spurs made 10 counter attacks).
While a managerial change was made at Tottenham over the summer, the long-established pattern of play between the North London side and City remained in place, with the hosts’ best chances in the first half coming on the counter attack. Had Son Heung-min shown more conviction, Spurs might well have taken the lead in this way earlier than they ultimately did.
Early promise with Grealish
There were, perhaps for the first time, signs of what Guardiola envisages for Grealish as a Manchester City player. Deployed on the left side of a midfield three on paper, the 25-year-old’s primary purpose was to dovetail with Raheem Sterling in driving at the opposition defence.
This unsettled Spurs in the early exchanges - see Grealish’s run after just three minutes which resulted in him winning a freekick right on the edge of the box.
However, having Grealish as an auxiliary attacker disrupted City’s structure out of possession. Far too often, Fernandinho was left exposed as Tottenham broke out through Son, Steven Bergwijn and Lucas Moura. There was simply too much for the Brazilian veteran to do on his own. He had too much ground to cover.
Against an opponent with the pace of Spurs in attack, City were top-heavy. If Guardiola wants to use Grealish and Sterling as a pairing on the left, as was the case here, he might have to sacrifice Ilkay Gundogan for Rodri to provide his defence with more protection.
Chelsea, Liverpool and Manchester United will do even more damage if Guardiola replicates this game plan against them.
City’s superior expected goals value (xG: TOT 1.08 - 2.29 MCI) mustn’t mask how inappropriate Guardiola’s tactics were for the task at hand. He has so many different otions in his squad, there was surely a winning team he could have selected, but this certainly wasn’t it.
It was almost as if Guardiola fielded a team built to harness Kane without Kane actually through the door yet - City attempted 30 crosses despite lacking a frontman capable of meeting the deliveries.
This was a fixture dominated by the spectre of Kane, but while the 28-year-old is still on Tottenham’s books this win and performance might have brought them closure.
Nuno still has the quality in his squad to build a successful team without Kane. The balance is there. Guardiola, however, can’t say the same thing.
